Skip to main content

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Look down at Georgia Tech. Jason Neighborgal has hit that velocity repeatedly. Bob Feller is probably regarded as the fastest ever that made it to the majors. He personally claimed he hit 104 MPH.

Nolan Ryan was "officially clocked" back in the 70's by the Guinness Book of World Records at 100.9 MPH.

Bob Feller once traveled to the Aberdeen proving grounds to get clock by the Military (This is prior to the advent of "Radar Guns"). They clocked him at and 98.6 MPH, throwing without a mound.

Ted Williams claimed that Steve Dalkowski was the hardest thrower that ever lived. He stated that he was faster than both Walter Johnson and Bob Feller. He was estimated to have reached 105 MPH, even though he was only 5'8". In the minors, he walked 1350 baters while striking out about 1400. He walked 21 batters in one minor league game and struck out 21 in another. He once threw 120 pitches in only two innings.

One of the early forms of determining pitch speed was by measuring the speed against a motorcycle flying past. That's how they clocked Walter Johnson back in the early 1900's at 99.7 MPH.

After the advent of the Radar gun, the fun was taken out of it.

Her are a few of the perhaps 50+ members of the highly unofficial "100 MPH club" in Major League Baseball.

Mark Wohlers, 103.0 mph, 1995
Armando Benitez, 102.0 mph, 2002
Randy Johnson, 102.0 mph, 07-09-2004
Robb Nen, 102.0 mph, 10-23-1997
Rob Dibble, 101.0 mph, 1992
Kyle Farnsworth, 101.0 mph, 05-27-2004
Eric Gagne, 101.0 mph, 04-16-2004
Jose Mesa, 101.0 mph, 1993
Guillermo Mota, 101.0 mph, 07-24-2002
Billy Wagner, 101.0 mph, 04-16-2004
Billy Wagner, 101.0 mph, 06-11-2003
Nolan Ryan, 100.9 mph, 08-20-1974
Josh Beckett, 100.0 mph, 10-12-2003
Roger Clemens, 100.0 mph, 10-10-2001
Francisco Cordero, 100.0 mph, 07-07-2004
Jorge Julio, 100.0 mph, 09-16-2004
Ben Sheets, 100.0 mph, 07-10-2004
J.R. Richard, 100.0 mph, 1976
C.C. Sabathia, 100.0 mph, 2002

There are lots of sites you can go scan to research it. One of the best sites to find out this kind of information (and one of my favorites) is the Baseball Almanac If you've never visited it before, you can loose yourself in there for a couple days.
A friend and I were talking about Neighborgal on Sunday. We figure if he'd just relax and throw the ball in there at 93-94, his ball would dance all over the place and he'd be a devastating pitcher. That extra 6-7 MPH is mighty tough to control.

It's going to be interesting to see what happens this spring down at Georgia Tech. From what I heard, he did much better (control wise) after he left the Cape.

Look out for Daniel Bard (UNC) to possibly break that 100 MPH barrier this spring.
quote:
Originally posted by DaddyBo:
PhoenixDad...they had motorcycles that could go 100 mph in the early 1900's? Eek

Big Grin I think it was around 1920 ... but the "Motorcycle" does pre-date the Automobile. Henry Ford didn't invent the car ... he just polished of the manufacturing method.

The land speed record dates from 1898. They broke 100 back in 1904.
"One of the early forms of determining pitch speed was by measuring the speed against a motorcycle flying past."
--
They had trains that could do it in the 1890s. I know a lot about measuring bb speed and never heard about motorcycles. Early methods measured how far one could throw a bb in one second which could be measured very accurately.
But that would measure average, not peak speed.

Easiest primative way to measure speed is to simply see how far a ball can be thrown. 300 feet in the air takes about 90 mph. Ball thrown at 30-45 degrees.
100 mph on the JUGS GUN. Neighborgall reached 96 mph (STALKER) on scout day this fall and 1/2 his pitches were to the backstop.

