Scott Kazmir Jr in HS

That was a blast to watch... especially that last fastball which slid in the backdoor - truly evil!!!!

Do you happen to remember what his radar gun reading were at this point?

92-94 top 96. About the same he throws now. Breaking ball was low to mid 80s.

That's fun to watch. Unless you're a batter.

watching from behind was really impressive - glad I wasn't in the batters box...

Thanks for sharing - really impressive - and instructional stuff

I really liked the shots from behind Scott ... love the movement on the ball. Very impressive.

Interesting to note that Kazmir was pitching in Tampa Bay's Tropicana Field in that video.

I have never seen anything like that before. It looked like he throws about six different pitches. I know this may sound funny, but he looked like he was ready to pitch in the big leagues in 11th grade. Unbelievable stuff!

CD,

We thought the same thing about Kazmir at the time. In fact, the night before we watched the DRays game and that game had about 6 pitchers, the best pitcher we saw that weekend was Kazmir. We saw him pitch in a HS game his last year against one of the better teams in TX. There were exactly two times contact was made. One bunt and one foul ball. We are to this day befuddled that he didn't go earlier in the draft.

It was the PG National Showcase 2001 held at Tropicana Field. The kid catching Kazmir ended up being the 3rd pick of 2005 (Jeff Clement). I believe one of the hitters is Alex Gordon (2nd pick in 2005)

Future 1st round picks in that event included…
Jeff Clement (IA)
Clint Everts (TX)
Alex Gordon (NE)
Prince Fielder (FL)
Chris Gruler (CA)
Scott Kazmir (TX)
John Mayberry (KS)
Lastings Milledge (FL)
Scott Moore (CA)
Cliff Pennington (TX)
Jarrod Saltalamacchia (FL)
Micah Schilling (LA)
Denard Span (FL)
Sergio Santos (CA)
BJ Upton (VA)
Several 2nd round picks too.

There were 125 players in that showcase… Over 100 of them have gone on to play professional baseball, either signing out of high school or later out of college.

It's kind of cool to see that because we played his old high school earlier this season. Beckett graduated from the high school i go to.

wouldn't that have been a good one for the high school hitters...Josh Beckett vs. Scott Kazmir.

his forearms look massive!

Outstanding!



Thanks PGStaff

We live in the area near Kazmir. Does anyone know who worked with him on his pitching, in his hs days, as far as an instructor?
My son is a freshman in high school and never really pitched much in travel ball. I would describe him as more of a thrower than a pitcher, but since the hs coaches gunned him at 81 they keep trotting him out there. So I guess my point is that if they are going to do that, I would like to go to an instructor that is highly recommended, because I do know there are lots of bad ones out there. I would like for someone to help him with some off speed pitches.If anyone can let me know of someone they like, that would really help us.
thx

sluggo,

I can't remember, but you might contact Phil Cross, if you know him, from the Houston Heat. I'm sure he would know.

Scott's greatest attribute was his natural ability, though. In addition to having a great arm he was an outstanding athlete who could really run and hit, might have made it as a centerfielder.

Also, his parents used to post here at times awhile back, sorry I can't remember the username.

Good luck

Watching the video it is obvious that Scott has gifts that can't be taught. That clip is stunning!

In 2000, when Scott Kazmir was 16 years of age
he pitched for our American team against the National Team from Japan.

Mike Jones [#1 selection of the Brewers] started this game on Labor Day weekend. Mike pitched 5 innings with a 97 mph fast ball. Scott pitched the final 4 innings to gain the victory.

This was one of the "greatest games" in our 23 year history.

This was a classic game of American players with the 6th tool.

Sergio Santos, Delmon Young and Jason Vargas also played in this Goodwill Series event [1983-2007].

Bob Williams