Pitcher Perfect: Why can't anyone throw a baseball faster than 100 mph?

slate.com

5 pointsgry5 comments

I wonder why they didn't mention Aroldis Chapman, who recently was clocked at 105mph (and 25 consecutive pitches over 100). [http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=sh-redspadres092410]

The amazing part of Chapman's 105mph fastball is hearing hitters describe how different it is trying to hit it versus other pitchers' 95-100mph fastballs. You wouldn't think 5% faster would make a big difference, but it apparently does.

Because this was from 2005. :) While old(ish), I had a conversation with a coworker and dug it up. Seemed relevant to HN how things work.

As an aside, holy moly.

"In almost every measurable physical activity, athletes show improvement over time."

Barring chemical or surgical enhancement, we'll see athletes hit the practical maximum human performance for various activities sooner or later. Considering that world records are broken by mere tenths of a second now, athletes may be closer to those walls than some people would think.

The Olympic record drops .05 every ten years, but Usain Bolt destroyed it by .14 thirty years ahead of when it should have fallen. It looked like a wall was well on its way before he killed it.

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