Perfect Game, after nearly throwing one a couple weeks ago!

There have been many threads about whether stats are important.

These stats ARE important! They create interest, not that he didn't already have plenty of interest!

06catcherdad,

Do you know what his velocity is at this spring. We have seen him a few times and he was mostly 85-86, topping at 88. Just wondering if he has stepped that up a bit? Those stats are incredible!

Don't want to hijack a thread because obviously Kyle Porter did a fabulous job and should be commended for this...just wanted to throw out another accomplishment similar to this:

Robbie Aviles- Suffern HS (NY) '10- threw a perfect game last week, throwing just 68 pitches over 7 innings and striking out 11. Aviles is a 6'4" RHP committed to the University of Florida that is considered to be an elite level talent nationally. This perfect game came in his high school team's first home game after news that two of his teammates were killed in a head-on collision while they were driving to practice.

Congratulations to both Porter and Aviles for their performances, I enjoy hearing about great things like this from players.

Congratulations to Kyle and Oak Ridge on a spectacular season so far. It looks like Cal knows how to recruit pitching.

PG, he's usually sitting 87-88 on a stalker. Not bad velo for a left hander, though I think he'll eventually develop into a low 90's guy. He's also developed solid command of both his slider and change, so has become adept with all three pitches.

What a lot of young pitchers could learn from him is how to pitch aggresively. He puts a big premium on throwing strike one, pitches inside regularly and goes after every batter, no nibbling with him.

Patriot, a big part of why Oak Ridge is 16-2 and on a 15 game winning streak is having two of the top left-handers in northern California (Jordan Mills, signed with St. Mary's is the other) on their pitching staff, to go with an outstanding shortstop/leadoff hitter (Jake Schu, signed with UNR) to anchor their senior laden team.

JH,

We are very familiar with Robbie Aviles (Aflac All American). So are all 30 MLB clubs. He's one of the very best in the country and I think he will continue getting better yet.

Thanks for the information.

PG-

I faced Robbie in HS when he was a freshman. Probably was throwing 86-88 then. His older brother plays at a DII in New York. Throws upper-80's with pretty much the same mechanics as Robbie. Their father supposedly played in the minor leagues for years. He is certainly a good one

quote:

Originally posted by PGStaff:
There have been many threads about whether stats are important.

These stats ARE important! They create interest, not that he didn't already have plenty of interest!

06catcherdad,

Do you know what his velocity is at this spring. We have seen him a few times and he was mostly 85-86, topping at 88. Just wondering if he has stepped that up a bit? Those stats are incredible!

With all due respect to PGStaff, this is another example to everyone how important velocity is. I am really believing that what a pitcher does on the mound is not as important as his velocity. All the talk about hit your spots, get the job done, be tough out there, change speeds, etc... don't matter any where near as much as how hard they throw in terms of what is important in getting to the next level.

Here is an example of a kid throwing a perfect game and almost a second and the first thing the premier scouting authority in the country asks is "what is his velocity this spring".

Like I said PG, no disrespect to you intended at all. I just think it is the way things are. You want to get to the next level, you have to throw 90+. Is it good to be a HS pitcher who wins by hitting their spots, changing speeds and just getting outs? Absolutely, it helps the team win. But when it comes to making it big at the next level, the one number that matters most is - Velocity.

BTW, congratulations to Kyle and Robbie. That is quite an accomplishment - regardless of velocity!!

bballman- I completely 100% agree with you. However, you can be a good, even great, high school pitcher throwing in the low-80s. You can dominate a game. But if you step into a top college environment or a pro environment, chances are that velocity won't garner you very much success. There has to be a threshold where a batter respects a pitcher's fastball enough to know that there is always that possibility that it will be thrown by him. If a pitcher doesn't throw with enough velocity to consistently throw a fastball successfully to get hitters out, then a hitter can just sit back all day and let 'er rip.

