Velo

Impossible to say really.  Everybody is different with regard to growth and strength development.

Has he been training to increase his velocity? Increasing strength, cleaning up mechanics etc?

Even if he has been training, there are valleys, peaks and plateaus in long term velocity development.

I think at his age a lot of it comes down to how much time is he willing to dedicate to improvement vs. his goals baseball-wise.

My son is a 2017.  In his senior year he was sitting in the mid 80's, and could get in the high 80's at times. I don't doubt that he could have been a high 80's guy that could touch 90 if he really wanted to work hard at it. The thing is he wasn't planning on playing in college, so it didn't make sense to him to put the work into increasing his velocity.

So your son has to decide how badly he wants to improve and how important it is to him. It's only after doing that bit of soul searching that you can really determine if he has topped out or not.

Thanks He's a worker. Thats why I asked he's done a throwing progam but didn't gain any velo. He's redshirting this year to try and get an increase. He's strong and enjoys the grind but wonders if the injury may have stopped the increase. 

Lefties don't tend to throw particularly hard, in most cases. The ones that do find themselves either pitching in power5 programs or drafted. He might want to try working with someone who is experienced in helping improve but you haven't given any info as to where he started and where he is now. 

Maybe working on pitches he can get hitters out with, would work better for him to be successful.

He's can touch 84 but pitches around 81 82. Good control and 3 pitches for strikes. Puts up good numbers just lacking velo. He could touch 81 his soph yr and after injury never increased much. Just hoping to hear that maybe its not to late.

Not sure where you are located but he could contact Cressy or Randy at the baseball ranch IN FL that all have success in evaluating pitchers issues. 

Not sure why his pitching coach isn't helping with this however if he really isn't playing there is only so much one can do to help the player. 

He needs an evaluation, if he is concerned with it, not you. If he can get hitters out, that is all that is important at this point and time.

JMO

Lots of variables with little info.  You said arm injury but no details.  You said PRP but no info about any follow up prognosis.  Is it possible the injury still exists to an extent?  Did he fully heal?  Did he follow PT faithfully?  Etc., etc.  

Some types of arm injuries can take a long time to recover from (1-2 yrs).  Some, a player may never fully recover.  Since you describe him as a hard worker who has been on a throwing program (I assume in college), my best guess would be that it depends largely on whether he is fully healed from the injury.  There is also the physical maturation... as a freshman in college, it isn't out of the question that he still has some growth and strength gain potential.  Is he young or old physically?  Is he matched up with a P coach that is maximizing his velo potential?  

My guess is that he's probably done with the increasing, but that's not a guarantee.  My son grew quite a bit between his sophomore year and senior years of HS.  Velo went from 84 to a pretty consistent 90.  He's now a junior in college....has gained  20+ pounds and quite a bit of muscle....and touched 93 last summer...90-91 this spring.   Most of the kids my son knows that are pitchers have stayed pretty consistent from HS thru college.....and a couple of them are at a school well known for producing pitchers.  They have gained the same 1-2 mph that my son has....but nothing more significant than that.

Buckeye 2015 posted:

My guess is that he's probably done with the increasing, but that's not a guarantee.  My son grew quite a bit between his sophomore year and senior years of HS.  Velo went from 84 to a pretty consistent 90.  He's now a junior in college....has gained  20+ pounds and quite a bit of muscle....and touched 93 last summer...90-91 this spring.   Most of the kids my son knows that are pitchers have stayed pretty consistent from HS thru college.....and a couple of them are at a school well known for producing pitchers.  They have gained the same 1-2 mph that my son has....but nothing more significant than that.

This also touches on another factor:

There is a big difference between kids who go into their freshman year of college having been through a lot of good coaching and a strength and conditioning program - and a kid who is "raw". Throw in the "late bloomers" as well.

It's normal for guys who have never worked out before to put on a lot of muscle when they are put on a training regimen for the first time.  That doesn't always equate with a velocity increase obviously - but it certainly does in some cases.

Some guys walk into college as boys and walk out men. Some walk into college as men and never get any bigger. 

He hasn't had arm trouble so i'm asuming its healed(elbow). i think he's close or already maxed out phyiscally. Throwing program was berfore the injury and he's on a progam at his college. Think he should see doctot again?

CAF posted:

He hasn't had arm trouble so i'm asuming its healed(elbow). i think he's close or already maxed out phyiscally. Throwing program was berfore the injury and he's on a progam at his college. Think he should see doctot again?

Probably only if he is feeling symptoms related to the injury.  Of course, he should take advantage of the trainers at the college, assuming reasonable competency.

Thanks  First post long time reader. Love this site

Rob T posted:

Buckeye 2015 posted:

My guess is that he's probably done with the increasing, but that's not a guarantee.  My son grew quite a bit between his sophomore year and senior years of HS.  Velo went from 84 to a pretty consistent 90.  He's now a junior in college....has gained  20+ pounds and quite a bit of muscle....and touched 93 last summer...90-91 this spring.   Most of the kids my son knows that are pitchers have stayed pretty consistent from HS thru college.....and a couple of them are at a school well known for producing pitchers.  They have gained the same 1-2 mph that my son has....but nothing more significant than that.

This also touches on another factor:

There is a big difference between kids who go into their freshman year of college having been through a lot of good coaching and a strength and conditioning program - and a kid who is "raw". Throw in the "late bloomers" as well.

It's normal for guys who have never worked out before to put on a lot of muscle when they are put on a training regimen for the first time.  That doesn't always equate with a velocity increase obviously - but it certainly does in some cases.

Some guys walk into college as boys and walk out men. Some walk into college as men and never get any bigger. 

My son's HS had no pitching coach....or throwing program of any kind.  He was essentially on his own.  The last time he had a pitching coach before college was when he was 13....then a little early the summer after his junior year (right before he committed).  He was just a big fan of long toss....and he threw as often as he could find someone to throw with.  Also pitched whenever he could find a catcher.  He was the starting SS in HS also, so he was essentially throwing some every day.  He threw 90 in the 7th inning of his last time on the mound his senior year.  Even after 3 years of workouts at college, I'll guarantee he wouldn't be doing that (he's a reliever so 45-50 pitches is normal now).  He went 91-91 his last two pitches last weekend in a 30 pitch outing.   I think having so much time off between serious throwing is holding him back...compared to when he played SS every day and also was a pitcher, but that's just my opinion I guess.  His form is also really out of whack right now, and unfortunately his school doesn't do much in the way of trying to fix things...so he's working thru it on his own. 

If understand you .. he agrees with you. Throwing more will help

Do some research. Driveline has a great article entitled, Why have I lost fastball velocity?".