What percentage of pitching speeds that we see/hear do you think are wrong

[jmpauter]

What's the general consensus on how accurate Rapsodo is compared to Pocket Radar?

 

[jdint]

the speeds are in line with what i see at the fields

I agree. A couple weeks ago DD's team played a team that had a Bandits girl guest pitching. She was routinely hitting 61-62 at 14u on 2 different pocket radars. My DD was topping out at 58 and this girl was visibly faster. Oddly enough DD's team hit her fairly well (still lost). Came back the next week and got completely shut down by a girl topping out at 50 with not a lot of visible movement. I have no explanation for this.

 

[schwabach]

I watched the Tennessee-Texas A&M game on Monday. For each new pitcher, the announcers went through the pitcher's scouting report. Among other things, they said how fast the pitcher throws.

The score box on the T.V. screen was showing speeds 4-5 mph above the speed from the scouting report.

 

[DonnyS]

What's the general consensus on how accurate Rapsodo is compared to Pocket Radar?

Funny this was one of my questions before buying the Rapsodo. I know we compared the two but I honestly can't remember what the difference was in the few times we have run both at the same time. I want to say they were pretty close, that is within 1-2 MPH. Based upon my lack of recognition I would assume that would be true (i.e. a significant difference would likely stick out). I'll try to remember to break out both next time we use the Rapsado and update.

 

[AnotherSoftballDad]

I used to bring a radar gun to tournaments. Fun to stand behind to backstop and get actual readings.

I remember one 14U tournament where two girls were throwing 58-59, although neither could come close to the strike zone on most pitches. Most girls with control were 51-53.

I also bring the pocket radar to our 14U games and clock girls.

I see plenty of low 60s from girls.

Seems like most are high 50s. (56-59)

51-53 would be an off speed pitcher.

 

[daywalkerdad]

Had a parent of another pitcher talking about how his daughter threw pretty hard but he had seen another pitcher throwing much harder. He had stated his daughter was around 50 but this girl must be around high 50’s or even 60’s. Found out he was talking about my kid and she has never been above 51 in her life on a pocket radar.

Was watching a video online today of a coach claiming his new student was throwing over 50 after just two lessons and it didn’t even look close to 50 in the video.

Made me wonder how many inflated numbers we see? Our kids see these numbers also and I wonder if it is setting unrealistic expectations for many of them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I do not say my 12U DD speed she is throwing harder than most people who say they are in 50's. All the batters are late, so she is throwing harder than most, but I have not clocked her at 50. With that being said, I do not clock her a lot and if we do it is to measure the change up. From my catching perspective she tends to throw a little slower when she is trying to throw to the radar.

One more comment is where the gun is can make a big difference, new stat cast inflates MPH in mlb by 5-7 mph as it is now out of the release. A softball at 60 mph will lose 3-4 mph to the plate.

 

[BrianTx01]

One of the biggest issues about pocket Radar is you have to be directly in line with the pitcher. It also sends out bogus numbers from time to time. With all that said, used correctly, it is pretty accurate (+/- 1).

In general, my experience is that the younger the pitcher the more her parents/coaches exaggerate. A quick look down the 2027 vs 2026 Elite 100 rankings will show you this. There was significantly more 2027s that were claiming 60 MPH + then 2026s.

With all that said any pitcher than can through 60+ is rare. I realize every pitcher at the PGF 16U National Championship might do it but that is a small group. A 2027 pitcher than can pitch 60+ is exceedingly rare.

 

[RyLou]

Every month or so, my DD and I pocket radar 10-12 pitches, average them out, and that’s her speed. Also been putting the radar on live hitting at practice and she’s upped her speed with a batter in the box by a couple mph. She didn’t realize how much she let up when a batter was swinging away.

 

[AComet09]

My daughter is 12 and we clocked her in a game at 54 using a pocket radar. She was recently clocked at 55 (personal best) in pitching lessons also with a pocket radar. This year, our focus has been on spin. We played a couple of weeks ago in a 14U tournament and the fastest girl there was 60 (she was 14 years old).