RHP velocity

85+ will get you noticed.
90+ get's you noticed more.

Fastball with movement.
Fastball with location command.
Also will get you noticed.
Result's get you noticed too.
EH

My son started receiving notice when his fastball hit 90 with a lot of movement. It now touches 94-95 and he sits at 90-91. He is receiving quite a bit of attention from major d-1 and mid- major as well. Being 6'4" and 225 does not hurt either. He is also a RHP.

I assume we are normalizing these speeds to the Jugs radar gun, which is 2 MPH higher than the Stalker. My 2008 LHP son is topping 88 but cruises about 86-87. He has verbally committed to a Pac-10 D1 school.

Having gone to many of that school's games this year, and looking at their lefties and other D1 lefties, it looked to me the average cruising speed is about 85-87.

As for righties, I would say 87-89 would be middle-of-the-pack for D1. 89+ for the top programs and 85+ for the lower programs. That's my guess.

My 2008 RHP started getting attention this past spring when his velocity was 90 to 92. He received attention from both mid to major D1's. He has verbally committed to a major D1 school.

My '07 started getting notice from some Major and Mid-Major D1's when he started hitting 88 during games.

I see plenty of kids "getting noticed" and moving on to offers with 85 mph stuff, IF THEY CAN PITCH.

The higher velocity guys will attract scouts like flies, but kids with more modest MPH can still get offers if they can get people out, if they don't walk people, if they have a body type that indicates they aren't maxed out yet, if they have command of solid off-speed pitches, etc.

My own son is a high MPH guy, but I think you're putting too much emphasis on it. It's an advantage, sure, but not a requirement.

90+ is not a requirement to play D1 baseball.

However, velocity still remains the #1 tool that scouts for MLB and college coaches of big programs look for. Next is the number of pitches you have in your arsenal. Then your drop on your offspeed. You are supposed to be able to pitch as well, but I have seen many high velo guys get drafted for big bucks and not pitch well (ex. Andrew Brackman). Besides a fastball in upper 90's his height didn't hurt him either. From what I have learned, having a live arm and projection is the key. For scouting MLB, it may be a few years until you get where you want to go, so the more maxed out you appear, less demand. However, you will find pitchers coming out of college that are ready to pitch within a few months, but that is very seldom and very far and few in between.

My RHP hit 90 as a HS junior and that brought lots of attention. This past fall as a college junior he was at 93 which got more attention and by spring hitting 93-95 and lived in a 91 mph zone with a 12 mph drop in his CU. The more his velo went up the more did his stock. He is also not afraid to pitch inside, which has always been a plus for him. Every pitcher has something specific that someone likes or doesn't like about him, so it is very hard to define in general.

quote:

Originally posted by Midlo Dad:
I see plenty of kids "getting noticed" and moving on to offers with 85 mph stuff, IF THEY CAN PITCH.

The higher velocity guys will attract scouts like flies, but kids with more modest MPH can still get offers if they can get people out, if they don't walk people, if they have a body type that indicates they aren't maxed out yet, if they have command of solid off-speed pitches, etc.

My own son is a high MPH guy, but I think you're putting too much emphasis on it. It's an advantage, sure, but not a requirement.

88 as a HS junior got plenty of notice.

He worked 88-91 this past year in college but had more success working 85-87 the previous year. Although an injury this year lessoned effectiveness.

90+ is an advantage if you stay out of the middle of the zone. You don't have to nibble as much above 90, but command is still required. College batters can turn around most pitches in the middle at 85 or 95. You can make more mistakes at 95, but not twice as many. You can certainly be very successful at the highest levels of college baseball below 90. Pro scouts will mostly ignore the righty below 90, though.

Dad04 is correct, you have got to stay out of the middle of the zone to be effective as a high velo guy or you are toast in college or beyond. The batters are too smart, that's why they are there and others are not.

Most RHP pitch down and away and that continues in college. My suggestion, learn to pitch inside early in HS and not be afraid to, even if you have to plunk a batter or two, or many, learn to be in control of the hitter.

