do i stand a chance in varsity

and i got decent accuracy

Are you on a team now? I assume you are talking about next year, because the season has already begun for this year and the teams are set.

ya im on it now

Chuckdy12..no offense but 64mphs for varsity level is kinda a bit on the slow side..umm yes u can be successful, but you gotta to realize your not going to blow ur fastball by guys..the varsity pitchers i see are inbetween the 77-83 mphs range..catch my point?? i suppose if you have a decent breaking ball or slider you could do damage to some hitters, but your not going to beable to throw off speed pitches every single time threw the order or they will catch on..but if ur just a freshmen or sophmore ull develope just dont give up...spend some extra time working with a pitching instructor..thats the best advice i can give to u..good luck

Hey Chuckdy12: Don't let anyone tell you that you can't make it. Article in Tribune Sports today about a successful pitcher at St. Ignatius who is a soft tosser! Good luck.

quote:

Originally posted by boris: because the season has already begun for this year and the teams are set.

Must depend on the school you go to. We just brought up a freshman two weeks ago even though our season has been going on for almost a month. Our coach has also been known to bring somebody up within the last few weeks of the season. So no, teams aren't neccessarily "set".

There's an old saying that hitting is all about timing, and pitching is about disrupting that timing. Most HS varsity guys will have fastballs over 80 mph. In the 75-83 range you are going to be pretty hittable if you rely just on fastballs, but you will see pitchers in that range succeed with control, good off-speed stuff and a knowledge of how to set up hitters. Someone who throws consistently above 85 will be able to blow some guys away and keep most others on the defensive; these guys will sometimes get away with bad location based on pure stuff and that is a big advantage, without question.

A guy like you is at the opposite end. 56-64 is substantially slower than most batters see -- in fact most of them take BP faster than this because they are more concerned with catching up to the guy with good heat. What you may experience is that you really mess with a hitter's timing. In fact I have seen hitters get frustrated because they get all out on their front foot, dribble an out somewhere or pop up, and then come back to the dugout fuming, "He ain't got nuthin'!" (Yeah, buddy, but he got YOU out!)

It would not surprise me in the least if you could have success, if not as a starter then perhaps in middle relief. Maybe just start out with 2-inning stints where you go through the order only once and the other team doesn't get a chance to time you.

Midlo Dad, very good post i agree with you 100%

well i got to pitch an inning in relief against mt.carmel.

i got 2 strikes on the 1st hitterr, than i hit him,2nd and 3rd hitter i struck out, then the 4th hitter hit a popup(but it didnt get caught.)
then the 5th hit a monsterr double, scored 2 runs. then the 6th hitter hit a pop up for the third out.

i did alright. i threw strike3s, i should have given up 0 runs but a popup didnt get caught.

I'm a freshman and our team rips the fastball. Honestly..I HATE pitchers like you haha. I find it hard to keep back on the first at bat. Usually by the 2nd at bat I'll be ready..but if you're a reliever after a faster guy..you're set for success and getting hitters on the front foot.

Chucky,

I am a junior now and I dont throw over 70, consistently. Ive been playing on varsity since freshman year and I have pitched probably about 60 to 70 innings or so now, and I have been pretty successful. I have not given up a single home run throwing just under 70. You probably arent going to rack up monster strikeout numbers. Now granted, im not primarily a pitcher but it has worked for me. If you can throw strikes and put the ball where you want it on a consistent basis you can still be successful, and you can still progress and improve you speed. You just have to pitch smart. And what has helped me tremendously this year was developing some pitches that move. Even if you dont throw that hard you can miss alot of bats with a sinker or a splitty. And those wont cause as much wear and tear as a curveball or slider might. So I would say just work on your location, movement, and being smart. I dont know how old you are but even if you do develop and learn to throw harder all three of those things will still apply.

We had another thread going about RADAR gun readings and such that went on and on forever. There is a fascination with mph, no doubt. But the fact of the matter is, unless you're above 85 mph for high school you'd better have something else on the ball. Today's HS hitters are TOUGH and you can't just throw it by them.

While the rare kid with outstanding velocity is easy to spot, pitching talent without velocity is harder to spot because there's nothing there to quantify objectively. Many people make the mistake of assuming you can't pitch if you don't throw hard. That is lazy thinking. There are lots of different approaches to pitching successfully.

Greg Maddux never threw terribly hard. His velocity is off over the past few years, but he's still winning in MLB. Who remembers Randy Jones, who won 20+ for the Padres throwing slow, slower and slowest? I think his fastball topped out at 78. Or Frank Tanana, a one-time flame thrower who reinvented himself as a soft tosser and pitched to a ripe old age (by MLB standards).

It's hard to know in advance if guys like that will succeed. You have to watch them and see. And if a guy gets batters out, you can try to figure out why, but whether or not you can explain how he's doing it, that guy needs to be in the game.

But then, you have to do that with hard throwers, too, don't you? Not all of them can get guys out. They have a God-given advantage, but that doesn't make them pitchers.

i got to pitch against leo, i pitched 3 innings, 8 runs, 4 k's, i dont know how many hits or walks.


it wasnt really 8 runs, the feild made errors,the 1st and 2n inning i should have gave up 0 runs, but errors so i gave up 6 uns, then the third i gave up 2 runs on my own.

i was changing speeds, my 4 seam fastball was to jam hitters inside on 2 strikes and my 2-seam was moving and they would pop it up or hit a grounder.

i was doing alright todday

Look kid--I will be honest.

You will need to make up for the lack of size and velocity, but there are other aspects of the game that will endear you to coaches, players and fans. Namely, always hustle, always stay positive and always try to learn. If I was coaching, I would trade a team full of hard working kids with good attitudes and a willingness to learn for nine talented kids who could care less about the game.

Hang in there and leave it all on the field.

Chucky,

Like ballyall said you need to make up for it by hustling and staying positive. And by coming on here and talking about your fielders making errors isnt the postive attitude. Yes, its frustrating when you cant get outs, but you also have to realize that they are trying to and they aren't out there trying to make errors for. But if you lose their respect you may not get them to play as hard for you on the mound as you would like them to.

agree with ballyall...

Effort overcomes skill in many cases.

hold on a second im not saying im doing bad cause of my feilders. im just saying that i aint as bad as the numbers show.

although todday i i gave up over 20 runs in 2 innings against a fro-soph team. there is no excuses there. they just were hittin everything. it was against Providence.