Fastball Fastball The fastball is the most common type of pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. "Power pitchers," such as former American major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, rely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit, and have thrown fastballs at speeds of (officially) and up to (unofficially). Pitchers who throw more slowly can put movement on the ball, or throw it on the outside of home plate where batters can't easily reach it. The appearance of a faster pitch can sometimes be achieved by minimizing the batter's vision of the ball before its release. The
TGV world speed record Alstom to break speed records between 250–300 kilometres per hour. It was the first TGV prototype and was commissioned in 1969, to begin testing in 1972. It achieved a top speed of on 8 December 1972. Operation TGV 100, referring to a target speed of 100 metres per second (360 km/h, 224 mph), took place on 26 February 1981 shortly before the opening of the LGV Sud-Est and ended with a speed record of 380 km/h (236 mph) set by TGV Sud-Est trainset number 16. Operations TGV 117 and TGV 140, referring to target speeds in metres per second, were