Pitching inside is a lost art, if one can focus on that instead of worrying about velo, everyone will want you on their team.

Many, many HS pitchers who dominate often have a tough time in college, I have seen kids from our area with exceptional SO #'s who couldn't get it done college or on the pro level.

I have also seen junk ball guys with lower velocity have success against college power hitters. As I said it all depends on what that particular coach is looking for.

quote:

TPM posted: Many, many HS pitchers who dominate often have a tough time in college, I have seen kids from our area with exceptional SO #'s who couldn't get it done college or on the pro level.

So true. In high school you can pour it over the plate at 90 for 7 innings, as my son did, and win alot more than you lose. He wasn't successful in college until he learned to throw a slider, low and away to righties AND a good change up low and away to lefties.

TG - you have a PM

Velocity gets discussed here a lot, but I want to bring up something that is related. What I mean is the delivery.
I have seen pitchers in the low 90's, nice stuff, good control, and obviously tough to hit. I have also seen some pitchers that were topping 83-84, BUT LOOKED LIKE THEY WERE THROWING 99! Ball just jumps on the batter. Very difficult pitchers. These pitchers hide the ball well and the ball pops at release. Mostly seen in lefties. Ya guys noticed some of this. I prob didn't explain it very well.
These are some of the toughest I have seen at 16-18yrs, but don't see often.

As 6 foot 6 HS RHP mid 80s top, very good breaking ball, so so change up... No interest from any level DI school or professional baseball.

First year of JC, 6 foot 7, 89-90 mph, very good breaking ball, no change up... Lots of interest from highest level DIs and drafted.

Location and movement are equally important. In a scouts eyes, it would be best to have... 1 - Velocity, 2 - Movement/Life... 3 - Location... if we are talking about the fastball. The fastball is still the pitch most coveted. But the others are what helps make a pitcher successful. Just a high velocity fastball is not enough in most cases.

quote:

TripleDad said... "I have also seen some pitchers that were topping 83-84, BUT LOOKED LIKE THEY WERE THROWING 99! Ball just jumps on the batter. Very difficult pitchers. These pitchers hide the ball well and the ball pops at release. Mostly seen in lefties."

TripleDad,

So very true and we see some of those types every year. One of the biggest gatherings of college recruiters at the WWBA Championship in Marietta this past summer were there to watch a 5-10/150 LHP who tops out in the mid 80s. Every recruiter wanted the kid.

He is the guy we all are talking about when we use words like sneaky fast, deceptive, great movement, great command, 3 pitches, good mechanics, quick arm, mound presence, and everything except for high velocity. He is one of the best pitchers in high school baseball and should end up being a star at the highest DI level.

I do believe the term used in description is "explosive".

PG, who is the lefty that you're referring to?

Nolan Belcher from Grovetown, GA

He actually will touch an 87 or even an 88 once in a great while but pitches at 85 most of the time.

We see a lot of real good lefties who throw mid 80s.

Replying to TG's question, an observation on velocity for mid-level DI recruits (at least I think the University of Minnesota would be a mid-level DI):

In the Fall of his senior HS year, my son pitched in an "instructional" league at the University of Minnesota. My son was not a DI recruit (velocity too low), but several times I got to observe the U of M pitching coaches radaring all the pitchers during games and then see who they followed up with directly after the games. (There were about 12 teams in the league, so perhaps 60 pitchers total.) The only RHPs they expressed interest in were around 87+, and the few they seemed to seriously pursue were touching 90. At least one pitcher that I remember in that category did end up playing for them.

And a little anecdote about how velocity plays out at any level of college:

My son plays for a small DIII and in his conference, pitching velocities range from upper 70s to around 90 mph, but mostly low to mid 80s. However the top team in his conference has quite a few faster pitchers. My son's team gave them their first conference loss in 2 years last Spring, when one of our batters hit a walk-off homerun on a 93 mph fastball. Commonplace at the larger schools I'm sure, but even at a small DIII, velocity isn't everything.