This article explains how different pitching techniques utilizing the Magnus Effect are changing the role and importance of pitchers in baseball. It explores the characteristics of different pitches, such as fastballs, sliders, curves, and knuckleballs, and how pitchers use them to compete with hitters, and how they contribute to their team’s success in the game.
I love baseball. Pitching is one of my favorite positions in the game, and it’s often said that “baseball is a pitcher’s game” because of the enormous responsibility pitchers have on their teams. In order to lead their team to victory, pitchers spin the baseball to change the trajectory of the ball in order to induce the batter to swing wildly, and the principle they use is the Magnus Effect. They work with the ball like artists, honing their skills with sharp focus and tons of training. What exactly is the Magnus effect, and how do pitchers apply it to the trajectory of the ball?
The Magnus effect was proposed by Gustav Magnus in 1852, and is the effect that occurs when a spherical object, such as a shell or baseball, rotates and passes through a fluid. Where the direction of rotation of the spherical object matches the flow of the fluid, the velocity increases, and where the direction of rotation of the object and the flow of the fluid are opposite, the velocity decreases. Bernoulli’s law states that when the velocity of a fluid increases, the pressure decreases, and when the velocity of a fluid decreases, the pressure increases. Therefore, due to the difference in velocity on a spherical object, there are places where the pressure is different. This difference in pressure will eventually cause the object to move from the side with the higher pressure to the side with the lower pressure. Taking advantage of this peculiar behavior, pitchers consciously spin the ball, bending its trajectory to compete with hitters.
Pitchers are judged on their ability to throw fastballs and changeups, the most fundamental of which is the fastball, which typically accounts for more than half of the pitches a pitcher throws in a game. Fastballs, also known as fastballs, are categorized into four-seam and two-seam fastballs based on the number of fingers a pitcher uses to grip and throw the ball. This difference in the number of fingers changes the pattern in which the stitch moves as the baseball flies, but the motion of the throwing arm is the same regardless of how many fingers are used to grip the ball. However, the difference in the stitch pattern creates a different resistance than the average. A four-seam fastball thrown with the fingers perpendicular to the bat will have the Magnus effect acting in the upward direction due to the reverse rotation. As a result, the ball floats higher than other pitches. A two-seam fastball that is thrown with the fingers horizontal to the thread is intentionally released with a weak reverse rotation. Because the Magnus effect is weaker and the ball is falling at a lower velocity than a four-seam fastball, batters swing at it thinking it’s a four-seam fastball, but end up hitting the top of the ball.
In addition to fastballs, pitchers’ other favorite pitches are sliders and curves. The curve is a changeup that typically reaches speeds between 130 and 110 kilometers per hour (according to STATIZ) and has a larger drop than the fastball family. When pitchers throw curveballs, they reverse the rotation of their fastballs to reverse the Magnus effect, which sends the ball relatively farther down, which can be more effective because the Magnus effect acts in the same direction as gravity. By controlling the velocity of the curveball, a pitcher can completely throw off the hitter’s timing. A slow curveball has a large drop angle that makes it difficult for hitters to anticipate, while a fast curveball looks like a fastball and encourages hitters to swing at it.
A slider is a type of fastball. The rotation of the slider is halfway between the rotation of the fastball and the rotation of the curveball, so it has a smaller angle than the trajectory of the curveball but a larger change than the fastball. The slider’s velocity may be perceived by the batter as a fastball, but if he swings in line with the trajectory of a fastball, he will not be able to hit the slider. Because the direction of rotation is lateral, the Magnus effect causes the changeup to be oriented to the left relative to the right-handed pitcher. Conversely, if the direction of rotation is the opposite of a slider, it”s called a changeup, which is another changeup.
There”s also a variation of the changeup called the knuckleball, which is a pitch with very little rotation. Since there“s no rotation of the sphere, the Magnus effect of Bernoulli”s law doesn”t work. The direction of the ball is greatly altered by the flow of the fluid, causing the ball”s trajectory to change dramatically. This gives the pitcher a huge advantage by making it difficult for hitters to predict where the ball will arrive. The knuckleball requires a very low rotation rate to be effective, and in general, pitchers try to control the ball to make no more than one rotation before it reaches the batter. Any more rotation and the ball loses its changeup, turning it into a slow changeup that is very vulnerable.
This is why baseball has so much variation in the way pitchers catch the ball and the direction in which they spin it. The variety and effectiveness of the changeup is an important part of the pitcher”s arsenal and the psychological battle with the batter. It”s not easy to win a game with a fastball alone. Like the slider of legendary pitcher Sun Dong-yeol or the curve of Choi Dong-won, pitches that were difficult for hitters to hit became the fuel that propelled their teams to championships. These pitches are the result of a lot of thought about how to apply the Magnus Effect. We can expect to see more pitchers striving to create more innovative and deceptive pitches in the future. Their efforts will make baseball even more appealing and exciting for fans.
