The Outfielder Problem

And by that I don’t mean Manny Ramirez.

How Does an Outfielder Know Where to Run for a Fly Ball?

To test three theories that might explain an outfielder’s ability to catch a fly ball, researcher Philip Fink, PhD, from Massey University in New Zealand and Patrick Foo, PhD, from the University of North Carolina at Ashville programmed Brown University’s virtual reality lab, the VENLab, to produce realistic balls and simulate catches. The team then lobbed virtual fly balls to a dozen experienced ball players.