Liberal Forum

GHETTO » wrote:

24 Jan 1970, 1:55 pm

Huey » 14 Jun 2022, 11:49 am » wrote: ↑

14 Jun 2022, 11:49 am

I was lucky.  I got to play baseball into my 30s with the Army as well as slow pitch softball.  Also Full Contact football.  I was a shortstop.  High on base average.  In the early 90s I had a tryout with a college team.  Did well.  Stood in against a kid that had been drafted in like the 39th round.  He threw 98 MPH but after the first pitch he had no control.  Being a player that cares about getting on base I swung at all first pitches.  2-2 against him.  I had a chance to go to Vero Beach where the Dodgers workout to work with their instructional league.  I had two kids, wasn't a bonus baby, and back then, even if I made it I would make like 12 grand a year.  At most, if I was lucky, I could make it to triple AAA.  Plus, because of guys like Ripken Jr the age of 270 avg shortstops were becoming a thing of the past.  Had trouble with a good curveball.

At close to 100 mph plus you can smell the burned leather when you foul tip it.
The first spinning tire pitching machines I knew of came out my Senior year of HS. 
If both tires were set to the same exact speed it would throw a 100 mph knuckleball....  
We had it throwing BP against the 2 x 10 lumber back stop and it was splitting the wood...with one tire throwing a wee bit faster than the other it threw 100 mph Sliders.
We set it up to throw "pop ups" for infield practice  that were basically uncatchable..the ball would get up in the wind currents and drift who knows where.
I played with 4 guys who got drafted out of HS, then sent to Class A.
They hit .350 to .400 in HS but had trouble hitting above .200 at Class A
You really need to be a .500 plus hitter in HS to have any chance of making it IMHO.