How are home run distances reported? Is it distance over the ground or the path of the ball? Is it the distance the ball would have traveled on flat ground or the distance to the seat it hit?
April 24, 2024
How are home run distances reported? Is it distance over the ground or the path of the ball? Is it the distance the ball would have traveled on flat ground or the distance to the seat it hit?
25 comments
Exit velocity and launch angle are used to approximate the distance that would be traveled if there were no obstacles other than the impact with the ground.
Please post to r/dataisbeautiful cuz God damn 🥵
It looks at how the ball traveled before hitting the stadium and projects how far it would have gone on flat ground.
It’s one of those things where you lick your finger then extend your arm out with your thumb up and close one eye and have a gander.
C
I believe it is calculated to where the parabola would contact the ground if not obstructed.
They can probably get a pretty good estimate purely from launch angle and exit velo, but they probably have cameras that can track the ball’s flight and get a much more accurate result.
Pretty sure the Hawkeye system can capture spin as well. A lot of difference between a backspun ball and one hit with top spin
C, first impact. Assumes flat ground, no wall, and that ball stops dead and does not roll.
The system calculates A (the flight path of the ball) to determine C, the linear distance from home plate the ball would travel on flat ground with no obstacles.
Calculus!
This reminds me of my college physics homework
It’s just a drunk dude in NY that exclusively watches dingers and guesses how far they went.
V= D/T….. .. D= V*T
People are clowning on the chart but I feel like it perfectly represents what question you’re trying to ask.
They just make it up to pump particular players.
When I used to work for the Dbacks in game ops, we did the home run distances. It was literally a chart on paper and a few of us would estimate and we’d basically just settle on a #. It was always funny to me hearing the random number we’d generated announced on Sportscenter that night. People thought there were lasers tracking this stuff. Nope. Just us nerds:)
Followup question: how did they do it before technology could track exit velo, launch angle, etc? A chart and a ruler?
25 comments
Exit velocity and launch angle are used to approximate the distance that would be traveled if there were no obstacles other than the impact with the ground.
Please post to r/dataisbeautiful cuz God damn 🥵
It looks at how the ball traveled before hitting the stadium and projects how far it would have gone on flat ground.
https://www.mlb.com/glossary/statcast/projected-home-run-distance
Distance is home to projected landing spot.
It’s one of those things where you lick your finger then extend your arm out with your thumb up and close one eye and have a gander.
C
I believe it is calculated to where the parabola would contact the ground if not obstructed.
They can probably get a pretty good estimate purely from launch angle and exit velo, but they probably have cameras that can track the ball’s flight and get a much more accurate result.
Pretty sure the Hawkeye system can capture spin as well. A lot of difference between a backspun ball and one hit with top spin
C, first impact. Assumes flat ground, no wall, and that ball stops dead and does not roll.
The system calculates A (the flight path of the ball) to determine C, the linear distance from home plate the ball would travel on flat ground with no obstacles.
Calculus!
This reminds me of my college physics homework
It’s just a drunk dude in NY that exclusively watches dingers and guesses how far they went.
V= D/T….. .. D= V*T
People are clowning on the chart but I feel like it perfectly represents what question you’re trying to ask.
They just make it up to pump particular players.
When I used to work for the Dbacks in game ops, we did the home run distances. It was literally a chart on paper and a few of us would estimate and we’d basically just settle on a #. It was always funny to me hearing the random number we’d generated announced on Sportscenter that night. People thought there were lasers tracking this stuff. Nope. Just us nerds:)
Followup question: how did they do it before technology could track exit velo, launch angle, etc? A chart and a ruler?
Upvote for the beautiful OC.
The answer is C.
IDK but I love your drawing
C
Flat ground
You know MS Paint has a text option right?
MS Paint was the shit
They’re reported in a way to make MLB look good
I just want to say I love this diagram