Baseball speed is distance divided by time, converted to miles per hour. A pitch that covers the 60.5 ft MLB pitching distance in 0.45 seconds travels 134.4 ft/s, and multiplying by 3600 and dividing by 5280 gives 91.7 mph. Enter your own distance in feet or metres and the timed seconds to get mph, km/h, m/s and ft/s.
Coaches, parents and players without a radar gun can still estimate how hard a ball is thrown: measure the distance, time the flight with a stopwatch app or by counting video frames, and divide. This calculator does that division and converts the result into mph, km/h, metres per second and feet per second, then places the mph figure in a rough level band from youth to elite. It works for pitches, long-toss throws, catcher pop-time throws to second base and outfield throws, as long as you know the distance. The number is an average over the whole flight. A radar gun reads the ball near release, where it is fastest, so expect a radar reading a few mph higher than this result. Timing error matters a lot at short distances: being off by 0.03 s on a 0.45 s pitch shifts the answer by about 6 mph.
Type how far the ball travelled. The default is the 60.5 ft MLB rubber-to-plate distance; use 46 ft or 50 ft for youth fields.
Use the unit selector inside the distance box. Metres are converted to feet with 1 ft = 0.3048 m.
Type the flight time (s), from release to the catcher's glove. Two decimals are usually as good as hand timing gets.
The headline is mph; km/h, m/s, ft/s and the level band sit below, with the arithmetic listed step by step.
Result Average speed: 91.7
Speed in km/h: 147.5
Speed in m/s: 40.98
Speed in ft/s: 134.4
Typical level for this pitch speed: Pro-level velocity
A ball covering the full MLB pitching distance in 0.45 seconds averages about 134 ft/s, or 91.7 mph.
Result Average speed: 62.7
Speed in km/h: 100.9
Speed in m/s: 28.04
Speed in ft/s: 92
Typical level for this pitch speed: High school range
On a Little League field the same half-second timing works out to 62.7 mph, because the distance is 14.5 ft shorter.
Result Average speed: 91.7
Speed in km/h: 147.5
Speed in m/s: 40.98
Speed in ft/s: 134.4
Typical level for this pitch speed: Pro-level velocity
18.44 m is the MLB pitching distance in metres; 18.44 ÷ 0.45 gives 40.98 m/s, the same 91.7 mph.
v (ft/s) = d ÷ t; mph = v × 3600 ÷ 5280; km/h = mph × 1.609344
dtvAverage speed is distance over time. A mile is 5280 ft and an hour is 3600 s, so 88 ft/s is exactly 60 mph. The result is the mean speed across the whole flight; air drag slows a pitch by roughly 8 to 10 percent between release and the plate, so the release speed shown by a radar gun is higher than this average. The pitcher also releases the ball about 5 to 6 ft in front of the rubber, so using 60.5 ft slightly overstates the distance actually covered.
In MLB, college and high school baseball it is 60 ft 6 in, or 60.5 ft (18.44 m), measured from the front of the rubber to the back point of home plate. Little League Majors uses 46 ft, and intermediate 50/70 divisions use 50 ft.
A radar gun usually reports the peak speed just after release. The ball loses speed to drag on the way to the plate, so the average over the whole flight is lower, typically by several mph for a fastball. The pitcher's release point is also in front of the rubber, which shortens the real distance.
Film the pitch with a phone in slow motion and count frames between release and the catch. At 240 frames per second each frame is about 0.004 s, far finer than a thumb on a stopwatch, which typically carries 0.1 to 0.2 s of reaction error.
90 mph is 132 ft/s. Over 60.5 ft that is about 0.46 s on average; from a release point around 55 ft away it is closer to 0.42 s. That is why hitters have to start their swing before the ball is halfway there.
Yes. Any throw with a known distance works: catcher throws to second base cover about 127 ft 3 in, and outfield or long-toss throws can be measured with a tape. The level band is calibrated to pitch speeds, so read it loosely for other throws.
Rough averages: youth pitchers around 40 to 55 mph, high school varsity 70 to 80 mph, college 80 to 90 mph, and MLB fastballs about 93 to 95 mph. The band shown here uses wide ranges and is only a guide.
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Tools Directory Editorial Team. (2026, October 22). Baseball Speed Calculator. Tools Directory. Retrieved October 26, 2026, from https://tools.milunir.com/sports/team-sport-statistics/baseball-speed-calculator/
Tools Directory Editorial Team. “Baseball Speed Calculator.” Tools Directory, 22 Oct. 2026, https://tools.milunir.com/sports/team-sport-statistics/baseball-speed-calculator/. Accessed 26 Oct. 2026.
Tools Directory Editorial Team. “Baseball Speed Calculator.” Tools Directory. Last modified October 22, 2026. Accessed October 26, 2026. https://tools.milunir.com/sports/team-sport-statistics/baseball-speed-calculator/.
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