stop watch to clock pitch speed

Not only is it "not overly accurate", it is so innaccurate that it isn't worth doing.

Let's dont start this subject again. A stopwatch may be slightly useful for timing 50mph pre-teen throws, and nothing above.

To even approach accuracy you'd probably have to measure and average 20 fastballs. 1/10 second error is huge. And coming that close will require a good watch and lightening fast reflexes.

An 80mph fastball takes less than 0.6 second to reach the plate.

There are better ways to estimate speed:

If the kid is really throwing 90 for example, just ask one of the 10 scouts with guns how fast he's throwing.

80 looks pretty good, about the same speed as the other starters.

70 is noticeably slow at HS varsity.

I conducted a little test of this method myself last summer after reading some information. It was pretty much a joke. Too many variables to contend with. Release point(start) and where to stop. A slight twitch in you finger and the kid could end up in the pros or on the bench. you would be better off going to the old method of throwing by a motor cycle.

Thanks for the responses. I thought that this was pretty inaccurate. How do you know the speed if there are no speed guns? We have seen people using stop watches on him and he is curious about how fast he is throwing. I know speed is not everything(location, location, location) but college questionnaires ask.

Bags,

You write, "We have seen people using stop watches on him'. Who are these people?

The only thing I can think of where a scout or coach of any magnitude would use a stopwatch on a pitcher would be to time his release while he is holding a runner on first.

While a stopwatch is not reliable because of the variabilities involved, it still beats nothing. If you're consistent over a number of pitches you can get an idea about relative speeds (e.g. pitcher A is throwing faster than pitcher B), but as previous posters said, release points and reaction times make it almost impossible to get consistent readings.

If you could, a 90 mph pitch takes a approximately .4 seconds. When you consider that the human reaction time is about .2 seconds, you can see what a huge margin of error there is in using a stop watch to clock a pitch.

In all fairness, I too have seen a person using what looked like a stop watch. I believe they function the same they just do the calculations for you. I saw a guy at a game sitting with a college scout. The scout had a jugs gun and the guy beside him had what looked like a stop watch but it displayed the speed of the pitch. He compared his measurement to the jugs gun a couple of times that I could see, and they were within 1-2 mph of each other.

I'm going to show my education here so if I am wrong go ahead and let me have it.

To answer your first question:

MPH = (((60.5/seconds)X 3600)/5280) or something close to this.

There is key difference between a radar gun vs stopwatch reading. A gun locks on the peak velocity immediately after release, while a stopwatch measures average speed over the approximate 60 foot path, which would be several mph less. The current convention is to measure pitching speed at release, which only radar can do

As for the stopwatch method, even if you had Wyatt Earp using the worlds fastest watch mechanism the watch results would vary by more than 5%, or a few hundredths of a second each time.

Take a stopwatch and see how fast you can click it on and off. If you are among fastest Dads this side of Dodge City, you might barely break 0.1 second... still introducing a substantial amount of error into the 0.5 second reading.

quote:

(((60.5/seconds)X 3600)/5280) or something close to this.

60.5? How about 56 or 54 or 52, depending on when you hit "start." In any event its a another messy variable.

For the kids, 5280 is the number of feet in a mile (they don't teach that much anymore)
---
Another neat way to try to measure speed is to use a video camcorder and count frames. Again, very hard to measure fast pitches. I've tried.

Nothing beats a good gun.

In all fairness, many of those guys with a stopwatch are clocking the "first move" to the plate time. I know at my sons school this delivery time out of the stretch is worked on all winter as many bases are stolen off pitchers.

Granted, stopwatches are influenced by many human factors but scouts do this for a living, and with any trade if you do it long enough you will develop trends and will be able to compare the results between samples.

The time I try to get on a pitcher with a stopwatch is his "unload" time.

From first flinch to glove pop. Ideally, you would like to see that in about 1.1 - 1.2 ... but anything under 1.5 is considered acceptable.

That's all about controlling the running game.

Don't bother using a stopwatch to time pitch speed. It is incredibly inaccurate. First, exactly where did the pitcher release the ball? Not at 60'6", that is for sure. Was his hand 55' from the plate? 54'? Exactly when did he release? And how far from the pitcher's release point was the catcher's mitt? Were you off a little in when it hit the mitt?

Off by just .05 seconds? Then you could be off by 8-9 mph.

Here it is.
it works good enough. dont listen to those nay sayers.
all you need to do is work at it for a while and you'll get good at it.
Randall


Example on how to calculate speed vs. distance
Distance 60'-6", clocked at .59 seconds:
A- 60.5' divided by .59 = 102.54
B- 102.54 divided by 1.466= 69.9 or 70 mph
1.466 = 1 mile in feet (5280) divided by 1 hour in seconds (3600)
5280/3600=1.466

To get accurate results youll need to take 20-30 trials on the same pitcher. And it's possible the pitcher will throw you off due to change of speeds.

I recently ordered a Speedchek so am looking to sell the Bushnell Speedster I also bought recently (almost never used)....if anyone wants to take the risk on my verifying your check funds before sending the unit to you, I'll give you a very good deal on it. PM me.

quote:

Speedchek

I'm a longtime Speedchek fan. They're fairly accurate if you do a lot of throws. Very good for training in the garage or basement. Expect occasional oddball readings.

Guns take two people. A kid can use a Speedchek by himself (don't overdo any radar, of course)

SpeedChek is purely for training. Worthless for scouting. Range is only about 40 feet. You'll need to find some way to protect its plastic box from errant balls. Put it off to the side with an old window screen in front. Or throw at a fence with the device behind it.

For self-training it beats a $900 gun in many ways.

As I've gotten older, I've gone from using a radar gun, to a stop watch to an hour glass. One more bout of arthritis and I'm switching to a sun dial.