Michael Reed, of the San Francisco Giants, hustles out of the box after hitting a fly ball off Eric Lauer, of the San Diego Padres.
A Ball, in the Air, to the Outfield
A ball hit in the air fair has a very wide range of outcomes as to where it’s going to come down, and the first element in helping determine the specific outcome of a given ball is its “launch angle,” the specific angle that the ball takes after leaving the bat. Balls in the air can thus be sorted into one of the following groups:
- Line Drives: Between 10-25°
- Fly Balls1: Between 25-50°
- Pop Ups: Greater than 50°
There is a “sweet spot” in launch angle that batters will aim for, where anything between 8-32° is considered optimal— yes, even though you’ll note that at the low end, you’re technically below line drive territory, and into something that could be considered a ground ball. The other important part of this equation is "exit velocity," or the speed at which the ball leaves the bat. You can hit the ball with the proper launch angle, but if you don't hit it hard enough, it won't go very far at all. For an illustration, if you ask MLB's video site to show you balls hit with a launch angle of 10-11°, you will find a mix of line drives and ground balls, due to some of those balls being harder-hit than others2.