Pitching velocity indoor vs outdoor

I know temperature and humidity affect the distance a batted ball travels (I've read a technical research paper on this), but this is because of greater lift through the air rather than an increase in velocity.  Intuitively it would seem that a pitched ball may be slightly faster (at destination, not release point) in a drier environment, which you may have indoors.

I think you'll need to define "noticeable."  Was it 2mph?  10 mph?

I guess there might be a slight improvement indoors (2-3 mph) but I don't think a significant increase should occur between the two.  Usually, if a kid is throwing indoors he is on an indoor mound.  If it's a good one, there obviously won't be any holes in front of where the pitching rubber is or where the landing occurs.  This can help with balance and therefore might help his body get a slight boost.  There also would be no wind or cold temperatures either which could slow velocities a bit too.

Someone else may have another view though.

 

BaseballByTheYard.com

 

Radar speed is calculated out of the hand, before temp or humidity have a chance to effect the speed of the ball.

The difference has been 2-4 mph, with the outdoor speed higher.

 

Indoor reading has been taken from behind the pitcher, and outdoor both behind the pitcher and behind home plate.

There are other variable that I assume are constant, like wind.

I would think the height of the mound would make the most difference. 

 

 

Possibilities.

 

Radar waves may be bouncing off of nets or walls causing problems, maybe.

 

The mound could be lower or not feel the same.

 

Radar gunned from behind the pitcher may not pick the ball up out of the hand.  Speed drops 8-10 mph or so on it's way to the plate, so 2-4 mph would be approx. 20-30 feet out of the hand.

 

Finally, maybe they really are throwing slightly slower.  A psychological difference, it doesn't feel like a game situation.  Maybe.

I definitely throw slower indoors...  afraid to break something and have my wife mad at me...  again

This is something we have a lot of experience with.  Our indoor (clay) mounds are actually better than most outdoor mounds. There really is no exact way of knowing if a pitcher has more velocity indoors or outdoors.  That is because you never get indoor and outdoor Radar gun readings at the same time.  We all know that velocity can change from one day to the next for most every pitcher. Is that couple MPH due to being indoors or just because it is a different day?

 

That said, we have not noticed any difference at all.  We have seen pitchers throw their peak velocity indoors and we seen the same thing outdoors. More often outdoors because that is where the games are played unless you're in a domed stadium.  Somewhere there would be a pitchers average velocity in domed stadiums vrs. Open stadiums. I doubt if there is any noticable difference.  In fact, might be slightly higher average in domes because you don't ever have weather conditions to deal with.

Up here in the NW we notice a bit of improvement inside, but that's mostly temperature-related, as it is often cold as h*ll here during HS season.  In warm weather, the readings seem about the same.....

How about velocity in a bullpen vs in a game?  Son seems to throw harder with no batter vs. in a game.  Let's it fly in a bullpen where in a game he has to throw a strike, takes some velocity off.  I've also heard the opposite to be true.  In that you get amped up in a game and throw harder.

I am with Cabbage on this one.  

 

SoS has a good observation with facing vs away although most Stalkers are pretty good at picking up the release point. Another factor is that guns average up or down the reading so 1MPH variation is typical, IE: 85.6 is rounded up to 86 and 85.5 is 85. 

 

Angle to the pitcher also has an effect the "sine error" so if someone is off by 10 degrees it has an 1.3 MPH on an 85MPH FB.

 

I know my son threw slightly harder in Arizona summer/fall tournaments due to the lower air density and warmness. (vs cool damp coastal CA) but to SoS point of getting ball at release means the weather has an effect on arm/air friction as well as being physically looser in warmer weather.

 

 

 

 

I consistantly clock my son 3 mph faster outdoors as opposed to indoors. Have stalker sport so it's a good accurate gun. Owned for sometime and only used at my sons indoor lessons. Was surprised when coaches recorded higher speeds at HS tryout but attributed it to adriniline. Took gun outdoors to travel practice a couple of times this fall & consistantly got around 3 mph faster speeds than a couple of days earlier indoors. Posed this question myself on another forum & consensus was cleats & real mound vs turf shoes & portable mound make a difference.

Billy,

 

Our indoor mounds are the same as outdoor mounds and pitchers wear cleats.  We don't see any real difference in velocity.  I imagine it would be different with a portable mound and no cleats.

I don't care what ya'll say...my son throws at least 10 mph faster indoors...that is according to my radar "ear"...the sound of the poppoing catchers mitt verifies it...tells me there's no way he throws that hard outdoors...lol

I have heard rumors that pitchers will ask their catcher to use a louder glove if scouts are around.