Reaction Time (in seconds) for Baseball Pitches by Speed and Distance

Related

• Equivalent Baseball Pitch Speeds

Updates

• 8/14/2008 account for speed reduction from mound to plate

Hitters have roughly 0.40 seconds reaction time (typically) to:

• determine the type of pitch
• determine if it's a strike or a ball
• determine the speed of the pitched ball
• finish the stride and get their foot down
• get the bat to the ball

At first glance, it appears simple to calculate the number of milliseconds that the hitter has to react to a pitch. Just take the distance (pitching rubber to home plate) times the speed per foot. That's what we did in Table 1.

However, then you realize there may be some other factors involved, such as:

• the pitcher strides in front of the pitching rubber toward the plate before he releases the ball
• the hitter must make contact with the ball well in front of the rear of home plate
• the pitch speed displayed on the radar gun is the speed close to release of the ball, not the average speed

OK, simple enough. So we adjust accordingly in Table 2 for each age group as follows:

• Deduct from the distance - the pitcher's stride/release point (6 ft for pros, etc.)
• Deduct from the distance - the distance from the back of the plate to the contact point (say one foot)
• Reduce the speed - the speed at the plate averages 9 mph slower than 50ft mark for 100 mph (say 4 mph avg for pros, down to 2mph)

These factors result in a net reduction of the reaction time for a 100 mph fastball by 33 milliseconds (or 8%) to .380 seconds.

First Glance Reaction Time - Table 1
Distances in Feet		Radar Gun Speed in mph
Distance to Mound	Distance Used	50 mph	60 mph	70 mph	80 mph	90 mph	100 mph
60.5 feet High School, College and Pro	60.5 feet	0.825 sec	0.688 sec	0.589 sec	0.516 sec	0.458 sec	0.413 sec
54 feet 13-14 Pony	54 feet	0.736 sec	0.614 sec	0.526 sec	0.46 sec	n/a	n/a
46 feet 11-12 Major	46 feet	0.627 sec	0.523 sec	0.448 sec	n/a	n/a	n/a
40 feet 7-10 PeeWee Minor	40 feet	0.545 sec	0.455 sec	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Realistic Reaction Time - Table 2 Adjusted for pitcher's stride and release point, hitter's contact point, and pitch speed reduction to plate.
Distances in Feet		Speed in mph
Distance to Mound	Distance From Pitcher's Hand to Bat Contact	50 mph (46/47/47/48 mph)	60 mph (56/57/57/58 mph)	70 mph (66/67/67 mph)	80 mph (76/77 mph)	90 mph (86 mph)	100 mph (96 mph)
60.5 feet High School, College and Pro	53.5 feet	0.793 sec	0.651 sec	0.553 sec	0.48 sec	0.424 sec	0.38 sec
54 feet 13-14 Pony	47 feet	0.682 sec	0.562 sec	0.478 sec	0.416 sec	n/a	n/a
46 feet 11-12 Major	40 feet	0.58 sec	0.478 sec	0.407 sec	n/a	n/a	n/a
40 feet 7-10 PeeWee Minor	35 feet	0.497 sec	0.411 sec	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a