Influence of the types of pitches on the flight distance in baseball batting

The purpose of the current study was to investigate an effect of spin or velocity of the pitched ball on distance of the hit ball experimentally using comparison of fastball with curveball. Six male baseball players belonging to Toto University baseball league participated in the current study. The participants performed 26 trials of free batting to hit the baseball. The data pitched and batted ball were collected by using 20 optical cameras. Velocity, angle, angular velocity of the batted ball immediately after impact and fright distance were calculated. The angular velocity of the batted ball was significantly correlated with the flight distance for the curveball (r = 0.73, p < 0.05), but the corresponding correlation was not found for the fastball. To strengthen the findings obtained here, the data of the interaction between the ball and bat during impact are required in the future.