Tagged With "left"
Topic
Division 1 Baseball
I am a 2023 left-handed pitcher, and I was wondering what my chances are of playing division1 baseball. I sit around 78 on the mound and top out at 80. I also throw a curve and changeup well and use a slider occasionally.
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Re: Division 1 Baseball
How much money do you have to spend? Keep adding velo, you aren't far off with 3 years to go. Try for 84 this summer, 87/88 next. Be your own advocate, make contacts early, get SAT done early. And get ready to outspend the competition so you can be at all the for profit recruiting events the gatekeepers have these days. Be sure and stay signed up with a 6k a year showcase team for next 3 years.
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Is all of the snarky sarcasm really necessary? If you have something to say to the OP why not speak plainly for his benefit. He came here asking for honest feedback.
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Nobody here can tell you yes or no. Just be a good player and try to get yourself on a team in a quality organization with a good track record for the summer heading into your junior year. If D1 schools like what they see then they'll be in contact. If they don't you won't ever hear from them. For now just get bigger, stronger and worry about making a varsity team before you worry about which D1 schools you can play at
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Let me see if I can rewrite Showball$'s last paragraph: And get ready to OUTWORK the competition so you can be at all the BEST recruiting events the gatekeepers have these days. Be sure to be on the best showcase team you can be on and still play. Yes, it will cost money for equipment, lessons, uniforms, and team fees for tournaments/showcases. Plus, your parents may need to pay for hotel rooms, if you can't stay with another family. We made tournaments/showcases family vacations for those...
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This is pretty clearly a kid looking for some advice, so you can probably lay off the sarcasm. Your second paragraph is valid, everything else, whether I agree or not, is really not called for and should be ignored by the poster.
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Depends on geographic location. My son topped 78 after freshman year, 85 after soph, and 90 (was sitting 87-88) after junior. In the northeast this worked an he is committed to a D1. Other places, not so much. Good luck, you're definitely on the right track IMO.
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As a lefty your size and velo are on the right path. Don't get outworked, and that applies to the class room, the field and the weight room.
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Lefties have something special. Make sure when you txt or email coaches you use LHP over and over. My son was a little bigger and threw a little harder than you and he is finishing his first semester of his freshman year at a D1. If I could stress anything to a young guy coming up, it’s the mental side of a pitcher that college coaches will look at. Not that size and velo aren’t important, but to get your foot in the door somewhere, you have to display a field presence that they don’t see...
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My son was a LHP. He was about your velo as a freshman. He went on to be drafted out of HS, played D1, and was drafted again in college. Here was what we did and didn't do: • found a great PC who could teach and from whom he would accept the teaching. Up to that point, he had great PCs, but who focused on his age pitchers. The (then) new PC was a "develop velo" guy who focused on older HS, college, and pro guys. He went from your velo to sitting upper 80s, touching 90+ in his senior year.
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The first advantage you have is you are a southpaw, second is you are at least 6'...will you get much taller? That could help. Get some advice or a plan for the weight room and put on some pounds and get stronger while also continuing to work on your velo, command and effectiveness of pitches. There are lots of D1 programs around that need good pitchers and most mid majors are high 80's guys but i imagine there are many with mid 80s guys who can pitch from the left side as well. Keep us...
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Here is a website that you and your parents should review to help develop a plan to find the right college fit. https://keepplayingbaseball.org/
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He got the best advice a normal college potential and desired goal player could get in todays environment. Plain and simple truth. Be physically prepared, and when that's NOT enough, get out the now required checkbook. If you don't like the response and real world advice, then work to change the system that is 99% pay to play right now. IE stop the $1000 recruiting showcases, stop the paying college coaches to attend these events, stop the reliance on the high priced showcase orgs. Talent...
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Great post, Goosegg! Seems like there are good opportunities for pitchers. Would you propose any changes for a position player?
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Hey PLHERLETH, sure you can play D1 baseball! I think that you are aware enough at your age to seek out input from a well informed forum like this already puts you on your way. If that is your passion and goal, go for it. It is not easy. It is not easy to get a college degree. Playing college baseball is very hard. To do both is a very big challenge. To achieve in athletics, or really any worthwhile endeavor requires hard work. Very few people stumble into or slide into success. It is...
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Just a slightly different take - Work hard to be the best player you can be and the Divisions will sort themselves out. Dont make it D1 or bust because you could overlook a lot of good opportunities that could come up at D2, D3, JUCO etc. because like most kids, they only want D1. This is not a knock on wanting to play D1, but as others have said, continue to work hard in the classroom, gym and on the field. The rest will take care of itself. Just dont rule out other options along the way.
