Does position matter???

If he can hit he should have no problem. But he needs to be a hitter.

Have to agree with floridafan , if he can hit someone will find him a position to play .

Yes. Mine was recruited strictly for his bat, but told he will play a corner outfield position (he has never played Outfield in H.S., and sparingly for his Summer team). CF recruited more on speed than hitting. Corners, infield and outfield, gotta hit!

mY guy was a CF coming out of HS---during the summer before his frosh college year he played all three OF positions for his summer team--put him in great position when he got on campus in the fall--AND he had a great stick and excellent foot speed

Realistically, what speed are we talking about for a College CF. I know anything under 7.0 is good speed but I would assume you would need to be under 6.8 to be seriously considered for CF?

My guy was a 6.6 going into college--they got him down to 6.4 and he was not even the fastest guy in the OF

quote:

Originally posted by TRhit:
My guy was a 6.6 going into college--they got him down to 6.4 and he was not even the fastest guy in the OF

Wow. That is serious speed. I have to beleive there are few and far between that run 6.4 60 speeds AND can play baseball at that level.

Brings up a great topic of discussion that perhaps PG could chime in on. It would be great to see where the "averages" are for PG attendees as it pertains to the 60.

For example:
3% run under 6.60
10% run 6.61 to 6.99
60% run 7.0 to 7.39
everyone else runs 7.4 and above.

Since PG is generally regarded as the top showcase (please, I am not trying to start a war on that topic) and have very large numbers of kids who attend, it should provide a more controlled sampling. Just thinking out loud.

1baseballdad

I agree--PG's sampling would be a very valid reading on OF speed

One other thing to keep in mind that there are college coaches who are more interested in having thunder bats in the outfield in lieu of a lot of speed--the school that signed my son was into speed demons in the outfield--their thunder bats were at third, first and behind the plate

I'd like to see those averages as well. On son's H.S. team center and left are under 6.6, the slowest is in right and he's a 6.75 guy. But that's got to be unusual. Believe I saw somewhere that MLB average (all players) is 6.9 to 7.0??

East Cobb wants 6.8 and under to play outfield. Mine runs a 6.9 and that was considered fast enough for him to recruited as they think they can improve his time when they get him. He's considered too small to play his normal 1b unless he puts 30lbs on his 185lb 6'2" frame?

prime9

On our travel team we like speed in the outfield--we like to have every outfielder under 7.0 if at all possible

Actually nowadays that kind of speed is not that unusual

TRhit, great info for sure.

My son does speed training and works with someone who has a serious resume as it pertains to his expertise. He has trained athletes in all sports and all ages for many years and has a great reputation. Personally, I think he is fantastic and couldn't be happier with the results he has helped my son produce.

That being said, I asked him specifically about his opinion of the percentage of kids (High School in this case) who actually run sub 7 second 60's and if memory serves me correctly, his answer was well less than 10%.

Does that sound right to you?

I think the % will go up when all the players in the country are involved

It will be interesting to see what PGSTaff thinks

I still think 6.4 speed is rarefied air!

quote:

East Cobb wants 6.8 and under to play outfield. Mine runs a 6.9 and that was considered fast enough for him to recruited as they think they can improve his time when they get him.

Curious. Was that 16U or 17U?

Do they time them first and if they don’t get close to that time, do they send them on their way before looking at the rest of their skills?

My guess is East Cobb mirrors many larger D1 schools as far as how they determine rosters?

quote:

I still think 6.4 speed is rarefied air!

PGStaff could no doubt confirm this, but I would bet that less than 2% of the outfielders in Perfect Game's database have a 60 yard time of 6.4 or under. Rarefied air indeed!

Assuming each draft eligible class is perhaps 3000 or so players in their database (between HS and college draft-eligible players) and 1/3 of these are outfielders (this would be a very high estimate) then that would mean about 20 players a year have a timed 60 yard dash of 6.4 or under.

PGStaff - am I close?

quote:

Could a left and/or right outfielder be college-recruited?

ABSOLUTELY! There are many college baseball players that drive baseballs to LF and RF and someone on the other team has to catch 'em.

Seriously, Colleges recruit talent and talent isn't always tied to a specific position.
Fungo

quote:

Curious. Was that 16U or 17U?

To my recollection; PP (Pre-Prime) ran the 60 first thing in the ECB Tryouts at both age groups. That is when they let you know that 6.8 or better was the time they were looking for in their outfielders. They did further elaborate that those times were consistent with what many D1 programs liked.

Regular tryouts, for all players, occured after the 60yd run.

quote:

Originally posted by Jwls:
Could a left and/or right outfielder be college-recruited? I ask because I know center is the 'prominent' outfield position and wonder if scouts ever look at either right or left when looking for players.

I hope so....since that's what my son plays , plus sometimes CF. I hear you do need 9 position players on the field

Thanks for all the replies! And for the discussion on speed. I honestly don't know how fast my son is in regards to his time. Maybe we should look into that to see how much more work he'll need in that area.

And yes, I know that teams need right and left fielders... , my concern was that center fielders would get drafted because they are supposed to be the best outfielder out there and then get moved to right or left once in college. Does that make sense?

The key to that will always be the bat!

If they can hit, won't make a difference where they play

quote:

And yes, I know that teams need right and left fielders... Smile , my concern was that center fielders would get drafted because they are supposed to be the best outfielder out there and then get moved to right or left once in college. Does that make sense?

Makes sense.When you get to college everyone was the HS ss, or CF.They are all good. Not only will CF get moved to OF but MI,and anyone else that can contribute.Hitting is pretty important.

They want speed in the OF, esp. CF, but Manny isn't fast, but he can HIT. And he plays LF.

Hitting will decide if you get on the field and speed/agility/arm will determine where you get on the field. My son was a HS ss and has played ss, 2nd, 3rd and all outfields, versatility means you may move all over. Depends on who else is on your team and where they can/can't play. Speed at the D1 level is 6.4 up to over 7.5 for the bigger power hitters. Mine is around 6.5 and he has 3-4 faster than him.