Baseball Aerodynamics
Professor Barton Smith of Utah State University explains his work on the fluid dynamics of a baseball pitch. For more information check out his website: baseballaero.com/
Research by Barton Smith and Andrew Smith at Utah State University.
Interview with University of Oxford Mathematician Dr Tom Crawford. Tom is an Early-Career Teaching and Outreach Fellow in Mathematics at St Edmund Hall: www.seh.ox.ac.uk/people/tom-c...
This video is part of a collaboration with the Journal of Fluid Mechanics and the UK Fluids Network featuring a series of interviews with researchers from the APS DFD 2019 conference.
Sponsored by the Journal of Fluid Mechanics and the UK Fluids Network. Produced by Tom Crawford.
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Featuring "The effect of seam orientation on the flight of a baseball": doi.org/10.1103/APS.DFD.2019....
The understanding of aerodynamics in baseball has, over the history of the game, been continuously evolving. This video demonstrates some of the complex behaviour inherent in baseball flight due to the irregular seam locations on the ball and how additional forces, beyond those due to spin and gravity, can play a major role in determining the baseball's flight path.
Gallery of Fluid Motion entry:
• The effect of seam ori...
Authors:
Andrew Smith, Utah State University
Rob Friedman, Pitching Ninja
Nazmus Sakib, Utah State University
John Garrett, Utah State University
Barton Smith, Utah State University
Publication:
Smith AW, Smith BL. Using baseball seams to alter a pitch direction: The seam shifted wake. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part P: Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology. 2021;235(1):21-28. doi:10.1177/1754337120961609
Golf ball image copyright Horia Varlan (Creative Commons 3.0 licence): commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Ca...
Trevor Bauer image copyright Erik Dros (Creative Commons 2.0 licence): commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
With thanks to:
Barton Smith
Andrew Smith
AugustineMLB
Fangraphs Prospects
Horia Varlan
Erik Drost
JFM
UK Fluid Network
APS DFD 2019
All MLB footage is presented under a fair usage policy for the purpose of education. It remains copyright of MLB.
Decades ago one of the arguments was whether the curve ball was a real phenomenon, or just an illusion. So it is interesting that we've now gotten to the point where we can now argue about seam height.
Sounds like a slowmo guys collaboration should happen
This would indeed be excellent
Fascinating. Great video.
Cool seeing some professors from one of my local Universities doing interesting work 😎
I need help with a maths equation. How can I contact you?
Neat
Hi
What about a cricket ball?
Similar research has been undertaken on a cricket ball since the 1980s. Swing bowling is caused by pretty much the same phenomenon. You can find a lot of papers on it.
@@kunjalssj Swing bowling is caused by turbulence transition. SSW is not.
@@loganhighschoolbaseball4815you're right. Perhaps, I was too liberal with the phrase *pretty much the same phenomenon*. What I meant was that swing bowling is also caused by a similar phenomenon of flow asymmetry on two sides of the ball due to an angled seam. However, we do see something like the SSW in cricket when we talk about reverse swing where you see an earlier flow separation on the seam side of the cricket ball.
Isn't this what spin bowlers in cricket have been doing for decades?
No it's not
It's what fast bowlers in cricket have been doing for a long time - using seam asymmetry to cause transition on one side and a net force (known as swing) towards that side. The only difference is that cricket ball seams cause flow transition while baseball seams cause flow separation. Spin bowlers, on the other hand, rely on the Magnus effect to get the desired "drift" in the air - similar to a curveball in baseball.
That small difference you mention is a very big difference.
@@kunjalssj There are sooo many more possibilities on a baseball than there is on a cricket ball. On the other hand, you can modify a cricket ball legally not to mention being able to bounce it.
2 corrections: 1) trevor bauer hasnt played for the reds since 2020 (maybe this video is 3 years old though) 2) he does not have a degree in mechanical engineering from ANY university in the world