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In
baseball statistics
Baseball statistics play an important role in evaluating the progress of a player or team.
Since the flow of a baseball game has natural breaks to it, and normally players act individually rather than performing in clusters, the sport lends itsel ...
, exit velocity (EV) is the estimated speed at which a
batted ball is travelling as it is coming off the player's bat. Batters generally aim for a higher exit velocity in order to give opposing
fielders less time to react and attempt a defensive play; however, many batters are still able to accrue
hits without a high exit velocity. A pitcher will attempt to limit the exit velocity on the opposing batter's contact in order to allow the fielders or themself a better chance at making an
out.
Exit velocity was first tracked by
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
(MLB) in 2015 with the introduction of
Statcast
Statcast is a high-speed, high-accuracy, automated tool developed to analyze player movements and athletic abilities in Major League Baseball (MLB).
Statcast was introduced to all thirty MLB stadiums in 2015, a year now considered the beginning ...
. In MLB and many other
North American baseball leagues, exit velocity is measured and presented in
miles per hour
Miles per hour (mph, m.p.h., MPH, or mi/h) is a British imperial and United States customary unit of speed expressing the number of miles travelled in one hour. It is used in the United Kingdom, the United States, and a number of smaller cou ...
.
Origins
For most of baseball's history, there were no commonplace methods to quantify how hard-hit a batted ball was — the only aspect of the ball's speed being tracked was how fast the pitcher threw it, measured using various evolutions of
radar guns. In 2015, MLB introduced
Statcast
Statcast is a high-speed, high-accuracy, automated tool developed to analyze player movements and athletic abilities in Major League Baseball (MLB).
Statcast was introduced to all thirty MLB stadiums in 2015, a year now considered the beginning ...
technology to all 30 of its ballparks, in part to track exit velocity. The league released its initial data the following year in a summary of the 2015 season's statistical notabilities. Throughout the 2016 season, more aspects of exit velocity were gradually rolled out to fans. MLB launche
Baseball Savantin 2016 to provide fans easy access to exit velocity and other Statcast-recorded data.
External factors
Ballparks
Since every MLB stadium has its own unique set of dimensions and intricacies, there has been an observed ballpark-to-ballpark difference in exit velocity stats despite attempts to curtail it. MLB originally installed
TrackMan
The TrackMan is a radar system that uses Doppler technology to track and record 3D characteristics of a sports ball in motion.
History
TrackMan was created in 2003 by golfers Klaus (CEO) and Morten Eldrup-Jørgensen and radar engineer Fredri ...
radar technology but switched to the optical-based
Hawk-Eye system in 2020 — with both systems, the league was unable to avoid variances in data collection based on each ballpark. When Statcast is unable to accurately record exit velocity data for a batted ball, either because of ballpark factors or some other reason, it
imputes a value in its place.
Equipment
Exit velocity can vary based on whether or not the ball is moisturized with a
humidor
A humidor is a humidity-controlled box or room used primarily for storing cigars, cigarettes, cannabis, or pipe tobacco. Either too much or too little humidity can be harmful to tobacco products; a humidor's primary function is to maintain a ste ...
. From April 7 to May 22, 2021, the average exit velocity was with a humidor and without a humidor. During the same span of days in 2022, the average with a humidor was and without a humidor.
Uses
Since its introduction, MLB teams have used the exit velocity stat to gauge a batter's abilities. Transversely, exit velocity can be analyzed to improve a pitcher's results, especially those prone to giving up hard contact. Statcast technology in MLB ballparks allows teams to analyze exit velocity data points in real-time during games and make adjustments accordingly.
According to Rotoballer, exit velocity can be used by
fantasy baseball Fantasy baseball is a game in which the participants serve as owners and general managers of virtual baseball teams. The competitors select their rosters by participating in a draft in which all relevant Major League Baseball (MLB) players are ava ...
players to predict various outcomes and make roster decisions.
References
External links
Exit Velocity Definitionat
MLB.com
MLB.com is the official site of Major League Baseball and is overseen by Major League Baseball Advanced Media, L.P. (a subsidiary of MLB). MLB.com is a source of baseball-related information, including baseball news, statistics, and sports column ...
{{Baseball statistics
Batting statistics