How hard does he throw? No really?

i think you can take 3-5 mph off what the guns say. btw why does every scout have his own gun working at the games? maybe because he has set his own gun and knows what the true speed is own his own gun.i've seen too many guys who are suppossedly throwing 90+ giving up too much contact to mediocre hs hitters under the lights to believe they are really throwing that hard.

 

How do you set radar guns, and why would a scout want to do that?

 

The guns (stalkers) I've seen the Scouts use are usually right on together....maybe a 1 mph variance either way.

 

Funny thing about radar guns...

I was at a game a few years ago, standing with a local college coach who had been holding a radar gun on our starting pitcher the entire ballgame. Late in the game, I could tell he wasn't very interested or impressed with what he saw, so he was packing his things preparing to leave, when all of the sudden we changed pitchers. When our reliever began to warm up, the coach was about to walk off when he started hearing the catcher's mitt starting to pop ALL TO HELL. He looked up, looked at me, asked me "who is that"? and got his gun back out. That coach talked to our 2nd pitcher immediately after that game, right outside the dugout to gauge the kid's interest.

Moral of the story: Who needs a gun? Guns certainly don't tell you everything,,,, you can tell with your own eyes and hear with your own ears how good a pitcher is pitching. There are many throwers out there,,,,,,,, but good pitchers can be successful at any level, regardless of what number they show on a gun.

 

TJ....the only sound better than hearing that "mitt pop" is hearing the sound a "wood bat" makes when you catch it on the "sweet spot" and you don't even have to look up because you know you have just gone yard....

 

Case in point about how changing speeds and hitting your spots is more important than sheer speed:

Last year we had a kid who was one of the hardest workers I have ever seen. He couldn't throw hard at all, period. He topped out at maybe 7 (yes, 7, not 8). However, from the day he stepped foot into high school as a freshman, he started working on a changeup. He could hit his spots with his pitches before that, but not being able to throw hard would've hurt him at the varsity level. He kept working on his changeup, and was pitching varsity his sophomore year against non-conference teams and lower-level conference teams. He kept working on his changeup, so much that he could throw it with any count against any batter. After his junior year, he started working on a variation of the changeup that was even slower with more movement.

In our playoff game last year vs Cedar Ridge, Andy Partin was there with a gun. The kid topped out at maybe 74 (can't remember completely), his changeup was coming in at around 65, with the other pitch (we called it a double changeup) coming in at something like 59 (looked like a slow-pitch softball pitch, only threw it once or twice, completely fooled batters).

Why am I mentioning this?

The kid had offers from lower-level D1 schools (I mean very low level, like Radford). He's now at Mt. Olive College, the 15th ranked Division II team in the country. He's only made four appearances as a freshman but hasn't given up a run yet and only one hit, and even has a win to his credit.

Will he ever play pro ball? It's highly unlikely. However, he's getting his school paid for and is playing a sport that he loves while getting an education, all because he worked hard and learned how to pitch, not throw. Some schools (even DIIs like Catawba) said that he didn't throw hard enough for them.

He only lost one game his senior year (13-1 record, lost 4-2 in the playoffs in a game with 3 unearned runs). He had a 3-1 record in the playoffs in his high school career.

A kid who probably couldn't break a window with his fastball made it to college, and there are plenty of upper 80 mph throwers who are sitting at home, all because he worked hard, listened to his coaches, let them coach him, and learned how to pitch. That kid has gotten more out of his body than any other person I've ever seen in my life.

 

I agree - Last night at the ACHS vs AC Reynolds Game there was about 5 scouts there to watch Runion pitch, everytime he threw the ball there radar guns would raise, When the kid from ACHS who probably throws low 80's but had a great change-up and good curveball would go to the mound they didnt even pay him any attention, WHY-because he dont throw in the 90's. He lasted 7 innings and Runion left the game after the 5th. Game went into 8 innings and AC Reynolds won 6-5. These scouts pay no attention to any kids who has great control and dont throw in the high 80's.

