Let's be honest about that KC radar gun. I'm thinking it's 3mph optimistic. Trevor May does NOT throw a fastball 98 or 99mph. He's a good mid-90's reliever, hits 95, 96mph sometimes. Not faster than that. He wasn't throwing the ball unusually hard today, either.

 

Radar guns apparently are owned by the team, which has an interest in making its pitchers seem faster than others. It's remarkable how every team that goes to KC has a great day for fastballs. About 3mph faster than average. Let's all laugh and enjoy it.

 

Let's be honest about that KC radar gun. I'm thinking it's 3mph optimistic. Trevor May does NOT throw a fastball 98 or 99mph. He's a good mid-90's reliever, hits 95, 96mph sometimes. Not faster than that. He wasn't throwing the ball unusually hard today, either.

 

Radar guns apparently are owned by the team, which has an interest in making its pitchers seem faster than others. It's remarkable how every team that goes to KC has a great day for fastballs. About 3mph faster than average. Let's all laugh and enjoy it.

 

Did a quick search of three KC pitchers, (Ventura, Volquez, Davis) and compared their home/away velocities of their pitches.  The third row is the difference between the two:

 

http://i.imgur.com/HrxMb7K.jpg

 

Take it for what it's worth

 

Edited September 8, 201511 yr by Secondary User

Maybe every one else's radar guns are a couple mph slow. That is the thing about radar guns..... lots of things can affect true readings. Cops' radar guns are always off and saying things are faster than they are.......... right?

Edited September 8, 201511 yr by h2oface

 

 Cops' radar guns are always off and saying things are faster than they are.......... right?

That's my story and I'm staying with it!

 

Did a quick search of three KC pitchers, (Ventura, Volquez, Davis) and compared their home/away velocities of their pitches.  The third row is the difference between the two:

 

http://i.imgur.com/HrxMb7K.jpg

 

Take it for what it's worth

What it's worth depends entirely on which radars were used in Kansas City. Were those stats gathered using the radar gun we were seeing on TV, or some other one?

 

I've seen this skewed reading before, and it happened in KC. In the previous instance, the same thing happened - everybody having the power pitching night of their lives, about 3mph faster than I'd ever seen them.

 

My other evidence is subjective, but from my observations of real power pitchers, an upper 90's fastball has an intimidating effect on hitters that I simply wasn't seeing. Hitters didn't look desperate to speed up their swings the way they do when facing a well-known upper 90's guy like Matt Harvey or Nathan Eovaldi. Hitters can't always hit mid-90's, but they know how to time it, and that's what I was seeing.

 

I have also heard Twins announcers make noise about the optimistic gun at KC, but again that's subjective. They appear to think it's kind of funny, and I agree.

Inflating radar gun readings? Hmmm. Do ya think the KC front office would want their pitchers to look better than they are for some reason? Improve the reputation of their pitching staff for example? Could this sort of thing really happen?