Was bored and did some testing of how fast a 100mph fastball really is in the game.

[NYMets2016]

So I put the game onto practice mode on legend, put it on maxed out pitch speed sliders, had it on the fastest frame rate setting.

Had Emmanuel Clase pitch on the Indians and did not swing and recorded the video using the PS share button ( which downgrades down to 30fps which could slightly effect the reading ).

I had him throw 4sfb and cutters down the middle.

A 101mph cutter took 12 frames from release point to the plate. Which at a 30fps video is 0.4 seconds ( 400 milliseconds ).

A 100mph 4sfb took 13 frames from release point to the plate. Which on a 30fps video is 0.4333 seconds ( 433 milliseconds ).

A 91mph slider took 14 frames from release point to the plate. 466 milliseconds.


Now because some people think sinkers were glitched as being too fast I tried out Synderrgaard's sinker.


His 99mph sinker took 13 frames to reach the plate. About 433 milliseconds.

His 97mph sinker took 13 frames to reach the plate. Again about 433 milliseconds.


Now the frames are not 100% accurate due to two facts.

One is that like I said the frame rate got down graded from 60fps to 30fps. This means that sometimes when watching the video, the pitcher will release the ball in between the frame or the ball will come to the plate in between the frame.

This means that the 97mph and 99mph pitch that both came in at 13 frames, might have actually been one at 25 frames and one at 26 frames when played at 60fps.


This means that legend, on maxed out pitch speed sliders is pretty close to real life pitch speeds and that sinkers are not faster than any other pitch in the game ( atleast in offline play ).

[knucklecutter]

In real life 100mph at 55 feet of travel is .37 of a second and 75mph is .5 of a second.

[itsmb8]

This is exactly why this game needs to come to PC. Playing this on 120-150 fps would be AMAZING for trying to replicate IRL pitch speeds. Not to mention the ability to play on a widescreen display.

[knucklecutter]

Quote: Originally Posted by knucklecutter

In real life 100mph at 55 feet of travel is .37 of a second and 75mph is .5 of a second.

According to the OP a 100mph pitch in the game takes .43 of a second. In real life that would be 87 mph.

[NYMets2016]

Quote: Originally Posted by knucklecutter

According to the OP a 100mph pitch in the game takes .43 of a second. In real life that would be 87 mph.

Please keep in mind that this is with a downgrade of frame rate and that some times the pitcher's release is in between frames so it's more like 12.5 frames and 416 milliseconds which is probably closer to 91 or 92mph.

[knucklecutter]

Quote: Originally Posted by NYMets2016

Please keep in mind that this is with a downgrade of frame rate and that some times the pitcher's release is in between frames so it's more like 12.5 frames and 416 milliseconds which is probably closer to 91 or 92mph.

Oh, I understand...


.41 of a second would be 91.4mph

[canes21]

I applaud OP for his efforts, and I don't mean to ask this to downplay any of his research, but are there any other methods besides counting frames that could feasibly be done to measure the pitch speeds? I know I asked this in the last pitch speeds thread that showed the umpire camera, but I'm trying to brainstorm and see if there are any ways to measure the pitch speeds so we can get our information to become even more accurate.

I guess one method to be more accurate would be to measure the frames through a stream that is more than 30fps. I'm not sure if the PS4 outputs streams to YouTube and Twitch at higher rates than 30, but I imagine there are users here with capture cards that could potentially be more accurate with their measurements.

It would be really interesting to nail these speeds down because I am all about getting them as accurate as possible from a sliders standpoint. Obviously going 10 on the speed slider will get you closest to a real life fastball speed in game, but would it ultimately be more accurate to have breaking pitches at 8 out of 10? That is the kind of question these tests could answer for us.

[bcruise]

Interesting read. On a bit of a tangent, I had a thought about why people perceive sinkers as being faster than they actually are. It has to do with their movement - at least for me, that little rise they have before dropping is enough to make me flinch for just a split second and not register that the ball is actually coming in really fast and not slow. Most of the time, that little hesitation is enough to turn an early swing into a late one, and a well-timed one to miss the ball entirely.

I just have to train myself to think it's a fastball and not be fooled by that little bit of movement - and it's not easy to do. It's even more important in the case of outliers whose sinkers actually ARE as fast as their fastball.