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Uncalled for. A freshman teenager asked a simple question to a bunch of adults for advice on whether he should be able to play at the D1 level with a beginning point of 78 mph as a freshman and you, the adult, went sarcastic and made fun of him. Not good. Now to the OP. My son who is a freshman at P5 LHP was 80 going into freshman year, 84 going into sophomore, 87 going into junior, 89 going into senior year. Now 91. The key is to keep working on building up arm by weights, long toss, and...
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Not true. Son never paid to play on top level teams it just takes work to find the ones who are looking for the right player. Never went to the $1,000 showcase or any other than a couple of $150 ones. Played in over 30 PG events with 12 being WWBAs and several PBR events including futures games twice. Paid very little to play throughout entire career. Playing P5 baseball. You do not have to pay to play if you know how to work the system and who to contact. There are always teams looking for...
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We are in Iowa and followed the same timeline, although RHP and slightly higher velocities at each of these points in time.. Son is now a sophomore at a D1 and got a decent amount of innings last year. Hard work and support from coaches will be key in the next couple of years.
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You being a Lefty makes a huge difference. Plus your height at your age, all good. So you have two advantages right out of the gate, and hitting 80 as a Freshman LHP is a great place to be. As others have stated, keep working hard in the gym, give your arm proper rest in the offseason, make sure your grades are just as good as your velo, and get yourself on a travel team this summer. You're on pace for good things, but remember it's a marathon not a sprint. Maintaining focus and sustained...
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Johnlanza, Others will provide you with some important perspectives. Below are some of the demographics based on state participation. Please note there are nuances for every situation, some of the insights will help you understand where people from your particular state have played over the last 3 years. Alabama https://community.hsbaseballwe...demographics-alabama Alaska https://community.hsbaseballwe...-demographics-alaska Arizona https://community.hsbaseballwe...demographics-arizona...
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Snarky is your delivery. He is a 14 year old asking for advice. No need to leave him to interpret your sarcasm. If you have "real world things" to share for his benefit perhaps speaking them plainly would provide some benefit to him. Otherwise you are just crapping in his thread with your cryptic axe grinding about the cost of baseball. You could start your own thread for that.....
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What's often overlooked about today's kids is that they grew up with trolls, and can quickly weed out trash posters like above.
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To paraphrase a sportswriter several years ago .... Lefties have a shelf life that doesn’t expire until three years after their death certificate is filed. Look at Terry Mullholland (124-142 4.41) https://www.baseball-reference...rs/m/mulhote01.shtml
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As a father of a highly recruited LHP, I will say that your already have a step up being Lefty. Your velo must be @ 88 with good command of changeup and curveball. The more you pound the strike zone the better you will succeed. The pitch that seems to get lost today is the changeup! Son had to throw it all fall to master it. Thought he didn't need it to be perfect. Well D1 baseball is another world. He's in the SEC and he has never worked so hard his entire life. So your velo should rise as...
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What is your parent's size? If mom and dad are 5' 11" and 6' 4" respectfully as opposed to 5' 1" and 5' 9" that's going to matter. Being a lefty is a big plus but puberity is going to have the most say going forward. My son took pitching lessons with a kid who was throwing 83 in the 6/7th grade. He was throwing 88 jr year. That said as a lefty 88 with control of offspeed/fastball will get you DI. 93 plus with little to no control will get you drafted.
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So if its not real world reality................ I have been asked to lay out a plan and help a local 2023 pitcher. He's 6ft 148lbs, throws 79, and doesn't have a dime to spend . His high school has no recruiting contacts to assist. A/B student in college prep classes. PSAT indicates a future 1300+ score. Work ethic is out of the park. Devise his plan to play D1, or D2, or D3 at under $1000 per year, All costs and travel included in budget. Go. 1.) Work hard. Work harder. Work hardest.
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A kid from our high school didn’t have any money. The kid could have picked from three sports to go D1. He loved baseball. It became a community effort. He played on a top 17u travel team starting at fifteen free of charge. Facilities helped him with training. They wanted his name on the wall under “alumni.” He signed versus heading for a P5. Without the help he might have been a D1 shooting guard. There was a lot of basketball help volunteered he didn’t have time for. He quit football after...
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RJM, But you just described the top tier .005/1% athlete. And that athlete is going to get trained and connected, because.....well because its advertising to the academy to put his plaque on the committed wall. You are 110% right on his path. Hows that work for the rest of the 1 to 3%? Nobody really wants to touch this real topic. Just bash the general thought that excess money to throw at this process matters a whole lot.. And throw bombs at those who can't keep up with the baseball...
