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Reply to "D3 recruits throwing 87-88"

2022 was my first season watching D3 baseball, so fwiw:  My son is a rising sophomore pitcher and his D3 team has 6 or 8 guys who can touch 88-90+ (and I mean touch that while actually pitching, not just trying to throw as hard as possible for a radar gun reading).  These guys typically sit around 85-88 (and a couple of them do have problems with command).  The two freshmen Ps who saw game time last year both touch 89-90.

Those numbers seem pretty typical among the stronger D3 teams I saw in 2022, with the occasional lefty throwing lots of junk at 70-75.  And good D3 hitters didn't seem to have trouble getting the bat on 87-89 mph pitches if a pitcher can't locate his fastball and change speeds.

This was my observation as well.  And I do think the overall pitching quality, and play in general, trickled down during Covid.  Which makes sense given how many 5th and even 6 year players we've seen in D1 over last 2 years.  D3 couldn't help but get an influx of players who didn't want to wait until Jr year to touch the field.  Maybe that will start to level off a bit now, who knows.

My other observation is that velocity training is just something that is far more widespread now.  In my area, there are three very good training facilities that specifically focus on velocity, and many of the kids that come through these programs get to 90 mph.  There's just more knowledge out there about how to train, gain, and eat in order to get players to that point.   Probably also the reason we are seeing more and more TJ as well, which is the flip side of all of this.

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