Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Effects Of "Sticky Stuff" On The Spin Rate And Break Of A Baseball Pitch, Natalie Dale

Scripps Senior Theses

In June 2021, Major League Baseball cracked down on the use of foreign substances by pitchers on the ball (Castrovince, 2021a). It is believed the sticky substances give the pitchers an unfair advantage over batters since they increase spin rate, consequently, through the Magnus Effect, creating more movement or “break” in the pitch, making it harder to hit. There are existing gaps in empirical research on this topic, thus the goal of this project was to determine the effect the banned substances have on the spin rate and related break of the pitches. By using pitch tracking technology, two types …