Alot of your hard throwers fastball was helped by STERIODS. I have seen Rob Dibble was 100 mph and know for a fact he was on ROIDS. His roomies/teammate had such nice stories to say about Dibble
Neighborgahl threw 96 in HS I saw him pitch and I have known him since he was 8 years old. He is a great kid. I can tell you one thing he aint on steroids. All you have to do is look at him. He still looks like hes never even been in the weight room. As far as Daniel Bard I saw him a couple of weeks ago at UNC pitcher catcher camp. He is 95 96 and so fluid and effortless doing it. I wouldnt be surprised if he couldnt hit 100 right now. The thing about him is he can pitch too not just throw hard. And that boy is put together.
Yes I saw him twice. Yeah he is effortless just like Bard and just as hard. Bard just has a bigger stronger body thats all. Miller Ive been told eats all the time and works his butt off but just cant gain any weight. They have a pitching staff that is out of this world. If they can find some offense I wouldnt be surprised if they did some real damage this year. By the way does your son play at Elon?
I know that Miller/Bard are getting all of the press because of their potential ... Big Grin

But Robert Woodard was their best freshman pitcher last year. He went 8-2 on the season.

Throw in Matt Danforth and Rob Wooten will both be back from a red-shirt year and they have a very promising crop of freshmen coming in.

In answer to your question ... yes, starting this fall.
Apparently some people have trouble reading. Said Dibble used roids. His 2 teammates, who also roomed with him are the source.

You forgot this was the same guy who used to nail base runners who bunted on him, brawled with his manager Lou Pinella ON TV Much less.
Nailed a school teacher in the stands with a ball he tossed in the stands.

Roids will make you throw harder and also make you a nut case too with mood swings.


Steroids have been around since 1930's a little country that makes BMW's used to them to try to improve performance during the 1936 Olympics. They became very popular with a country famous for vodka in the 1950's.
Last edited by Dibble
The post about taking something off the pitches to get more movement is interesting. It makes me wonder:

Do these great arms have big hands and fingers or small hands and fingers? It would seem logical to learn how to mix speeds. But once you get above, say, 97 mph, is 90 a changeup or is it giving the hopelessly overmatched hitter a chance to catch up?

It would also seem to me that if the pitcher's hands/fingers are small, it would be harder to do as much with movement. But it would also seem that at 97 or higher, especially if you can acquire any notion of location, you don't have to worry about movement.

Comments?
quote:
Originally posted by Dibble:
Alot of your hard throwers fastball was helped by STERIODS.

also:
quote:
Originally posted by Dibble:
Apparently some people have trouble reading. Said Dibble used roids. His 2 teammates, who also roomed with him are the source.


Dibble ... I guess you are the one who has trouble reading what you type. In a thread that is talking about a COLLEGE pitcher, you used a pretty big generality.

2nd: That's a pretty broad brush you are painting with ... "A LOT of hard throwers" covers a huge amount of ground.

OldVAMan ....
I don't know if it's the size of the hand really. It's how tight of a spin you can get on the ball and I've seen smaller guys get great spin and huge guys with big hands that can't get much spin at all.

If your FB is straight, they are going to catch up with it. You can't be a sucessful 1 pitch guy with no movement. Mariano Rivera is (more or less) a 1 pitch guy, but he gets tremendous movement on the ball.

Also, the harder you throw, the more important the difference between FB/Change up becomes. You may need 15+ MPH difference for someone who's throwing in the high 90's. For someone throwing 87-88, a 7-8 MPH difference may be enough to get the hitter off-stride and out in front of the pitch.
He also pitched in the Coastal Plains League last summer:

Jason Neighborgall,
ERA: 5.30
Record: 1-1,
Innings: 18.2
Hits Allowed: 3
Runs Allowed: 16 11
Base on Balls: 34
Strike Outs: 25
Opponent Batting Average: .064
Wild Pitches: 14
Hit by Pitch: 7

Yes, he's wild. I also saw Bard hit 4 guys in one game as a HS Senior. He was wild then. Guys mature at different speeds.

If Neighborgal ever gets it reined in, he'll be something special.
Last edited by PhoenixDad
quote:
Originally posted by Bighit15:
quote:
There are dozens of 95 plus MPH arms in the minors who never get to the big show--why-- no movement--no control-- no solid second and third pitch

TRhit


TR, I agree except that there are less 95 mph arms than people think. Lots of guys with velocity, no movement, and no supplemental pitch.

