The Science Of Baseball: What Is The Fastest A Pitcher Can Throw?

Bring the Heat The Tigers’ Joel Zumaya is one of the hardest throwers in baseball. Unoffically, his fastball has been clocked at 104 mph. G. Newman Lowrance/Getty images; Medi-Mation

Not sure, my guess would be that either Stephen Strasburg or Aroldis Chapman would be throwing it though.

The Science Of Baseball: What Is The Fastest A Pitcher Can Throw?:

"First, let's be practical about how blazing fast 104 MPH is.    A 90 MPH fastball, the go-to pitch and speed for the top echelon of pitchers, is travelling at 132 feet per second.   Since the ball is closer to the batter when it is released and because the batter is in the middle of the plate depth, we are really only talking about 55 feet to see a pitch rather than just over 60.    That means the batter has .4167 seconds to react.    Boosting that speed to 104 is bordering on unthinkable to hit (3) but it explains why a lot of pitchers can be so successful without triple-digit speed."

From POPSCI.com:

How it Works: The Fastball
The biomechanics behind throwing 100 mph without ripping your elbow apart

http://www.popsci.com/how-it-works/article/2008-07/how-it-works-fastball

The slingshot move of a pro pitcher’s shoulder is the fastest recorded action in sports. A pitch’s power, however, is generated by his entire body. For a right-handed pitcher, the chain of kinetic energy starts as soon as he lifts his left leg and faces third base. The energy of that foot landing transfers into the rotation of the trunk and then finally unleashes in the arm whipping around at the elbow. Glenn Fleisig, the research director of the American Sports Medicine Institute, has found that the hardest throwers rotate their pelvis toward home plate and follow with their trunk less than a tenth of a second later, snapping their bodies like a whip.

New Thinking: Conventional wisdom has long warned against young pitchers throwing curveballs for fear that the extreme stress it puts on the elbow can tear the ulnar collateral ligament [see below] or even break their growing bones. A new study published by Fleisig earlier this year in the American Journal of Sports Medicine showed that the fastball actually puts slightly more stress on the player’s arm than a curveball. The bigger risk factor, the study concluded, is how many pitches are thrown. Based on this research, Little League Baseball just instituted its first pitch-count limits: 50 pitches a day for eight-year-olds, scaling up with age.

MISH: TOP ORWELLIAN COMMENTS OF ALL-TIME

I'm with you there Baldy!!!

From Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis Blog:
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2012/05/we-embittered-people-to-protect-future.html

Top Orwellian Comments Of All Times

• An American major after the destruction of the Vietnamese Village Ben Tre: "It became necessary to destroy the village in order to save it."
• Vice President Joe Biden: "We Have to Go Spend Money to Keep From Going Bankrupt."
• President George W. Bush: "I've abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system."(For a discussion please see The Most Redeeming Feature of Capitalism is Failure)
• Nancy Pelosi said "We have to pass the health care bill to see what's in it." (YouTube Video)
• Larry Summers says "The central irony of financial crisis is that while it is caused by too much confidence, too much borrowing and lending and too much spending, it can only be resolved with more confidence, more borrowing and lending, and more spending." (Reuters)

 

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Baseball America | Blog | Baseball America College Blog | NCAA, MLB In Serious Discussions To Fund Additional Scholarships

This is something that MLB should have been on a while ago, but better late than never. I'm all for Title IX, but 11.7 scholarship for baseball and more for college softball. And as we can see from the graphic above, some schools don't even fully fund the sport. I'm not blaming Title IX so much as the mathematical gymnastics schools are required to perform in order to remain in compliance with Title IX.

The road to hell is always paved with good intentions.

If the government won't correct the error that they created, then this is a pretty good secondary solution.

Baseball America | Blog | Baseball America College Blog | NCAA, MLB In Serious Discussions To Fund Additional Scholarships:

"For years, the prospect of increasing college baseball's 11.7 scholarship limit has seemed like a pipe dream. Certainly, colleges and universities aren't going to start funding extra baseball scholarships anytime soon, but suddenly there is real momentum behind the notion that Major League Baseball might step in and pay for additional college baseball scholarships.

Dave Keilitz, executive director of the American Baseball Coaches Association, confirmed a CBSSports.com report that MLB is in discussions with the NCAA about forming a lasting financial partnership. Keilitz sits on a committee that also includes NCAA officials Dennis Poppe, the director of football and baseball operations, and Damani Leech plus former Division I baseball committee chairmen Ron Wellman, Larry Templeton and Tim Weiser. Keilitz said the college committee has been meeting with MLB and MLB Players Association officials for more than three years, but talks were slowed by the death of former NCAA president Myles Brand and the retirement of union chief Donald Fehr."

