Velocity Increases in Major League Baseball

by: Adam Jeannette

Background on Velocity     

    -In 2002, the average fastball velocity was 89 mph (1). This was merely 18 years ago. Since then, the average has increased over 4 mph to 93.45 mph (2). To the average fan this may not seem like a big deal, however, it is easier to understand when it is put into perspective. A 90-95 mph fastball takes roughly 400 milliseconds to reach home plate. Subtracting from this reaction time is the time it takes for the brain to process the image of the baseball. This takes 100 milliseconds. Subtracting this from the 400 milliseconds, there is now 300 milliseconds for the batter to react, but wait, there are a few more subtractions needed to be made. The average swing takes roughly 150 milliseconds to get around enough to make contact with the ball. Building off this, it takes the brain 25 milliseconds to send the signal to the body to swing. This leaves the batter with 125 milliseconds to choose whether or not to swing at a fastball that is 90-95 mph. It takes 300-400 milliseconds just to blink. Adding to the difficulty of deciding to swing, the batter has roughly a 7 millisecond window to hit the ball in fair territory (3). It is quite obvious why velocity is important after looking at these statistics on hitting a fastball. The faster the fastball, the more room for error there is with the hitter. 

Why is Velocity Higher in Today's Game?

Strength

    -Modern pitchers embrace lifting now more than ever. It used to be thought that pitchers should not lift because it will take away their flexibility and mobility, negatively impacting their ability to throw. It has since been proven that this is not true. In fact, the exact opposite is true, with pitchers training harder now than ever before. It is common to see pitchers lifting enormous weights nowadays, while carrying impressive amounts of muscle mass on their body. Two examples of modern, strong pitchers are Michael Lorenzen and Noah Syndergard.  Correlating with their strength is their velocity. Lorenzen has an average fastball velocity of 97.28 (4) and Syndergard has an average fastball velocity is 98.6 (5). Obviously, more than just pure strength and size goes into high velocity fastballs, but the importance of these factors is still there. 

Michael Lorenzen (Left) and Noah Syndergard (Right)

Mechanics

    -More is known now more than ever about what high velocity mechanics should generally look like. Although there are multiple ways to throw hard, there are a few similarities displayed between elite level pitching mechanics. These include hip/shoulder separation, drive leg rotation/direction, front leg brace, arm action (most of the time), and the drift after the initial leg lift. Since it is now common knowledge what good, efficient mechanics should look like, more players are implementing these ideas to their own deliveries, creating more velocity than ever before. On top of this, facilities such as Driveline Baseball and P3 Performance have bio mechanics labs to measure these variables in pitching mechanics and adjust player's programming based off the results. 

Trevor Bauer

Intent

    -Pitchers are taught to throw harder in today's game more than in the past. Velocity is preached to pitchers and radar guns are more available with affordable options such as the Pocket Radar. The reason velocity is more important now is that it can advance a player's career to the next level, whether that be college or professional. For example, if a high school player wants to play at least division 2 baseball in college, he must throw a certain speed to open the doors to this opportunity. This same thought process is used for getting a shot at professional baseball. MLB scouts will sign the guy who throws 95 mph and has no idea where it's going over the guy who spots up 86 mph just because of the way the game is trending. Velocity gives players the chance to advance their careers at all levels. 

Trevor Bauer using intent to pulldown 116.9 with the 3 oz baseball

Conclusion and Only Downside of Velocity

    -With an increase in velocity also comes an increase in injuries. The reason behind this is no matter how prepared a pitcher is from their training in the weight room or on the field, there is a greater chance for injury as velocity increases. The forces on the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) increase as velocity does so there is always more risk involved with higher velocities. So why do pitchers at all levels chase velocity even though there is more risk involved? As stated in the "Intent" section of this post, velocity opens the doors for opportunities to keep playing the game at higher levels. Almost every player aspires of playing baseball at the highest level possible, and velocity gives the opportunity to do this. Velocity is a crucial part of the game and will continue to be for as long as the game exists.