- May 13, 2023
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That video of the slow pitch pitcher having break on the Downward Arc of the ball comes to mind.I now think that late break is possible for the curve ball. The ball won't pick up any RPM but the trajectory will change and if the spin axis is aligned correctly this makes it possible that the ball will curve more at the end of it's flight. It's the Grand Canyon scenario that I talked about earlier. If a pitcher throws a curve with the spin axis tipped about 30 degrees toward the plate for the first half of the ball's flight the air flow will create a bullet spin effect because the trajectory will be slightly upwards. As the ball loses speed and begins to drop the air flow will change resulting in an increase in the Magnus effect, increasing movement. For a rise and a drop there might be less break at the end but this is where you get into the Magnus effect vs Velocity/enertia.
Seam shifted wake movement would also be effected by the changing air flow that results from the degrading trajectory of the ball