A Controlled Study on Pitcher Response Time by Dr. Mark McDowella and Dr. Michael V. Cioccob aMark McDowell, Bomani Sports Research, Inc., P.O. Box 81402, Cleveland, Ohio  44181 bMichael V. Ciocco, Parsons Project Services, Inc., P.O. Box 618, South Park, PA 15129

Back in 2000, we conducted a study on Pitcher Response Time due to the increased number of batted-balls hit back at the pitcher and at infielders that were unable to be caught.  The situation has definitely taken a turn for the worse with several deaths being attributed to increased ball compression combined with high-tech softball bats.  Pitchers and even infielders just do not have time to react to balls hit directly at them and we will attempt to explain why this is happening.  The expectation of getting seriously injured or even dying is now part of what goes on in a pitcher’s mind nowadays and the sport of slow-pitch softball never was designed for this scenario.  This is driven by the below average player wanting to be the next home run king and companies have gone to the extreme in supplying what the average softball player wants, a home run bat and ball!!!  This has ruined the integrity of the game and has taken the FUN out of the game and made pitching slow-pitch softball one of the most dangerous positions to play in all of sports.

It’s time to stop the madness and bring the game back to normal and where it is supposed to be.   Your typical softball player at 5’7” and 170lbs. should NOT be able to hit balls consistently over 300’ with ease.  At the same time, scores in softball mirror football scores nowadays with many teams scoring over 30 runs in a game and losing.  The balls and bats have gotten out of control and we will present several reasons why.  The main problem in the sport of slow-pitch softball has been unregulated bats and balls as well as unrealistic testing methods.

The history of the Pitcher Response Time issue:

Back in the summer of 1999 when the softball associations were determining a number for maximum batted-ball speed, they came up with 125fps (feet per second - ft/sec) batted-ball speed, which translates into a .400sec pitcher response time. Since the pitcher's mound is 50ft. away from home plate, .400sec = 50ft/125fps.  This .400sec actually stems from a baseball article.  A study on the safety of softball was never actually done; it was assumed that if it was used for baseball, it also applied to softball.  This assumption has proven to be totally false and our data will show that not only do softballs exceed the .400sec mark, some balls are hit back at the pitcher in just under the time it takes the average person to blink, which solves the mystery of pitchers saying that they never saw the ball coming at them.  They actually don’t/can’t see the ball coming off some of the high-tech bats today!!!

As stated in our first article on Pitcher Response Time¹, the .400sec response time is actually referring to baseball, not softball, so the basic premise is wrong. A baseball pitcher is trained in the skill of being defensive. He is trained to pitch a ball and come off the mound expecting the ball to be hit at him and to have his glove ready to field the ball just in case it's hit at him. This is not the case in softball. Most pitchers don't have a clue as to how to be defensive and rarely take two steps back to get ready to catch a ball. A hundredth (1/100) or even a thousandth (1/1000) of a second can be the difference between a near miss and a serious injury.

We have completed a 2nd controlled study on Pitcher Response Time and will present our findings and recommendations in this report as well as compare our results from our previous study to show that the game of softball is getting more dangerous, not safer.

The primary reason for the recent deaths in slow-pitch softball is Pitcher Response Time.  Most pitchers and even infielders just don’t have enough time to react to balls hit directly at them.  Since softball injuries are not required to be reported by any softball association, the actual injury figures will never be known.  Each time a death occurs from slow-pitch softball, it is reported as a freak accident.  It is not freak accident!!!  It is to be expected and unless there are major changes to the rules regarding bats and balls, more deaths are sure to occur.

The typical Class "A" player has been used in several reports as a standard and we will do the same in this report.  In addition to just using the typical Class ‘A’ Player, we also use the typical Class ‘B’ Player and typical Class ‘C’ player in order to get a more realistic idea of what to expect from the average tournament level player.  All players play in tournaments in their perspective class levels.

We decided to use 6 different balls (Table 1 and Table 2) with varying COR and compression values that represent the popular balls used in the game today.  All balls were compression tested, weighed and measured in order to see if they complied with the rules of the associations. According to the ASA rulebook, an official 12" ball may have a circumference of between 11.875" and 12.125" and weigh between 6.25oz. and 7.0oz. According to the USSSA rulebook, an official 12" ball may have a circumference of between 11.875" and 12.125" and weigh between 6.0oz. and 7.25oz.

Pitching Machine:  We used a Jugs Professional softball pitching machine capable of accurately and reliably pitching a softball in the 16-22MPH range in the hitting zone.  This range was used in order to simulate the actual pitch speeds that can occur in an actual softball game.  The height of the pitch (arc) did not exceed 10 feet.

Batted-Ball Speed Measurements: We used a Jugs Professional Radar gun with an accuracy to within ½ MPH to measure batted-ball speeds.  The readings were recorded approximately halfway between the plate and the pitching machine and represent the average velocity of the batted-ball.

We used both bats and got at least 5 good readings using each bat and ball combination. A total of over 300 swings were recorded and this took approximately 4 hours to complete. In order to prove that fatigue was not a factor, control balls were used after every round for batted-ball speed and at the end of the testing. The control ball testing after all of the data points were recorded were in line with all other control studies.  As a matter of fact, some of the highest recordings of the day were recorded on the very last swings during our “Max-Out” phase, which was an indication to us that the testing was valid and accurate.   Our testing was done in a controlled indoor environment so that wind resistance was not a factor even though wind resistance has an insignificant affect on a ball coming directly at a pitcher or infielder.

The first thing to notice from our data in Table 1 is the circumference of the ball.  Only 1 ball, the Dudley .47COR ball complied with limits on the circumference of the ball.  We have already shown that circumference does affect the performance of the ball and this could be the reason for ball companies being on the low side of the circumference limit.

However, the most important result is the actual Pitcher Response Time.  Not one ball passed the .400 sec limit imposed on the sport of softball back in 1999.  As a matter of fact, the data listed in Table 1 shows that the balls are getting more dangerous when you look at the comparison between the data listed and the data gathered in 2000.  This should sound an alarm to all of the league and tournament directors around the country.  The balls are unsafe!!!  The only ball that has proven to be safe over time is a Cork-Centered ball, which is what was used to establish the game of softball.  All of our data on Cork-Centered balls achieved a PRT of greater than the .400sec requirement.

Even looking at the data gathered in Table 2 using the typical Class ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ players we find that no ball passed the .400sec limit, which is required and mandated by all softball associations that use the ASTM Test for measuring bat performance.²

It must also be mentioned that today’s hi-tech bats need to share some of the blame for the unsafe state of softball. Today’s hi-tech bats are designed produce the highest possible batted ball speeds while passing the associations bat performance tests. This has lead to bats being manufactured that are able to pass the laboratory tests of the associations but are able to produce unsafe batted ball speeds on the field.

The maximum allowed batted-ball speed off of a softball bat is 85.2 MPH2, however the data from Table 1 shows that the average bated-ball speeds ranged from 91.1 to 96.8MPH and in Table 2 shows that the average batted-ball speed ranged from 89.1 to 93.4MPH, which exceeds the limits placed on the game.

Our overall goal is to protect the pitcher at all cost.  Something needs to be done about controlling the safety of the game of slow-pitch softball today.  Below is a few of our conclusions.

Conclusions :

While it is definitely obvious that the sport of slow-pitch softball is unsafe by the recent deaths and mounting injuries, there is no association or company proposing any drastic changes that are needed in the sport.

The real problem now becomes in deciding which to regulate, the bat or the ball.  It is much easier to regulate the ball than the bat but this in unpopular with the masses of players today used to hitting home runs with the new Super bats currently on the market.  The “I Want To Hit A Home Run” attitude of the average player will not change in the near future so the governing bodies must force a change in the player.  This can only be done by strict enforcement of the rules of the game and mandating on-the-field testing of each and every bat that is approved for mass production.

The two questions that we want to specifically address are how close does the ball appear when it is hit back and the pitcher and just what is a safe pitching distance and pitcher response time?

How close does the ball appear?
This is a question that we have wondered about for some time.  Just how close does the ball appear using the 85.2 MPH / 125fps standard with varying Pitcher Response Times?  By looking at Table 3, it is clear that the average ball appears much closer than it actually is and since some pitchers actually move towards the plate after they pitch, it is definitely believable that they can’t see the ball.
 

How Close Should the Mound Be?
This is an obvious question that comes up in just about every discussion on the safety of softball.  Based on our research listed in Table 4, and using the maximum allowed BBS of 85MPH, we feel that moving the mound back 6 additional feet would help control the safety of the game for most if not all levels of play.
 

It is quite clear to us that the game of softball is much more dangerous than it was just a few years ago.

1. How ball circumference and compression affect Pitcher Response Time!!!, Bomani Sports Research, Inc., www.bomani.com.
2. Standard Test Method for Measuring Softball Bat Performance Factor, ASTM Designation F 1890-01