Velocity By Age Group

      To follow up my last post, in which I explained why velocity is so important, I wanted to write about what velocity should mean to each age group.  I hear parents talking about what their kids or some other kid threw at this event or that event and I wanted to share what average speeds look like for each age group.  This is not to say that there aren't exceptions to this list.  Some kids will grow earlier than others and they will probably throw a little harder than most at younger ages.  On the other hand, some kids will grow later and won't throw as hard at younger ages.

     Before I get into the list, I also want to talk about the radar gun itself.  There are many different types and brands of radar guns out there.  Each will pick up the ball velocity at different spots throughout the throw.  Also, angles play a huge role.  In order to get the most accurate reading you should be standing directly in line with the pitcher and the ball.  When you get off from that angle the readings can be very skewed.  The gun I use and the only one that truly matters is a Stalker brand radar gun.  The reason I say it is the only one that truly matters is because that is the brand that is used by Major League Baseball.  The Jugs guns are very good guns too but they differ slightly than the Stalkers.  Sometimes, both guns are right on with each other and other times they can be way off.  Other than those two, I wouldn't trust anything else out there.  

     Without further ado, here is the average velocities by age group:
Age          Average Velocity                             Max Goal Speed
8                      38-41                                               45
9                      43-46                                               50
10                    46-49                                               55
11                    52-55                                               60
12                    55-58                                               65
13                    61-64                                               70
14                    66-69                                               75
15                    69-72                                               80
16                    74-77                                               85
17                    79-82                                               88
18+                  82-85                                               90

     As I stated earlier, there are exceptions to this list.  Most deviations will occur in the 11-13 age groups due to kids growing at different rates.  It is not uncommon to see a 12 year old in the low 70's.  It just doesn't happen all that often.  These are usually the type of kids you see leading there teams to Williamsport because no one can catch up to their fastballs.  Please keep in mind that how hard you throw when you are 12 doesn't determine how hard you will throw at 18.  The focus should be on progressing towards high end speeds when you become a junior and senior in high school.  In the Velocity Program we talk about what it takes to be great.  One of which is throwing 3-5 miles per hour harder than your peer group.  This list is meant to give them a basis as to what their peer group averages are and to give them a velocity goal to shoot for.

   


     

Velocity or Control?

     Is velocity or control more important to a pitcher?  This is a question that is hotly debated in the baseball world.  I want to take a minute to share my thoughts on this issue.  I was told numerous times in my life that pitching was like real estate: It's all about location, location, location. I grew up watching the Atlanta Braves on TBS every night with 2 of the greatest "soft throwers" around in Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine.  At that time, they were 2 of the best pitchers in the game and a lot of people thought those were the guys to look up to if you wanted to learn how to pitch.  I know that most coaches would also completely agree that it doesn't really matter how hard you throw if you can't throw strikes.  This is especially true nowadays with all the pitching rules set in place.

     Luckily for me, I never bought in to that mentality.  While I did enjoy watching Glavine and Maddux pitch, they were not the pitchers I ever wanted to emulate.  I liked the guys like Nolan Ryan, Pedro Martinez and Roger Clemens.  I liked the guys that threw hard.  Those were the guys I wanted to be like.  I remember how fast Pedro's movements were and the big leg kick of Nolan Ryan and the competitive nature that Clemens always seemed to have.  I wanted to have a big leg kick, move fast, and attack each hitter with my best fastball.  I tried to throw every pitch as hard as I could.  I wanted the big strikeout numbers.  You see, it is true that if you can't throw strikes, you won't pitch much on any team.  However, if you don't throw hard, you have no chance to play high levels of baseball (unless of course you are throwing a nasty knuckleball or throw from an unorthodox slot).

     The guys like Maddux, Glavine, Jamie Moyer, didn't get to those levels by throwing the speeds they ended up at.  I remember very well seeing Maddux pitch for the Cubs when he first got to the big leagues with a 90-93 MPH fastball.  Not the 85-86 he was throwing in Atlanta.  Once you are there and have established yourself, it is easy to back off the fastball and focus more on command.  In many cases, guys back off of their fastballs to "pitch" a little more.  If Maddux was only throwing 85-86 prior to playing in the big leagues, chances are he would have never received the opportunity to pitch in the MLB.  

