Hey not sure if anyone answered your Foul ball question but a Foul is Simply a Ball that is not Hit within the lines of Play and the ball isn't Caught by a Player on the Field in that case it's a Foul ball and the at Bat will continue

Chapman threw a 105.8 mph fastball in 2010… *fastest ever * nowadays tho there are a lot of different pitchers that can get into the 100s

Greetings gentlemen. Might I suggest the two of you binge watch the Ken Burns series: "BASEBALL" the first chance you get. I'm sure you'll find it both entertaining and educational. It tells the viewer EVERYTHING about the American pastime. The good, the bad & the ugly. Enjoy. By the way, the N.Y. Mets & the Philadelphia Phillies will play a two game series in London next month. Hope you both to see it either in person or on the Telly.

I don't think they know about the seams to begin with. The ball has stiches on it which make up the seams. Certain pitches are done by the pitcher holding his fingers across the seams in a certain way.

@@herecometherats4634 even further so the spin on the ball causes the laces to have friction with the air causing pressure against surface of the ball

...and the seams, which are raised, catch air as the ball spins affecting the path of the ball. If a baseball were perfectly smooth, pitchers wouldn't be able to throw so many pitches with different movement.

@@victorsixtythree boys let’s not kill em 😂

And you want to have your fingertips on the raised fabric seams because most of the ball is made from slippery leather.

Thanks Peter, hope you stay with us on this journey, be glad to have you with us

I agree,and wish I could approach a sport that the Brits love,say like cricket,with the same curiosity.

would have been better if they included an illustration on how the pitcher grips the ball , especially for people not familiar with the baseball

I’m glad you’re enjoying that! We are enjoying the learning journey as well 😀

I agree, with all the phonies in American media today it’s refreshing to see a genuine reaction

I’m glad! 😀 thank you! We are having fun!

LOL

Legend. Hope they see this comment.

Also worth noting that the box seen in broadcasts is only visible to the TV audience and not to the umpires or players. It's just a tool to give fans an idea of where the pitches are but not actually used to determine balls and strikes. Since you're new to the game and probably the way they're broadcast I didn't want to assume you knew that.

​@@SonniesPlace Wait, so that white floating box is only seen on TV and isn't in reality floating there in thin air for everyone to see.

@@hanch3664 Exactly! You're so smart. Go get a cookie.

@@hanch3664 Only if you're wearing the correct goggles.

Wakefield was the last true knuckler that consistently was effective.

I think because coaches discourage it or don't teach it because nobody knows how. I saw one in the minors (AAA) and I was sitting along the third base line so had a great view of it. That ball danced every which way. I even as a teenager fooled around in the backyard trying to throw one, with a softball. I managed to throw one and that ball had a crazy path, I couldn't believe it. Couldn't replicate it.

The knuckleball is so rare because it is usually only developed by pitchers who don't have the arm strength anymore to throw the faster balls. Take a good pitcher with a good arm, they are throwing fast balls, curves, etc the basic list of pitchers. If a pitcher gets old, or has arm injuries, of course they cannot throw those faster pitches anymore. A few pitchers instead of retiring, quitting, develop a different type of throwing, knuckleballs. These are much slower pitches 20+ mph slower than regular pitches, but are widely unpredictable. A professional hitter can easily hit knuckleballs normally due to the low speed even if they change direction, but take a professional knuckleball pitcher can pitch with the best. watch a few videos of the best and you'll see. Very rare though most pitchers simply retire or quit when they can't throw anymore.

@@eolsunder Mike Mussina threw a knuckle curve and he had velocity

I was always fascinated by knuckball pitches (and pitchers who threw them were kind of nonconformist) and was a bit disappointed they didn't get into more details about it along with the unique physics of different pitches in general.

Hell yeah. Funny AF too. Good call

I just visited his channel after being away from it for so long and it has changed so much. Hardly does any baseball videos and his breakdowns aren’t the same as they used to be that got me into him.

Haha Jomboy is a riot

Great point. Everybody should watch Jomboy baseball videos. For the humor alone, if you're not a baseball fan.

@@locomojoboy2 he's got 2 different channels. One that's just random stuff, and another that does breakdowns of funny moments or immaculate moments. his breakdown channel normally isn't doing much baseball stuff when the baseball season isn't going on.

