The rising fastball--I thought that was proven by physicists to be an impossibility. Thought physicists dismissed it as an optical illusion. The fastball of Imanaga, a Chicago "Cubs" pitcher, though, is not an optical illusion. It violates the laws of physics--I don't know how, but it does. There is video proof.
These are two pitchers delivering the identical pitch, a fastball. At the point of release, Imanaga's fastball, on right, is below the red line.
Since a pitcher is on an elevated mound, he is throwing slightly downhill. The ball has to go down. Right?
But a split second later Imanaga's ball, again on right, is level with the other pitcher's!
Imanaga's ball then begins to climb.
Imanaga's ball, now to left, is above the other pitcher's.
It is now a full ball's width above the other guy's--you can see daylight between the balls.
By the time both pitches reach the batter's box, Imanaga's ball stays high above the red line and is on the left-center edge of the strike zone; the other pitcher's ball continuing to drop, is half on the red line and on the lower right edge of the strike zone.
To quote Yosemite Sam, "I don't know hows you did it, but I knows you did it!"
