Stories of Late-Blooming Pitchers

My son was an ok pitcher through his junior year and even the first couple of games his senior year.  Was never considered the ace of any team he pitched on in high school or club ball.  He was probably 6'3 165lbs. He had been told he might be a decent small D2 pitcher, but wasn't going to be a D1 pitcher.

His senior year, something just clicked (he found what focus means to a pitcher).  His team ended up winning the state championship and he made honorable mention all-state.  He received a scholarship to play at a small D2 school, where he was red-shirted, but left after his freshman year. His velo at the time was 86-88 T89. He came home to play for a JUCO his sophomore year and really worked hard in the weight room and with weighted balls.  He added 20-25 pounds of muscle and grew another inch. He started his JUCO season getting converted to a closer, despite being a starter his entire life,  and made the most of it.  His fastball jumped to 88-90 T92, he led the NJCAA in saves and made second team All-American. 

This coming year he will be at a very good D1 hopefully as the closer.

Mike Morrison was the closer on Coastal Carolina's CWS championship team.  Mike was a walk on, committed to Coastal as a walk on after his HS  senior season.    Had a stellar college career and is doing well in the minors today.

David Berg is one of those stories. His junior year in high school he threw 9 innings and had a 6.00 ERA. Had a great senior year, walked on at UCLA, and then had a phenomenal college career.

http://baseballnews.com/uclas-...nce-an-afterthought/

Clueless... 

You said..  "he has now sprouted to 6 2, and 145 lbs (sopping wet). Put a ball in his hand and he looks like an athlete,.."

If he is a 2019 who is 6'2" and athletic with a ball in his hand, he shouldn't need any stories.  Most would kill to be 6'2" as a soph.  He's still young enough that anything can happen. 

I've told the story recently of a pitcher that came out of our HS program... threw a grand total of 7+ innings and hit .091 as a sophomore (playing most of the season at JV), was decent but not a standout as a junior (3.2 ERA in a typical Calif. HS league), then outstanding as a senior.  He got late attention at a D1, still took a while to fully develop his velo, excelled as a redshirt sophomore, and was drafted in the second round last month with a very healthy signing bonus.

As far as the soph to jr to senior progression in HS, this player's path is quite typical.  I would say, on average, the players who eventually contribute to V as starters (and go on to play at some college level) take a path very similar.  I could cite countless examples.  Early development is the exception, not the norm.  

Four of our pitchers this past year ...

1 - was in JV prior (soph) year, couldn't throw strikes.  With a lot of work wound up 10-1 as a junior with an ERA around 2.00 for a playoff V team.

2. - a senior who was decent as a junior but was all arm and was always sore for 4+ days after a start.  With a lot of work, completely retooled, became our go-to ace, arm stayed healthy and fresh, was recruited by and will be attending a very competitive D3.

3. - a junior who came back into baseball after sitting a year to play football.  With a lot of work, was brought up to V and became our #3 starter by end of season... was very successful, also with a low 2's ERA.  With a lot of work, he stands to be one of our top 2 rotation guys next spring.

4. - a junior, got about 14 IP as a soph, gave up a lot of hits and walks.  Worked pretty hard to develop, only to have an injury prevent him from getting more mound time.  He is already working really hard and I have no doubt that he will be a top arm for us as a senior and more than capable of taking his skill set to the next level as a P or as a position player.

Thanks Cabbage... he will love to hear the encouragement and mild chastising in your post!  

All he seems to hear are the stories of the studs getting D1 interest while he is still trying to get the gears (and the limbs) working together. He is loving the height, and while I'm a runt, my brothers are 6 4 and 6 6, so he keeps looking at them for more growth.

Thanks PA... we are at Coastal for a tournament this weekend, so hopefully some of that karma will rub off on us 

Thanks again, y'all are great!

p.s. when looks at them, its usually right over the top of my thinning dome 

cluelessDad2019 posted:

Thanks Cabbage... he will love to hear the encouragement and mild chastising in your post!  

All he seems to hear are the stories of the studs getting D1 interest while he is still trying to get the gears (and the limbs) working together. He is loving the height, and while I'm a runt, my brothers are 6 4 and 6 6, so he keeps looking at them for more growth.

Thanks PA... we are at Coastal for a tournament this weekend, so hopefully some of that karma will rub off on us 

Thanks again, y'all are great!

Please be sure to read  (have him read) what I added to my post as well since your reply.

yup... he's not afraid of working hard. its one of the best things going for him at the moment.

cluelessDad2019 posted:

Hi Y'all

With a slow day, I thought I'd ask if any of you had uplifting stories of late-bloomers that pull it all together late in HS.

Mine started older than most, but could throw, and so seems to have always been behind the curve. He was always little, and was usually only on the team because of his pitching. Fast forward to today and he has now sprouted to 6 2, and 145 lbs (sopping wet). Put a ball in his hand and he looks like an athlete, but he does not have the grace of the kids who stand out of the crowd. He's working hard to get stronger and add velo. Would love to show him stories of kids like him who have come out of the lower levels of the pack to made it to the next level. 

TIA

The height and weight doesn't matter at this time, what does is his how his velo is progressing and what pitches he throws for strikes.

Which you never mentioned.