We do plan to keep watching 😊

We do plan to keep watching 😊

Thank you for the support Corey, appreciate it! 🤝

Yeah, baseball has a ton of rules regarding play but it’s worth it. It is a true American pastime

Wow, 12!! Saw other comments about mastering 3 or 4.

Some of those pitches can be reasonably paired together as small variations but it’s still not technically an exaggeration to say he throws 11 different pitches. Most starters utilize 5 pitches, most relievers 3 or 4, and many closers only use 2 or 3 pitches.

I saw Darvish many times when he was with Texas. He can also throw left-handed. You'll only see him pitch lefty in the pen, but he long-tosses lefty all the time in warm up. Dude is a freak of nature.

Yu is in the video as well!

Typically the pitchers who can master three, four or five pitches will be “starters” because they can face hitters more than once and show them a different look each time. The ones that can go only a couple of innings or even just a few batters will typically have mastered only one or two pitches and thus are more predictable.

It sounded like Hall of Famer John Smoltz and amazing pitcher who played alongside a handful of the best pitchers in living memory. Smoltz has really emerged in the last few seasons as a top notch linguistic and teacher to the public of what is happening while watching the game unfold, I credit him with a lot of my new understandings.

Nope, that's my home team broadcast and that was Jack Morris. But he's still a hall of fame pitcher too.

And these guys are watching the game at the stadium, in a booth, looking down towards the (out)field (not as close as, say, spectators seating behind home plate), while the camera angle the viewer gets to see the pitch is from the outfield towards the plate.

@@thenachofan7677 What view do you prefer at the ballpark?

@@morry32 I haven't gone to many MLB games over the years (5-6 at 4 venues), and never had the same kind of tickets each time (nosebleeds in the outfield in NY, standing room in Boston, near the right field foul line in Montreal). However, I attended lower level games in smaller stadiums. I like the feeling of being close to the game, between first and third--that area would translate into a costly seat in The Show (a nickname for Major League Baseball)--but I can see teenagers play at our local stadium for free on nice summer evenings, a cool reward for a 5-minute walk. Knowing some of the players' mothers adds to the social lightness and overall laid-back fun. At those distances (roughly ten rows of seating), you can appreciate pitch location, arm slot and action (even the whip resounding through the air), even breaking effect. Otherwise... I enjoy the TV show of MLB, even though I think they should really make more research for their replays as far as camera location, their number and resolution (FPS) to resolve some contentious appeals.

Along the base lines. As compared to the fence behind the outfielders, in which case it's a home run.

Additionally, if it hits the ground in fair territory but then enters foul territory (without being touched by a fielder) BEFORE passing first or third base, it is a foul ball. If it bounces/rolls into foul territory after passing first or third base, assuming it touched the ground in fair territory first, it is still a fair ball. Also, in any case, a ball caught in foul territory before touching the ground is an 'out' just as if it had been caught in fair territory. You will see a lot of batters pop the ball up behind home plate and the catcher or first/third baseman will catch it for the out. Once a fair ball has been touched by a fielder it can no longer become a foul ball. However, if a fielder attempting to catch a foul ball misses/drops the catch but still makes contact with the ball, it remains a foul ball even if the fielder is standing in fair territory (ball position, not fielder position, determines fair/foul). A foul ball also counts as a strike, but cannot count as the third strike (3 strikes = out). This means that if you foul two pitches and you swing and miss the third, you are called out on strikes. However, you can hit 10 foul balls and not be called out. There are two exceptions to this that I can think of. First, if you bunt (which is where you hold the bat parallel to home plate in an attempt to tap the ball lightly so infielders have to rush in to get the ball) and you already have two strikes and the ball lands in foul territory you will be out. This is why you will see someone attempt to bunt once or twice and then switch to swinging again if they were unsuccessful. Second, if you hit a 'foul tip' (where the ball glances off of the bat) and it goes directly into the catcher's glove and you already have two strikes you will be out. A foul tip, while the ball does technically make contact with the bat, is not treated the same as a foul ball when caught, as you will not be called out unless you already have two strikes. Baseball is full of crazy rules and exceptions to those rules. Like with most sports, you really can't get a good grasp of the rules until you start watching games and seeing them applied in context.

