I'm Calling BS

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Jun 26, 2018
9
3
As you know there are several softball specific social media sites that rank players and teams, i.e. FloSoftball, Extra Innings, etc. In reading some of these write-ups regarding the individual players and teams, there are some extremely high pitching speeds - like Power 5 college player - for kids that haven't even started high school yet. I had the opportunity to observe one such team at a well attended tournament in November in the Southeast. The FloSoftball ranking article indicated that they had multiple pitchers throwing in the mid-60's so I was really intrigued. The team was very impressive overall and no doubt was very deserving of their high national ranking. But, there was absolutely no way any of the pitchers was hitting mid 60's on a radar. If they were throwing 60 I would be surprised. Turns out my suspicion was validated when this past weekend at a winter camp one of the pitchers was clocked below 60 for all of her pitches.

I just think that a lot of these team and player write-ups are just smoke and mirrors.
 
Aug 21, 2008
2,359
113
And ESPN juices their radar gun too. It's nothing new, so don't feel you're in the minority thinking this way. It can be easy to embellish a bit on things. A pitcher who may throw 60's consistently could've had an extremely good day, felt great, used a liberal radar gun, and had the wind at her back and hit 65 on ONE pitch. As a result, she can say she throws 65.

Bill
 
Feb 21, 2017
198
28
I agree. We went to a D1 Showcase camp. Two of the recruiting assistant coaches were fantastic in telling it like it is. Much of it I knew but the emphasis they put on a couple things was interesting.

One point they made a few times was to watch the level you think you want or think you can play. They said ignore the fancy College WS games on TV and pay no attention to the ESPN radar readings in those games. Go watch mid-season games and/or stream them. She said it will be eye opening the difference in radar gun numbers.

Coincidentally, we had done this for DD1 last spring and I was surprised how few pitches were constantly 60+. I expected all D1 to be 62-65 across the board, it isn’t. It was pretty common to see high 50s. Just my observation on overall numbers although we were not watching the top 20 teams.

CoC



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Apr 28, 2014
2,316
113
Was at a Liberty camp last year PC told us that ESPN gun is 3-4MPH juiced. She also said Garcia was the fastest that they faced and was legit 70.
 
Apr 23, 2014
389
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East Jabib
Yeah you would think that 14 year olds throwing 65 mph are a dime a dozen the way some of these rankings are written.


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sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,132
113
Dallas, Texas
The Lake Wobegone Keillors Elite team...

Where all the coaches weight less than 180, all the batters hit .400, and all the pitchers throw 65MPH.

They went 2-2 in pool play, but finished 33rd out of a 32 team field at the ASA National Regionals (or was it the Regional Nationals? Oh well, no matter.) in Mist County, Minnesota.
 
Last edited:
Feb 21, 2017
198
28
The Lake Wobegone Keillors Elite team...

Where all the coaches weight less than 180, all the batters hit .400, and all the pitchers throw 65MPH.

They went 2-2 in pool play, but finished 33rd out of a 32 team field at the ASA National Regionals (or was it the Regional Nationals? Oh well, no matter.) in Mist County, Minnesota.

I would love to get back under 180. Can I join the coaching staff? The true testament of a good travel staff is having at least 6-10 coaches.

Edit: typo

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Dec 5, 2012
4,143
63
Mid West
Its a fair guess that approx 90% of girls whos bucket dad says his dd is a 60 mph pitcher, actually throw 53/54 mph.... and 65% of them have no clue about spin axis. My percentages are purely a guess. However its a fact that 3 out of 4 people make up 75% of the population. (had to get at least 1 number correct!!) lol
 
Apr 23, 2014
389
43
East Jabib
Its a fair guess that approx 90% of girls whos bucket dad says his dd is a 60 mph pitcher, actually throw 53/54 mph.... and 65% of them have no clue about spin axis

Bucket dad is one thing but maybe FloSoftball and Extra Innings have some level of influence on coaches at least from a “let me take a look” perspective. I don’t believe there is any verification of these stats being reported by these outlets, so whatever the coach says in his nomination has to be true, right?

As far as bucket parents go, you can hit a ball off a tee, get a Ball Coach exit speed reading of 65 and have their daughter hold it up for a photo and say “I hit 65 mph tonight with my fastball”. And I think people are crazy enough to do that.


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May 24, 2013
12,461
113
So Cal
As far as bucket parents go, you can hit a ball off a tee, get a Ball Coach exit speed reading of 65 and have their daughter hold it up for a photo and say “I hit 65 mph tonight with my fastball”. And I think people are crazy enough to do that.

In related news...My personal favorite was the dad who borrowed my Pocket Radar to measure his 12yo princess during a game. At the end of the inning, he was very excited to tell me that his DD threw one at 64. She was a decent 12U P, with a legit 55-57 in games. 64 was an exit speed.
 

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