I wasn't really looking to turn this thread into that type, but for the record, he's always been a high control, ground ball machine. velocity is mid-70s, but with lots of range 72-77 (a mechanical issue we are working on). Best secondary is a CU that gets swings and misses when he gets extension, and ground balls when its not right on. CB breaks down and out to the righty. He can throw them all for strikes. He's started a driveline program with his travel team a few weeks ago, and we'll see how that affects his velocity development through the Fall and Winter.

Make no mistake, we totally realize he is velocity challenged, and that he's not going to be judged by his change up ;-)

Noah Syndergaard:

At 14 he was 5'11" 180, mostly baby fat & was throwing high 70s.

Entering his Sr. year he was 6'3" 190 & was in the low 80s. He had never made any all star team of any kind.

End of Sr. year he was up to 97.

Wow! What is the story behind that transformation?

Google " Synderella," & read the SI story.

Roger Clemens went to JC and was only throwing low to mid 80s as a senior in high school.   transformed at JC and more at Univ of Texas.   

I could tell many stories about late bloomers. Have seen a lot of them over the years.  Not just seniors in HS but several that developed in college. Kids that threw mid 80s as seniors and mid 90s a couple years later. Kids unrecruited and undrafted out of HS, only to attend junior college and end up pitching in the Big Leagues.

While the late bloomers do happen, it is much more ordinary to see the top underclassmen in HS, become the top seniors in HS.

Typically late bloomers are pitchers and most share certain traits.  Tall and skinny, even tall and overweight, very good quick arm action, the ability to spin the baseball, etc., are all signs of future development.  

Have also seen position players that blossom late in HS or in college.  It's a little harder projecting them.  But a good example would be Scott Schebler (Cincinnati Reds Outfielder) 

Friend's son wasn't a college prospect. He was a mop up puss throwing pitcher junior year in the upper 70's in a strong high school league. Senior year he's throwing about 82/83. With great command he's all conference. Along with his great grades he's recruited to a top academic D3. By senior year of college he's grown five more inches and added 10 mph to his fastball. He's drafted and spends three years in the minors until an arm injury ends his career.

I'm not sure what Steven Strasburg did in high school. His nickname was Slothburg. He wasn't recruited. He went to his local college, SDSU. By junior year of college he was the most hyped, closely watched and highest paid prospect in baseball history.

PGStaff posted:

...While the late bloomers do happen, it is much more ordinary to see the top underclassmen in HS, become the top seniors in HS... 

As the dad of one confirmed late bloomer (and a probable second one in the pipeline), that's easy to explain.

Late bloomers face a mountain of obstacles in middle school and high school that tend to weed most of them out at a higher rate. Fair warning: this sounds brutal and bitter.  But I assure you that everything on this list has been experienced by my 2016 or my 2022, sometimes both.

• Fewer opportunities to play - in our experience, very few coaches at that level can connect the dots to see what the ceiling of a player really is.  They can't see past what they can do right now.  So the late bloomers get cut, a lot.  Or if they do make the team, they ride the pine because a coach isn't willing to risk having them on the field, so he goes with the more physically mature players.  Both of mine largely rode the pine during their 13U year.  Both got cut from all the "elite" local travel teams for their 14U year.  I was fortunate enough to find a bad team with a good coach for my 2016.  Hoping I just found something similar for my 2022.
• They get labeled as not being hard workers - The problem is actually that because they are behind developmentally, they don't get the same results from their hard work because their bodies are still changing, which often undoes all the work they put in.
• They get encouraged to quit by teammates/classmates - "Jeez you suck! Why are you even here?"
• They get "slotted" in their program - Poor or inconsistent performance by a late bloomer is hard for some coaches to get over in later years. The coach becomes so accustomed to focusing on the half-empty part of the glass that he doesn't notice that the glass was actually a 5-gallon bucket and it's only about a quart shy of overflowing.  They still lock in on that empty part of the vessel.  
• Abuse by teammates, part 2 - The same "chosen ones" that were telling them to quit when they were younger suddenly view the new and improved version as a threat when the late bloomer surpasses them physically, especially since "everyone" knows that the late bloomer didn't work as hard as they did (see above). To them, the late bloomer doesn't deserve success, so they ostracize him and isolate him.  This is especially true when the late bloomer was cut or left on JV in earlier years.  (This is probably the worst part.)
• They don't get the same level of "push" or advice from coaches - Again, since they formed low expectations early on, they not only don't see them as contributors to their program, they also don't see them furthering their career after graduation.

Thankfully, 2016 was determined enough to push through this.  That determination also got him through TJ surgery and rehab.  He's now 6-7 250 and about to start his R-Fr year at a JuCo (despite his glowing 6.5 PG rating).

Jury is of course still out on 2022.  But so far he appears to be doomed to the same path - he's already able to check off the 1st three bullets.

I recollect a speaker we (corporation) had at a President's Club. His story netted out ... if you're happy where you are what does it matter how you got there as long as you didn't harm anyone. If you faced any adversity it probably helped make you stronger and made you more resolved to meet your goals. Your JuCo son made it. 

Most people face adversity at some point in their lives. They just don't tell others. They're too busy figuring out how to beat and working at beating the adversity. Most successful people failed on the path to success.