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FIELD GUIDE / 01THE FASTBALL

There’s more to a pitch
than meets the eye.

You see the ball at the plate. But what happened on the way there?

At the plate

Simulated illustration
A ball arriving at the plateOne ball inside a strike-zone outline. Its earlier path is hidden.

Earlier path hidden. Make your call.

01 — YOUR FIRST READ

Did it really
turn upward?

What happened before the ball reached the plate?
Source & method Simulated, with a fixed reference

This is a deterministic teaching simulation, not observed or aggregate Statcast data. Both paths start at the same release point with the same initial velocity and flight time. The dashed path has gravity only; the solid path adds a constant upward acceleration that produces the chosen IVB at the plate.

Flight time
0.42 s
Gravity
386.09 in/s²
Initial downward velocity
24 in/s
IVB range
0–24 in; default 16 in

For progress u from 0 to 1, downward displacement in inches is 24 × 0.42 × u + (½ × 386.09 × 0.42² − IVB) × u². The reference drops 44.13 inches; the default pitch drops 28.13 inches. All settings here continue downward.

The diagram uses different horizontal and vertical scales. It omits drag changes, seam effects, spin decay, and hitter perception. It cannot establish the trajectory, IVB, or hitting difficulty of any real pitch. The painted stadium is scenery and has no role in the calculation.