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A high school senior is throwing low to mid 90's.  There are multiple MLB scouts watching the games.  His instructions are to throw gas and light up the radar gun. So, he shakes off everything but fast ball.

Without a secondary pitch, how does the catcher call the game and keep him from getting lit up by the top of the order?  Is there a way to locate the ball that will cause more issues?

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Who are his instructions coming from?  If they are the coach, then throw the fastball and if he gets lit up then he gets lit up.  If they are from someone else, then the coach needs to get involved. I would also say if he is a true pro prospect then he better show he has several secondary pitches.

I'm not gonna get into this again deeply, but I'm not a fan of catchers calling the game.  They don't do it in major college baseball so why would a high school coach let them.  I've watched this year and in 20 plus games I've only seen what I thought was 2 college catchers calling the game.  The coach was calling the rest for both teams because i know our coach calls the pitches for every pitch.

Mid 90's gas in HS - Please God throw me a curveball......

Sure; flash the bender a couple times to show it off, but then if you are touching 95 do yourself a favor and have the mentally to sit down a HS line-up with high-heat!

Our hs has had a lot of guys throwing low to mid 90s and this is the HS coaches philosophy.  He believes that hs kids can't hit 90+. that is just not true.  It works during regular season, for the most part, but in playoffs, you better have more.

Last edited by baseballhs

I am not sure who told him only fast balls. It's not our coach.  The better hitters know what's coming and reach out and slap the ball over the infield.  What hurts is when he walks a batter and then it gets interesting.

I believe lit up is an exaggeration on my part.  He gets touched for a couple of runs every game.  One really good team bounced him early.  I feel like it should be harder to hit him.

Son is the catcher, so... asking for a friend.

@baseballhs posted:

Our hs has had a lot of guys throwing low to mid 90s and this is the HS coaches philosophy.  He believes that hs kids can't hit 90+. that is just not true.  It works during regular season, for the most part, but in playoffs, you better have more.

The original question centered around MLB scouts.  If a high school kid with a legit 95 in his back pocket has a “nibble the edge” mind-set against teenage hitters then good luck with the minors. I answered the question from a purely mental standpoint. Also that same scout could care less who wins/losses. He is looking for tools that can play up. Like I said before, flash the bender for some intrigue then blow them away with 4 seamers located up in the zone. That is what the scout came to see.

Velo gets you noticed, everything else gets you offered or drafted, unless you throw 100 in HS.

Son worked anywhere from 91-93, up to 95 from JR. And Sr. seasons, however he had a very good curveball. Not much other than that...his catcher called the games but then again he was11th pick in 2015 draft by Reds.

His lack of necessity to throw anything else cost him a legitimate chance at starting at Clemson. He started 6 games his Fr. season but ended up in the bullpen.

dylan Cease was a local kid who was lighting up the gun up to 100 ahead of my son, drafted in 2014.

Might i add Cease had all the tools and other pitches as a starter. I wanted to make sure i wasn't misinterpreted to him only being a velo guy.

Also, things ended up fine for my son but he always had that itch and felt he had the ability to start at Clemson....getting through that lineup a 3rd time was always the challenge and not have the complete repertoire ended up hurting him in the endeavor in the long run as far as starting. He loves Stroman btw. HA.

Shoviet4 K's;

years ago, when I was in the US Army, I faced a pitcher Jack Sanford and I  k'ed 4 times with one foul ball. He was in the MILB system for 7 years.

after the Army the next year we again visit in SF. He was pitching for the Phillies and won 6 games. I asked Jack what was like in the MLB.

He said "if my grandmother was at the plate, I would "knock" her down".

He won 20 games and later traded to the SF Giants, Jack was in the 1962 World Series. "study and observe"!

Bob

Last edited by Consultant

The pitchers job is to win the game by pitching.  If he can get that done with all fastballs then so be it.  If he has to mix in some breaking / off speed pitches then so be it.  He is also there to learn how to pitch better which includes getting command of his pitches.

Scouts don't care about wins or losses but they also don't want the kid to go out and fail just to try and prove their worth. 

there are 95 MPH fast balls in HS that will get HS batters out that wont get top 20 college hitters out.  There are 93 mph fast balls that will get major league hitters out.  if every hs school kid hitting 95 was going to the bigs we would have 5 leagues.    velo is not king....... located velo with high spin is king....  then at least 2 off speed pitches you can throw for strikes.   

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