105.5 MPH?

[Minimalist]

The guy should be a pitcher.  I saw this play on the telecast last night.  Amazing throw, fast and accurate.  

http://fansided.com/2016/04/20/aaron-hic...ampaign=im


Scroll down.

[paulpablo]

I'm not into baseball but that looked impressive.

[Tiberius]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but whilst it's impressive, doesn't the fact that he has a small run-up before throwing the ball give it the extra speed, which is something pitchers can't do (they aren't allowed to run on the mound).

[TheRealJoeFish]

Aaron Hicks's arm is phenomenal. He'd be a fantastic fantastic outfielder if his other defensive metrics were even league average. Since 2013 (when he came into the league) he's #20 in Defensive Throwing Runs Saved, and 13 of those 20 have played more innings than he has (essentially, he's clearly top 15 and probably top 10 outfield arm in baseball over the last 4 years). However, of the top 30 in the throwing category, only one (Domonic Brown, whose name make me, as a Phillies fan, have to stifle the urge to vomit) has been worse in the other defensive metrics. He's one of only 3 guys in the top 30 to grade out as below average defensively despite the effective arm.

But that throw tho

[Napoléon]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but whilst it's impressive, doesn't the fact that he has a small run-up before throwing the ball give it the extra speed, which is something pitchers can't do (they aren't allowed to run on the mound).

Believe it or not, you are wrong. Due to the exclusion principle of the third law of thermodynamics, the particle acceleration of the arm actually coincides with the relative velocity of direction. So if you make this an equation: E=MCbullshit.

[Tiberius]

Quiet Napoleon, we're talking about 'Murican sports.

[Minimalist]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but whilst it's impressive, doesn't the fact that he has a small run-up before throwing the ball give it the extra speed, which is something pitchers can't do (they aren't allowed to run on the mound).

 The run up mainly serves to get his body moving in the correct direction for the throw.  Watch closely and you'll see that he plants his back foot before releasing.  It is surprisingly difficult to get a lot on a throw while you are on a dead run.

This sort of thing





is not commonplace and it helps to remember that you're watching the best ballplayers in the world who can get out of Cuba.

[Tiberius]

The run up mainly serves to get his body moving in the correct direction for the throw.  Watch closely and you'll see that he plants his back foot before releasing.  It is surprisingly difficult to get a lot on a throw while you are on a dead run.

Sure, but the momentum doesn't just disappear when he plants his foot. If you watch after he releases the ball, he still has some forward momentum and places his other foot down, but a lot of that momentum will be transferred into the ball.

If you throw a ball standing still, you won't be able to get it moving as fast as you would if you have a run up, even if you plant a foot first. That's why long jumpers can jump further than people who do a standing jump. It's physics.

Again, not trying to say his throw wasn't amazing, because it was, but I doubt he'd get the same speeds if he was pitching.

[Minimalist]

The other thing that the run up does is shorten the distance of the throw.  The runner can release the moment the ball touches the fielder's glove.  While Hicks is reaching into the glove and getting his grip he is closing the distance by two steps or so.  Given how close the play was even with the throw, McCann the catcher made a great tag, literally every inch counted.

The fastest pitch ever recorded from the mound is 106 and only one guy did that:  Aroldis Chapman who is now with the Yankees although he is on suspension at the moment.

[AFTT47]

The run up consumes time - time subtracted from the ball in flight. Since the speed in flight is so much greater than running speed, I would think the run up is a liability. It's a necessary one because of the need to plant and orient.