Trying to get back into affiliated ball

What about developing an off speed pitch to go along with your FB?

In the video I throw some curves, sliders, and changeups.

At :48, 1:38, & 2:21 are curves. 3:14, 3:44, & 5:09 are sliders. 6:06 is a changeup.

Sorry, I guess I did not watch the whole video...

You have a PM

I see that you only pitched 27 innings in college, were you a converted pitcher? Perhaps one more year in college would have been a better choice, being that they took so many pitchers in front of you.

What I don't understand is that with throwing 91-94 why you wouldn't get any attention? The only thing I can think of is that you would have to begin in the organizations lowest level, and at 23 going on 24 that is usually not a good fit for you or the organization.

Best of luck.

shep

i'd say your best bet is indy ball. there have been quite a few picked up from indy team's.

it is a long hard road back there, but if it was easy everyone would be doing it.

I wish some would have an answer for you, or a direction. This would be a good answer to have for alot of kids that feel the same way. Good luck and I hope you get some direction. If you can't here , I doubt you will get help anywhere else. Unless you can enter some MLB tryouts. They are free to attend.

TPM, there are a couple of reasons I only pitched 27 innings in college. For one, we had a lot of studs on our pitching staff. The average velocity was somewhere between 86-90 and they could really pitch. I came out of highschool with some bad mechanical and control issues and had about 0 confidence. And basically that carried over into college. I guess you could say I was the definition of raw.
I know that indy ball is my most likely path, but it seems like there is so much time wasted from the beginning of minor league spring training to the start of the indy ball season. I just wish I could get into spring training and get the chance to prove myself and if it doesn't work out indy ball is still an option. At the least I just want to get to a tryout. I know teams will hold tryouts like a couple of days before the start of spring training.

Shep,


Your story reminds me why education is so important and to USE baseball to get that education. A few years back my son would have been a 6th rounder if he wanted to take $125,000 out of HS. He went to a mid-level D1 on a huge scholarship, hated it and transferred to a D2 Juco. He is now with a nice school in the ACC and he couldn't be happier. (besides a little unanticipated snow in the past week) He again is going through talking with many MLB teams and all that is great, but what makes me the most proud is that he will be 30 credits short of his degree after this year.

Some day someone will be taking that baseball from him, no one will ever be able to take that degree or his experiences away.

quote:

Originally posted by D1:
Shep,


Your story reminds me why education is so important and to USE baseball to get that education. A few years back my son would have been a 6th rounder if he wanted to take $125,000 out of HS. He went to a mid-level D1 on a huge scholarship, hated it and transferred to a D2 Juco. He is now with a nice school in the ACC and he couldn't be happier. (besides a little unanticipated snow in the past week) He again is going through talking with many MLB teams and all that is great, but what makes me the most proud is that he will be 30 credits short of his degree after this year.

Some day someone will be taking that baseball from him, no one will ever be able to take that degree or his experiences away.

Hmm, sounds familiar, the NY Yankees offered son 175 to sign as a 7th rounder, he said no thanks and went off to school, where things worked out well for him playing in the ACC. He has 32 credits left until graduation, if things don't work, we and he are very happy he got a jump start on it. He also is fortunate that he has something put away if that should happen before he makes what one may consider real money.
I am assuming that MLB paid for you to finsih school, that is most important thing for you to do.
If you really feel the need to get back to the game, Indy ball may be a good option, but in all reality it is very very difficult to find your way back to pro ball at 23, unless you have some special stuff to wow them and can get outs. They are not going to waste much time trying to give you time to figure it out.
I am a firm beleiver in following your dreams, but sometimes there comes a time when one has to look himself squarely in the mirror and realize that baseball is not the end all and there are many great things out there that can bring you close to the game with great rewards.
I am only saying this because of my experience from what I see from the other side, how hard it is for those with more experience and lots of great stuff to get to the level of bb, it's difficult for them.

You might not like my advice. No one ever does.
It might be time to move on with the rest of your life. I spent over 12 years up close and personal with a Penn state club and saw this type of scenario over and over. It was very difficult to see great players bank on pro ball. I did see some succeed.
Take a look at this roster. It is full of guys who went as high as AAA ball before getting the axe.

http://www.brantfordredsox.ca/index.cfm?page=team

Look at Mike Myers. I have seen this guy dominate other teams.
I have a personal friend who made it all the way to his draft teams 40 man roster. He is on the DL but he knows he is on his last breath. He turned down a scholarship to Oklahoma state for a 136,000 signing bonus. Unfortunately he wasn't a strong student.
I do know guys who have played Indy and Can Am. Very few get bought out to play MLB. It is like winning a lottery.