A foul ball is either right of the first base line, or left of the third base line. These lines are extended down each side of the outfield to the foul pole at the left and right walls/fence. A ball hit backwards from home plate, is also a foul ball. Interesting to see you guys watching and learning a game that I began to understand and learn when I was 6 to 8 years old.

​@@williamdemerchant7295 confusingly, a ball that hits the foul pole is a fair ball (and a home run). Similarly a ball that lands on the line or hits the base is a fair ball.

@@ericfisher4736 It's easy to forget the numerous details that must be learned to fully understand every instant of a game, but on the other hand you can still enjoy watching without being an expert, and you pick up a few things during every game.

it's Nolan Ryan, at 108 mph, yes?

@@RobertMJohnson allegedly. The Nolan Ryan at 108mph pitch is based on an older radar reading combined with a calculation of what it "would" have been on a modern reading. There's no world where you can count that as official. I find it more than a little dubious that Nolan Ryan beat the best known official pitch velocity by that much. It's possible, sure, but it smells funky as heck when you consider how much more of an outlier that velocity would make him (and he's already an extreme outlier in most ways).

@@jawbone78 i understand that we don’t have the tech to really know, however, it’s not odd in the least to think that thee undisputed greatest power pitcher in history threw the hardest. 383 K’s in a season in the modern era against some of the most talented batsman in history. 7 no-hitters. 5700+ K’s, probably the most unbreakable record in the game.

Just for reference the guy you commented on who threw 102 was Aroldis Chapman. He is a divisive character for many reasons and is not well liked even on the teams he plays for. That said he was, at his peak, jaw droppingly fast. To put this in perspective, on baseball statistics websites when you looked up the fastest pitches recorded the sites would have an "Aroldis Chapman" checkbox you could tick. If you did that it would filter out all of Chapmans pitches. This was necessary because you'd otherwise only see his name repeated 20 times.

@@RobertJohnson-lh6dg Always loved that Ryan Struck out Ricky "Three true outcomes are for chumps" Henderson for his 5000th K. As far as the most unbreakable record, that has to be Cy Young, 511 wins, Walter Johnson is in second place with 417 and Pet Alexander had 373. The Hits record is pretty unbelievable as well, but the record is kinda hazy because well, Ichiro, I doubt we'll see another member of the 4,000 club any time soon though, with Miggy and Cano being 41 and 40 this season and still quite far away.

Yes this is some relatively advanced material for very new baseball viewers.

One important thing you left out. If the batter swings, its a strike regardless of location.

​@@edwardkuenzi5751 if he swings and _misses_ it is a strike, yes, whether the pitch is in the strike zone or not. Can’t assume that’s obvious to folks completely new to baseball!

@@MrOffTrail I stand corrected

@@edwardkuenzi5751 no worries, it can be super hard to know what you take for granted! There’s no way I could explain baseball on first try without circling back to details I glossed over.

Although I know what a screwball is, I've never seen it explained how it's accomplilshed. the ability to throw it seems counter-intuitive to the physics of throwing a baseball.However, I know that it's possible because I grew up watching Fernando Valenzuela throw them with regularity.

@Jim Book That's kind of how I never developed a curveball--(I'm a right-hander) I could never get the release correct and it would almost always go wild/in the dirt. The screwball, however, was easier for me to release consistently and get it in the vicinity of the strike zone. Unfortunately, non-softball baseball died out in my town before I could work on it more, and the few times I _have_ had to try it out were with my cousin whom still played baseball, and we'd play catch every so often that he came up to visit.

The cricket equivalent is perhaps the "googly."

I couldn’t throw anything off speed or breaking, any style of fastball (2, 4, cutter, and splitter) is all that I and, probably why I spent 90%+ of my time in the outfield. (Not that there aren’t a handful of major leaguers who’ve got fastball only arsenals, it’s just tough, requires amazing velocity and accuracy or an absolutely insane cutter to make it work).

All baseball is non softball

Unless you're Aaron Judge, then your strike zone goes down to your ankles

the top of the zone is actually a little above the belt to the knees

To add though, a pitcher can work an umpire and the batter, much like Greg Maddux did. If you consistently hit your spots early in the game and show you have control, you may be able to get some calls from an ump you may not have, i.e. start pushing the black and maybe a bit off of it. Call it opening up the strike zone if you will. If you are wild from the start, going to many full counts and don't exhibit control, you may not get what should be a called strike called a strike, simply by the lack of confidence the ump has for you to put the ball over the plate. Good pitchers not only work the batter, but the umpire. Another thing to add, the ball can pass over any part of the plate to be a strike, it does not have to pass through just the front of the plate like these strike zones they throw up on TV imply.

