An Olympic Yardstick -
Pitch Rotations

Ever wondered how fast Olympic pitchers spin the ball on their different pitches? If so, then check out some RevFire rotation numbers for 3-time Olympian Tanya Harding.

For those of you with RevFires out there, you're probably accumulating a good amount of spin numbers for your different pitchers. To help you manage these numbers and use them more effectively here are some suggestions:

1. Record spins for each of your pitchers, and for every one of their different pitches.
2. Use these numbers to help a pitcher see that she is making improvements on a pitch even though she might not yet be seeing actual movement from the pitch. Remember that it first takes increased spins and spin speed before a pitch begins to move.
3. Use spin numbers from elite level pitchers to help your pitchers have a spin goal to shoot for. You can find a chart showing spin rates for all levels of pitchers on our website under RevFire.

During 3-time Australian Olympic Team member Tanya Harding's recent visit to Tampa we recorded her spin rates using the Revfire, and here's what we got for her different pitches (Keep in mind these numbers were taken following a 1 ½ hour workout on a very hot summer day):

To see how significant these Spin Rates are, let's compare her numbers to the Average and Top spin rates of college pitchers:

What makes Tanya such a successful pitcher on the world-class level is that her average spin rates are so high, and that there isn't much of a difference between her Average and her Top spin rate. This means she's very consistent on her pitch movement which results in almost every one of her pitches having great movement and location - the signs of an elite pitcher!

To get your own RevFire and start recording your own spin rates, check out the RevFire on our site!