     The reason I put the term "soft thrower" in parentheses is because many people believe that throwing a baseball in the 85 MPH range is somewhat slow.  Very few people will ever reach 85 MPH in their lifetime.  Throwing a baseball at 85 MPH is an extremely difficult feat.  Relief pitchers at the Division 1 College level is where you will routinely see guys around the 85-86 MPH range consistently.  Starters will be closer to 90.  Keep in mind that the average fastball at the Major League Level is 91.

      In order to play at high levels, you must throw a baseball at a pretty high velocity.  The only way to do so is to train your body to throw harder and harder.  If you are purposefully trying to not throw hard to work on control, that may help your local team win, but you are not doing yourself any favors if your dream is to play college baseball or beyond.  You have to have an intent on throwing harder and harder.  I've never heard of anyone becoming an Olympic Sprinter by running long distance events.  You have to train your body to be explosive.

        I will always stress the importance of the intent to throw hard.  Usually it is a simple adjustment to throw pitches in the strike zone but it is all to common to hear coaches tell pitchers to slow down or take something off of the ball.  Again, fine for trying to win today but what about the players future?  I don't know of any high level college team or professional team that's looking for a guy that can throw 7 pitches for strikes but only throws 72 MPH. That's a big part of the problem, too.  Everyone wants to throw 7 different pitches.  Develop your fastball and never be afraid to throw it.  Challenge every hitter until someone can prove they can hit it, and then keep throwing it until you find a way to make it faster than the hitter can catch up to.  Quit trying to trick people.  If your fastball isn't good enough today, make it good enough for tomorrow.  I definitely want kids throwing strikes but I don't want them to be so focused on strikes that they lose sight of being explosive and going after the hitter with their best fastballs.

      As a freshman at VCU,  I was told that we were going to throw my fastball until someone proved they could hit it.  I was definitely not expecting to hear that.  I threw almost all fastballs in high school but was definitely expecting to have to use my secondary pitches a little more at this level.   I got to pitch out of the bullpen early in the year and just as planned I threw almost all fastballs.  About a month into the season, I was fortunate enough to become a weekend starter.  My first start was against cross town rival Richmond.  Richmond had a really good program at the time.  They had been to the CWS Regionals 5 out of the last seven years.  Since I was now a starter, I knew for sure it was time to throw more than just my fastball.  But once again, prior to the game, Coach Keyes told me that the game plan had not changed.  Until someone proved they could hit my fastball, that's what we were going to throw.  I pitched 7 innings that day, gave up 4 earned runs and struck out 10.  I threw 136 pitches and i'm pretty certain 130 were fastballs. This trend continued all year.  I continued to win and would go on to win the conference Rookie of the Year Award as well as being named a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American throwing primarily just a fastball that year.

    So stop wasting your time trying to throw a million different pitches for strikes and learn how to throw the fastball at your maximum speed.  Be aggressive with it.  Don't be afraid to challenge anyone.  Believe with everything that you have that you are better than the guy standing in the box.  Don't be too concerned with trying to hit corners or trying to keep the ball down.  The middle works just fine if you throw it hard enough and most balls up in the zone end up as pop outs anyways when you throw hard.  The balls up in the zone look good to the hitter but they can't get enough on them usually to actually drive the ball.  When you get the opportunity to get a strikeout, take it.  No matter what anyone tells you, strikeouts are important.

Here are a few links to an article written by the Free Lance Star during my freshman year of college about the fastball
 Free Lance Star Newspaper
Free Lance Star Text
 

 

1 Hand or 2 Hand Finish When Hitting?

 I know most of us hear very similar things at young ages.  We hear: eyes on the ball, don't dip your back shoulder, swing level, swing with 2 hands.  I know most youth coaches mean well when they say these things and they should be applauded for trying to help as they can only teach what they know.  While keeping your eye on the ball is great advice, the other 3 can be extremely harmful for the development of young baseball players.


