Va. Pitchers' MPH in Jupiter

Chris Somerville played with the Mid Atlantic Mustangs this summer. He is a GREAT kid, and a really hard worker. In our first tournament in June, I was sitting next to the guy with the gun, directly behind home plate, while Chris was shutting down the Upstate Mavericks. As memory serves, Chris was cruising at 84-86 that day, with a few gusts to 87, and a super CB (-15mph).

The great part was that the college coaches present had clearly come to see his opposing number; showing no interest in Chris at the start. On that day, our guys knocked the other boy out of the game early -- including Chris' RBI double to the gap. After 2 innings, the Coaches came over to our pitch charter asking who Chris was, what we were charting him at, and they had their guns trained on him the rest of the way.

Every day is a different day. This summer, I saw Chris throw a lot of innings at velocities that appeared to the naked eye like those he threw in June. By October, maybe he lost a little bit; but he impressed me as beeing a smart enough Pitcher to know when he can throw it by guys, and when he has to use a little more guile.

I suppose that can happen at the end of a long, February through October run. Chris was actually pretty effective for us. I'm sorry I didn't get to see the numbers you're suggesting, though.

But if some do wear down, I suppose it's a feather in the caps of others if they do not.

Summer 2008 WWBA 15u, 16u, 17u, 18u championship tournament top velocities by class.

2009
Blake Hauser 92 Manchester
Kyle Haynes 91 Mountain View
Erickson Keeton 91 Nansemond River
Ethan Carter 91 Menchville
Mike Kent 89 West Springfield
Timothy Edward Butler 89 Greenbrier Christian
J T Wauford 89 Steward
Cameron Giannini 88 Hargrave Military
Jacob Mayers 88 Hanover
Josh Richardson 88 Greenbrier Christian
Brett Goodloe 86 St. Annes Belfield, VA
Brock Wilson 86 Liberty Christian
Jake Matthews 86 James River
Miles McQuaig 86 Midlothian
Caleb Naff 85 Bassett
Cory Owen 85 Gretna
John Beasley 85 Norfolk
Ryan Farrar 85 Atlee
Ryan Moriarty 85 Potomac
TJ Daeschner 85 Loudoun Valley
Tyler Webb 85 Northampton
Jeff Griffith 84 Deep Run
Josh Richardson 84 Greenbrier Christian
Mike Del Buono 84 James W Robinson
Robert Orlan 84 Deep Run
Andrew Hacker 83 Lee Davis
Dustin Harris 83 Dinwiddie
Joe Mantiply 83 Tunstall
Kyle Lawhorn 83 Landstown
Robbie Browschidle83 Grafton
Adam Reed 82 Loudoun Valley
Matt Verdillo 82 Douglas S. Freeman
Ryan Ward 82 Franklin County
Brian Derner 81 Lake Braddock
Brock Shiflet 81 The Steward
Christian Upchurch 81 Nansemond-Suffolk
Jordan Johnson 81 Chantilly
Joseph Lucas 81 Waynesboro
Padraic Williams 81 Grafton
Sean Cabrera 81 O'Connell
Taylor Seay 81 Patrick Henry
Taylor Sutphin 81 Northside
Michael Helbig 80 Midlothian
Ryan Nichols 80 Bishop O' Connell
Logan Melton 79 Steward
Tucker Tobin 79 West Springfield
Drew Coker 78 The Steward
Jim Newcomb 78 New Kent

2010
Bobby Wahl 88 West Springfield
Kevin Bowles 87 William Byrd
Campbell Henkel 86 St Christopher's
Kurt Fleming 86 Louisa
Nate Hoffa 86 Manassas Park
Tyler Costello 86 Paul VI
Connor Kaufmann 85 L. C. Bird
Scott Burkett 85 Jamestown
Trent Cundiff 85 Northside
Cody Cox 84 Grassfield
Cole Procise 84 Nottaway
Kyle Hall 84 Norththumberland
Cody Cox 83 Grassfield
Dustin Sparks 83 Riverbend
Gunnar Carroll 83 Lousia
Matt Houston 83 Spotsylvania
Sean Fitzgerald 83 McLean
Denis Bukley 82 McLean
Jordan Tarsovich 82 Trinity Episcopal
Nick Walker 82 Stonewall Jackson
B J Collins 81 Spotsylvania
Bill Cullen 81 Thomas Dale
Blake Sipe 81 Ft. Defiance
Cole Herod 81 Douglas Freeman
Danny Thorpe 81 Westfield
Nick Impellizzeri 81 Herndon
Patrick Martin 81 Bassett
Ryan Weatherholtz 81 Osbourn Park
Patrick Arnold 79 Lord Botetourt
Ben Verlander 78 Goochland
Cody Donelan 78 Notre Dame
Quinn Kolberg 78 St. Anne's Belfield

2011
Ian Shiner 86 Kellam
David Spinosa 85 St. Anne's Belfield
Lansing Veeder 84 Paul VI
John McGillicuddy 84 WT Woodson
Brandon Delk 82 Warwick
Michael Curry 82 Landstown
Jeremy Sandifer 82 Landstown
Wes McGuire 80 Deep Run
TJ Costen 79 First Colonial
Jeremy Sandifer 79 Landstown
Gary LeClair 79 Steward
Matt Lees 79 Mills E Godwin
Brian Collins 78 Patrick Henry
Raymond Harron 78 William Byrd
Hunter Higgerson 78 Hickory

2012
Dylan Raymond 81 Giles County
Connor Henderson 80 Bethel
Brian Beard 79 Hickory
Daniel Bridgeman 78 Dinwiddie

quote:

Originally posted by Midlo Dad:
[QUOTE]there's a guy who at his best threw mid-80's

Some here have said that Maddux was recruited out of HS as a 94 mph guy.

Greg Maddux Scouting Report:

http://www.stevenellis.com/ste.../wanna-see-greg.html

After reading all the posts.

Velocity gets you noticed. Getting outs will eventually get you noticed.

Colleges are looking for velocity/command. They need a kid to come in and produce right away.

MLB is looking for velocity/projectability. They are looking for a kid that has outstanding velocity. They have the time to fix control/command in their minor league system. "You can teach a kid to pitch, you can't teach velocity"

The same kind of this is said in football recruiting world..... The faster you are the smaller you can be- or the slower you are the bigger you had better be...and of course- "you can't teach size"

13, if you page back you'll see that you have mistakenly attributed that quote to me. Actually I was quoting, and refuting, someone else.

OK

Greg Maddux is probably the best pitcher in all of baseball along with Roger Clemens. He's much more intelligent than I am because he doesn't have a 95 or 98 mph fastball. I would tell any pitcher who wants to be successful to watch him, because he's the true definition of a pitcher." - Randy Johnson

"I could probably throw harder if I wanted, but why? When they're in a jam, a lot of pitchers...try to throw harder. Me, I try to locate better." Greg Maddux