This is so funny!! I just went to the batting cages today! I hit in the "fast" cage, baby!! 85 mph!! Swing!!!........... and a miss................. Swing!!! ........and-a-miss. Awesome!
You just described Exactly my first visit to a batting cage in years last summer at jenkinsons at point pleasant at the joisey shore.
long story short; i went right for the fast cage too with Zero warm-up and not having swung a bat in years.
Out of the first dozen; I came in contact with maybe three, and they were so bad they either went vertical up, or slammed straight down onto the plate. One rolled like a bunt. Pathetic.
I think at that speed it's something like 4/10ths of a second; 400 milliseconds, for the ball to travel the 60feet 6 inches or whatever from pitchers hand to crossing the plate. And to hit the ball, you have to decide whether or not to swing, and begin the swing, in 2/10ths of a second or less, meaning you have to commit to the swing and where the swing will be when the ball is a bit less then halfway between you and the plate. On fastballs I think it can be that you have to commit when the ball is only a third of the way to the plate; this is why .300 is great, and .400 is legendary. Think about it reverse; hitting .300, means you're not hitting 7 times out of 10. [ignoring fielding variables, etc.]
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This message was edited by Mike Teacher on 4-28-04 @ 11:00 PM