In physics in high school, we learned about forces, and how you need more force to send an object traveling the other way faster. So why can baseball players hit fastballs farther than baseballs on a tee?
In: Physics
They really don’t.
Fastballs are thrown with backspin, so the batter needs to hit the ball right to get it to carry a great distance.
The problem most batters face with slower pitches is the movement on the ball. It’s hard to make a square swing on them.
When you see a breaking ball that gets hung over the plate, they typically travel much further than an equal swing on a 90+mph fastball.
As for the difference between a pitch and a tee, it’s because baseballs are partially elastic and so is the collision. When you hit a pitch, not only is the force from the bat and batter being transferred into the ball, if you are able to overcome the balls momentum, the elasticity will transfer some of the balls own energy back in to it.
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