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While I've covered a lot of motorsports on CR4's Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition blog lately, I'm sadly not referring to this type of Bigfoot.
I mean this kind of bigfoot.
 ...via Movie Posters/Lucy Who
Ahhh, I digress. I digress.
What I'm actually referring to is the gyroball. Part hoax, part legend, but all mystery. It's a new
type of baseball pitch that until very recently was thought to be a myth. That's
because its concept was developed on a supercomputer in Japan because the pitch
was impossible to replicate by a human. (Who could have guessed, right? Japan
and weird things just seem to go together. It's not even a stereotype.)
Initially,
it was believed that current Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka threw the gyroball while pitching for the Seibu Lions of Nippon Professional Baseball.
In
fact, it was one of the reasons the Red Sox bid over $51 million just to
negotiate with Matsuzaka, not to sign him. If Matsuzaka threw this pitch it
would be the first new pitch in nearly 40 years.
So, what's so different about the gyroball?
For one, the axis of rotation of the gyroball is
significantly different than that of other pitches. Recall the direction of
rotation for curveballs and fastballs from Curveballs: The Break(down).
Fastballs have a distinct backspin that helps them maintain a straight flight,
while breaking balls have some top and side spin to manipulate boundary layers.
Gyroballs have an axis of rotation that is pointed directly at its target. In
essence, the ball is thrown like a spiraling American football.
This
was thought to create a much more pronounced break than a curveball. While a
curveball might seem to break 14"
(remember, it only curves a handful of inches), the gyroball was expected to have an arc
measured in feet. But, I think even the simplest of CR4ers see a problem with
this expectation.
Footballs, when thrown correctly with a spiral spin, are
exceptionally stable and accurate. External ballistics, or the science of
projectiles in flight, explains that projectiles are stabilized in one of two
manners: by placing to center of pressure behind the center of gravity (like an
arrow), or by spinning the projectile over its longitudinal axis. This latter
principle makes the projectile resistant to destabilizing because the center of
gravity is well distributed around the object, even though the center of
pressure is in front of the center of gravity. This is especially true for a
baseball, where the center of pressure will be the laces of the baseball as it
breaks the initial boundary layer. Since baseballs are symmetrical spheres,
there is no abnormal center of gravity, nor a longitude.
What I'm getting at, in bigfoot speak is:
SPIRALING SLOW BASEBALL GO STRAIGHT, ARRRGHHHHH!!!!!!
 ...via Cryptomundo
Instead of curving, the gyroball is better stabilized than
any other pitch, effectively making it straighter than a typical fastball. It
is also a little bit slower than a fastball. In order for the gyroball to
become effective it must rely on deception, like a change-up.
Change-ups are a type of pitch that appear as fastballs when
released from the pitcher's hand. As such, the batter times his or her swing
for the fastball, but is caught off-guard by the pitch that is surprisingly
slower. Change-ups rely on a consistent arm action between a change-up and a
fastball so the batter doesn't detect an inconsistency. A batter must also have
timed at least one fastball in order to provide a contrast between the fastball and
change-up.
How to Throw a Change-Up
Today, there are at least two major leaguers with the
gyroball in their repertoire, Matsuzaka and Angels' pitcher C.J. Wilson.
Several other Japanese players claim to throw it as well.
To throw the pitch, the baseball is held in a fastball grip.
As the pitcher delivers the ball, he twists his forearm so the back of the hand
his hand faces him. The thumb is pointed at the ground. A snap of the wrist,
like a curve ball, accentuates the spiraling motion.
Of course, the Japanese cannot just let something exist, they also have to turn it into a philosophy. It's been said that pitchers must 'think' the gyroball, not throw it.For whatever it means, the Japanese do have their own version of a sasquatch known as "higabon."
However, if Tom Selleck of all people can find meaning in Japanese baseball, there must be something to it.
Resources
Wikipedia: Gyroball; Matsuzaka; External ballistics
The Complete Pitcher
ESPN - Chasing the Demon Sphere
Vizard, Frank, and Robert Lipsyte. Why a Curveball Curves. ; The Incredible Science of Sports. 2009. Print.
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Re: Baseball's Bigfoot: The Gyroball
