Logan O'Hoppe of the Los Angeles Angels tracks a pitch out of the hand of José Berríos of the Toronto Blue Jays. Pop quiz: do you think O'Hoppe should swing at this pitch? Because after all, this is about how far the ball travels before the batter has to make up their mind. (If you want to see how the pitch turned out, click here.)
The Batter Swings
The pitch is coming in, and in the milliseconds1 available to them, the batter thinks “hey, I can hit that”. And so, they swing. What happens next depends on whether or not that swing hits anything, and if so, what: