Hittin' Dingers

Home runs are the exciting moment that everyone who watches baseball is waiting for, the ability that players have to hit the ball that hard is eye opening. The physics behind home runs is just as mesmerizing. Hitting a baseball coming at you up to 100+ mph is hard enough, let alone connecting the bat to the ball in the right spot getting the right launch angle and bat speed to hit it over the fence. Batters have between .45-.55 seconds to react to an incoming pitch, an average persons reaction time is .75 seconds. This means players have to start their swing before the pitch has even left the pitchers hand. The two most important things needed to hit a home run are bat speed and launch angle. The faster the bat speed the farther the ball is going to travel, a powerful hitter swings the bat up to 70 mph. This translates to the ball leaving the bat well over 100 mph. It is said that the ideal launch angle from the bat is 20-30 degrees. There is about a 6-8 inch area on the barrel of the bat called the "sweet spot" that gives hitters a chance for the best possible hit. The links posted to the right give in game analysis' of players hitting home runs.

Links to learn more about home runs:

• Sports Science: Home Run Derby

• Baseball Home Run Calculator
• Aaron Judge Statcast Home Run Tracker
  

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