'via Blog this'

SPORTS CHART OF THE DAY: Can Josh Hamilton Catch Barry Bonds? - Business Insider

A little too early to speculate, but OK, why not? Hamilton is one of my favorite (non-Gigante) baseball players. I would have liked the story better had he succeeded with the Rays, but still. The closest thing to Roy Hobbs that we have in baseball right now.

LET THE FIREWORKS BEGIN!!

SPORTS CHART OF THE DAY: Can Josh Hamilton Catch Barry Bonds? - Business Insider:

"OK, OK. The Texas Rangers have only played 18.5% of their schedule. And yes, the chances of Josh Hamilton catching Barry Bonds single-season home run mark of 73 are pretty slim.

But Hamilton did manage to hit 5.5% of the home runs needed to tie the record in last night's game when he hit four home runs. And after 30 games, Hamilton has 14 home runs, the same number of home runs Bonds had at this point in the 2001 season.

And besides, who outside of San Francisco wouldn't want to see Hamilton unseat Bonds? It has the potential to be the greatest story baseball has ever told."

'via Blog this'

Junior Seau's death again highlights risks of repeated concussions, head injuries | Fox News

The names of significant, big-time players leaving us well before their time and under profoundly tragic circumstances is beginning to pile up into a giant mess for the NFL. The concussion issue and resultant lawsuit could end up morphing into the NFL's version of the asbestos / tobacco class-action. Those lawsuits brought a large companies and an entire industry to its knees.

At what point do they go the way of boxing as a sport? Who would have suggested in the early 1980's -- at the height of the Mike Tyson era and following the Muhammad Ali - Joe Frazier thriller-thons -- that the survival of the sport would be in jeopardy?

Twenty of thirty years from now, we may be telling our grand-children and great-grand-children what it was like to watch NFL football.

From Fox News:
Junior Seau's death again highlights risks of repeated concussions, head injuries | Fox News:

"Seau’s death is yet another in a string of former NFL players who have committed suicide – including Terry Long of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Andre Waters of the Philadelphia Eagles, and Dave Duerson of the Chicago Bears.

Duerson, who also shot himself in the chest, specifically requested that his brain be donated to science so researchers could study the damage repeated concussions had had on his brain.  The researchers from Boston University's Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy who conducted the brain autopsy found evidence that Duerson suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.

CTE is a is a progressive degenerative disease that is caused by repeated head injuries.  People with CTE may have symptoms such as dementia, headaches, tremors, confusion, aggression and depression."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/05/03/junior-seau-death-again-highlights-risks-concussions-head-injuries/#ixzz1uKW9BFJl

CTE impacts mental and emotional health by disrupting the balance of neurochemicals in the brain.  When a person suffers a concussion, Crutchfield explained, it incites a release of glutamine, which in turn disrupts the brain’s potassium and sodium channels.  In addition, an influx of calcium to the nerve cells shut down the mitochondria, which supply energy to the brain.  This causes the brain to go into “energy failure.”

“You need energy for the brain to balance back out and for neurotransmitters to stay in balance,” Crutchfield said.  “And so that’s what leads to depression, because depression is a neurochemical imbalance.  It’s common in brain injuries to suffer injury-related depression because of the unbalance of chemicals.”

When the injuries are suffered repeatedly over time, it becomes more and more difficult for the brain to recover from the imbalance, and the condition can potentially become permanent or even worsen over time, according to Crutchfield.

Athletes and others who have reached this point need constant follow-up and adjustment of medication and treatment to grapple with the condition.

“The problem is, older retired players are out of the limelight…and people don’t watch them closely enough,” Crutchfield said.  “Retired players need to have periodic psychological assessment because they do get depressed.”

SPORTS CHART OF THE DAY: The Cardinals And Rangers Are The Class Of Major League Baseball Early On

I was happy to see the Giants on this list until I realized that they were below two other teams from their own division. That spells third place. Grrrreeeaaaat!!!

From businessinsider.com:
SPORTS CHART OF THE DAY: The Cardinals And Rangers Are The Class Of Major League Baseball Early On:

Four weeks into the baseball season, Albert Pujols has one home run, and the St. Louis Cardinals are still one of the best teams in baseball. In fact, they may be the best team in baseball.

If we look at run differential (runs scored minus runs allowed), which is typically a better indicator of how well teams are playing, the Cards are the only team outscoring their opponents by more than 2.0 runs per game. The Texas Rangers are the best in the American League at 1.7 runs per game.

