Since we hit and perform most of our experiments in our basement, we use Lite-Flite Baseballs in order to keep us safe from ricochets. When we use HitTrax we are more concerned with either improvements over time or differential measurements so we were not concerned with what the actual exit velocity was for the hitters.
However, every time we have someone new over to hit with us we get asked the same question; What would be exit velocity if we were hitting regular baseballs? We used the most recent person to asked that question to perform a preliminary test to have an idea of how the average exit velocity for a player would change with different type of baseballs.
Equipment:
Procedure: All swings were taken of a tee by the same hitter. The tests consisted of 90 total swings (30 swings per ball), which were performed in nine blocks of 10-swings done in the following order ABC BCA CAB. Swings with the Jugs Lie-Flite ball were letter ‘A’, Swings with the MacGregor Dimpled ball were letter ‘B’, Swings with the Rawlings NCAA ball were letter ‘C’. For every swing exit velocity was measured with HitTrax.
Results:
The hitter manage to produced average ball exit speed with the Lite-Flite baseball that was 4.3 MPH higher than with the Rawlings NCAA baseball. In addition, the hitter manage to produced average ball exit speed with the MacGregor Dimpled baseball that was 2.5 MPH higher than with the Rawlings NCAA baseball.
According to the limited test data, it looks like for this hitter we could have an approximation of the exit velocity (with regular baseball) by subtracting 4 MPH from the results obtained when hitting with the Lite-Flite baseball or approximately 3 MPH when hitting with a dimpled baseball.
Now, this data doesn’t mean that every hitter will experience similar results. This was just a quick test to help understand he differences in exit velocity between the three types of baseball. However, we don't have enough data to come to definitive conclusions on how to translate the exit velocity between two types of baseballs.
Ideas to Improve/Expand the Experiment:
There are many ways to improve or expand on this work for example;
1) Collect more data to build statistical significance.
2) Use front toss or pitching machine instead of tee work (e.g. Faster pitch speeds will help create higher exit velocities)
3) Use different hitters
4) Add other types of baseballs
5) Use bat sensors to account for differences in bat speed during the experiment
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