How Do I Measure Baseball Pitch Speed?

Baseball players and coaches use the speed of a pitched baseball to measure how fast it was thrown. They can do this because they know how long it takes for the ball to go from the pitcher’s hand, across home plate, and into the catcher’s glove.

You can measure the average speed of the baseball as it travels in feet per second.

You can use a measuring tape to determine the distance between the pitcher’s mound and home plate.

Official major league baseball distance is 60 feet 6 inches or 60.5 feet.

Using a stopwatch, you will time the baseball pitch from the moment it leaves the pitcher’s hand until it reaches the catcher’s glove. Take, for example, a baseball with a 0.44 second travel time.

The Baseball Pitch Speed formula is written as follows:

Distance to home plate / Baseball travel time

In our case, that would be:

60.6 feet / .44 seconds which equals 137.5 feet per second. For simplicity of use, you should convert the “feet per second” value to “miles per hour.”

So do that you multiply 137.5 feet per second by .682, and the final result is 93.75 miles per hour.

That’s fast but not FAST by today’s standards. In the MLB today, you have pitchers routinely averaging over 95 miles per hour and even hitting 100 miles per hour with some frequency.

The truth is that pitches reach home plate in a fraction of a second. To ensure accurate calculations and timing, make sure you measure the speed of several pitches.

How Do I Measure Baseball Pitch Speed Conclusion

However, would you say no to an easier way to measure baseball pitch speed that requires no math on your part?

Great, I thought so!

The easier way today is the use of a baseball radar gun. There is an extensive and in-depth 2022 review on baseball radar guns on this site.

Is it possible to use an app to measure pitching speed?

Is the radar gun the only way to figure out how fast a pitcher is pitching? No! Is there any other method of determining throwing speed? Yes! Innovation and technology have resulted in mobile apps that evaluate pitching speed. You can use your smartphone to calculate the speed of moving objects or people.