Cruising speed

[LEsoftballdad]

What would you say is the average cruising speed of a Power 5 pitcher? I'm not talking top speed that they can dial it up to once in a while. I'm talking average speed they hit every inning.

Other than Fouts and Ferraimo, I can't think of anyone else cruising at 70+. College baseball has a weekly recap of speed on a website I found, but I can't find one for college softball.

I say cruising at 67+ is rare, even for D1 pitchers. I know it's hard to judge without a quality, accurate radar, I'm looking at you, ESPN radar guns, but we at DFP can figure something out.

What say you?

 

[erniekru]

Power 5 covers a lot of ground, but from friends that have DD's pitching and going to P5 camps and getting feedback, consistent 63/64mph seems to be the minimum standard they need to see as a HS Jr. This is from more than a couple of coaches

Should have clarified.. I don't think that the speed increases as they go thru college. My guess would be the above 63/64 for actual pitches in games

 

[benjey]

As you mentioned the numbers we see on TV are too inaccurate to be of value. What I can tell you having personally gunned most every pitcher DD's team faced at the 18u level over the past year; as Erniekru mentioned, there is a further breakdown necessary between P5 committed pitchers and top 25 team committed pitchers. I can't recall a pitcher we faced who was committed to a top 25 team that threw under 64 and most were 66-68. The kid throwing 64 is committed to Alabama and had great movement. Kids committed to P5 schools outside of the top 25 were much more varied. Some were in the 65+ range but a few others were 61-63.

 

[LEsoftballdad]

As you mentioned the numbers we see on TV are too inaccurate to be of value. What I can tell you having personally gunned most every pitcher DD's team faced at the 18u level over the past year; as Erniekru mentioned, there is a further breakdown necessary between P5 committed pitchers and top 25 team committed pitchers. I can't recall a pitcher we faced who was committed to a top 25 team that threw under 64 and most were 66-68. The kid throwing 64 is committed to Alabama and had great movement. Kids committed to P5 schools outside of the top 25 were much more varied. Some were in the 65+ range but a few others were 61-63.

What tournaments were these? I assume PGF, IDT, and Legacy events?

I think ESPN adjusted their radar readings this past season because the speeds were down a lot across the board. I only saw two girls break 70 with any regularity, Fouts, and Ferraimo. G Juarez said the numbers were way off in 2021.

 

[benjey]

What tournaments were these

PGF, Sparkler, Legacy etc..

 

[jsoftballcoach]

My DD is a P5 pitcher outside of the top 25. My guess is that she cruises at 61. She has a fantastic rise and a pretty good curve. Of course she hasn’t pitched in a game yet, she just got there.

I would like to add that I always talk about how ESPN juices the gun, but my DD was on ESPN+ in the Colorado power pool game and the gun looked to be correct. Go figure.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[LEsoftballdad]

PGF, Sparkler, Legacy etc..

I was at the Sparkler and Legacy this season, but we were in the supplemental in Colorado. We didn't see anything that fast. I guess the Power Pool was higher. Legacy was too tough to gauge because more than half our games were rained out.

 

[LEsoftballdad]

My DD is a P5 pitcher outside of the top 25. My guess is that she cruises at 61. She has a fantastic rise and a pretty good curve. Of course she hasn’t pitched in a game yet, she just got there.

I would like to add that I always talk about how ESPN juices the gun, but my DD was on ESPN+ in the Colorado power pool game and the gun looked to be correct. Go figure.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think the 2021 guns were way too high. They seem to have dialed them down in 2022.

 

[radness]

College baseball has a weekly recap of speed on a website I found, but I can't find one for college softball.

Weekly recap of pitchers ability & speed for college softball would be awesome!

Hmmm how to get that started...

 

[LEsoftballdad]

Weekly recap of pitchers ability & speed for college softball would be awesome!

Hmmm how to get that started...

I'll add it to your jobs, Rad.