Measuring Exit Speed

[laker]

My DD and her friend plan to measure exit speed off a number of bats using borrowed RADAR gun at the local batting cages for a (pretty non-scientific if you ask me, but that's not the point...) science project. I think it sounds like fun. Given a tee, a bunch of fairly new softballs, a few bats, and a well calibrated RADAR gun, what do you think the best setup is for this? Should I put a screen a set distance in front of the tee and have them hit balls at it while using the gun? Or, should they go from behind the tee? Thoughts? I've never really put any thought into doing something like this until now, and I'm sure there has to be an easy way, as well as something I haven't thought of at all.

Laker

 

[riseball]

It should not matter one way or the other. Personally I would prefer people hit away from and not toward my $900 radar gun. Also realize that you will be operating under the assumption that the exit speed of the ball is greater than the speed of the bat.

 

[CoogansBluff]

I don't have any good advice, but I'd be interested to know the exit speeds you're getting. Not from the bats, but the kids. Those numbers interest me.

Would seem that a better test would be to go outdoors and measure distance. With radar, you might get different readings based on the trajectory. But I'm clearly no expert.

 

[humpty]

I stand behind a net and have my kid hit the same 5 balls at the net off a tee. Only Count the line drives. High or low trajectory will give off readings.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Having the radar gun behind the tee will give the same value as infront of the tee. The notion is to have the radar gun inline. Having the radar gun behind the tee is safer IMO.

You may find that you'll want to have the radar gun placed approximately 10ft, or more, behind the tee. Placing it too close may cause reading issues.

 

[laker]

Thanks for the input. I'm interested in the readings too. We do hit off a tee outside some and compare the difference with various bats, never really measure though. My DD's thought is indoors with a gun will eliminate more variables like wind, rough ground, etc... It's her experiment, I'm just here to facilitate, and give a little guidance. The work needs to be her own. Neither of them hit like Bustos so I wouldn't expect crazy good numbers.

Any time spent with her is valuable to me, so I'm all about being around when she asks.

 

[laker]

I took my DD and her friend to hit off a tee with a mixed bag of bats, new and old. We had a 2014 and 2015 LXT, a Mizuno Whiteout, a couple of baseball bats, composite and wood.... basically a grab bag of garbage and a couple nice bats. Off the top of my head, whinging it from memory:

My 13 y/o DD:
2014 LXT - Best exit speed 62mph - consistent for three out of five measurements (well used and broken in bat)
2015 LXT - Best exit speed somewhere in the mid to high 50's
2014 Whiteout 32" -8 - Low to mid 50's

An old Easton aluminum bat we got for a couple bucks at a garage sale was the surprise of the bunch. It's the first time she ever really swung it and remarked that she really liked it, a blue 32" -9 of some sort. (Maybe a Rocketech is in her future)In her hands it was as good as the newer LXT, which clearly hasn't opened up for her yet like the well used 2014 LXT but has a small fraction of the swings.

When she gets the data in a spreadsheet I'll do some basic math on it all and post it up. You'll laugh when you see the mixed bag of bats they swung. I fear sound scientific method was not in use here, but it's her project not mine. It was fun though.

 

[Greenmonsters]

I took my DD and her friend to hit off a tee with a mixed bag of bats, new and old. We had a 2014 and 2015 LXT, a Mizuno Whiteout, a couple of baseball bats, composite and wood.... basically a grab bag of garbage and a couple nice bats. Off the top of my head, whinging it from memory:

My 13 y/o DD:
2014 LXT - Best exit speed 62mph - consistent for three out of five measurements (well used and broken in bat)
2015 LXT - Best exit speed somewhere in the mid to high 50's
2014 Whiteout 32" -8 - Low to mid 50's

An old Easton aluminum bat we got for a couple bucks at a garage sale was the surprise of the bunch. It's the first time she ever really swung it and remarked that she really liked it, a blue 32" -9 of some sort. (Maybe a Rocketech is in her future)In her hands it was as good as the newer LXT, which clearly hasn't opened up for her yet like the well used 2014 LXT but has a small fraction of the swings.

When she gets the data in a spreadsheet I'll do some basic math on it all and post it up. You'll laugh when you see the mixed bag of bats they swung. I fear sound scientific method was not in use here, but it's her project not mine. It was fun though.

All's good with that! Bats were swung, balls were hit, and data were recorded. Science was done.

 

[riseball]

And a fun time was had by all including Dad!

 

[CoogansBluff]

My 13 y/o DD:
2014 LXT - Best exit speed 62mph - consistent for three out of five measurements (well used and broken in bat)

That's a good speed off a tee for age 13. My guess is that's enough to send it 200 on the fly, but sorta guessing.