New Study: It’s Harder To Hit A Baseball On A Sunny Day

In my line of work I come across all kinds of crazy weather and climate studies.

But this one seems to actually be legit: hitting a baseball is harder on a sunny day. The glare makes it harder to see the spin on the ball and details like that.

But if you’re a pitcher then clear skies work in your favor.

The analysis is based on statistics from 10,758 major league day games (35,000 games overall) and data from the nearest National Weather Service office.

Strikeouts show the strongest change in the study, increasing from 5.95 per game during cloudy-sky conditions to 6.40 per game during clear-sky conditions.

If the pros have this much trouble with sunshine—imagine the trouble you have on your work team or city league. Or how much high school kids or little leaguers must have.

New Study: Baseball Weather Impacts

• Cloudy day batting average – at home: .266
• Sunny day batting average – at home: .259
• Cloudy day batting average – visitor: .256
• Sunny day batting average – visitor .251Now…the ERA (earned run average) for pitchers on sunny vs. cloudy days:
• Sunny day at home 3.93
• Cloudy day at home 4.26
• Sunny day on the road 4.50
• Cloudy day on the road 4.68 

To read more about this study, check out the current issue of the Journal of Weather, Climate and Society.