425 milliseconds.
This is how long it takes a 95 mph fastball to reach home plate. For comparison, an average human blinks at a speed of anywhere between 100 to 400 milliseconds. A batter has only milliseconds to decide if the pitch is a ball or a strike, and to decide if they need to swing or not. When you break it down, it shows how impossible it is to hit a baseball.
Consider when Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge broke the American League record for single-season home runs with 62 dingers. It may not seem like a major feat to hit 62 home runs considering Judge had 570 opportunities to do so this season, but this low success rate speaks to the difficulty of the game.
In the 2022 MLB season, the league batting average was only .243. This means that the average hitter got a hit 24.3 percent of the time he was up to bat. Compared to other sports and their average success rates, this is extremely low. If you complete 2/10 passes as a QB in the NFL, you will not be playing the next week. If you make 2/10 shots in the NBA, you are headed right to the bench. Ty Cobb is considered one of the best if not the best hitters of all time, and his career batting average was .366. The best hitter in MLB history was only successful 36.6 percent of the time.
Some may say that baseball is not a very physically demanding sport. For example, look at Prince Fielder. Prince Fielder was a first baseman in the league from 2005 to 2016 and was named to the All-Star team six times. He was also 5’11, 275 lbs, the average sports fan might think he is out of shape compared to the typical build expected from athletes. However, he could move his hands at a staggering speed, hitting balls as hard as 114.9 mph. Even though some baseball players appear out of shape and unathletic, they all have mastered the art of hand-eye coordination and bat speed required to be a professional hitter.
It is very often said that baseball is a game of failure. You can get three hits one game, and zero the next. But much like life, it is how you deal with that failure that really matters. In reality, the difficulty is what makes baseball so unique, and so loved as America’s pastime.
