How much does a ball decelerate out of a pitchers hand to the plate?

Answer 1

This depends on the type of pitch. The pitch that decelerates the most is an 'off-speed' pitch or also called a 'change-up'. This pitch is designed to look like a fastball initially but will decelerate significantly to get the batter to swing early. 'Curve balls' can come out of the pitchers hand around 94-96 mph but because of the arc, spin and thrust put into the rotation to make it curve- it can lose up to 6-7 mph by the time it crosses the plate. A pitcher throwing straight heat (96-100mph fast balls) will generally only lose a few mph by the time it reaches the batter at about 93-95mph. Still moving VERY fast considering it can take LESS than 1 second for a ball to travel the 60ft. 6inches from the pitchers mound to home plate!