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I have followed this forum since my son was told around 14-15 he could pitch in a small college, he just lacked size and strength. There is so much experience and knowledge on this board it has been a tremendous value to a baseball dad. Well, after having a good junior year, he finally took it upon himself after dad continually said the weight room is the part you are missing out on. Until you decide to add size and strength you may not get where you want to be. So, one year and 35lbs of muscle later his very first start of the year he threw his first perfect game. Now, by no means is he a huge prospect but when I sent his travel team the information, everything changed. They all plan to come see him pitch and do their best to get him somewhere to play. He plays for a small 1A school in Florida, so I understand the competition he's playing against. But 12k's, 0 walks and 0 hits, I had to be the proud dad and share. Bonus is that he is now 6'4" and 188-190. Someone had a gun at the game, and he was sitting around 84, touching 86. I never get nervous watching him pitch because he loves it and is unfazed by the moment, but Friday night I had a mini stroke each of the last six outs.

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NJCAA D2 Region 23 has 16 programs in Mississippi. There might be an opportunity there. Time to do some research to figure out which programs could be interested in a RHP sitting 86. That might be as simple as calling coaches and asking.

Seeing as his growth is recent, there may be more velo coming, but you can't count on that. BTW, pretty impressive that he didn't walk one batter after completely changing his body. That normally take a toll on command, initially.

Unless he has a specific type of school in mind, like a small northeast liberal arts college, I think his best bet is to contact juco coaches directly. Be ready to send video (with radar) would help a coach determine if he might be interest. Remember, he can do an on-campus tryouts at juco schools this spring. Good luck.

https://www.njcaa.org/sports/bsb/teams

Great info, his travel team is based out of that area, they just expanded towards us.  Yeah he has always had great control and hitting his spots. Commands his fastball and change. Curve is usually decent command as well as his slider. Just never had the velo.  When he went through his original height growth spurt he only suffered the baby deer stage with hittng and fielding, neither height or added muscle did anything to his pitching except added velo and increased his speed on the bases tremendously. He was one of the slowest kids on his HS team, now he’s top three. I sincerely appreciate all the input. I’ll do my best to update when and if things start happening. One of his teams scouts are coming to see him this weekend since we play the defending 1A state champs and he’s scheduled to pitch.

NJCAA D2 Region 23 has 16 programs in Mississippi. There might be an opportunity there. Time to do some research to figure out which programs could be interested in a RHP sitting 86. That might be as simple as calling coaches and asking.

Seeing as his growth is recent, there may be more velo coming, but you can't count on that. BTW, pretty impressive that he didn't walk one batter after completely changing his body. That normally take a toll on command, initially.

Unless he has a specific type of school in mind, like a small northeast liberal arts college, I think his best bet is to contact juco coaches directly. Be ready to send video (with radar) would help a coach determine if he might be interest. Remember, he can do an on-campus tryouts at juco schools this spring. Good luck.

https://www.njcaa.org/sports/bsb/teams

Don’t let the D2 JuCo mislead you about NJCAA Region 23. It’s one of the toughest regions top to bottom in all of NJCAA baseball. LSU Eunice and Pearl River are perennial powers but there are a handful of others that can compete with anyone year in and year out. For whatever reason Region 23 doesn’t get the national respect that it deserves but I’m here to give them their props.

Well, I figured since you guys were all a huge help in the way we approached this process I wanted to update you guys on my son. Finished Senior season with 60 innings pitched, 90k's ERA of 0.58 and 11 walks plus his batting average was .420. When you add a PG to those stats, I don't think he could've done much better. We were invited to come to watch John Melvin University and he did pregame infield and BP with them. Well, nothing but about 7-8 days after the visit the coach starts communicating with my son. He really stays in touch constantly. So, we begin to understand he is definitely loved and told several times he will see playing time immediately. The coach finally wants to talk to dad, and we have an hour or so conversation and it seems like a great fit. In the meantime, he gets a little attention from Spring Hill in Mobile and a couple teams from up North offer him strictly off social media, etc etc. Well, he is leaving for senior trip and just before the coach makes him an offer and I wasn't sure he completely understands what the coach said. Well, the coach knows he is on Senior trip and texts me to call when I can. He basically offers enough tuition money for year one and year two that dad is like, no one is going to match this. Academics played a huge role with his 3.8 GPA. This coach definitely wants him so now it's in his hands. I am guiding him but trying to make sure he is making his 40yr plan. It's a small independent school (new to Crowley LA), but they have a sports science program and the classes to put him into physical therapy if that's his direction. So, he makes the decision after we are eliminated from the regionals. He is going to be a Miller. The coach really believes once he gets him on campus after year two, he will have turned him into a legit college pitcher who will most likely get offers from bigger programs and that is his goal. If not, he would love to have him for four years. So very thankful for all the input from all of you guys. Now he is back in the weight room almost daily and practicing to be ready for summer travel ball.

Yeah I think he’s going to see an uptick in velo and his coach really believes he’s nowhere near his potential. At 6’4” ( coach sees 3-4 years for physical maturity)  and 185-190 and touching 86-87, just give us 6-8 months and I’d be shocked if he’s not 200 and sitting 86-87. 6’4” can hold some weight and they are a driveline focused school now. I know everyone has varying opinions on Driveline but if arm care is handled, velo is really his missing component. Obviously 60 innings and only 11-12 free bases shows some pretty good control to say the least. He’s found discipline this year, so if it’s in there somewhere to be a 90 plus guy it’ll be genetics not the hard work to stop him. O

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