Infield popup spin..

[ArmWhip]

One thing to look at which tells you how much spin this ball had and the direction of the spin is that he reached out with his glove in an attempt to catch it but when the ball hit the dirt it bounced back into his face.

 

[The Man In Blue]

Something I've long wondered: Do batted balls spin differently in softball vs baseball, either because a pitched ball spins differently (does it? If so, would that even matter?) or because of the trajectory? Or maybe even the size of the ball?

Not sure about baseballs vs. softballs, but within both the brand and organization stamping the ball will have an impact. Seem height (or lack of) definitely impacts the spin and wind resistance.

I didn’t think of the spin being a factor in this, but I saw something about a month ago I have never seen. It was a really windy day and it was an 18u baseball game. I was on the bases and in B position (runner on first base). The batter hit a high fly ball that headed out of the field of play … it went behind the light pole near third base and came back into the field where the left fielder caught it …

 

[Lemond]

Had a slow pitch game about a thirty years ago, wind blowing hard from 2b to 1B direction. Buddy of mine launched a HR over the right center fence (~300 ft), like straight down the RC alley. By the time the ball landed, it was at least 20 ft on the other side of the 1B foul line. Between the wind and righty spin, the ball must have hooked close to 200 feet! Almost as much as my golf slice!

 

[uncdrew]

Something I've long wondered: Do batted balls spin differently in softball vs baseball, either because a pitched ball spins differently (does it? If so, would that even matter?) or because of the trajectory? Or maybe even the size of the ball?

The first thing that made me wonder was the number of times I've seen a softball player foul a pitch off her own facemask. In all my years of playing and watching baseball, I saw a kid foul a ball off his own face one time ever. I see it in softball, at different levels, a few times a year at least. I figured something about the spin at contact could cause this, but maybe not.

To counter that, it does seem like fly balls tend to act the way I expect them to from my baseball experience, so maybe there's no difference.

I have heard/read that when a softball is hit the spin is kind of reset and any spin after the hit is a result of the bat/swing. Any spin on the pitch as it's hit doesn't translate into the path of the ball. This may differ for foul tips, which of course aren't in the field of play.

[EDIT: Just sharing what I read. Could be wrong. But think of a rise ball. We've all seen riseballs go off the bat with backspin, even though perfect riseball spin would be the exact opposite.]

 

[CoachJD]

I have heard/read that when a softball is hit the spin is kind of reset and any spin after the hit is a result of the bat/swing. Any spin on the pitch as it's hit doesn't translate into the path of the ball. This may differ for foul tips, which of course aren't in the field of play.

[EDIT: Just sharing what I read. Could be wrong. But think of a rise ball. We've all seen riseballs go off the bat with backspin, even though perfect riseball spin would be the exact opposite.]

Is this also true for baseball?

I wonder if trajectory would matter more than spin then. Or maybe not at all.

Still can't make sense of all those foul balls off the facemask. Maybe I've just seen some really crappy swings.

 

[_MIA_]

Is this also true for baseball?

Abstract

Experiments are conducted to investigate the spin of a baseball undergoing an oblique collision with a bat. A baseball was fired horizontally at speeds up to 120 mph onto a 3"-diameter cylinder of wood that was rigidly attached to a wall. In one experiment, a two-wheel pitching machine was used in which the backspin or topspin of the incident ball could be adjusted. In another experiment, an air cannon was used to project the ball with no spin. In both experiments, markers on the ball were tracked with high-speed video to determine the velocity and spin vectors, before and after the scattering. Our primary results are as follows: (1) For a given angle of incidence, the scattered spin is nearly independent of the incident spin; (2) The spin of the scattered baseball is considerably larger than expected for a model whereby the ball rolls before leaving the surface. Implications for the spin of batted baseballs will be explored.

Nathan, et al., "Spin of a batted baseball", 9th Conference of the International Sports Engineering Association (ISEA), Procedia Engineering 34 ( 2012 ) 182 – 187

 

[uncdrew]

It would seem like it takes a special kind of swing mechanic to foul the ball off your face.

 

[efastball]

It depends on where you hit the ball with the bat. A popup might spin one way, and a grounder might go another.

Or... Launch angle direction determines spin.

 

[ArmWhip]

Just a couple of days ago Ronald Acuna fouled a ball off the ground and right into the old 'family jewels'.

 

[Gags]

Just a couple of days ago Ronald Acuna fouled a ball off the ground and right into the old 'family jewels'.

If he's not on the DL, he needs to swing harder next time.

Sincerely,

Anonymous Mets Fan