 

Agreed!! Both the ACHS starter and the ACR reliever had very good performances last night with low-mid 80's stuff that was pretty unhittable. AC's James got 11 K's in 7 IP and 8 H, and ACR's Paeplow got 8 K's in 3 IP and 1 H. Good location and off-speed pitches, hitting spots, bringing it when they needed to - and that was with umpires who were calling a "shoebox" strikezone.

Maybe the "scouts" will hear about these kids later, when everyone else is talking about the game and what they missed when they left. - No disrespect to Runion intended either - its good that they come to see him, cuz they say that its beneficial for other players when the scouts come to see a particular player play. The AC pitcher shouldve been having notes taken about his performance and I've always thought that if scouts don't stay the whole game, how do they get a chance to see other players with potential - whether it be hitting or pitching? I don't know - maybe the rule of thumb is if youre not getting it done in the 1st 3-4 innings then they dont think you can get it done.....

Oh well, it was a great ballgame to watch - hard play from both teams - a well-earned win by the Rockets and a tough loss for the Cougars.....

 

imo a good scout is the guy who finds talent no one else finds. every scout knows about jackson,bumgarner and runion but to me it's the guy who finds a kid no one else knows about that is the ace scout.



Rau an unlikely key for Pioneers
TODD SHANESY, Staff Writer
Published April 5, 2007






Tim Rau might have given up on baseball. He hardly got on the field at Mauldin High School, walked on last season at Spartanburg Methodist College and was buried deep on a 15-man pitching staff.

Now he's a key starter for a team ranked among the best in the nation.

"We talk all the time to our guys about getting a chance," SMC head coach Tim Wallace said. "You'll get a chance sooner or later and you have to take advantage. That's exactly what he did."

Rau, who had just five innings as an SMC freshman, is 4-0 with a 0.84 earned-run average. He is coming off a 3-2 win against fourth-ranked and defending junior-college national champion Walters State. With that performance, he was able to crack the Pioneers' four-man weekend rotation.

"Think about that," Wallace said. "He's a kid who walked on last year and got a couple of token appearances. This year in our first mid-week game, we had burned some arms and so we decided, 'Heck, let's throw him out there.' He went five shutouts innings. So we sent him out back out there and he did it again."

In fact, Rau had tossed 21 straight scoreless frames until Walters State finally touched him up for a run on what was nearly an inning-ending, double-play grounder. The stands were packed with pro scouts and coaches from four-year schools.

"He had no chance to play baseball in college," Wallace said, "and now he'll have offers all over the place."

Rau said he was frustrated but not discouraged about his high school career.

"I hardly played," he said. "I played more in my junior year than in my senior year. I had one start, pitched a three-hitter and never did see another start. Seeing all those other guys getting more playing time and knowing that I was better was pretty aggravating. I just sat on the bench and watched."

College offers didn't come. Nobody was interested in a guy who has an 82 mph fastball and couldn't even get on the mound in high school. But Rau was impressive enough at a tryout to make SMC's team. During practice games, the left-hander consistently got the better of the Pioneers' potent offense.

"Honestly, I can't say I saw this coming," SMC pitching coach Matt Williams said. "He had a good summer, but battled some arm injuries and didn't pitch much this fall. He kept working and working. It's paid off. He throws strikes and gets ground balls. He pounds the zone. He's not overpowering. He just gets outs."

In 21 1/3 innings this season, Rau has allowed 16 hits, struck out 20 and walked two. He keeps batters off-balance with a change-up and curve ball, and has held opponents to a .195 average

 

No disrespect to Runion neither - He is a good pitcher and I wish him all the luck in the world. However there are kids that can locate a baseball and have good offspeed that could pitch the next level, They however dont get a look. The James kid had as good of control as Ive seen and pitched a great game. The Cougars had there chance they left bases loaded in the 1st with no outs and didnt score, tough loss.