I know the baseball goes about 10% further up there, but does it go faster as well since there is less air resistance? I was just wondering this because I was wondering if pitchers throw faster up there too. Fastball pitchers do seem to do much better in Coors than any other ones. I would guess it would have to move faster, but I've never seen anyone really talk about it before.
I think it does affect it on a home run hit, but with a pitcher, I doubt it. My guess is becuse it's only 60 feet, so there isn't much that can affect the ball in that short time. Having said that, the ball does travel through the air with less resistance, so I don't know. You've learned nothing from what I just wrote.
The speed of the fastball may be 1 or 2 mph faster, but breaking balls from what I remember are what would be affected most. Most pitches lose movement at high elevations.
if less air resistance allows a fly ball to go faster, it must allow a fastball to go faster. either they both go faster, or they both don't. i would think that not only is the ball not slowed so much going forward and thus has a higher average horizontal velocity, it also isn't slowed as much going up and thus goes higher and hangs longer, as well as going faster horizontally. so basically, it goes faster and hangs longer and thus you get like 7-10% extra distance. of course, that could all be wrong. as for breaking balls, i would guess with less air, the ball has less to "grip" as it spins and thus can't spin as much and break as much.
From the StraightDope Science Advisory Board: A baseball typically leaves the bat traveling about 110 MPH. Air has mass, so the ball has to push the air out of the way to continue on its trajectory, and the air pushes back. The amount of work the ball has to do is proportional to the mass of air it has to move, and that's proportional to the density of the air. (Air pressure is related but not identical to the density). A batted ball in air slows down a lot, which reduces its range. A ball that would go 400 feet in air at sea level would go about 750 feet in a vacuum, just because it doesn't have to push the air out of the way. The air density in Denver is about 18% less than at sea level (assuming the temperature and humidity are the same), which works out to a 10% increase in range, or an extra 40 feet.
