@ joiletboy
Would I have liked for him to increase his velocity, yes.
I was also only the pitching coach for his last 3 years.
When he came in as sophomore he was in the high sixties mechanics were an issue.. We are not a huge school system and we don't have 60 + guys coming out for jv and another 40 for varsity. And a majority of our kids do not travel ball throughout the summer and fall. So we have to identify potential talent and develop it.
He made his college team and is up to 87 that has come with putting on 10 pounds and has never had an arm injury. I'll take that ALL the time.
BTW: you imply that 84 is bad. The vast majority of h.s. pitchers rarely get to 80. And many that claim to throw high 80s don't. Just a little story. My 2nd year I was scouting a team and there was a "college" scout there radar gun in hand. The senior pitcher he was looking at we had played the week before and clocked at 82 max we have a stadium gun and one of our assistants records every pitch. The kid came over to the scout and asked him how he did and he told him his average was 87. Don't believe all these mph people tell you.
Cheesy I rarely believe anything people tell me lol. But don't feel like the lone ranger here. Lots of people who chime in on these pitching threads are long time pitching coaches including myself. Many others are moms/dads of current or former college/pro pitchers. Its a pretty informed group. I would just amend what you say a bit. There are not an abundance of hs kids throwing 80+ IN BAD PROGRAMS. good programs they are a dime a dozen. Most all our pitchers were 80's to 90's where I coached in illinois. I now enter my second year with a school that has never really had any success and yes we are hurting for velocity. Coincidentally enough our ace last year topped at 84. As a senior this year I hope we can get him to 87 maybe 88 with the wind at his back. And we have a couple young kids we are going to try and groom to be mid 80's guys. It is a struggle for sure. Hopefully some day soon we can be talking 90 rather than mid 80's. The point is simply I don't think 84 is a number to make anyone stand up and notice. Not criticizing cause like I said I am going through the same thing. But I will tell you one thing if my own son tops at 84 as a senior he will be extremely disappointed. There is nothing wrong with d2 or d3. I just think as TPM said most people on here have higher goals. If my son plays d3 someday I will go watch him and be proud. But its not the goal.