projection-type arms in college

vanderbilt obviously gets a ton of talent from their recruiting, but they are supposed to be a top program for developing pitchers. 

Great question/topic.  By way of the PG player profiles it is always interesting to see how a middle school/HS pitcher develops say from age 13-17.  See a kid's profile that has him going from throwing say 74 as a 13-year old to throwing 92 in fall of Sr. year as a 17 year old.  But then you never are able to track the kid in college to see how much they develop, in this case velo? At least not with a tool as easy as PG player profiles.

 

This blackout of data in the college years certainly hinders one's ability to see what schools develop guys more at least in adding velo.  I believe Michael Mattuella, RHP from Duke, arrived on campus throwing maybe 87 or 88?  He left this past June topping out somewhere high 90s?  Like 96, I think?  Maybe even 97?  Bottom line as far as velo goes, it would be great to see what schools show the greatest velo leap with their pitching staff over four years? 

 

I'm sure many of your powerhouses would not win this statistic as they are recruiting the guys out of HS  who already throw 92-95 (RHPs anyway).  Not much more to add there.  But schools down the ladder who still get a fair amount of the 92-93 guys, I believe, are more laden with projectable type pitchers; guys who just aren't "there" yet when the walk on campus freshman year.  They have to find more of the ones who project and coach them up freshman/sophomore years. Hopefully ready for primetime by sophomore year.   I would imagine your top tier programs dabble less in this type of player.

 

Back to the Mattuella example.  Not many college pitchers can say they added some 9-10mph while in college.  High School?  Yes.  But COLLEGE?  No. 

 

Question then becomes: how much of that is coaching staff?  Player?  Or recruiting?  By recruiting projectable players who pay off finally as sophomores or worse case as juniors.  Finally.

 

 

Even if a program has a history of development, make sure the coaches who were in the program are still there when making the evaluation.

 

With that in mind, ASU is currently a program which develops pitchers (new coaches last year). It's PC is a former MILB pitcher who loves developing pitchers.

 

Unfortunately, I know of far more programs where pitchers aren't developed beyond adding muscle through conditioning.

 

i wonder whether the pedigree of a coach makes a difference? In other words, a coach with a pro history may understand how to develop a pitcher better then a coach with only college experience because of the inclination of pro ball to develop players. Don't know how to quantify that thought, but just throwing it out. 

Matuella at Duke is an interesting example.  There is such a spectrum of developmental timelines for baseball athletes and in particular pitchers.  Some MLB top end arms were projectable through HS with velo in the 80s.  Others have only mastered a changeup for example after age 22. 

If you are waiting for some HS/college coach to bring your kid the magic bullet, you are going to be disappointed.

 

Do your own training.

Well said. I agree don't wait for someone else. Get after it. Take responsibility.  Be a driver!