Bloops: Why A Curveball Is Hard To Hit
Posted by Neil Paine on October 19, 2010
From Discovery News, here's a post about the science behind fooling hitters with a curve. The secret is in the way our eyes constantly shift focus while observing a moving object:
"Batters will use their foveal, or central, vision when the ball leaves the pitcher's hand. About 20 feet in, the batter will switch to peripheral vision, which occurs outside of the very center of the gaze. By the time the ball crosses home plate, the batter reverts back to central vision. Humans constantly switch focus like this.
The problem is peripheral vision processes first and second order motion in conjunction, while foveal vision distinguishes between the two.
During the peripheral stage, batters do not notice that the curveball has been gradually changing direction ever since it left the pitcher's mound.
Once they switch back to the foveal vision, batters accurately register the changed direction, but consider it a result of the ball's immediate 'break,' instead of their temporary impaired vision.
It makes the coach's adage to 'keep your eye on the ball' nearly impossible. Not only do we switch vision, the visual processing we use while following the ball can't process curveball mechanics."
October 19th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
Didn't read the article yet, so maybe this is addressed, but some batters are able to read the rotation of the seams which enables them to better project its eventual location.
October 19th, 2010 at 8:52 pm
If memory serves {of what I've read, of course -- contrary to what my grandkids think, I really wasn't around back then}, Fred Goldsmith related most of these facts when he first demonstrated the "freak pitch" just before Candy Cummongs popularized it -- in the pre-National League days around 1873.
October 20th, 2010 at 4:59 am
I don't need no scientists telling me why curve balls are hard to hit. Curve balls are hard to hit because that's how god wanted them!
October 20th, 2010 at 8:38 am
A reported once told Dizzy Dean that a curveball was just an optical illusion. Ole Diz responded by telling the reporter to stand behind a tree sixty feet six inches away and he would nail him in the ass with an optical illusion.
Or something like that ...
October 20th, 2010 at 11:47 am
Johnny-
I once had a coach tell me to pick up the seams of the ball to determine pitch type, but I think it is physically impossible to read the rotation of the seams of a major-league pitch. Instead, I think they see the release of the ball from the pitcher's hand and the hand motion so they intuitively know (from the release) what type of spin the pitcher is putting on the ball. Many major-league breaking balls have enough spin to make the seams look like a blur to the batter, not to mention the batter has between .41s and .48s to react to a pitch from the time the ball leaves the hand to the time it reaches the plate (based on 88-100 mph, and yes, I know a breaking ball can be much slower). Also, batters can't use ballistic eye movement to track the ball the the point of contact with the bat. Instead, they use saccadic eye movements, so seeing smooth rotation of the seams in such a short amount of time would seem unlikely. Another reason, and perhaps the most persuasive, is because Tony Gwynn said even the best hitters can't read seams. I tend to believe him.
October 20th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
Hmm. Well, I certainly can't see the seams, so telling me to do it would do no good either, but I figured major leaguers are different. I heard numerous times about how some batters, for example, pick up the "dot" on a slider. Too lazy to dig up any quotes right now though.
October 20th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
It's not about seeing the seams perfectly, it's about how you see it motion which would be like a blur but identifyable. You identify the spinning seams/blur and how that seam/blur is rotating to identify type of pitch, of course not every pitcher's balls rotate exactly the same which is why getting a base hit 30% of the time is consider very successful.
But basically you have in your mind how the seams rotate for a curve, slider/sinker, splitter, 4 seam or 2 seam fastball and change up. If you know the pitcher you try and have that in your mind for the at bat. Of course none of this will tell you location, that you have to pick up based on hunches, where the pitcher is standing on the rubber, arm slots and situation at hand.
October 20th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
JT-
I have seen slow-motion video that shows the "dot" that emerges on certain breaking pitches. It's VERY easy to see, at least in super slow-motion. So, it's not impossible to think that a major leaguer with 20-10 vision would be able to see enough of it to adjust.