Interesting day with pocket radar at college tourney

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Jun 13, 2012
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Yesterday I went to a college tournament and used my pocket radar to see what kind of speeds these ladies were actually throwing. Now this was an NAIA tourney but I was really surprised at the lack of speed and movement of pitches from numerous girls. Most all the ladies threw in the mid-high 50's with two actually attaining 62 mph and the slowest pitcher was consistently 49-51. I was very surprised, also I stood behind home plate and most of the girls only had one or two pitches and the movement was minimal at best. The pitchers who were effective also had very good change ups and used them on most every batter. I was shocked at the low speeds these girls pitching in college with. These are grown women who have been pitching for 10+ years. Maybe these schools need to start recruiting on this site since we seem to have a lot of 10yr old girls throwing 50+.... Lol
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,133
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Dallas, Texas
There is a huge difference between NAIA and D1 (except Oklahoma City, which is more like a pro-am team).
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Nov 29, 2009
2,975
83
Was talking to a guy who had two DD's who played in college. One of them played at Northwestern and the other at a small NAIA school. We were in Florida during March watching our daughters play. He told me the biggest difference he saw between the two divisions was the size and athleticism of the athletes. The D1 girls were just bigger, faster and stronger. The game was much faster at the top tier D1 level.

There are the D1 capable players at the NAIA level who are there for their own reasons. Usually for the academics. But, they are the exception rather than the rule.
 
Dec 7, 2011
2,368
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More data points:

We've been to a few mid-major exposures and multi-camps.

Not even mentioning speeds right away there we loads of pitchers at these events. At the TN-tech event it appeared to be over 100 HS pitchers there. Seemed 75% of these girls threw at least upper 50's. it seemed like there were maybe ten that were noticeably faster with two that were noticeably faster within this top group. (But i would bet ya the top speed pitcher was still less than 65.)

Point i am trying to make is that there are loads of 2014/2015 pitchers throwing upper 50's.

It boils down to movement that is gonna seperate.
 

rdbass

It wasn't me.
Jun 5, 2010
9,131
83
Not here.
The only true measure of how fast the pitchers throw is to ask there dads. ''We don't need no stinken radars''.
 
Last edited:
Jan 20, 2011
92
8
More data points:

We've been to a few mid-major exposures and multi-camps.

Not even mentioning speeds right away there we loads of pitchers at these events. At the TN-tech event it appeared to be over 100 HS pitchers there. Seemed 75% of these girls threw at least upper 50's. it seemed like there were maybe ten that were noticeably faster with two that were noticeably faster within this top group. (But i would bet ya the top speed pitcher was still less than 65.)

Point i am trying to make is that there are loads of 2014/2015 pitchers throwing upper 50's.

It boils down to movement that is gonna seperate.


We've been to a lot of similar camps. 61 is probably the high average from the top 10% of throwers. From that speed and up, Say to 64,there are always a group that achieve velocity w/o much movement. It is very hit and miss as to real movement on the ball but 16-ish throwing, in the 63 range with movement on her pitches does exist...... it's just not common and many are "off the market" by then.
 

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