2% Solution

This is a post on a softball statistic you won't see in any record book.

I pitch for 2 slow-pitch softball teams. In one 24 hour period, I was hit 3 times by batted balls - once in the chest (finally there's a bruise - which I deserve), once in the right shin, and once in the left knee.

I got to wondering, what are the odds of that happening? Well, here's the math.

The rubber is 50 feet from home, so the length of the circumference of the quarter-circle between the foul lines is 75 feet. I'm about 1 foot and a half wide, which is 2% of that arc. So, assuming hit balls are evenly distributed around the field, there's a 2% chance one of them comes my way.

Now, softball games are 7 innings. Let's assume that each inning, I face 6 batters: 3 outs, 2 left on, 1 run scored. That's 42 batters per game. Times 2% means I have to deal with a batted ball once per game.

Better get to work on my reaction time (there's stats for that too... less than .4 seconds from bat to rubber).

Maybe I'm getting too old.

Update: in last night's game, the opposing pitcher took a line drive right to the, uh, "legs apex." He managed to protect the important parts.