The art of pitching

Adair, Robert Kemp. The Physics of Baseball. New York: Harper & Row, 1990. Print.

Breaking down the most important part of baseball; pitching.

The primary goal of a pitcher is to through a strike, which means throwing the ball as close to center of the strike zone as he can without allowing the batter to get a square shot on the ball. “A ball not swung at will be called a strike if it passes over the plate so as to nick a five-sided box with a cross section the shape of the plate -17’’ wide, 26’’ high, 17’’ deep-that might be suspended with its bottom edge 19’’ above the plate” (Adair 48). With this definition you can picture the strike zone that the pitcher must throw at, it’s not as big as it may seem, and one tiny error with the release of ball from the pitcher’s hand, or the force which the pitcher applies, can drastically change where the ball goes. “The velocity, the placement, and the ball movement, are all part of the art of pitching, and the laws of nature" (Adair, 49). Using what I have learned from this part of the book, I was able to picture the size and shape of the strike zone, thus making a target for me to pitch at. What do you think having to picture a square while pitching? Does it really help?