For over two centuries, Baseball has been famous for slowly evolving. When there have been changes, they have been a form of cultural evolution led by innovators and inventors and idealists inspired by the love of the game. Beyond the rules and economics of baseball, there have been a few men who have innovated major leaps forward in the on-field quality and beauty of the game, including Branch Rickey (desegregation), Ted Williams (hitting instruction), Frank Jobe (Tommy John surgery), and Bill James (statistics).

Perry Husband is one of those innovators. A coach and former college and pro player, the California native has quietly made a profound influence on baseball with his work and studies of the pitcher-batter interaction. Instead of looking at the game only through one lens based solely on stats or technique or theories, he saw the importance of how all the variables impact each other. Through vigorous research and testing of data, he has created hitting and pitching approaches that depend immensely on the context of each other in the timing battle between hitter and pitcher. The result is a new way of seeing the game and what he calls Effective Velocity (EV).

The most well-known aspect of Husband’s EV work that is now commonplace in the game today is his study on the science of pitch sequencing. Pitches in different locations will essentially have different speeds from the hitter’s perspective. An up-and-in 90 MPH pitch will have a “true reactionary speed” that is faster (just under 95) because the hitter’s barrel has to travel further to get to the contact point. That same 90 MPH pitch thrown low-and-away will have a “true reactionary speed” that is slower (just over 85) as it is hit later with the barrel traveling less. Thus, the elevated fastball “effectively” makes the fastball faster. Elevating the fastball also helps with deception by making it more conducive to having off-speed pitches come out of the same “tunnel” that is 20-feet out of the pitcher’s hand, thus disguising pitches to the hitter. The elevated fastball will stay up, the slider will break low-and-away, and the changeup will fall down-and-in, but all look like an elevated fastball long enough to make identifying the pitch very difficult. And finally, hitters’ timing can be manipulated as their attention (timing) is drawn to certain speeds they see the most and depending on the sequencing of pitches, moves up and down, thus influencing whether they time up the pitch or not. For hitters, consciously anticipating speeds is paramount to maximizing being on time vs. accidentally running into pitches.

“How do we explain it when a pitcher has all the physical tools and has been trained by the top professionals in each of the previously mentioned aspects of pitching, and is still unsuccessful? For decades, the answer has been, ‘Well, he just doesn’t have what it takes to pitch at this level.’ There is just something missing. Perhaps it is a combination of a few small things that are not exactly right or one major aspect that is off. Or, is there an aspect of pitching that we have never even considered before?
Effective Velocity uncovers some hidden elements of timing and deception that shed light on why hitters and pitchers can make the same mistakes over and over and not know how to fix them. The discovery of Effective Velocity has opened doors that will change the way the game is played as well as the way it is taught.

“Effective Velocity was discovered as a result of the hitting video Hitting is a Guess – Swing Makeover of Jay Bell (2001). In measuring perfect contact, I realized how hard that is for hitters at any level. This spurred on timing trials and visual skill testing. The Jay Bell video was called Hitting Is A Guess because it proved hitters can’t control contact anywhere near 100%. The testing included 14,000+ simulated at bats to prove further what we found in the original testing.

“When I finished the Jay Bell Swing Makeover video, it was obvious that mechanics was only the beginning. I thought I could leave the mechanical world because the video showed that if you have a question about a movement or theory, TEST IT. Don’t argue about the religion side of hitting philosophy, test it objectively.”

Perry Husband will be a regular feature contributor to The Baseball Collegian. He has published a four-book series on EV called Downright Filthy Pitching , as well as made numerous instruction videos, been featured on the MLB Network, and been a speaker at conferences all around the country. He has worked with MLB and College World Series champion teams and players and his work, including video courses and memberships, can be found at www.effectivevelocity.com. Downright Filthy Pitching Books are available on Amazon.