@@DoritosClipz Knees to nips my friend, knees to nips.

@@robfowler7042 They say that, and it may be in little league still. It's been basically knees to a bit above the waist for a long time now in the pros. No one's swinging at pitches chest high unless you want to wiff.

Thank you CosmoNautica. Reading some of the comments re that I’m almost a little proud of myself 😅 Thank you for the added context! Appreciate it

Sorry CN, to clarify, are you saying that a pitch with otherwise identical grip and release will break in mirror-opposite ways depending on whether the pitcher is left- or right-handed?

@@cricketexplained8526 Yes, for pitches with horizontal break such as sliders, the breaks will mirror one another with the same grip and release for oppositely handed pitchers. Even if the grip and release are the same, the direction of rotation of the ball is not. In both cases, the pitcher applies rotation by pushing on the top of the ball in the direction away from their body. The result is a clockwise-spinning ball (from the pitcher's perspective) for a right-handed pitcher and a counterclockwise-spinning ball for a left-handed pitcher. The result is a break towards the pitcher's body via the Magnus Effect, which corresponds to a ball breaking away from a batter of the same handedness. The opposite of a slider is a screwball which rotates the ball in the direction opposite of the slider resulting in opposite break. However, this pitch is rare since it's believed to cause injury and it's difficult to hide its delivery without complete mastery.

@@CosmoNautica22 ok thanks

I really don't follow current professional sports anymore so thanks for mentioning that rule change.

That sinker made all the hitters beat the ball into the ground. And Maddux was a terrific fielder so there was no way to get the ball out of the infield.

I was gonna say Maddux for 2S/sinker and Mariano Rivera for cutter.

Randy Johnson had a VERY filthy slider😈.

Thank you for the comment and the suggestion, we really appreciate it 🤝 We’ve currently got Greg Maddux in a live Discord Poll. We run regular polls on our Discord for all members to have a say in what videos we do next if you’re not already on there 🙏

Also, everyone just kinda follows the "basics" of pitches and how they're supposed to move. No two pitchers throw the exact same pitch the exact same way.

Fastest pitch ever recorded was Aroldis Chapman when he was on the Reds. It registered at 105.1 MPH!

Thank you for these KingGat, appreciate it! I did wonder also what the fastest on record was. Insane speed!

Much respect. I just commented this above and want to repeat it here. You can't appreciate the movement on a ball until it's been pitched to you and it literally changes speed or direction on it's way. I dated a guy who'd been a pitcher in high school and college, nowhere near any kind of pro-level, but he had a decent line-up of pitches. We were both on a summer co-ed softball team and sometimes we'd pull out a baseball and mess around with that. Don't tell anyone but, whenever I actually connected the bat to the ball it was pure luck, lol. It earned these guys major respect in my eyes. I still marvel that they hit these damn things.

@@Velbar_ That's actually number 4, That Chapman pitch is behind himself at 106, Bob Feller at 107.6 in 1946 and Nolan Ryan at 108.1 in 1974.

To go along with this, and they kind of talk about it toward the end, left handed batters tend to do better against right handed pitchers and vice versa.

Yeah look this up on KZfaq right now, ""The Big Unit" Randy Johnson strikes FEAR into the heart of John Kruk!". Perfect example of someone wishing they were hitting from the other side of the plate.

There is also a pitcher named Pat Venditte who's the only ever Switch Pitcher who can pitch with either hand. He has a specially made glove that has 4 fingers with 2 thumb holes with one on each side of the glove.

@@joemckim1183 And that caused the most hilarious at-bat in minors history when he faced a switch hitter

Something to note about left handed pitchers: Lefties, because of their perspective facing 1st base, are better at "holding" runners on base. They're quicker at throwing over to 1st base if there's a runner "leading off." In youth baseball, if you're a lefty with a strong arm you are in high demand for this reason.

