In a previous article, we discussed the difference between cues and measurements as well as how technology is changing baseball. We now know that instead of simply repeating cues verbatim to players, learning more background knowledge of certain topics is needed. One of those topics is spin rate. As...
With increasing accessibility to tools such as Rapsodo, Trackman, and Flightscope at all levels of the game, spin rate and spin axis have largely dominated much of the recent conversation revolving around pitch design and repertoire development. This greater emphasis should come as no surprise given...
No one can deny that baseball has undergone a drastic change in the last few years. An increase in technology and the ability to measure things we previously couldn’t has turned things on their heads. While it can sometimes be hard to separate the exact effects of different technologies and their ef...
In previous blog posts, we’ve discussed spin rate extensively, including what it is, how it affects pitch characteristics, and how it is useful for pitch development, among other topics. For this validation study, we looked at the performance of the Diamond Kinetics PitchTracker ball in measuring sp...
Among talks of collusion, an ineffective player union and a growing discrepancy between contenders and non-contenders, this is as opportune time as any to relive the brow-beaten subject of the slickball theory. In case you missed the 2017 World Series, this has been touched upon here and here and a...
We still don’t know much about why pitchers can spin the same pitches differently, and we don’t know that much about ball flight either. But in working with a variety of pitchers on pitch development, we’ve seen some interesting differences in spin rate with our athletes. Some of these differences a...
In our article Spin Rate Part 1, we formally introduced Bauer Units. Bauer Units normalize spin rate per velocity, which, as you’ll see, is important when comparing pitchers’ spin rates. Let’s review the Bauer Unit equation: Bauer Units = Spin Rate (RPM) / Velocity (MPH) This is pretty straight forw...
Building on Part One of this series we’ll be looking at how spin rate actually causes pitches to move, and what we can do to affect this. Review of Spin Rate: What we Know Now In our previous article we talked about the Magnus effect which, as a result of the backspin a thrown ball has, generates li...
Major League Baseball is now in the Statcast era, where Trackman radar is fully operational across all MLB parks and tracking both pitches and batted balls. This offers several advantages to the previously-existing PITCHf/x and HITf/x systems developed by Sportvision, though the transition is not wi...
This article is intended to build a basis of knowledge of what we, at Driveline Baseball, understand about spin rate at this current time. We will hopefully answer some common questions that we receive and well as link out to resources that we’ve found helpful in understanding spin rate. This articl...
