What things do D1 coaches look for in a pitcher

Pitchers...

Depends on the Coach/School. We often get video of pitchers. In my situation, I review/analyze the video for the obvious - mechanics. I also have a friend/mentor who is a major league pitching coach review/analyze the video. The radar readings are an indicator of arm strength/velocity and the RHP who throw 90+ obviously stand out. However, most college pitchers fall into the mid 80's range. For us, we see every pitcher and do not just rely on "stats".

 

cbsconsult, how much do you dig into a players past in relation to injuries? I know of a kid that several years ago was signed by a upper DI school who had been plagued with arm soreness during his high school seasons... But, he was 92-93 when healthy. He's now in the minors and guess what, he still has arm problems and is on the IR a lot.

I think it was posted here a while back about the KC Royals not using radar guns on their rookie level pitchers. They have a kid that has been "pitcher of the year" at several levels of their minor league system who rarely touches 85. They came to the conclusion that they wanted their scouts/coaches to pay more attention to the pitching than to the velocity.

 

I have also heard that coaches/scouts will look at a young man's MySpace or Facebook to get an idea of what type of character the young man might have. Especially if they don't know anything about the young man they might be considering. I realize you have to be invited, but a lot of kids say yes to anyone wanting to be their "friend." Is this also the case? I realize that this speaks to all players and not only pitchers. Just thought it was an intangible that might be overlooked.

 

Injuries are an unfortunate part of any sport but an injury to a baseball pitcher can really disrupt a program. We do as much due diligence in that area as possible. Unlike some schools, we do not have the luxury of "selecting", we have to actively recruit and "sell" our university/program. Therefore, a history of arm problems is of greater concern to us. We currently have 3 pitchers who came to us with arm problems [2 of them already had Tommy John surgery - the 3rd has yet to pitch an inning for us because he had surgery soon after arriving on campus. Since joining the coaching staff, my primary responsibility is "due diligence" on the pitching recruits - which brings me to the second question. Character is becoming more and more important. One thing our head coach tells our players and potential players - "we do not want to read anything negative about our baseball players." We have a code of conduct to which all players must adhere - the code of conduct covers all social networking sites. Our recruiting coordinator has Myspace, Facebook, etc. and he invites all the players to join [not mandatory]. He also extends the invitation to recruits.

I hope this information addresses your questions.