Update on son's progress and willing to take any advice

Was reading an old post of yours and you mentioned your boy (last summer) hit 75mph as a 6'2" seventh grader. Now you are saying that he is throwing 83-84 as a 6'3" eigth grader? Personally I have no advice to give you. I should be asking for advice from you. What program are you on that increases velocity 9 mph in 6 months? Not that I think it is impossible for a 13-14 year old, just extremely rare!

If he really is throwing mid 80's now I would start shopping for the best coach in the country, get him to try out for the national USA Baseball team and get him into the best of the best showcases possible. In my area I live in which has some of the best competetive talent in the country for its age, most seventh- eighth graders on travel teams throw mid 70's with a few (less than 5) throwing close to 80. We had one kid last year who made it to the final cut of the USA Baseball team. He threw high seventies at that time maybe even topping 80 on occasion. Mid 80's for an eighth grader is exceptional talent and probably only a handful of kids in the entire country throw that fast at that age.

Bacdor how old is your son?

quote:

Originally posted by Gingerbread Man:
Was reading an old post of yours and you mentioned your boy (last summer) hit 75mph as a 6'2" seventh grader. Now you are saying that he is throwing 83-84 as a 6'3" eigth grader? Personally I have no advice to give you. I should be asking for advice from you. What program are you on that increases velocity 9 mph in 6 months? Not that I think it is impossible for a 13-14 year old, just extremely rare!

If he really is throwing mid 80's now I would start shopping for the best coach in the country, get him to try out for the national USA Baseball team and get him into the best of the best showcases possible. In my area I live in which has some of the best competetive talent in the country for its age, most seventh- eighth graders on travel teams throw mid 70's with a few (less than 5) throwing close to 80. We had one kid last year who made it to the final cut of the USA Baseball team. He threw high seventies at that time maybe even topping 80 on occasion. Mid 80's for an eighth grader is exceptional talent and probably only a handful of kids in the entire country throw that fast at that age.

Idaho is a hotbed for baseball?

quote:

Idaho is a hotbed for baseball?

You would be surprised! We have a great well established travel team league to play in which includes all of eastern and southern Idaho, Utah, Northern Nevada, and Wyoming. Pooling an area of about 2 million people with close to 400 travel teames in our league (RMSB.com)

My mistake was to brag about his speed. I should not have done that.


"Advice on how much we should throw, should not throw, how many innings should we pitch total in a season, number of pitcher per game, recovery aids, performance supplements,work-outs specifically for pitchers? should we ice after every game practice etc..."

I think with that velo in 8th grade and where your son is compared to others has a lot to do with how much he throws. If my son was at those velo's at his age I would treat him with kit gloves. Now you may be thinking that you should do the same thing regardless of his velocity, and to some extent this is true, however if your son is in the top 0.1% in the country then I would make sure that I was working out with a very good pitching instructor, and do much less actual pitching in games. Why? He does not need to develop it - he has it already! I would only take him to the most high profile events like the USA baseball series for the National teams. Some one asked how old he was and you have not posted this and this makes a difference. I assume he would try out for the 14U National team. I would only put him on a very visible National level team. Again with this velo and size he will be a shoe in on many many national teams.

ASMI has all of the guidelines you need as far as the number of pitches and innings, rest etc. Spend some time there and do your own homework so you understand it yourself instead of getting it from some unknown poster on this web site. (myself included)

For me I would get him to a Jaeger camp for long toss and arm care. If not purchase bands and thrive on throwing CD. As far as warm up, he must not pick up a baseball until he has a little sweat started, stretch, bands and then proper throwing warm up. After he pitches make sure he gets in a light 2-3 mi jog. Icing is a personal decision, some like it some don’t. ASMI recommends light icing for a short period of time, but they are doing a full study on it right now. As far as eating just make sure he has a well balanced diet, he is a little young for doing much lifting and proteins etc. If he does anything I would focus on sprints, and full body, body weight only workouts. Remember he is an 8th grader. Most of all make it fun, not work.

No offense GBMan but if we were at a National tournament we would always be happy to see a team from this area in our pool. Not putting the kids down at all, since there are some very good players and teams from this area. I would not use the term "hotbed" however.

Thank you for your reply BOF. That's the stuff I was wanting to know. He plays on a top 25 type travel team in the summer we are in the southeast. This year his team will be 15u....he is 14 and turns 15 in July. So he is an older 8th grader.

BOF gives good advice here.

I think he is eligible for the USA National 14U team so I would get to this series for sure. I would also play him up like you are. If he is not eligble for the 14U team I would for sure go the the USA Baseball 16U championships. Fl or Arizona. He could do this twice which would give him an advantage the second year.

He is not eligible for the 14's. USA Baseball eligibility works on a calendar year. My thought is that his team will go twice to the 16 USA Nationals as they an upper level club. Again, keep things in perspective and let things happen. There is no rush here.

quote:

Originally posted by BOF:
No offense GBMan but if we were at a National tournament we would always be happy to see a team from this area in our pool. Not putting the kids down at all, since there are some very good players and teams from this area. I would not use the term "hotbed" however.

We have a great "hotbed" of talent here in the Utah/Idaho region. I would put our top travel teams up against any in the country and would bet they would fare just fine. We live in a cold weather state but take baseball very seriously up here. The travel league we play in is one of the best in the country in my opinion for developing kids into having post HS opportunities.

quote:

Originally posted by ncball:
He is not eligible for the 14's. USA Baseball eligibility works on a calendar year. My thought is that his team will go twice to the 16 USA Nationals as they an upper level club. Again, keep things in perspective and let things happen. There is no rush here.

Perfect decision. There were a number of teams doing this last year. He will get the experience the first time and get maybe get on USA Baseball's radar. He will get comfortable with the competition. I have never seen such a collection of talented 16YO players in my life. Really great tournament.

So his summer team will have to go to this tourney next year? What if elect not to go....how can my son go, find a team that is going?

If you trust this team and they are developing, then don't get too caught up. That's a good tournament. That said, it's just as important to be a great teammate and be loyal to your team. Plenty of time and ways to get exposure!

Another thing you may want to consider is to have him work on his core and flexibility. Young, tall, thin players can become susceptible to repetitive motion injuries and this would be a good preventative measure. Also, do make sure he is not the only top pitcher on his summer team. You want to have the pitching workload spread around and avoid him being overused just to win a tournament.

thanks for the advice birsman14, there are three other pitchers on hissummer team that are soph. that thro as hard as he does....I would expect about 55-60 innings for the summer.

I bought the Jeager bands and DVD

Wow, I have only seen one other 14 yo throw 84 (East Cobb).

I wouldn't worry too much. They will find you.

Don't break his arm. He has plenty of time.

They are out there. Some keep progressing and some peak early. We had a man-child who went 89, 90, 91 in three consecutive pitches the summer he just turned 14. Not much different now. Three years ago we faced East Cobb in the 14 finals. Our guy touched 86-87. They started a lefty who went 85 and closed with a kid who touched 89. Few and far between but they are out there.

Bottom line- You can't predict how they will end up. You just have to give them a good, safe plan. FYI- All three kids from three years ago have turned out to be pretty special.