My son recently went to a college showcase where they measured his bat speed. This is the first time we have encountered this. It was reported that his best tee exit velocity was 79mph. The coach that did the evaluation stated that this was very good. My question is, is 79mph good for a 16yo High School Junior. (Yes he has a late birthday. Early July.) What speed should he be targeting? Thank you.
Dear Dad,
It sounds like your son has the potential to play baseball after high school. Congratulation, you should be very proud of him for all of his hard work. As a former big leaguer, my advice to him/you would be to focus on hitting the ball hard rather than aiming for a certain exit speed. As you get older, especially in the pros, the fielders are so good that soft hit balls don't make it through the infield. Like some have said, exit speed is good to know but it doesn't make or break you. What does make or break you as a player though are three things: your overall athleticism, skill, and attitude. My advice would be to focus your efforts on those three things because they are key differentiators. Get him as fast and athletic as possible, fine tune his skills so he can consistently hit the ball hard, and make sure he doesn't act like an asshole. Scouts and college coaches won't tell you this, but they really care about selecting players who help their teams win and treat others with respect. Sometimes it's the reason they take one guy over another. Very important! Also, good grades. You want to make sure he doesn't limit his options in the future. He sounds like a good kid, so you guys won't have to worry about some that stuff. Good luck!