If you want to be recruited at 17, do this from age 12 on

My boys have always been taught to hit oppo.  My youngest, 10, for some reason loves to pitch.  I started getting him lessons on how to pitch properly.  I don’t want him throwing fast.  I want him throwing correctly.  Like you said, I know the power and velocity will come later.

@Dadof3 posted:

My boys have always been taught to hit oppo.  My youngest, 10, for some reason loves to pitch.  I started getting him lessons on how to pitch properly.  I don’t want him throwing fast.  I want him throwing correctly.  Like you said, I know the power and velocity will come later.

Hold your ground on this. Most of your peer group of parents/players will try to tell you that you are wrong.

You're not wrong, but unfortunately college coaches have a velo floor for pitchers and you don't even get a look if you don't meet it. So what's a pitcher of 15/16 or so to do? Gotta get there.

@2019&21 Dad posted:

You're not wrong, but unfortunately college coaches have a velo floor for pitchers and you don't even get a look if you don't meet it. So what's a pitcher of 15/16 or so to do? Gotta get there.

There is no need to train for velo before the age of 16. With new recruiting rules nobody is watching 14-15u. Furthermore, many kids bodies have not yet developed enough before age16 to justify high stress, high workload throwing. If proper mechanics are established early on velo will show up by 16 w/o having to resort to drastic measures

I agree on all points.

But I am trying to figure out what traveling to Florida or Georgia has to do with anything?

I think he means going to big PG tournaments at a young age.  Not necessary for anyone.

@anotherparent posted:

I think he means going to big PG tournaments at a young age.  Not necessary for anyone.

Thank you!

@anotherparent posted:

I think he means going to big PG tournaments at a young age.  Not necessary for anyone.

I met a family with 2 young players this year from Arkansas that were playing a  tourney in TN while Gators were there. According to their social media they were recently somewhere in Texas.

And yes they were Perfect Game youth events!

Adbono;

Unfortunately nobody is working on the development of "reflex" action.

Listening to the Dodger announcers last night discussing the fear of the
Dodgers base runners when Ohtani is batting. It is difficult to imagine the "bat speed" of the ML players and the defense ability of the infielders.

A player playing in U 17 is NOT obtaining the necessary reflex's and wisdom  to compete on the next level. There are methods to achieve these goals.

Bob

@Consultant posted:

Adbono;

Unfortunately nobody is working on the development of "reflex" action.

Listening to the Dodger announcers last night discussing the fear of the
Dodgers base runners when Ohtani is batting. It is difficult to imagine the "bat speed" of the ML players and the defense ability of the infielders.

A player playing in U 17 is NOT obtaining the necessary reflex's and wisdom  to compete on the next level. There are methods to achieve these goals.

Bob

What are those methods?

DAD of 3;
do you have a fungo bat? Is your player an infielder or OF. Daily 20 minute
infield drills seldom hit an grounder direct to the fielder.
We called it "range work" left - right, right - left. Same as OF
Work out with local College players.
When you are pitching bp ask the hitter to tell you where he will hit the
ball.
Throw "short" 40 feet. No "soft' pitches.
Bob

On Thu, Jul 4, 2024 at 3:57 PM HS Baseball Web <alerts@crowdstack.com>
wrote:

From day one my son was a dead pull hitter. When he got to 13u majors level travel he started facing some real good pitching. He was still pulling everything and hitting for high average.

I told him if he would stop trying to pull everything he would hit .475 instead of .375. I talked myself blue in the face trying to get him to drive the outside pitch the other way. Sometimes he would come around pitches and hit shag fly outs to right.

When a kid hits .340 and makes all conference shortstop soph year of high school it can be hard to convince him otherwise if anything.

But sometimes it takes hearing another voice not your father regardless if how much dad knows about hitting. His 17u coach (post soph summer) watched him for a season come around every outside pitch and be successful. He pulled him aside and told him he’s a D1/pro prospect if he starts going with the pitch. A lot of the off-season was spent driving the ball the other way.

He hit .525+ junior year of high school. He actually had more power than before. He was driving doubles up the gap the other way. Being bigger and stronger junior year his homer numbers went up anyway.

Lesson one is learn to hit the ball the other way.

Lesson two might be regardless of how much baseball you know as Coach Dad it can be good to get someone else in your son’s ear. The change my son made between soph and junior year was exactly what I had been telling him to do since he was thirteen.