Five Players Who Are Not Producing for the San Francisco Giants: A Fan's Take - Yahoo! Sports

We need to see a breakout from the slow start and soon or I'm afraid my worst fears will be confirmed -- and that is -- the reduced velocity will be "discovered" to have been caused by some lingering ligament or labrum tear that will be confirmed by "routine" examination. Another bad start or two takes us beyond a run of the mill "slow start".

How this will affect the long-term relationship and contract negotiations -- if it happens --is anyone's guess.

But none of this is good right now. Timmy needs a solid outing and soon. A deep 7+ innings, 9-10 strikeout effort would be nice. Just to calm some nerves in Gigante-land.


From Yahoo Sports:
Five Players Who Are Not Producing for the San Francisco Giants: A Fan's Take - Yahoo! Sports:

"Tim Lincecum (0-2 with 10.54 ERA, 22 H allowed, 16 SO, and 4 BB over 13.2 IP)
The Freak is going through some troubled times at the moment. In his most recent outing, he took the loss but showed some improvement from prior starts. His command is not too shaky as evidenced by his strikeout-to-walk ratio. Batters are not being fooled by his reduced velocity, though. Hopefully, Lincecum figures things out quickly enough. Look for his next start to be a quality one if he can avoid runs in the first or second innings and start fooling some opposing batters."

Opportunity knocks for Conor Gillaspie

This is the guy I've been wanting to see get a chance to hit for the big club. Too bad he couldn't have received the chance to play under better circumstances. Panda was having the makings of a really solid season.

From Yahoo Sports:
Four Replacement Options for Giants' Pablo Sandoval at Third Base: A Fan's Take - Yahoo! Sports:

Conor Gillaspie

Gillaspie received the call to replace Sandoval and started at third base on May 3. Of course, he is expected to see the most playing time at the hot corner. His defensive track record in the minors is nothing special, but Panda never played with the strongest glove either. The fact of the matter is that Gillaspie's offensive output in the minors looks decent enough. That may not translate into success at the plate in the majors, but he sports a decent .859 OPS at AAA over the last two seasons. For that reason, this player could prove to be an acceptable replacement.

A good day for the Giants farm system - Baseball America Prospect Report

Baseball America Prospect Report
Compiled by Baseball America
May 1, 2012

AA Joseph, Tommy DH .257 2 HR (3); Prospect Hitter of the Day

AAA Culberson, Charlie 2B .281 HR (3)

AAA Gillaspie, Conor 3B .341 2 2B (5)

They said it, and I quote!!

Dean Smith, former North Carolina basketball coach:

"Once a year an athlete may be made insufferable by praise. Every other day in the year a deserving athlete will drop out of a sport for want of a word of praise."

Bob Bruce, Former Senior PGA Pro:

"I used to play with a guy who was such an inveterate cheat that when he made a hole-in-one he wrote down 0 on his scorecard"

Ara Parseghian, former Notre Dame football coach:

"The best time to make friends is before you need them."

Father Hesburgh, Notre Dame:

"Ten years after the average athlete graduates, everyone will have forgotten when and where he played, but every time he opens his mouth, everyone will know whether he was educated." 

Kay Yow, former NC State women's basketball coach:

"It's important for your team to know what you stand for and what you won't stand for."

Chuck Noll, former Pittsburgh Steelers coach:

 "Coaches who scrimmage all the time probably don't know what to practice."

Bryan Lewis, NHL referee after Tiger Williams, former NHL tough guy skated over to him and said:

"Look at Walker and Schultz hammering each other. Add up their IQ's and it wouldn't come to 11." 

Lewis: "Why don't you jump in and make it an even dozen?"

Dale Brown, former LSU basketball coach:

"How come the NCAA needs a 500 page manual when the Ten Commandments can fit on a 3x5 card?"

Time Magazine 8/25/1961 edition, on umpires:

"The umpire should combine the integrity of a Supreme Court judge, the physical Agility of an acrobat, the endurance of Job, and the heart of a serial killer."

Frank Deford on Keyshawn Johnson:

"Before they made Keyshawn, they should have broken the mold."

Mickey Rivers, after hearing Reggie Jackson brag that he had a 140 IQ:

"Out of what? A thousand?"

Lou Piniella, on an argument he had with an umpire:

"I cussed him out in Spanish and he threw me out in English."

Vin Scully, recalling Tommy Lasorda's reaction after Jack Clark's 9th inning HR eliminates the Dodgers from 1985 playoffs:

"Tommy Lasorda looked up to the Big Dodger in the sky and cried 'Why me?' and the Big Dodger in the sky replied: 'Because you should have walked him, dummy'"