There are, of course, exceptions (Moyer, Maddux, etc.). But how many young pitching prospects really have enough savvy to be successful at the upper levels without throwing hard enough to do what I described above? They are few and far between. I'm not saying it can't happen, because it obviously has, but as a scout the velocity is always a factor because of the reaction time a batter has.

I'm sure PG will also agree that even though velocity is extremely important, there is MUCH more to pitching than just throwing hard.

Actually, bballman and JH, I have to disagree with you to a point. Velo is important, no doubt about it, but somewhat less so for a left hander than a righty. What is important, every bit as much as velo, is PITCH-ABILITY. Having command of all your pitches (command is different than control), the ability to consistently throw strike one, the ability to pitch inside to go along with the guts to do it in this metal bat age, understanding how to get hitters out rathen then just rearing back and chucking it for all you're worth, those things are all just as important when you take them in their entirety as velocity. As a case in point, we had a young man in this area who graduated a couple years ago, who had no problem with velo as he got up to 95 on a somewhat regular basis as a HS senior. The problem with that was he had no idea where it was going half the time. He ended up getting a deal with a WAC school, but last I heard he is back at the jr. college level because he lacked command.

PG was interested in Porter's velo as they had him at PG National last year, and he posted those velocities that he mentioned in his original post. That is also where Cal's pitching coach first saw him, and decided to follow him from that one outing. By the time he'd finished his summer, pitching successfully in the Connie Mack League, he had 5 nice offers to consider, and Cal won out.

06, no doubt pitch-ability and command are important. That is not the issue. My point was that first and foremost is velocity. Most scouts and recruiters will give the high velocity guy a chance with the belief that they can teach command. The lower velocity guys who have the command may not get the chance. I would venture to say that RHP's throwing under 90 will not even get a look at the draft - at least the higher rounds - no matter how good their command is. My bet is that a scout will go thru the PG data base looking for 90+ and then go from there to find guys who possess that AND command if they can find it.

Once again, pitch-ability and command are important. Velocity is the ticket that will get you the looks. Just the way it is in the "radar gun era" if you will. JMHO.

Just to bump the thread, Robbie Aviles threw a no hitter in his next start after throwing a perfect game, striking out 15 this time.

Depends a lot on the competition he faced as to how good an accomplishment.

The accomplishment is equal to the competition. A mid-80s pitcher would not have 15 K's in our conference. But you can also have 15 k's in our conference and lose the game.
Daniel Norris pitched 4 innings against us the other night with 9 k's and was losing when he was pulled. The accomplishments are only as good as the competition and that is the problem with stats in high school. In some conferences, you can have a kid who has a bunch of wins and a bunch of k's but is not equal to the kid with a losing record because of the competition.
I'm not bashing on these pitchers but just the fact that stats in high school and accomplishments are only equal to the competition.

ESPN Insider ranks Aviles as the 85th best draft prospect overall, and PGCrosschecker ranks him as the 22nd best high school prospect in the country. I agree that the competition does factor into high school statistics and I generally do not read too much into the numbers, but an accomplishment like this is still very cool. And Aviles is a good one

Good point Jeff. Another example is the kid in single A that is leading the state with 20HR's this year. The stud hitters in the more competitive conferences only have about half as many. Stats have always been for newspaper reports.

HSBBWEB old timer,

So true. Just talking importance of stats. BTW, do you remember an old thread that was up long ago about the conversion factor stats that involved the relationship between the "value" of a HR in like in 6A vs 1A. If I remember correctly it had a ranking system associated with the values.

Let me just say again that I am in no way taking away from the feat at any level, rec ball to MLB and especially high school. It is an accomplishment that is not to be taken lightly. I missed both of my older son's only ones umpiring.
The stats and accomplishments are just harder or easier according to where you are pitching.
My son is struggling with his win-loss record right now even though he has 59 K's to 11 walks. He has taken the loss in some games where the fielding is not good in a tough conference. I remind him that all you can do is throw your stuff and hope that if they hit it the guys behind you catch it and throw it.