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Well, it's hard to interpret your this latest post as anything other than still largely "snarky". And, while this is an open forum and you are, for the most part, welcome to continue expressing your opinion, I agree with others - it IS getting old and it is NOT an appropriate or responsible adult response in pretty much anyone's book when a young teen is looking to this resource for guidance. I don't care how strong your background is or how well connected you are. If you aren't willing to...
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No question that it's better to have disposable income and the more the better for baseball recruiting. But, I know of several HS guys who parlayed work into all each needed. Several caught at our PCs BackYard; in exchange for all he offered (lessons, games, physical training, contacts) they caught the lessons. And they learned an awful lot about pitching in the process. Other guys worked at the local batting cage where they exchanged time for time, lessons, and connections. They learned...
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Guest play on tourney teams, they always need pitchers. Post on flat ground. Talk to local college coaches, they usually pay it forward. Use the $ for training
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Do you get outs? Always a roster spot in college baseball for a LHP that gets outs regardless of size or velo. D1 baseball? Sure. But focusing on D1 ball is the wrong approach to college baseball recruiting. The trick to college baseball recruiting , if the there is any such trickery is that players need to cast a WIDE NET and most don't. D1, D2, D3, JUCO. All the above. Try to play in front of as many College coaches as you can. Coaches from all different levels. Players and parents are WAY...
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Young man, by all means heed this advice because it is very very wise advice all around. Great guidance here. Against best of fortune to you on your journey, and it IS a journey. You have years of ups and downs, and all of the emotions that come with both, in front of you. Be prepared, be diligent, be ready to push forward when things are hard, but smart enough to adjust when need be. All of which is reflected in the post above. Most of all, bet on yourself and believe in yourself. While you...
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My son is a 2020 LHP that recently signed a NLI to play D1 in a mid-major type conference. As a freshman, he was about 6'0" and 150 lb, probably sat 75-78, T80. The end of summer before his senior year, he was 6'3" 180 lb, sitting 82-85, T87. This is probably the low end of what a D1 would accept velo-wise from a LHP, but his size made him projectable. Had we been able to go through this process again, I would have made him make physical development a bigger priority his sophomore and junior...
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I know of other kids perceived as potential D1 prospects getting help with travel teams and instruction. Money is a relative term. What may seem like a lot to one person may be pocket change to another. Some people with a lot of money will go over the top. I know a dad who left no dollar unspent on training getting his kid to a P5. The kid never started. Between soph and junior year I spent $1500 to alter my son’s swing. I paid an expert to convince him of something I had been telling him...
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Just an honest question. I have a 2025 lefty who already just wants to pitch. He is 12 1/2 and 5ft 8; 133lbs. He projects to be 6ft 1 per pediatrician. Mom is 5ft 5. Im only 5ft 8. The original poster is already 6ft as 2022. Doesnt he already check the box as someone who likely to be 6ft2 plus? As long as he can pitch.
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Kids mature physically at all different ages. Some stop growing in 8th grade and others put on a couple of inches in college. When it comes to pitching these days, taller is better for recruiting. Not to put doubt in your mind but your pediatrician's guess about your son's future height is simply that, a pure guess based on percentiles at his current age. His genetics will do more to determine his final height than his stature at any point along the way. For this reason, coaches will...
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Parent height is not always the best predictor. For my 6'3" son, I am 5'10" and his mother is 5'7". His freshman little bro is already 6'0". I believe the typical growth over high school ages is around 2-4", but everyone is different. Doctors reviewing growth plates probably give the best guesses. Also, college coaches don't want to project more than they have to... my son was low 80s as a soph already over six foot, but still "too" projectable/unpredictable for serious D1 interest.
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At the next level, whether it be college, pro, or agents, I had the feeling that we as parents were also being evaluated. They would measure us up physically (height, body type, etc) as well as "interviewing" us along with son. Much can be learned observing/listening to parent's behaviors and answers, they get a glimpse into how the kid was raised and morals. Not only do they want good athletes and players, they also want someone who will be a team player, stay out of trouble, give it their...
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Re: projected height i asked our pediatrician if the following wive’s tale is true ... A boy will grow to be 6-8 inches taller than his mother. She said it was more true than not true. But it doesn’t account for outliers. I have a friend with short parents. He grew to be 6’2”. His aunt (mother’s sister was 5’10”. His brother is 5’7 which is more in line with his 5’8” father and 5’ mother. I’m 6’1”. My ex is 5’8” My son is 6’2”. Two of his uncles and his grandfathers are 6’3” and 6’2”. One...
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I'm 6' right on the nose. My wife is between 5'2 and 5'3". Both boys are 6'3".
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I'm 6' 2" Wife is 5" 8" Son is Freshman LHP 6' 4". It's all in the grandparents dna !! Lol😀