Who was the best pitcher you ever witnessed pitch at the HS level?

Rich Troedsen, Camden HS(freshman) 1967 left handed pitcher throwing 90 plus(with freshman lefty control or not so much). Pitched in MLB for the Padres.

Erik Davis, Mountain View HS.

Freddy Avis, Menlo HS;

Chuck Lofgren following his freshman year at Serra HS in 2000. (Amazing!)

Best HS game: Los Gators vs Soquel, 2007 CCS championship game(watched with justbaseball) Kyle Blair vs Kevin Eichorn who both went into the 8th and left with the score tied 0-0.

Jake Odorizzi. Believe he is battling for a spot on the Rays starting rotation. He was year younger than me. Led his team to state championship his senior year. Kid could have easily gone to big time college in football or baseball. Threw consistently in 90s as a junior.

 

I got to see how he threw.... From the batter's box! 

Rick Porcello

Jessie Biddle (Friends/Philadelphia).He'll be in AAA (Phillies) as a 22yo this year. He's a 2014 Top 100 MLB prospect. The best I ever faced in Legion was Bert Roberge (Edward Little/Auburn Me) He was an even better hitter. He pitched six years for the Astros and Expos.

 

I had two Legion teammates I thought had a shot to make it. Both injured their arms in college and it was over. Both threw hard and had nasty temperaments. One was 6'7" and threw 90 in high school. I had to face him in college summer ball when he was throwing 94. At that size and velocity it felt like he was shoving the ball down your throat. After getting two hits off him he decided to drill me in the ribs. The other guy was one of my best friends growing up. And he had no problem drilling me in college summer ball after I nearly undressed him with a shot up the middle.

Ditto.

Best I ever faced was Mike Mussina - tough tough tough

Mark Fidrych, Justin Verlander, Sean Marshall come to mind.   All were dominant.  Fidrych was older than me so my perspective was different as a young boy.   The guy threw gas.

My son, of course.......................

 

 

 

 

Seriously though, I dont have the long history some of you guys have so I would have to go with a guy named Devin Williams, who was drafted in the second round by the Brewers last year.

 

The only major leaguer I saw pitch in high school was Steve Colyer back in the 90's.  Played a bit for the Dodgers

Pete Schourek, Marshall HS (Northern VA) in 1987

 

...of course went on to have very nice MLB career (2nd in Cy Young voting one year)...but in 1987 this is a 6'3" lefty throwing 92+ with filthy slider

Though he is not a pitcher in MLB, Buster Posey.  He sat 90-93 in high school but the kid could pitch.  Not just a flame thrower.  He had at least 3 quality pitches that he could throw at any point.  I have NO doubt that if Buster wasn't such a great hitter he could very easily pitch in MLB.

I too saw Buster pitch while in HS.  He and our older son were on USA 18U team together and Buster (then an INF/RHP) was used much more as a pitcher than a hitter/INF.  And you are right - he was good.  Really good on the bump.

Saw John Hope pitch when I was in HS.  He was somewhere in the mid-90's at the time and would add in this curve that was so slow it looked like an ephus pitch. You almost had time to swing at it twice.

 

He went to Pittsburgh in the 2nd round, blew up his arm in the minors and never really was the same.  He had a couple of unsuccessful seasons in the majors and then hung it up.

 

My son ended up going to him for a while for pitching lessons a couple of years ago.  

David Price: Went to a friends sons game. Didn't know who Price was before the game. Will never forget him after it. Looked like a coach pitching 10U batting practice and the kids get cocky so coach blows a few past them. Price was just playing with them.

Sony Gray: Had a friend keep bugging me to go see him. Glad I did he was completley dominate. Also saw him play football in state championship game. He was pretty dang good at football too.

Son batted against Tajuan Walker and a Perfect Game event, had no idea who he was except that there 50 radar guns behind home plate. :0

 

Lucas Giolito (who's dad is a member here)

 

Trevor Bauer. 

 

Saw Bryce Harper at the USA 16U Championships.

 

 

Midlo Son.

 

And no, I am not joking.

Son is young, so haven't seen too many high school games, but Dakota Mills in 2013. He went on to WVU.  My son is zoned to same high school.

Knowing a little bit about your son - I think that's very probably a fair assessment. 

 

infielddad said something nice about one of our sons up above - I'm not really sure I agree with him.  That son was a 'scary' HS pitcher in that he threw very hard and struck out a lot of kids, but I wouldn't put him in the category of 'best' HS pitcher I ever saw.  His younger brother was a better HS pitcher than him - lower ceiling (less size and velo), but more refined and better coached in HS and won an awful lot of games.

 

Anyways, I do agree with infielddad about that Kyle Blair/Kevin Eichorn game, both pro prospects, that went into extra innings tied at 0-0.  That game wasn't won until one of them was lifted after 7 (Blair) which was the right thing to do.  If I remember right, Eichorn won it himself at the plate with a walkoff double.

