If you look closely at the crowd behind home plate at a baseball game, you may see someone holding up a radar gun, similar to the one used by police officers to catch speeders. The ones holding the radar guns are often scouts or team officials, tracking to see how their own pitchers are doing, and measuring the pitching ability of an opposing pitcher. Radar guns can usually clock the speed of a baseball to within a couple of miles an hour, or closer.
How Radar Guns Work
Radar guns send a beam of electromagnetic waves in the direction of the ball being pitched. Tiny changes in the wavelength of the reflected beam are picked up by the gun's receiving panel, revealing the speed of the ball. Radar guns are designed to focus solely on the speed of the pitch, and not be confounded by other movement in the background. The speed of the pitch is calculated and a result is immediately recorded. Major League Baseball also takes note of pitch speed and posts speed velocities on the scoreboard in most stadiums.
Margin for Error
Like any device, a radar gun can be imperfect, with speeds anywhere from half a mile to five miles off their actual speeds. One reason for this margin of error includes where the gun is located in relation to the pitcher. Because the gun is usually being operated by someone off to side of the catcher, the angle formed by the radar beam and the trajectory of the ball creates a slight error. Ideally, the radar gun would be held directly behind the catcher so the radar beam and the trajectory of the pitch would be closer to a straight line.
How Baseball Speed Is Used
Pitch speed is a crucial tool in evaluating pitchers. The numbers are often the criteria used to tell whether a player makes the team, is advanced through the minor leagues, or is recruited for a trade. Scouts from several teams can often be seen checking the speed of sought-after pitchers in high school, college and the minor leagues. Even Major League pitchers continue to be evaluated with radar guns, both by their own teams and by scouts from other teams. Even with some room for error on radar guns, a pitcher who consistently throws fastballs in the upper 90s should get plenty of opportunities at the professional level, even if there's some question whether his fastball hits 98 or 99 mph.
Other Baseball Speeds Measured
The speed of a pitched baseball is just one important measurement in the sport. Bat speed and how fast a batter can sprint to first base are also indicative of a player's abilities. When evaluating a prospect, scouts and coaches may time the player running to first base after hitting the ball. Given how many close plays there are on the base paths, players who can gain even a tenth of a second on their time may turn ground balls into singles. Improving home-to-first speed usually involves a quicker first couple of steps out of the batter's box, and those things can be improved with practice and training. Bat speed, though not measured with a stopwatch, is important in generating power and in hitting fastballs. Players often use weighted bats in practice so they can swing their actual bats faster in games.
References
- RadarGuns.com: How Radar Guns Work
- Popular Mechanics: Popular Mechanics: How the 105-mph Fastball Tests the Limits of the Human Body By Jeremy Repanich, Sept. 1, 2010
- PitchSoftball.com: What is an Average Pitching Speed, By Gerald Warner
- Hardball Times: Zoooomaya and speed guns, by John Beamer, January 08, 2007
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