The average velocity for HS sophomores

I'm a soph and while I'm not sure what the average is I would say 75-82 is definetly above average. 85+ would be exceptional.

I can only say you cannot make a comparison based on graduating year - i.e., you're an "08" - because there are fellow 08's that are fully a year older than you. If you look at Showcase data, you will find that the vast majority of players for any given grad year have very early birthdays (July-November). They have always been the studs because they were always older, probably bigger than, their grade-level peers.
This will all balance out in time - my son has a late b-day like you, but he's hanging in there just fine. He's also an '08, has hit 80 several times on Stalker, but who cares? I'm trying to teach him how to PITCH - the mental game of it, work on the breaking stuff, master that circle change, work on rhythm disruption (mess with the hitter's mind), peg the corners, all of that stuff.
But, if you really want to see how you compare to the average '08, the best you can do is go to Perfect Game's website (http://www.perfectgame.org) and click through the hundreds of players profiles for other '08 class pitchers. You'll get a very good idea of how you stack up -- but again, you'll notice that almost all of them are very early birthday guys and in many districts would be classed out as '07's. It's all relative.

thanks alot for the input. ill check that out

quote:

a person I know has been clocked at 76 and I've been told I can throw as fast, if not faster then him.

Who told you? A teammate? Your Dad? Or some kid from another team who never liked you? Biases matter.

The kid who has been "clocked" may have hit 76 once and tops out at 72 most of the time. There's no way to eyeball two kids with precision. Some kids have a knack of looking much faster than they are. And some really great pitchers, who are as smooth as silk, can throw 90 while looking much slower.

Major league scouts who use radar daily, can probably eyeball most pitchers +/- 2 mph.Others can't.

72 is good speed for a 15 year old who hasn't trained hard. Plenty of varsity pitchers (tho few starters) can't top that. 76 would be well above for your age.

I think what you'll see as 'average' is going to vary geographically, just due to population densities and playing seasons. Areas that have pretty much a year-round playing season and high population densities will typically see higher 'average' velocities just because the schools are pulling from a much broader and deeper pool of kids, and the long playing season gives plenty of opportunities for training, throwing, and facing live batters. Frankly the problem with year round playing seasons is over throwing and managing the arm.

Purely a subjective non-scientific observation here in SoCal, where we have a lot of ball players, and most of the good ones play year round: a decent sophomore pitcher is probably throwing low-80's consistently, Mid-to-high 80's Junior year, high 80's and maybe 90+ Senior year. Most of the good HS varsity programs around here have a 1-2 guys in the high 80s, low 90s each year, but it changes every year. Some years you have 2-3 guys in that range, others you might have one or none. But I don't think it's unusual to see a soph in the low 80s around here ... the question is whether they've topped out or if they continue to develop into a high 80s, 90+ guy by the time they are seniors.

I agree with Krakatoa ... you have to be able to pitch, not just 'throw'. Max effort velocity is no good if don't have any control and don't have good offspeed pitches. Mental toughness to go after a batter with poise and control with 2-outs and the tying run on third, and the confidence in your stuff to throw any pitch in any count is key.

quote:

Who told you? A teammate? Your Dad? Or some kid from another team who never liked you? Biases matter. Smile

lol, yeah that does make a difference. It was a friend of mine who played in a tournament against him last weekend.

I have been tensing up alot lately when ive thrown, i know that for sure. yesterday i threw some, and just relaxed myself, and found i was getting more movement on my fastball then normal, and about the same velocity.

My off-speed pitches, are a curveball, forkball, knuckleball, curcle change (which i'm still working on). I also try to throw from different angles, and when I pitch frequently, i can hit my spots pretty well.

My focus is to develop higher velocity, to make off-speed stuff better just from the speed change.

You might want to consider dropping the forkball, as a true forkball causes some pretty high stress in the tendons leading down to the elbow.

I would recommend focuing on your circle change and curve. Especially the changeup.

Throwing from different angles is an excellent means of producing one more thing for the batter to deal with, one more thing to deceive him, to keep him off balance.

Keep working on conditioning & getting stronger. If you do not have it yet, develop the consistency & confidence to throw your curve & c/u on any count.

Make sure to have great mental toughness. Keep thinking on the mound. Read the batter for his weaknesses & tendencies. Keep him off balance.

When it comes to getting outs, velocity is not the most important factor. Unfortunately, you will reach an age where velocity is probably the important factor in getting noticed.

Good luck & work hard.

im not sure if i actually am throwing a "true" forkball. I just jam it between my fingers, and throw it without much use of my thumb to support it. It doesn't do much as far as movement, but doesnt have alot of rotation and is noticably slower then my fastball.

My curveball, when im pitching frequently, I'll throw in any count but 3-2 as of now. The circle change is what I really want to develop, but is also my worst pitch. I have NO control over it whatsoever but the movement is decent.

Thanks everyone for the advice.

In your plain old warmup throwing at the start of practice or before a game, throw your circle change grip. You can get in lots of reps that way & gain control much more quickly.

After every long-toss session, my son will finish off with 10 circle changes thrown from 60'6". This has really helped him with the control aspect and has helped him a great deal in 'disguising' it as a heater. This technique was something I read in Collegiate Baseball a while back from a top college coach.

I know it had been stated, the speed is not the most important thing, but i thought i'd share and example:

A kid on a team my school Varsity team was facing was a sophmore throwing 86-88. Big tall kid . He only lasted 2/3 of an inning cuz all he did was throw hard and he didn't locate. We got 3 HR's and one of them was a GS. He left in the 1st and we were up 8-0.Next kid they put in didn't throw as hard but could PITCH. He did a lot better against us then the First kid.

Just my .02

I used to always be the kid with the good arm who couldnt throw a strike, so I've focused more on control and off-speed. I'd rather make a guy look like he'd never seen a pitch before with a curveball then blow one by him. But I really want to be seen, and I don't want to be overlooked due to lack of velocity, when I could be competitive at the collegiate level at least. (Not saying I can necessarily, just being hypothetical)