Pitching Ninja has created a new twitter account specifically for promoting amateur pitchers. Free to all for posting pitching videos. Lots of high school and juco pitchers have posted videos already. It was just started yesterday, and there are already close to 7,000 followers including lots of college coaches. Check it out here.
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I joined yesterday and there were about 100 followers. 10 minutes later it was about 1500.
This is great, Mid! Thanks for posting. I wonder how long before the equivalent for position players hits.
This is awesome. I continue to think technology is changing and is going to continue to change recruiting. Velo, spin rate, EV, video will be everywhere . . .
Cabbage Dad:
Maybe your son can meet Rob Williams at the SSK booth. He returned yesterday from Australia our 35th journey to the Pacific Basin. It was 35 years ago that Dick Case USA Baseball introduce me to the International game.
Bob
Goodwill Series Inc
I followed Flatground on twitter as well... I like the idea but was surprised by how many 10 year old pitchers were featured. Definitely a ton of content and a great tool for aspiring pitchers.
I checked it out.... needs an age limit... high school and older
Consultant posted:Cabbage Dad:
Maybe your son can meet Rob Williams at the SSK booth. He returned yesterday from Australia our 35th journey to the Pacific Basin. It was 35 years ago that Dick Case USA Baseball introduce me to the International game.
Bob
Goodwill Series Inc
Hi Bob! I'll mention that to him. Don't know if you recall but he came up and played in one of your tourneys for Rob once many years ago at SJCC.
Yes, I remember the tournament. The Coaches Convention has always provided great clinics for the Coaches and Parents who attend. This is where I met Tommy Lasorda and invited him to Santa Rosa to speak at our Baseball dinner.
Bob
It's a very good idea. There probably should be some filtering and also a website to go with it to archive everything (no teams are going to want to peruse through a Twitter feed nonstop) but the idea is worthwhile.
Hey, that's me!
Yep, we're going to add levels when it comes to a web site/app...and many many other features. We haven't even thrown out the first pitch yet (just chalked the lines). But the other important part is I want all pitchers on an equal footing initially, so they feel, at least on twitter, that they had their chance to be seen. There have also definitely been very high level guys tweeting video (looking to be picked up by MLB organizations) that I've retweeted also using my PitchingNinja account to draw even more interest to them.
And, I pinned a tweet to try to reduce the number of 10 years who were posted initially (I want to make it clear that it's for advice only from the coaches who follow)….in my mind, there's no thing as a showcase or "exposure" for a 10 year old. But I want the coaching community to be able to help younger kids who may not have the $ to get access to good coaching. Those will not be retweeted if it looks like it's for exposure or dad brags (unless it's a 10 year old I can use as a model for something to preempt even more questions). Parents of younger players should be in asking and listening mode vs bragging mode. Great coaches like the Driveline folks, Eric Cressey, Lantz Wheeler, Alan Jaeger and MLB guys like Lance McCullers, CJ Wilson, Marvin Freeman, Eric O'Flaherty all are followers there and have chimed in with advice for pitchers. How cool is that for a parent to have access to that quality of material directly from the source....for free. Sure, there's the usual social media losers who troll, but the community will drown them out (and I'll block them--I've only had to do that once so far).
Bottom line, I wanted to help as many players feel like they got a shot. That they weren't passed over because their family didn't have enough money for a showcase, or because they just missed their one opportunity. We actually just had a 20 year old kid, who didn't pitch in college, find a school to due to being posted on FlatGround. I was kinda shocked...but I also couldn't be happier (or prouder of the idea). He would have fallen through the cracks. He didn't! That's one big reason I started this.
Over at PitchingNinja, I tweeted out 2 independent league guys throwing 102mph. Both got signed and had a bit of a feeding frenzy from MLB organizations due to the tweets. Now if guys throwing 102mph "fell through the cracks"...how many guys throwing 88mph do? Or kids that improved without anyone ever seeing them since junior year of HS? I just wanted to help pitchers be seen, for free, to prevent their Uncle Rico moments. At the worst, now you know you were put out there to be seen.