If your true desire is to give it another shot then go for it. Indy ball is probably your best option. No one can make this decision for you. You have to be able to live with it. If your not ready to give it up then dont.

Shep,
In reading your posts, looking at your video and checking the 2007 stats in the Nationals organization, one impression immediately comes to mind:
Something is not working in the way you are approaching this.
To be honest, if you were 91-94 in front of a number of scouts and did not get a sniff, that should be a clue for you. To have been released after the looks you report means what you are doing isn't getting the job done.
To my mind, it means you need to change your mental and skills approach for anyone to notice. If you keep doing what you have been doing, why can you expect anyone to view you differently?
To me, it is important to know 91-94 pounding the strike zone is batting practice fodder in Milb.
Just guessing, but your 2007 stats, Whip and BB's, with short looks since then suggests you need to focus on command of pitches other than your FB so you can throw them in any count, throw them for strikes in any count, and force hitters to be hitting your pitch, not having them hit their pitch.
Most Milb hitters I talked with, but mostly our son, said velocity is not big deal in Milb. They see it all the time and some faster than yours.
What makes the difference is being able to throw 92 on one pitch, 78 on the next, having them both locate where called by the catcher...and having them look exactly the same out of your hand.
Having command of 3 pitches that all look the same when delivered would seem to be where you are missing the mark based on the 2007 stats and, to an extent, even your video. Based on your 2007 stats, it looks like you are pitching behind in counts and with runners, lots of them on base.
That needs to change and the approach you have taken in the past needs to change.
Again, I am just guessing what changes need to occur.
My sense is I am accurate that changes need to occur.
If I am anywhere close with this guess, Indy ball is indeed the best place for you to identify what has not worked/been working, recognize the changes you can make, and develop them in ways that might "earn" you a chance.
No one is going to "give" you anything in Milb. You are going to have to earn that chance.
To be real honest, if you don't change from where you have been and what you have been doing, BHD is really presenting a question you need to ask yourself and be quite honest in the answer.
Good luck to you.

Well atleast in my situation I've completed my degree, so I have that in my back pocket. I know that 23 is on the older side for low level minor league guys, but my pitching coach always brings up the fact that when he was drafted he was 23. And they put him straight into rookie ball. He made his major league debut when he was 26 almost 27 years old. So his story gives me some hope. I definitley do not want to give up and with this economy and lack of good jobs I really have no reason to walk away. There really is nothing better for me to do then to keep working hard and hoping something works out. I'm just trying to be proactive and give the best I can so that I'm not second guessing myself down the road. I'll be able to live with myself if I know I tried and did everything I could've to make it happen.

infielddad, I agree with everything you said. I have spent the last year working on my approach to the game and changing it quite a bit. When I work with my pitching coach, we work on getting me to throw strikes with all my pitches in any count. You may not be able to tell by the video because it's just a small sample as I have thrown with him atleast 50-100 times by now. The bad habit I used to get into was relying on my fastball 99% of the time. If I couldn't locate it I would just keep throwing it one after the other even tough it wasn't working. I played in a mens league last summer and basically just took it as an opportunity to working on everything I had been practicing. I was throwing curveballs, changeups, and sliders in 1-0 and 2-0 counts for strikes which was something I could never do before. I have confidence now that I can throw any pitch at any time. When I signed with the Phillies last spring, I'll admit that I wasn't quite ready, but I've really figured out a lot of things since then and know that I can be a much better pitcher.

Shep,
Thank you for taking the time to respond.
More importantly, it is great to hear the realization you have made and the way you are changing and remaking yourself as a pitcher.
With that said, do you really feel ST with a MLB team is the place to start? You have been in them once so you know the process. I think you have to be brutally honest with yourself.
If you are truly ready, and can get a chance with a team and then get a reasonable chance and look in ST, that would be great. But we both know those are not adult league hitters.
My bottom line view is you have made a great start by reshaping who you are as a pitcher. That took time.
Proving you have done it so everyone will now see different results is also likely to be a proving yourself process every single outing.
As the experience with the Phillies shows, ST and Mlb/Milb is a numbers game and you just don't get many chances in those 28 or so days of ST.
Indy ball is going to provide a lot more chances and stability to prove you can get guys out and force them to hit your pitch, no matter what the count.
Patience might be what is needed.

Well spring training is and can be difficult, but I figure if I go there I have nothing to lose. If they release me I'm back to where I am now and can still sign with an Indy team. If I break camp with a team, then great, it means I did well enough make their system and get more opportunities to prove myself and move up.