This is a nickname that baseball uses for breaking pitches that don't depend on the Magnus Effect for their breaking force. The idea seems to be that on 2 seam pitches there is an imbalance in the wake behind the ball that can cause a pitch to break. The air flow that surrounds a ball can be of two types, laminar (smooth) or turbulent. The amount of force that is associated with each type of flow is different. Seams can change laminar flow to turbulent and create an imbalance that causes a ball to break. So seam orientation and axis of spin are the major factors, RPM's don't count for much. As to whether or not these pitches use bullet spin (gyro in baseball) depends on how you define bullet spin. If the horizontal axis of spin is half way between top and bullet what kind of spin is it.
Here is a link to an explanation of how laminar flow can cause a pitch to break. It is very technical and at times made my head hurt but eventually I made sense of it. The videos of the breaking pitches are incredible to look at. The pictures of balls in the illustrations are from an overhead view so you are looking at the wakes on the sides of the ball, not on the top and bottom, that had me confused for a while.
Here is a link to an explanation of how laminar flow can cause a pitch to break. It is very technical and at times made my head hurt but eventually I made sense of it. The videos of the breaking pitches are incredible to look at. The pictures of balls in the illustrations are from an overhead view so you are looking at the wakes on the sides of the ball, not on the top and bottom, that had me confused for a while.
A different idea on the “Laminar Express” Post #16
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