Miguel Cabrera will a 1 hand finish


 Today, I want to talk about finishing with 2 hands in particular.  There has been some question as to why I "teach" a 1 handed swing.  I do not teach a 1 handed swing.  I simply tell everyone that comes in that it does not matter if you finish your swing with 1 hand or 2 hands. You see, once contact is made all the damage is done.  The finish is just a comfort thing.  As you see in the above pictures, Miguel Cabrera finishes his swing with only 1 hand on the bat and he's the best hitter in baseball.  He did have to alter this in the playoffs this year and go with a 2 hand finish due to his injuries You see, if you were to actually break down the swings of Major Leaguer players, you will find that some finish with 1 hand and others finish with 2 hands.  Thus, the argument of whether or not to watch what big leaguers do.  I have heard coaches tell their players repeatedly not to watch what the big league guys do.  This is absurd.  They are hitting at that level because they have the best swings around.  There is one thing that almost every single high level of baseball or softball hitter has in common: WHERE THEY ARE AT THE POINT OF CONTACT!    We get so carried away trying to make kids stand the exact same way and hold the bat the same way and finish their swing the same way and we fail to understand that most of it is irrelevant other than from a comfort stand point.  So 1 hand swing or 2 hand swing is up to you.  Whichever is more comfortable is the one you should use.



As you can see, they are all pretty much in the same spot at the point of contact.  Take a look at their angles.  Any kid that comes to me knows exactly what I'm talking about as this is what we focus on more than anything.  The upper body is leaning forward, hips are rotated and the bat is matching the plane of the pitch.  The pitch comes in downwards, so we must match it by swinging upwards at the same angle.     You have to get to this spot to hit at a high level.  How about their back shoulders?  They are surely below their front shoulders, yet I constantly hear kids being told to quit dipping their back shoulders.  I hope this has been a very informative post on what actually occurs during a high level baseball swing.

Get up and get out!

Trevor Rosenthal, the closer for the St. Louis Cardinals has made a big name for himself in the playoffs this year.  When we talk about getting up and getting out, this is a perfect example!!! Pick your leg up and go after the hitter.  It doesn't get any better than this!! This is how you attack the hitter - Here it is..... Hit it!!

Pre-Game and Post Game Routines

PRE-GAME ROUTINE

Eat	- Breakfast - Lunch - Pre-Game Snack/Meal
Arrival at Park	- Make sure you arrive early enough to be fully prepared for today's game
Mental & Physically Check In	- Put the rest of the day behind you - It's time to prepare yourself to pitch today
Visualization	-Pitching Dress Rehearsal -Take some time off by yourself to envision yourself pitching well -Take notice of how the ball feels coming off of your fingers and exactly how your delivery feels
Pre-Game Warmup	1. Blood Flow Series (Jog/Backpedal/Shuffles/Carioca/High Knees) 2. Dynamic Warmup 3. Weighted ball series, bands, and/or football toss 4. Throw to loosen the arm 5. Flat ground throws 6. Pre-Game Bullpen Work 7. Visualization & Pre-Game Focus 8. Game Mound Warmup Pitches 9. 1st pitch of game/inning

POST-GAME ROUTINE

Recovery	-Training/Workout/Arm Care/Post-Game Meal
Post Game Evaluation	- Play back the game in your head - Never be too up or down on yourself - If you had a bad game, evaluate why it was bad but find something you did well in the game - If you had a good game, evaluate why it was good but find something you didn't do so well to work on
Team Responsibilities	- Be a good teammate - You pitched on the mound, make sure you take care of it - Pick up trash in dugouts
Mentally & Physically Check Out	- Leave the game at the field

Great Pitchers develop great routines and habits

A solid Pre-Game Routine will help prepare you both physically and mentally for today's game

A solid Post-Game Routine will help with the recovery your body needs from the damage caused by the stresses of competitive pitching both mentally and physically

Weighted Baseball Training

There is a lot of information out there regarding the use of weighted baseballs on a players arm.  I encourage everyone to read up on both sides of the argument and decide for yourself if this is something that you wish to incorporate into your training or not.  I will simply give you my take on throwing weighted baseballs and why I incorporate them in to the training my pitchers do.