It shouldn't be all about paying $800 for a showcase, $1000 for flights, hotels, food... What if you can't afford it? What if your family saved up for a year and you had a crappy day or were sick? I see it as a supplement for most pitchers for showcases, not a replacement, coaches will still want to see you at some point). But also a way to open a door that wasn't there before. I'm lucky, $ was never a hurdle for my kid--but I saw so many along the way who had to make ridiculous sacrifices.
The other thing is what if your travel team goes to a large national tourney with college present, you're a PO, they're saving you, and the team gets knocked out in pool play? You leave the tourney without ever being seen. Now, your coach can take a few minutes, find a bullpen and a gun, and produce a video with a camera phone in 10 minutes--and you can get some exposure from that tourney. Fewer PO'd PO's!
I want to blow up a lot of what I don't like about recruiting and scouting...and try to level the playing field both in the US and Internationally. We'll see what happens but I'm gonna give it my best shot. Baseball shouldn't be a rich kids sport in the US and there shouldn't be as many silos and inefficiencies and walls for players. I've also created a network of facilities across the country (now over 13 pages worth) who have agreed to give FREE access to a pitcher trying to produce a video to be tweeted @FlatGroundapp (includes a gun and a bullpen space, and sometimes free Rapsodo reports as well).
Any way, I also have been here at HSBaseballWeb for a long time under a different handle. But I wanted to keep this separate since it's a different organization (the other was for me as a dad and my kid, who is pitching in college now). I love this community.
Rob AKA PitchingNinja AKA Founder, FlatGround.
Forbes article:
It is this kind of forward thinking and generosity that makes baseball special. I also love the grass roots approach in developing this much needed service. Kudos to Mr. Friedman
Rob — Thank you. FlatGround is a great, great idea. Well done.
FlatGround posted:
Over at PitchingNinja, I tweeted out 2 independent league guys throwing 102mph. Both got signed and had a bit of a feeding frenzy from MLB organizations due to the tweets. Now if guys throwing 102mph "fell through the cracks"...how many guys throwing 88mph do? Or kids that improved without anyone ever seeing them since junior year of HS?
Bingo!
Kudos to you, it's a great idea and will help a lot of kids.
Thanks y'all for your kind words--much appreciated!
With all due respect, your implication that your tweets about 2 102mph pitchers (whose Indy teams make $$ from signings) caused something is akin to travel ball teams PR about a guy who once pitched for them going in round 1.
That said, your business plan has potential to have sucess. Good luck!
Actually, to be clear, I was making the opposite point. I thought it was amazing they fell through the cracks, not amazing the job I did. I certainly wasn't saying "You need to join because I was so good at helping dudes throwing 102 mph find a spot--you should be like them"... that would be the lamest, most unrealistic sales pitch ever. 
"Now if guys throwing 102mph "fell through the cracks"...how many guys throwing 88mph do? Or kids that improved without anyone ever seeing them since junior year of HS? I just wanted to help pitchers be seen, for free, to prevent their Uncle Rico moments. At the worst, now you know you were put out there to be seen."
A more realistic scenario would be this kid getting contacted and committing to play baseball at a school after we tweeted it out (which he did--and frankly I didn't expect it). https://twitter.com/Yasnier13/.../1081625479986233345
Or like this: https://twitter.com/PrestonOrr.../1083375714596995072
Either way, I know some of baseball is filled with overly-hyped stuff to separate you from your $. Totally agree with you. I just wanted to be clear, that I wasn't hyping my "services." Twitter is free. I just have a great group of followers there who may be able to help (for free). It's the pitchers who do the work.
This article is worth reading. Clearly the pitchers involved think it helped:
https://www.sporttechie.com/th...gninja-can-help-you/
Quote:
"The @PitchingNinja tweet created enough buzz that the Orioles selected Grover with the first overall pick in the Triple A Rule 5 draft earlier this month. Of the impact of social media, Grover said, “Honestly, probably almost 100 percent.”
* * * *
"The Milwaukee Brewers had scouted Dula before, but the social media buzz around the pitcher created a sense of urgency. The club then signed Dula, announcing the acquisition on Tuesday.
“It definitely helped,” Dula said of Cripsey reaching out to Friedman. “Without him doing that, my agent, Josh, probably would never have seen me or heard of me. There’s no telling what could have happened.”
Here's a good Washinton Post article on FlatGround:
