Height vs. Velocity (15-17 yo)

interesting

16yrs - 9 months
5'8"
187 lbs.
87-89 mph

wow brushback thats pretty impressive. 87-89 MPH at only 16 years old and 5'8. Go Him.

he knows hell never ever pitch anywhere - as do i - but its still fun while hes still in high school and all...i think its story time.

The midget humor story:
by brushbizzle.

its more funny than impressive - every camp where we get in front of someone who hasnt seen him - its always the same song:

scoutA:
(condescending big grin) "chuckle chuckle nyuk nyuk well - there arent a lot of 5'8" pitchers chuckle chuckle (which is completely accurate)- so you better be able to throw it reeeeeel hard - chuckle chuckle chuckle".

bro:
(sigh)
(motions for the ball)

scoutA:
chuckle
chuckle

scoutB,C,D:
(hold guns up)

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz-POW!

***my favorite part of the story***

scoutA:
(puzzled)
(motions confusedly to scout B,C,D)


scoutB,C,D:
(hesitant/confused)
whatd you get?
89 - whatd you get - 89 whatd you get - 89...
(motions to scout A holding up 9 fingers)

scoutA:
.....
.....
.....
...hmm......
.....
.....

zzzzzzzzzzzzPOW!

scoutsB,C,D
this cant be right...whatd you get 90...whatd you get..91....whatd you get 90
(puzzled)
(motions 9 fingers - then clinched fist to scout A)

scouta:
(puzzled/amused)
ummm - can you throw a curve?

bro:
yup

zzzzzZzzzZzzZzZZZZPOW!

scoutB,C,D
(holds up seven fingers - then nine to scout A)

scoutA:
umm...05 right?

bro:
naw - 06.

scoutA: ohhh i see - when do you turn 18?

bro:
in 2 years.

scoutA:
hmm....ahhh...well....uhhh.....good job.

bro:
thanks

end of story - thank you and goodnight.

5'10,165lbs
15 years,5 months
79-81 mph - but a lefty with accuracy!

16 yrs 8 months
6'4 / 205
84-85 Lefty

Age: 17yrs 7 mos.
Hgt: 6'3"
Wgt: 185
Speed: 88-90

15 yrs 10 months
6'0" 177 lbs
86 mph
RHP

No offense CAdad, but your data is going to be a little skewed. Not many are going to post (and I'm sure there are a bunch) about a 70-75 mph fb, even though that's nothing to be ashamed of. I have witnessed many times college pitchers throwing fb's in the 70's.

FrankF,
Agreed. There will also be differences in how people report cruising speed. I'm willing to see what develops out of it. I'm guessing that the database will be for above average pitchers in general. I'm more interested in the differences in velocity relative to age, height and weight than I am the absolute values and if there are enough inputs then the biases should wash out.

15yo
6' 160lbs
lhp
84-86 Stalker

wildthingking,
15 years and how many months?
Thanks

CaDad,

Use this if you can. My son is a shortstop and I have no gun times on him. However the last time he long tossed he threw it 281 feet with no wind aid. Perhaps you can estimate cruise speed from that. I’d estimate he’d cruise 80 – 82. He throws quite a bit harder than any of our pitchers his age and they throw pretty much in the low to mid 70’s.

This was a couple of months ago and at the time he was 15 years 11 months. He was 6 exactly foot while barefoot and a lean 140 pounds.

As far as height and weight’s relationship to pitching speeds, I have observed that the hardest throwers for 16 years old and younger appear to be the athletic kids of average height who have obtained greater physical maturity. (Although my son is an exception to this hypothesis)

Not many of the tall skinny kids throw hard at a young age but the few that do seem to be the ones who become the hardest throwers when they mature.

I’ll be interested to see if your data reflects my hunch.

I'll give you three. One is my son and two others I coached in select ball:

my son, 14 years and 7 months, 5'5" and 130 pounds = 76 (cruising = 72)

other kids:

1. 15 years and 3 months, 6' 150 = 85 (81)

2. 15 years and 2 months, 6' 170 = 86 (82)

All velocities are top speed and are not average speed.

Age-14years 7 months
Height-5'10"
Weigth-152
Fastball Speed-70 mph

CaDad,

What do you mean by cruising speed?

DB2BMom,
Cruising speed is the speed that a pitcher will throw most of his pitches at in a game situation. Most pitchers when trying to throw their hardest for a radar gun will throw 2 or 3 mph faster than their cruising speed and the highest speed they hit on the radar will usually be about 4 mph faster than their cruising speed.

Tigers100,
Is that his cruising speed?

quote:

---

Originally posted by CADad:
DB2BMom,
Cruising speed is the speed that a pitcher will throw most of his pitches at in a game situation. Most pitchers when trying to throw their hardest for a radar gun will throw 2 or 3 mph faster than their cruising speed and the highest speed they hit on the radar will usually be about 4 mph faster than their cruising speed.

---

Back in my day "cruising" speed used to be called a "working" fastball. I still use that term with my son but I am not sure he hears it anywhere else.

CADad,

Yes, he is pretty consisitent at 68-70 when throwing his fastball. His pitching coach thinks he will be around 72-75 when our season starts up again.