Hit, that surprises me ... One is given the impression (from many sources) that both the minors and the Top-25 D1's are absolutely full of hard throwers. Of course, we've been discussing UNC in this thread and they sure ain't the normal program this year.
Speed and control

Craig Hansen , RHP at my alma mater St John's had these stats this past year

Craig has been cloackec at 95 MPH

During the Big East season

10 saves with 2.90--59 K's and 16 BB in 40 1/3 IP

In summer ball
10 saves with a 0.00 ERA and 41 K's and 2 BB in 22 1/3 IP


Yes speed will get you attention but being a PITCHER will get you even more
Last edited by TRhit
Hansen projection to the big leagues is rising and since the batteries are fresh and lighting the crystal ball, Hansen is expected to go higher in the 05 draft than Neighborgal, Bard, and Miller. (lol) However, Bard & Miller are ready, now.

The other question that's needs asking is
should Neighborgal have signed, or gone JUCO?

Regarding Woodard, he had a great freshman year, but geez, you would think PhoenixDad is related or something?

And while on the subject, will the ACC and Ga Tech really miss Micah Owings (who transferred to Tulane!)

cheers
Bear
Last edited by Bear
Shoot Bear .... Mine's not even going to Carolina ... even though we will play against them some.

I've seen Bard/Woodard up close since they were Juniors ... Outstanding pitchers.

Bard and Miller aren't eligible in 2005 (Say thank you Carolina fans)....

Neighborgal needed (and still needs) a 4-year college. He was drafted in the 7th round out of HS and opted for Georgia Tech. I expect he'll go somewhere around the same place this year.

I hope that he's going to return for his senior year of college unless he has an outstanding spring. He hasn't shown the consistency that you want to forgo a college education at this point in his life. The leverage might not be as important as the degree in the long term.
quote:
Originally posted by PhoenixDad:
Neighborgal needed (and still needs) a 4-year college. He was drafted in the 7th round out of HS and opted for Georgia Tech. I expect he'll go somewhere around the same place this year.

Neighborgal wasn't drafted until the 7th round out of high school because he had made it clear that his intention was to go to G-Tech. The Red Sox drafted him hoping that 1st round money would entice him to sign but he didn't bite.
quote:
Originally posted by TRhit:
Speed and control

Craig Hansen , RHP at my alma mater St John's had these stats this past year

Craig has been cloackec at 95 MPH

During the Big East season

10 saves with 2.90--59 K's and 16 BB in 20 1/3 IP

In summer ball
10 saves with a 0.00 ERA and 41 K's and 2 BB in 22 1/3 IP


Yes speed will get you attention but being a PITCHER will get you even more



TR....59k's in 20 1/3 innings???
Last edited by Starzz
The reason I asked about size of hands/fingers is I was told (long ago) that scouts like bigger hands, because it means more upside in terms of teaching movement. Obviously, there is more to it than that.

But there are very few pitchers at the college level that can throw 95 or higher with any regularity. That said, my thought would be to concentrate on teaching location first, then worry about adding movement.

An arm that strong that can hit spots? I realize that, beyond the college level, a pitcher has to have more than a great arm to get anywhere. But once we get into the 97-up range, I'm wondering if movement is as crucial.

Give me a straight 98 mph fastball, a straight changup, a solid curveball and location on all of them and I'll take my chances.
I'm suprised nobody has mentioned Mccormick at Baylor. McCormick posted a 2-1 record with a 0.93 ERA in six starts with the Wareham Gatemen this summer in the Cape Cod League. He threw 47 strikeouts against only 17 walks and 20 hits in 38.2 innings of work. McCormick was an all-star selection this season in the Cape and was clocked at 101 mph at the league's all-star game.
KC selected Marshall, TX HS senior Colt Griffin with their first round pick in the 2001 draft. Colt was the "talk" amongst the scouts that spring as he had been clocked at 100 mph on several occasions.

November of 2004, KC exposed Colt to the rule V draft(did not place on 40 man roster) and he was not selected by any other organization.

Control problems have led to inflated ERAs, high walk totals and conversion from "starter" role to "relief" appearances.

But... the 100 mph reading DID get Colt the first round signing bonus!

OPP

Add Reply

×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×