How Do I Measure Baseball Pitch Speed?

There are three ways: do the math with a stopwatch, count frames on slow-motion video, or use a radar gun. The first is free and rough, the second is free and decent, and the third is the easiest and most accurate.

The formula

Speed = distance ÷ time

Then convert feet per second to miles per hour by multiplying by 0.6818.

Use the right distance

The pitching rubber is 60 ft 6 in from the back point of home plate in MLB. But the pitcher doesn't release the ball at the rubber; they stride forward and let go several feet in front of it. So the ball actually travels a bit less than 60.5 feet. For a rough number, many people use about 55 feet for an adult pitcher. Measure for your own pitcher if you can, and use a shorter distance for youth fields (for example, 46 ft from rubber to plate in Little League for most ages).

Worked example

A ball travels 55 feet in 0.42 seconds:

• 55 ÷ 0.42 = 131.0 ft/s
• 131.0 × 0.6818 = about 89 mph

That's the average speed over the whole flight. The ball is fastest right out of the hand and slows down on the way, which is why it reads lower than a release speed on TV.

Method 1: stopwatch

Start when the ball leaves the hand, stop when it hits the glove. The problem: a pitch takes under half a second, and your reaction time starting and stopping the watch can easily be off by a tenth of a second or more. On a 0.42 second pitch, being off by 0.05 seconds changes the answer by more than 10%. Average several pitches if you try this.

Method 2: slow-motion video

Record from the side, with the release and the glove in frame. Count the frames from release to catch, then divide by the frame rate:

• At 240 frames per second, 100 frames = 0.417 seconds.
• Plug that into the formula with your distance.

Higher frame rates are better: at 240 fps each frame is about 0.004 seconds. Phone apps that do this for you exist too; we compare them in radar gun apps vs real radar guns.

Method 3: a radar gun

Point it at the pitch from behind the catcher or pitcher and read the number. No math, and a good gun is rated at about ±1 mph. It also shows speed near release, which is the number most people mean when they talk about velocity. See are radar guns accurate? for how to get good readings.

Skip the math: see our guide to the best baseball radar guns →