re: The Quality of Pitching in College Baseball Today

Investment in lil Johnny’s dad pitching his son every weekend. Travel ball is dumb

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How many pitchers did we have on our last natty team that could throw 95? One? Maybe?

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throwing fast and pitching aren’t necessarily the same thing.

I played D1 college baseball and then coached at the D1 level, granted that was about 30 years ago but I can count on two hands how many pitchers I faced in HS and college or that were on my teams either playing or coaching that threw in the 90s. I faced two guys in HS that were plus 90 guys, both were drafted and than a couple in college - McDonald, Springs and then Jay Powell at MS State threw absolute BBs. We had one guy where I coached that could occasionally hit 90 and we had a special sign from the guy working the radar gun to give us the number so that sign was rarely used.

Travel ball has definitely helped in the development of arms, which seems pretty obvious but I think also specialized exercises, specific strength training and more efficient pitching mechanics are a huge factor. Pitching has gotten much better over the years so I do not agree with the OP.

The hitting topic is really interesting because to me, that is the biggest change in baseball and it's ever evolving. Bunting is pretty much gone, the hit and run play is rarely used (thank God on both of those) and it's now about lower body efficiency, using the ground as leverage, upward bat path and balls in the air.

Pitchers throw too hard in today's game to piece together singles with the hopes of getting 10-15 hits a game to score 4 or 5 runs. And, that's the difference between Paul M's approach and Jay Johnson's.

Ever notice back before pitch counts kids didn’t have as many injuries? I haven’t studied the correlation but kids 25 years ago threw a lot more and were injured a lot less. When I was in college you rarely heard of season ending injuries to pitchers. Now it’s commonplace. Why?

Velocity has never been better and pitchability has never been worse

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arm problems are partly because of how many games they played and training sessions they participated in as kids because of travel ball. Travel ball is great for position players but terrible for the future of pitchers.

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yall are so stupid. pitching in the SEC and in the mlb are better than they have ever been.

so many of yall scream travel and have no fricking clue what you are talking about and are not involved in any way in travel

1) the "travel" season for HS athletes is the same as legion was back in the day and pitchers throw less in HS than ever before due to stricter pitch counts. travel goes from end of HS season to end of june, period.


2) teams are not playing year around. they play 2-3 tournaments in the fall, take a break and then go from around march 1 through june, not much different than a team that plays the LLWS that yall love so much. most really good programs are the ones that play every other weekend, and 2 fall tournies to keep total games reasonable and keep actual training time high

3) kids do practice prolly 8-9 months of the year but almost all play some other sport until HS if they want to.

4) 99.9% of you have no clue on why the arm injuries are happening. its not because of travel ball, its because people do not train. they go from one lesson to another and all these dumbass parents who only want their kid to do speed and agility and they "heard" lifting could stunt their growth despite all evidence showing the opposite.

these parents are scared for their kids to get strong to protect themselves but have no problem putting them in sports that allow them to see 5-8x BW in forces on the body.

kids have less muscle mass today, are weaker and we are much better at diagnosing injuries. of course injuries are up.




but pitching and pitchability is the best it has ever been. go watch film from the 90s of the best and see how many times they got the strike call when it was 3" off the plate.

like so many other subjects this board is full of dumbasses that think they know so much but really have no clue. they "know" because they heard this or that, idiots.

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Showcase events outside of the normal season that mess with a kids ramp up and ramp down and have kids throwing max intensity probably do more damage than the volume of throwing.

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that we can agree on. also so many kids goign to showcases that have nothing to showcase

hopefully the showcase culture where you go starting at 13 ends now with the new recruiting rules.

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lsu777

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I believe we have had this discusion before.

What happens in Lake Chares (I believe you are there) is NOT the same as what is happening in other parts of the country.

In SE LA, I know of several kids who play on travel teams that start practice mid Jan, play 12 touranments March - early June, then play in a WS. Take July off, then practice in Aug, play in 6-8 tournaments Sept - mid Nov, then shut it down mid-Nov to early Jan.

If a team is good, they might play 5x in 2 days, then at WS play 7-8 times in 5 days. I know of several kids who push 90 games a year.

And... that's just travel. That's not counting middle school ball.

Showcase ball isn't as long... yes... But many of these kids are in trouble before they get to HS.

And yes... higher velo / less control, and terrible stretching are all problems as well. Those problems become more pronounced with overuse.

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believe we have had this discusion before. What happens in Lake Chares (I believe you are there) is NOT the same as what is happening in other parts of the country. In SE LA, I know of several kids who play on travel teams that start practice mid Jan, play 12 touranments March - early June, then play in a WS. Take July off, then practice in Aug, play in 6-8 tournaments Sept - mid Nov, then shut it down mid-Nov to early Jan. If a team is good, they might play 5x in 2 days, then at WS play 7-8 times in 5 days. I know of several kids who push 90 games a year. And... that's just travel. That's not counting middle school ball. Showcase ball isn't as long... yes... But many of these kids are in trouble before they get to HS. And yes... higher velo / less control, and terrible stretching are all problems as well. Those problems become more pronounced with overuse.

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We play teams from sela every time we play pretty much. Name the orgs this is happening in.

Carrollton…nope
Pelicans…nope
Traction…nope
Rays…nope
Storm…nope
Nationals…nope
Astros…nope
Knights…not sure in ask the teams but most are no


Maybe some 1 of teams or teams that aren’t that good. I can name all the good orgs. Some play more than others and will play 3 maybe 4 fall tournies and push 60+ games but not many.

So that may be happening but not in the good orgs or kids that are in majors. And nothing wrong with practicing a lot especially if it’s more training focused. Also nothing wrong with throwing year around, just have to have proper on ramps and off ramps and proper arm care.