@Consultant posted:

DAD of 3;
do you have a fungo bat? Is your player an infielder or OF. Daily 20 minute
infield drills seldom hit an grounder direct to the fielder.
We called it "range work" left - right, right - left. Same as OF
Work out with local College players.
When you are pitching bp ask the hitter to tell you where he will hit the
ball.
Throw "short" 40 feet. No "soft' pitches.
Bob

On Thu, Jul 4, 2024 at 3:57 PM HS Baseball Web <alerts@crowdstack.com>
wrote:

Infielder, and great info.  Thanks

DAD of 3:

In BP use wood. If it breaks, "tape it and use again".

When you son hits in a game watch like a scout.

Watch One AB from 1st base side, one AB behind Home plate and one AB from 3b side. When you hit fungos, constantly remind your son not to backhand if he can slide behind the ground ball. Backhand is for "showcases" not game conditions.

Yesterday, I received a call from one of 1st Northern California Pro scouts who coached the 1st Cubs Northern California Area Code  Scout team. He reminded me of the change in the game.

"The lack of honest player evaluations".

Bob

Recruited where? DI,II,III,JUCO,NAIA....?

Be lefthanded, be an exceptional human specimen, have "it", have a strong work ethic, have parents that can afford the best instruction, play on the best travel teams. As you slide down this scale you slide down the "drafted out of HS to the DI to NAIA" or below, if there is a below.

@SomeBaseballDad posted:

Recruited where? DI,II,III,JUCO,NAIA....?

Be lefthanded, be an exceptional human specimen, have "it", have a strong work ethic, have parents that can afford the best instruction, play on the best travel teams. As you slide down this scale you slide down the "drafted out of HS to the DI to NAIA" or below, if there is a below.

The “where” they are being recruited to isn’t the point of the post. The point is to provide guidance on what to work on to give yourself a better chance of being recruited at all. But I’m pretty sure you knew that.

I couldn’t agree more with @adbono.  From the pitching perspective. it’s so tempting to try to push for that magical velo number too soon.  And even harder to see your son want it so badly, and as a parent want him to shine.  But that’s not the way.  I got caught up in it in my own head a sometime recently.  Fundamentals helped my son more than anything.  He is a LHP and just hit a 83 in game last month.  Fairly respectable and he only throws his 4 seam a few times a game.  What he’s learned is how to pitch to his strengths and not worry about the velo.  He got to jump over to Hoover earlier this week as an invite and pitched the first game of the championship bracket against a national fly-in team.  They didn’t ask him because he can burn a fastball by you at 92+.  They wanted him because he’s hard to hit and throws strikes with movement.  

and FWIW just to give real world numbers for comparison, my son hit 79 (avg 76) in December.  The year before he was max 75 (avg 72).  Once he grew some and has been able to put on muscle at 15, the velo started to show up.  And he has decent enough mechanics that can be improved, which should help him pick up a little more velo too.  

The right move to not chase something that will make your pitcher a one trick pony.  Because while it would be fun to brag that your son hit 92+ as a soph/jr in HS, unless he’s locating it and can throw a secondary pitch for a strike, hitters will catch up to it or if he can’t control it,  a 95mph ball four is still a walk.  

Interestingly, my son played against a RHP/SS at a recent tournament that is highly recruited and has some MLB draft buzz,  Kid throws in low 90s as a 2026.  We shelled that kid for 3 runs in the first.  Probably just not his day, as he was having command issues and got behind in counts, and that high 80s, low 90s meatball has some nice exit velo when you throw it down the middle.  

edit:   I do think velo is fantastic though and if your son is gifted with it, use it and develop his skills along side it.  I’m only recommending you don’t get caught up chasing early.  Most of the players around us that threw harder earlier, are now being caught or surpassed by the pack.  The ones that continue to stand out are pitching, not throwing.  

Chasing exit velo is the same.  I see more kids collapsing and stuck on their back side now trying to get the ball in the air.  Most often it ends up a topspin line drive or knuckleball.  With that swing you have to hit the ball 100+ mph in order to get it to go out of the park.  When an 82mph exit velo with backspin carries over the fence.  My belief is you should be focused on hitting through the ball and  backspin line drives.

Once the velocity gets up high enough to counteract some of the effects of gravity, the less success the average player will have.  We had a kid on JV, that hit everything,  doubles, triples, home runs, average up around .600, but every time he went up to varsity,,,, O'fers.   He's good enough that he'll figure it out, but a good swing should handle velo (especially HS velo).

"You don't have to swing hard to make the ball go far" - Mike Schmidt

The smoother and less effort you put into the swing, the more barrels you'll find.