THREE-DIMENSIONAL KINEMATICS OF THE BATTED BALL IN BASEBALL: THE EFFECT OF SPIN ON THE BALL TRAJECTORY AND FLIGHT DISTANCE

Authors

Hirotaka Nakashima, Chukyo UniversityFollow
Gen Horiuchi
Shinji Sakurai

Category

Implement sports

Document Type

Paper

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the three-dimensional kinematics of batted baseballs toward the same-field, center-field, and opposite-field, and estimate the effect of ball spin on trajectory and flight distance. Two collegiate baseball players performed free-batting, and they were instructed to hit a ball as far as possible in each direction. Twenty-seven trials were analyzed, and compared the ball kinematics among three hitting directions. The mean flight distance for the center-field was greater than that of the other fields. For the same-field and opposite-field, the amount of side spin components was larger than that of the center-field. Thus, it was indicated that the batted ball trajectories for the same-field and opposite-field were curved due to the Magnus force works horizontally, and flight distance tended to be shorter than that of the center-field.

Recommended Citation

Nakashima, Hirotaka; Horiuchi, Gen; and Sakurai, Shinji (2018) "THREE-DIMENSIONAL KINEMATICS OF THE BATTED BALL IN BASEBALL: THE EFFECT OF SPIN ON THE BALL TRAJECTORY AND FLIGHT DISTANCE," ISBS Proceedings Archive: Vol. 36: Iss. 1, Article 159.
Available at: https://commons.nmu.edu/isbs/vol36/iss1/159