Greetings to all,
its been a while since I updated on juniors progress. For those who were not part of the conversations, my son was a tall gangly RHP with aspirations to play college baseball. Given where he always was (physically and otherwise) with respect to his peers, we always had D3 or low D1 in mind. Last summer he topped out at 79-80 and things were not looking too good, but he persevered and kept working hard. In the Fall he caught the eye of a few coaches in the ODAC conference (mostly because of his height and his breaking ball) and was eventually offered 4 roster spots in that conference. His top school in that conference eluded him, but he nevertheless happily selected one of the programs with a good long history, even though it was in the middle of a coaching change.
Once he made his college decision, he started working even harder, and topped out at 85 a couple weeks ago. He now stands 6 4 (185) and his growth curve hasn't flattened yet. His college program will no doubt thicken him up, so he hopes that Freshman year he will be able to live near 85 rather than just peaking there and earn some quality innings.
The big jump in velocity has been due to a driveline styled workout program that focused less on under/over weight throwing and more on core and overall strength growth. These were deficiencies in his physical build and while the metrics are still not where they should be, he has moved them closer to "athlete" levels.
He only threw in 3 games this past summer, focusing mostly on his strength program, but the uptick in velocity has been a bit challenging from a control perspective and so he has more work to do to bring that in line. Both Ks and BBs up... ;-)
Its been quite a ride for both of us. Lots of ups and downs, but through it all he knew that hard work was the key to making it to the next level. He didn't start playing ball until he was 12 so was always behind his peers. Hard work was how he was able to claw his way to each of the next levels, and it seems as though the physical and baseball skills are starting to finally align.
Thanks to all on this site for the insane amount of advice. I started out clueless, and while that hasn't changed too much, I was able to guide my son through this process with your help.
I'm immensely proud of him and his stick-to-it. I hope he translates that to life as well.
I move him in next week... not sure what I'll do with my time now...