Danger zone speed

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May 27, 2013
2,353
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Thought this was interesting two 2024 pitchers. Neither are my daughter. College coach goes on a long spill about how he recruits pitchers that get outs and not speed. Told them about playing a D1 team and giving up 30 runs and the only kid that could get anyone out was a spinner that threw 52-55.

One kid throws 52-56 (normally 54) and shut the college team down for three innings (no runs). Her team made several errors and she got out of jams. Nothing hit hard. The college PC saw her throw at the camp and the first drop she threw she said that's the pitch we couldn't hit. Then threw her change and she just shook her head.

Other kid 63/64 and got hammered. Gave up 7 in the first inning.

They offered the kid that threw 63/64 and told the spinner that they will keep an eye on her.

Yep. Saw this all the time at camps. They will almost always take speed first. Again, I think coaches think they can take pitchers who throw hard but flat and teach them better spin and movement once they have them in their program. I don’t think they feel they will have as much impact on improving a pitcher’s velocity. Not sure if this has been actually proven or not in either situation.

Do I feel that there is a minimum cruising velocity that most D1 programs will look for? Yes, absolutely. There obviously are rare outliers, though.
 
Jan 28, 2017
1,662
83
Yep. Saw this all the time at camps. They will almost always take speed first. Again, I think coaches think they can take pitchers who throw hard but flat and teach them better spin and movement once they have them in their program. I don’t think they feel they will have as much impact on improving a pitcher’s velocity. Not sure if this has been actually proven or not in either situation.

Do I feel that there is a minimum cruising velocity that most D1 programs will look for? Yes, absolutely. There obviously are rare outliers, though.
JUCO
 
May 13, 2021
643
93
Thought this was interesting two 2024 pitchers. Neither are my daughter. College coach goes on a long spill about how he recruits pitchers that get outs and not speed. Told them about playing a D1 team and giving up 30 runs and the only kid that could get anyone out was a spinner that threw 52-55.

One kid throws 52-56 (normally 54) and shut the college team down for three innings (no runs). Her team made several errors and she got out of jams. Nothing hit hard. The college PC saw her throw at the camp and the first drop she threw she said that's the pitch we couldn't hit. Then threw her change and she just shook her head.

Other kid 63/64 and got hammered. Gave up 7 in the first inning.

They offered the kid that threw 63/64 and told the spinner that they will keep an eye on her.
This is not surprising. Seems they always choose speed, and size when they have the option.
 

LEsoftballdad

DFP Vendor
Jun 29, 2021
2,838
113
NY
Yep. Saw this all the time at camps. They will almost always take speed first. Again, I think coaches think they can take pitchers who throw hard but flat and teach them better spin and movement once they have them in their program. I don’t think they feel they will have as much impact on improving a pitcher’s velocity. Not sure if this has been actually proven or not in either situation.

Do I feel that there is a minimum cruising velocity that most D1 programs will look for? Yes, absolutely. There obviously are rare outliers, though.
It happens in baseball all the time. Whenever you hear someone say "he has a live arm" that usually means they throw hard but can't throw strikes.
 

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