Reason #1.  The use of weighted balls is a great way to get young athletes away from "pushing" the baseball.  Many young baseball players that come to me have been taught there whole lives to just throw strikes and not worry about velocity.  This causes a lot of kids to "push" the ball to the plate to just throw strikes, which in turn will severely damage their arm action and upper torso rotation.  Many believe velocity will come after you learn to throw strikes.  Velocity is going to increase but only because the kid will get older and stronger as he ages.  He will still be behind when it comes to velocity if he is "pushing" the ball.  He very well may be one of the best around at a young age because he throws so many strikes. However, if the end goal is to get noticed by college recruiters or pro scouts, this is not the way to go.  They are not interested in how many strikes you throw if you do not have something on the ball.  To me, parents are wasting a valuable opportunity by following this logic.  Research has shown that focusing on maximum velocity,speed, and/or power is a superior way to teach young athletes how to build efficient rotational force transfer mechanics. Throwing a heavy ball will help pitchers learn what it feels like to "push" the baseball and hopefully either create or restore explosive upper torso rotation.

Reason #2.  The use of weighted baseball increases the amount of external rotation in the throwing arm. I will be the first one to tell you that there is some danger to this.  When we increase the load on external rotation we are putting the pitching elbow at an increased risk.  However, external rotation is one of the main factors in how fast you can throw a baseball.  The more your arm "lays back" the more capability you have to throw the ball at a higher velocity.   Most young athletes lack the necessary external rotation to throw at a high velocity.  When it comes to arm safety, I am one of the most precautionary pitching coaches around.  I do not wish to put anyone in any additional risk on injury.  Studies have shown over and over again that experts have no earthly idea what leads to pitching injuries.  A couple things are very clear:  Pitching is a very unnatural movement and just by throwing a baseball overhead you elevate your risk for injury. When you throw at a high velocity, your risk of injury is elevated even more.  Sometimes, I feel we should just leave it at that.   If you were to take a MRI of a shoulder or elbow of any professional pitcher, most are going to have tears in a ligament either in the shoulder or elbow or oftentimes both.  Its just the nature of the beast.  It just becomes a matter of how severe the tear is on whether or not you have surgery.

I don't wish to scare anyone with Reason #2 especially.  Pitching is an extremely dangerous thing to do and in order to do it at a high level your risk of injury becomes elevated.  There are many ways we go about trying to eliminate as much risk as possible by making sure that we are at a high level of fitness and making sure we are as strong as can be, especially around the shoulders.  In order to play at a high level, you need to be able to throw at a high velocity, and I believe that the use of weighted baseballs is a valuable tool you can use to enhance your training regimen.

Group Training Off-Days

  On your days off from training at the facility, the daily throwing program consisting of long toss and a light pull-down is acceptable and encouraged.  Just remember to listen to your arm.  If your arm does not feel up to throwing, don't.  If it does not feel up to any pull-down that is perfectly fine.  Just stretch your arm out as much as it wants on that given day.  There is no reason to overdue it on these days as you are getting plenty of throwing in on the 3 days of training.  ALWAYS DO A PROPER DYNAMIC WARM-UP BEFORE YOU START ANY KIND OF BASEBALL ACTIVITY.  We are getting in plenty of shoulder care so it is not necessary to do so on the off days.  Depending on how your body feels it would be beneficial for you to get some conditioning in after you throw.  I will include examples of conditioning drills and intervals to use while doing so at the end.  Just remember to listen to your body.  Those of you who are playing this fall: After you are done pitching, it would be ideal to have bands on hand to get some shoulder work in after you are done for the day to make sure you are maintaining mobility in the pitching shoulder.  It would also be beneficial to get some conditioning in.

Conditioning Choices:

30-60 yards Sprints. 450-500 yards total.  That would be 8- 60 yard sprints (480 yards), 10- 50 yard sprints (500 yards), 12- 40 yard sprints (480 yards), 16- 30 yard sprints (480 yards). Walk back slowly to the start line after each sprint. That is your rest time.

120 yard Shuttles.  4-6 Shuttles.  Set up cones (can use anything for cones: hats, baseball, shoes, etc.) 30 yards apart. Sprint back and forth from cone to cone for a total of 4 touches (2 sprints to each cone).  These should be done in 25 seconds or less. Keep a running clock and start each new shuttle on the minute.  

Jump Rope or Jumping Jacks (fast). 10 sets of 100 jumps or 12 rounds of 30 seconds of jump rope and 30 seconds of rest

Burpees. Tabata style - 2 rounds of 2 minutes each (4 rounds).  20 seconds of burpees followed by 10 seconds of rest.  After your 2 minutes is up, rest for 2 minutes and go again.  Another option for burpees is 8 rounds of 12.  Start every round on the minute and do 12 burpees.  Rest until the next minute starts.