Originally Posted by roothog66:
Originally Posted by 2020dad:
Wow. This one got resurrected I see. I don't necessarily think at 11 and a half there is a magic mph number you 'must' be at. But I do think youth baseball makes the huge mistake of trying to teach control first. Control can be had at a young age with poor mechanics. To p velocity can not be had at any age with poor mechanics. Keep in mind before responding that there are of course a few freaks of nature, let's keep this the the vast majority. Also some of what we call poor mechanics in mlb is nit picking at that point. Pretty much all those guys have good mechanics. So I would say it is never too early to teach your kid to develop powerful mechanics and throw hard. You want to measure that via radar I am fine with that also. But never ever sacrifice velocity for control.
Exactly right. In addition, I believe correct mechanics, in addition to maximizing velocity, are part of a long-term arm health plan. My own son was practically unusable for almost two years as a pitcher due to control issues at a young age. People wondered why I didn't just have him slow up the velocity and find the strike zone. Many of them are finding out now. I see too many big guys in high school who should be throwing harder. I kow quite a few and also know that their velocity was harnessed at a young age and traded for "putting the ball over the plate."
And by the way root my son is stuck in this right now. He often gets put in big games. Win or go home games where we are up one or down one and he knows a few walks would be devastating for his team (13u). So he cruises like he is throwing a bullpen at maybe 65 or 66 instead of really letting it fly. He gets the desired result and this confirms for him he is doing the right thing. His out pitch becomes his curve ball and two seemer which gets a little drop and produces ground balls. Then I say to him when are you just going to let it fly? Pre season he had been about 70 and I thought pretty good control. Figured great by seasons end maybe 72 or 73 setting him up for upper 70's his 14u season and 80 something as a freshman. But you can't just turn it on and off like a light switch. He rarely tries to reach back and blow somebody away with a good four seemer ground balls and quick innings are a premium when you may be asked to pitch parts of three different games in a weekend but still... just got to keep plugging I guess. And I understand sometimes its really hard for a kid to separate what is best for his team vs. What is best for his future.