Brushback - loved the story.
"If you are short, you have to prove you can play. If you are tall, you have to prove you can't".
My son is tall with a great arm from playing baseball. He really wanted to play football this year, so I let him. The coach was just drooling seeing this tall, fast kid with a strong arm come out to play football for the first time. Long story - short. It took him the entire season to figure out the game. Although, he was one of fastest kids on the team, every time he got the ball, he slowed and froze. After several miss-trys at quarterback and tallback, they finally put him on defense (end and safety) where his performance was medeocore at best. Again, "if you are tall, you have to prove you can't play". He had a fun anyway and I think it was good for his character because he is always the big shot in baseball.

Age-17 years 2 months
Height-6'2"
Weigth-205
Fastball Speed- 89mph

Age: 16 years, 10 months
Height: 6'
Weight: 151
Velocity: Cruising speed is likely 82-83, top speed, hit several times in summer ball when guns were around, was 85.

Hope this helps. Interesting, a friend has a theory he calls "junior year boost". He says he has seen many kids, promising players already, add 4-5 mph during their junior year. Totally unscientific but I'd love it if he's right. His theory is that a combination of physical maturity and a body that has slowed it's upward growth so it starts to fill out, add muscle and weight to trigger what appears to be a definite increase over what was seen a year earlier. Again, totally unscientific but he is a knowledgeable baseball guy that has watched the game for many years.

15 yrs, 11 months
Hght: 6.0
Wght: 195
Spd: 80-83
'07 LHP

CADad:

He'll be 16 in February. He hit 90.9 with a 4oz ball also. If I hadn't been there and seen the gun I wouldn't have believed it.

W

Age- 15 yrs, 6 months
Height- 6'0"
Weight- 150
Fastball Speed- 83 to 84 mph

Age- 14 yrs, 2 months
Height- 5'7"
Weight- 160
Fastball Speed- 75 to 77 mph

db2bmom, et al.,
Is that a cruising speed? When I get single number that typically is a max speed. When I get a range I typically assume the lower number as the cruising speed, although when I get a large range like for 06rhp86 I'll put the number a bit higher than the bottom of the range. For 06rhp86 I used 83 mph since 4 mph below max speed is pretty common for a cruising speed.

16 yrs - 10 months
6'-2"
215 #
87-89 MPH Cruising Speed

age 15
height 5 11
lhp
weight 150
crusing speed 70-75

CADad,

His max speed is 92. I checked with his Dad and he said that his cruising speed is 88 - 89.

2006 RHP
16 yrs 7 mos
6'0"
220
cruise 84 max 89

db2bmom,
Thanks for checking.

MikeyMike,
I'm inputting age to the month. Can you tell us 15 yr xx months?
Thanks,
CADad

7 months

hope my stats can help
17 years 7 months
6'6"
235 lbs
Max speed:95
cruising:91-93

There's been a pretty good response for the 15-17 yo group. If you have younger kids (10-14 yo) I'd appreciate it if we could get the same info for them. With far more data points from 15-17 than at the younger ages the predictions tend to be off for the younger ones.

Not a surprise that we'd get more inputs for the HS age kids on the HSBBWEB but it would be nice to have a few more inputs for the younger kids.
Thanks,
CADad

Not a 15 year old yet, but pitches league age 15 this year so I thought I would post. Please share the results when you finish.

Age - 14 years 5 months
Height - 6 '
Weight - 175
FB - 80 mph

seems you would want to sort lhp and rhp, my son is lhp

Readings this fall during workouts.
#1 15 6 months 6'3 175 cruises 84-86 tops out 88. Soph RH
#2 15 2 months 5'11 170 cruises 82-84 tops out 86. Freshman RH
#3 15 6 months 5'9 145 cruises 78-80 tops out 82. Freshman RH
#4 17 2 months 6'0 155 cruises 80-82 tops out 84. Junior RH
#5 17 9 months 5'8 165 cruises 84-86 tops out 88. Senior RH
#6 15 4 months 6'1 195 cruises 82-84 tops out 86. Soph RH
#7 15 1 month 6'0 205 cruises 80-82 tops out 84. Freshman RH
#8 15 7 months 5'11 160 cruises 71-74 tops out 77. Freshman RH
All are pitching with the exception of the one Senior and one Junior are Fresh and Sophs. Yes the future looks bright. #7 is our catcher but he might pitch some in the future. Readings from a Stalker this fall. Most of these kids have played together since the age of 7. Won two state titles in LL and won State AAU title. Finished 7th in the Nation and 11th in the Nation AAU Div 1. Extremely hard workers who love the game.

AL MA 08,
Is that max speed or cruising speed? We're trying to get all of these at their cruising speed.

Coach May,
Thanks. Quite a staff in a couple years. Not too shabby now.

Thanks we are really fortunate to have so many arms that are so young all at the same time. The great thing about them is they all are really good baseball players not just pitchers. We have a chance to be pretty good this year and who knows down the road.

6'5"

just turned 17

fastest at 93 mph

Best program: http://www.theathleticpitcher.com/pages/1/index.htm