Rev fire numbers

I recently got out the rev fire after 2 months of just working on speed to see how the spin was and I found that as DD was able to start cruising at a higher speed her spin rates dropped quite a bit.

She just turned 12 in July and her numbers as of 2-3 months ago were

43-46 cruising with 17-20 RPS

Over the last few weeks-

47-50 cruising with 14-16 RPS

When I noticed this I asked her to really focus on spin instead of speed and the numbers dropped back to around 45 with 18 RPS.

Has anyone else seen this relationship? it makes sense to me that if there is X amount of energy available that as you put more into the spin then less will come out as velocity and vice versa, but just want to check it against others' experience.

As she develops physically and gains strength, the spin rate will be consistent and trend
upward and the speed should steadily increase. Spin is the key to becoming a very successful
pitcher in the older age groups. As my DD developed and grew, (now 18U) her k/game
decreased but in 17 innings of her last tournament only 3 balls were hit out of the infield.
Her go to pitch is either rise or curve. The curve has a rev of 23 and breaks late and hard
leading to lots of little flares and weak ground balls to the right side. Her rise is the better of the 2
pitches, lots of popups to middle IF. Rise has a rev in the 21 range but velocity is 63 on the rev fire
where curve on the rev is 59. Fastball is seldom used but has a bullet spin at 24-25 on the rev,
with a rev speed of 64.

Being that it is a rev-fire-speed is perceptual relative to her releasing the pitch in the 38-39ft distance

So yesterday used the RevFire for the first time. 12YO DD best spin pitch was her curve: 21.8 rps. Here worst spin pitch was her fastball averaging around 16 - 18 rps. A few surprises: her flip change has lots of spin at 19rps and what I consider her best pitch, her drop ball, only had around 18 rps.

Next, I compared her velocity between the RevFire and Bushnell radar gun. Bushnell never registered higher than 53mph, whereas RevFire had some 55/56mph which I believe to be incorrect. Not sure why the reading difference unless I am not a full three feet behind home plate (as per instructions). But still the velocity readings seemed to have more variances on each pitch whereas the radar gun was more consistent and sometimes the speed was spot on, other times RevFire was higher?

Overall, I think the RevFire is an awesome tool to measure spin rate. Was very eye opening to me and kept my DD engaged in the process as she always wanted to know what her latest reading was.

Would love to hear others experiences with this tool and how best to use it. I know Rick Pauly was a huge fan of this device.

JJsqueeze said:

I recently got out the rev fire after 2 months of just working on speed to see how the spin was and I found that as DD was able to start cruising at a higher speed her spin rates dropped quite a bit.

She just turned 12 in July and her numbers as of 2-3 months ago were

43-46 cruising with 17-20 RPS

Over the last few weeks-

47-50 cruising with 14-16 RPS

When I noticed this I asked her to really focus on spin instead of speed and the numbers dropped back to around 45 with 18 RPS.

Has anyone else seen this relationship? it makes sense to me that if there is X amount of energy available that as you put more into the spin then less will come out as velocity and vice versa, but just want to check it against others' experience.

Click to expand...

Hey squeeze my daughter's pitching coach breaks the rev fire out every once in a while. I've noticed the same things. She turned 12 in July. Back in the summer her fastball was at 43 to 46 with lower spin rates like 14 or 15. She would throw her changeup at q spin rate of 17 to 19. Sometimes she would throw higher in mph but spin would be lower. She's not the fastest pitcher but as she grows into her body I imagine speed will come. She's is able to put good spin on it now and locate well at her age. Gonna break it out again soon check screwball spin.

I am a RevFire junkie and none of the numbers are surprising. What I have found is that some kids just naturally spin the ball very fast. True spin that can be controlled is far and away better than uncontrolled velocity. I see an increasing demand for pitchers with exceptional control in the mid-50's to low 60's that can make it move like a wiffle ball.

Rocketech1 said:

So yesterday used the RevFire for the first time. 12YO DD best spin pitch was her curve: 21.8 rps. Here worst spin pitch was her fastball averaging around 16 - 18 rps. A few surprises: her flip change has lots of spin at 19rps and what I consider her best pitch, her drop ball, only had around 18 rps.

Next, I compared her velocity between the RevFire and Bushnell radar gun. Bushnell never registered higher than 53mph, whereas RevFire had some 55/56mph which I believe to be incorrect. Not sure why the reading difference unless I am not a full three feet behind home plate (as per instructions). But still the velocity readings seemed to have more variances on each pitch whereas the radar gun was more consistent and sometimes the speed was spot on, other times RevFire was higher?

Overall, I think the RevFire is an awesome tool to measure spin rate. Was very eye opening to me and kept my DD engaged in the process as she always wanted to know what her latest reading was.

Would love to hear others experiences with this tool and how best to use it. I know Rick Pauly was a huge fan of this device.

Click to expand...

Remember, the Rev fire is not measuring the speed using any type of radar. It times when it thinks the ball is released, based on when it starts spinning to the time it stops spinning. Miniscule changes in her stride length, or the catcher reaching out and catching it vs sitting back and waiting for it can have a slight impact on the velocity reading. It also measures average speed over the distance traveled. If it's reading higher than the gun, then odds are the ball isn't traveling as far as it "should" which can be a result of a shortened distance based on the position of the catcher, or the stride of the pitcher. It's not a good tool for accurately measuring Max MPH...but in a case where all else is held constant, can be an efective too for measuring improvement.

One thing I can tell you from experience, the low pitches that have you leaning out to catch before they hit the dirt will register a false high reading. Conversely, a high pitch that you have to reach directly up for or even back, will register on the low side.

The Rev fire is a GREAT tool, and quite frankly, the only tool I know of to measure spin rate. The velocity capabilities don't measure up to a radar gun..even a cheap one, but it's a nice add on for comparative purposes.

I use my RF a lot with the older pitchers. One of the things that I noticed is the spin orientation really making a big difference. I was working with one of my girls last Sunday. She was hitting 21-23 @ 55 on her drop ball. The movement was good on the pitches but not great. Then she threw a pitch that came in at 19.7 but it dropped off the table and was showing only 1 mph slower than what she was throwing at. Once she got the feedback on what she just threw she was able to make the slight adjustment to the release and improved the movement greatly on her pitches.

Same girl tells me her HS coach wants to "Improve" her riseball so she threw it like his students do. His student was hitting 14 - 16 rps. My girl said she hit 21-22 consistently and popped one at 24 rps. She said the coach sill wanted to change her.

If you are doing things correctly you should see a direct correlation between ball speed and spin. A proper focus on speed should result in greater spin. That said, there doesn't have to be a direct correlation. I have observed cases of an over focus on spin lead to a significant decrease in speed.

JJsqueeze said:

I recently got out the rev fire after 2 months of just working on speed to see how the spin was and I found that as DD was able to start cruising at a higher speed her spin rates dropped quite a bit.

She just turned 12 in July and her numbers as of 2-3 months ago were

43-46 cruising with 17-20 RPS

Over the last few weeks-

47-50 cruising with 14-16 RPS

When I noticed this I asked her to really focus on spin instead of speed and the numbers dropped back to around 45 with 18 RPS.

Has anyone else seen this relationship? it makes sense to me that if there is X amount of energy available that as you put more into the spin then less will come out as velocity and vice versa, but just want to check it against others' experience.

Click to expand...

Yes, we are having a similar experience.
Converting DD to IR/adduction. Speed increased and spin decreased. As she becomes more comfortable with the new style the spin is coming back.

riseball said:

I see an increasing demand for pitchers with exceptional control in the mid-50's to low 60's that can make it move like a wiffle ball.

Click to expand...

That's encouraging! What made you come to this conclusion?