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nox_nox t1_jcri8s5 wrote

Reply to comment by r0botdevil in Olivia Pichardo Becomes First Woman to Play in a Division 1 College Baseball Game by Banestar66

Women's reaction time in softball is faster (less overall time) than men's professional baseball due to the shorter distance from mound to plate.

"ESPN's Sport Science broke down the speed of both games, pointing out that a 70 mph softball pitch -- from its shorter distance -- reaches home plate faster than a 100 mph baseball pitch. That means a softball player has less than half the time (.025 seconds) to decide to swing compared to a baseball player (.055 seconds). Now imagine trying to decipher whether or not that pitch headed your way is in the strike zone or not."

Source: https://fanbuzz.com/college-sports/college-baseball/softball-vs-baseball/amp/

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bossmt_2 t1_jcrx2me wrote

The issue with this is that 70 MPH softball pitches are rare, it's much more common to face pitches in the mid 60s. Average D1 is around 64 MPH or 93.87 Feet per second meaning from a mound which from 43 feet away means you have .458 seconds until it crosses the plate. vs baseball and a 91 MPH fastball on a 60.5 foot mound you have .453 seconds until it crosses the plate. Part of the assumption is on release point etc. But time until impact is basically the same. Which is the more common issue.

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tjthebest t1_jcrknoy wrote

I would assume if she is a college baseball player that she hasn't really played softball though. So I don't really think this applies.

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DogsbeDogs t1_jcrmuv7 wrote

The above also doesn't discuss the size of the ball. Even if the reaction time needs to be quicker, the movement based on the reaction doesn't need to be as accurate. I think the .03 difference would be offset by the size of the ball.

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nox_nox t1_jcrry84 wrote

Professor baseball players have been struck out by women's softball pitchers.

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DogsbeDogs t1_jcrsel3 wrote

Okay? Baseball players get struck out playing baseball too. Your comment doesn't change anything I said about the ball size not being accounted for.

Also, I bet softball players would be struck out by baseball pitchers. So again, your comment doesn't really address anything....

I was just pointing out that "sports science" usually does a shifty job at actual science and constantly doesn't account for important factors.

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handsomehares t1_jcu807w wrote

The two sports are comparable by the eye test but otherwise the different dynamics of the ball make it wildly different.

Pro baseball players would struggle more against a softball pitch because they don’t train for that. Same the other way around. Doing something you’re not used to inherently means you’re not going to be as good as something you train for. It doesn’t necessarily correlate with difficulty or skill levels.

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bossmt_2 t1_jcrvyc1 wrote

Odds are women softball players would be struck out by professional baseball players. Both are hard in different ways. Both hitters rely heavily on release points and timing. Baseball hitters don't have the timing to hit softball, and vice versa. Give both of them time and they'd be able to figure each other out and adapt their swings and timing.

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