Yeah everyone has been great with the questions! It was a great video to react to 😀 You’re welcome 🤝🏻

Thanks Chris! We always wanted to come with an honest and genuine approach. Everyone has been great in the comments and have helped us a lot! Appreciate your comment!

Definitely really enjoying Baseball so far Jason. Now we’ve seen our first highlights we’re getting closer to being ready for the new season

Not just that but also the mechanics in how they appear when being thrown (even before they leave the hand) to reduce the ability of the batter to identify them, or the pitcher to tip them early.

Thank you Johanna, we hope you’re enjoying! Thanks for this, I’ve added to the suggestions list 😀

@@DNReacts The Cardinals and Cubs are playing a few games in London this year, I hope to see you guys there.

It can also be a problem for bullpen management however since there would be cases where managers (looking at you Girardi) would send out mediocre to crap left handed reliever just because a particular batter has lower numbers against left handers. Admittingly Torre fall for the same trap as well considering the amount of times he would send out Felix El Horridia to blow games.

Thank you for the comment Dr Zoom. Makes perfect sense!

I agree 👍

I agree. Thanks for posting the actual title because it seems these guys are usually reacting the the "wrong" video (i.e. the one very different from what most reactors do, and far from the most popular) so they need more details to get better information. Off the top of my head, this happened with the NFL flyover one too - it was some random video, not the official NFL one.

Thank you pushpak. Added to the watch list!

Really enjoying it Chris. We’re hoping to catch a game in the UK this year at the Olympic Stadium. The dream would be to come to the US to watch some Baseball, American football and others live. Maybe one day if this channel really became something 🤞

I’m looking at a trip to the UK toward the end of 2024, I’m a lover of all sports and will be visiting Tottenham during my travels. I’d absolutely be willing to take you to an Astros game in Houston, Texas, if you ever made the trip. Cheers

Thank you Neko for the suggestion! Added to the list

Thank you so much! Appreciate the support!

Thank you Nicholas, appreciate your support! Think we will need to learn Cricket alongside you.

Was just about to say this!

Thanks for this Gregory! Yeah, I certainly wouldn’t fancy my chances 😅

Deion Sanders once said that trying to hit a baseball thrown by a professional pitcher was more difficult than anything he ever had to do playing football.

Thank you Ro, really appreciate the support! The comments have been so helpful for us.

Thank you. I was tempted to leave a comment about his foul ball question, but just didn’t have the mental fortitude to gather my thoughts & be able to write clearly & succinctly, this early in the morning..

Thank you BroadSword. Appreciate the context, makes perfect sense!

Thank you for the context and support! Really appreciate it

Yup that was really great observation by them. And yes Managers will line-up left or right handed pitchers based on how many right or left handed batters are on an opposing team. Its one of the reasons why being a switch hitter is so desirable because no matter which way the pitcher pitches a switch batter can just turn around. Also you have to take into consideration that baseball stadiums are built differently, so for example a batter may be right handed and you have left handed pitcher pitching you might not see that as a disadvantage if the battter always pulls to the left where the field border is the furthest for a given stadium. Lots of variables to consider. Oh and here is something to ponder...the rules still allow the possibility of a switch pitcher. I think its only happened a few times in baseball, but it is possible to have a pitcher that can pitch left or right handed. In 2008 they had to put in a new rule that a pitcher has to declare which hand they are using to pitch for each at bat if they are a switch pitcher, this was done to avoid the problem of a switch hitter coming in and having the two combatants switching over and over again to each other forcing the game to stop lol.

Thank you, appreciate the support!

Makes sense, thank you!

@@DNReacts It means the number of seams of the ball that your fingers are crossing. If you look at a baseball there are red seams holding the white outer covering of the ball together. The 2 and 4 seam thing refers to how many of those red seams your fingers cross while gripping and throwing the ball.

Thank you Brian! We enjoyed this one!

Thank you so much, we really appreciate this 🙏

Thanks Benson, had a great read of this. Definitely going to take a look at Jomboy

@@DNReacts Oh... also to answer a question you asked in the video, the fastest pitch thrown in MLB history (currently) is a 105.1 fastball in 2010 by Aroldis Chapman.

Thank you, we really appreciate your support 🤝

Thank you so much William, really appreciate the comment 🙏

Thank you Erik. This was a great read. We’re both really enjoying Baseball. Thank you for your support, happy to have you with us for this journey

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed.