Jun 16, 2021 09:00:00

Will it be possible to throw a ball that is difficult to hit by verifying the trick of 'sticking an adhesive to the ball to increase the number of revolutions' that is popular in the major leagues?

In baseball, pitchers are prohibited from throwing with sticky substances other than non-

slip rosin on their fingers. However, in the major leagues, there is a rumor that many players have continued to throw illegal pitches with pine trees on their fingers for many years, and in recent years the number of rotations of pitches has increased significantly, so the major league organization revised the rules. It is widely reported that it will be done. In this context, theScore.com, a sports news media, is experimenting with the question, 'How big a change can you make with the tricks in question?'

Baseball's dirty little secret is out. We decided to experiment | theScore.com
https://www.thescore.com/mlb/news/2180019

The act of sticking an adhesive to a ball or hand to make it easier to bend or increase the number of rotations is clearly prohibited by the rules, but since the official ball of Major League Baseball has a smooth texture, the mechanism There has been a 'spill' that the side will tolerate as long as it is not overdone. However, in recent years, this fraud has become so prominent that the Yankees' ace, Gerrit Cole, and the Dodgers' Cy Young Award right-handed Trevor Bauer are among the top suspects.

Abnormal data of Cy Young Award pitchers ... 'I was worried' Darvish also points out 'the actual situation of the illegal pitching problem' --MLB --Number Web --Number
https://number.bunshun.jp/articles/-/848418

In response to this situation, it is widely reported that the Major League Baseball Organization has begun to revise the rules and is trying to put a scalpel on this issue. TheScore.com has published an experimental report on the question, 'Does sticking a stick to a ball make a big difference?', Which is the basis of a series of problems.

The collaborators for the experiment were Tom Colcombe of the University of Pittsburgh and Spencer Curran of Seton Hill University. Colcombe, Curran, and travis Sawchik, a reporter at theScore.com, put various sticky substances such as 'Spider Tack ', which is said to be rampant in the major leagues, on their hands and hit the ball toward the speed gun Rapsodo. I repeated the throwing experiment. Below is Mr. Sawchik who holds the Spider Tack in his hand.

The results of the experiment are below, and this is a table about Fastball (straight). It is a pitch when the Baseline (reference value) is not available, and below that is a slip called Rosin, Sunscreen mix (rosin + sunscreen), Pine tar (pine tar), Firm Grip (

Cramer Firm Grip). Stop product) ・ Spider Tack and the names of attached substances are lined up. Velo is the ball speed (unit is miles per hour), Spin is the number of revolutions, Ratio is the ratio of the number of revolutions to the ball speed, and is described here as an 'indicator of difficulty in hitting'. With Spider Tack, the ball speed drops by about 2.9mph (4.7km / h), but the number of revolutions improves by 420rpm. As a result of this increase in the number of revolutions, the result was that the amount of straight fall was reduced by 2 inches (about 5 cm).

The following is the experimental result of the following Breaking ball. As a result, the non-slip product Firm Grip ranked first in both ball speed and rotation speed. At the time of use, the effect of improving the rotation speed by 460 rpm can be obtained.

The biggest effect of the sticky substance on the ball is 'improvement of the number of revolutions'. As the number of revolutions of the ball increases, the Magnus effect on the ball increases, so the changing ball bends more and the fastball flies straighter against gravity. Since the 2020 season, Major League Baseball batters have left a batting average of .264 for four-seam fastballs (so-called straights) with revs of 2250-2350 rpm, but .217 for fastballs above 2500 rpm. There is only a batting average. The number of pitches is increasing rapidly year by year, and 2021 is a season with a low batting average, which is rare in history.

In addition, the result when the 'product that can be purchased at the grocery store' described as an extra experiment is attached to the hand is as follows. Harold Mozingo, who has played in Major League Baseball, is in charge of this experiment.

Super blow pop and Blow pop are lollipop candy that is common in the United States. Bubblicious gum is a gum that is also sold in Japan. Tootsie Roll is a chocolate-flavored candy, and Pine tar and Sunscreen plus rosin are the same as above. Garlic is garlic, Baby powder is baby powder, and Sunscreen is sunscreen. Sunscreen seems to just slip if not combined with rosin.