 

I'll give you one that I think you'll see in the big leagues late this year - September callup I believe - Robert Stephenson (Reds).  He played with our younger son in travel ball, was the Reds 1st round pick in 2011.  Big frame, loose, mid 90s with 3 pitches and that was in HS.  He's progressed well in the minor leagues and is in big league camp this year.  If he stays healthy, he's gonna be a special pitcher for a long time.  Also one of the nicest kids and family I've met along the way.  Very easy to root for this young man.

John Wetteland, Cardinal Newman HS, Santa Rosa, California. Played on our Legion team, traveled with our American team to Japan in the 1984 Goodwill Series, later played with the Dodgers and the NY Yankees.  MVP in the 1996 World Series.

 

Bob Williams

similar story to JBB's...

Two years ago, our league had a particularly strong crop of P's.  Ryan McNeil was the one that got most of the attention, sitting 92-93 with good movement, Aflac All-American, ended up drafted 3rd round out of HS, quite the scout/media circus for our neck of the woods.  He was 6'3" 210, MLB prototype pitchers body.  We prepared for him by throwing hard (for us old coaches) from about 45 ft for several nights and were able to pull off a W - VERY exciting for our boys.  He also had a teammate that sat 86-87.

 

But another team had a smooth throwing lefty named Lucas Martin who didn't get the scout love and looked so hittable but was effortless in the 84-85 range and could really pitch.  He went on to have a dominant frosh year at a JC but I think currently battling arm issues as is McNeil after a good start in the Cubs organization.

Son hit against a bunch of guys who could be listed but the two who stand out are #1-Matt Latos. Just dominant in HS. Son had to hit against him as a freshman. #2 would be Juan Carlos Sulbaren. Just nasty stuff in HS.

Son's teammate, Damion Carroll, was our ace pitcher.  Damion was drafted in the 6th round by the Rays in 2012.  The day he was drafted the HS team was en route to the state quarterfinals.

 

I'm adding Midlo son to my list.  I saw him pitch a few times.  If you wanted to see the ball, you couldn't blink.

 

 

Consultant, I have a very good friend who pitched with Wettleland at CSM and also pitched in Legion at that time.  He would support everything you said about Wettleland.  Also has talked about Legion games in the Bay Area when Randy Johnson and Wetteland were both on the mound.  Sounds like Johnson would have to be on this list, too, for sure.

Madison Bumgarner

Bill Gullickson, Joliet Chatholic. Graduated@1977.Played for Gordie Gillespie!!!!!!!!

John Danks and Kyle Drabeck.  Each during thier Texas State ChampionshIp run.  

Dylan Bundy and Archie Bradley.  Too bad they did not get to pitch against each other their senior year.

 

Joe Mauer. Senior year at the state tournament he topped out at 96. 

Lucas Sims, Now with the Braves. Son had to face Ty Buttrey at WWBA.

Robert Stock. I saw him as a 16 year old at a PG showcase. He was a catcher/pitcher at that point. The guns had him cruising at 95.

Could someone post another pitcher from the 1960's so I don't feel so alone...and old?

Ron Perranoski from Fair Lawn, New Jersey, later MSU teammate and LA Dodgers.

 

Infield Dad, you will enjoy this story. John Wetteland in his rookie year with the Dodgers, Ron is the Pitching Coach and it is the 9th inning at Dodger Stadium.

Ron is at the mound to remind John that the bases are loaded, no outs and 55,000 fans in the stands. John said "do you see the space ship in the sky".

 

He had "no worries"

Bob

 

Just remembered another one (two).  Around 2006 I believe, our high school played a team out of Seale,AL.  That team had the Rasmus brothers and a kid named Kile Kiker, and was coached by the Rasmus' father.  The previous year the team was the mythical national champs I believe and had something like a TEAM era of 0.7.  Those guys could flat pitch.  I think the Kiker kid is in the Rangers organization but I'm not sure what level.  Every pitcher that the team trotted out threw 90-95, righties and lefties.  Was a pretty spectacular display of pitching talent on one high school team.

edit to above post.  That was Kasey Kiker

Bob,

did you ever coach Legion with or against a pitcher from Serra named William "Butch" Seuberth?  He and Wettleland had to keep their great CSM coach on "edge!"

For fun, drafted in 1991. (I never saw him)

 

[Brien] Taylor attended East Carteret High School in Beaufort and played on the school baseball team. In high school, Taylor had a record of 29-6 and an earned run average of 1.25.^[2] He also struck out 213 hitters in 88 innings pitched while walking 28. His fastball often hit 98 and 99 mph. In 2006, Scott Boras claimed that Taylor was the best high school pitcher he had seen in his life.

How in the world did he lose 6 games is what I'm wondering?

Dwight Gooden !

Watched Aaron Laffey (sr) and Nick Adenhart (jr) pitch against each other in a playoff game. Laffey 7 IP 17 k's, 0 walks, 1 hit. Adenhart  6 IP 16 k's 0 walks 0 hits 1 hbp. Adenhart lost 1-0 as the visiting pitcher. Both in the 90's, Laffey is a lefty. But their secondary stuff was filthy. Both pitchers made it to the big leagues