my level

[Ry9770]

I want to know how i am doing . I am 13 and turning 14 in Febuary. I wanted to know if my arm strenth was over or below average for my age. How my hitting and fielding should be by now. And how i should be running the bases. Is it too late to become a pitcher now? Or will it mess up my future and throw my speed, hitting ,and everything else away if i start too pitch.

[PJ-34]

Well I am about the same age as you, I'm 14 turning 15 in August. You'r still young and you have plenty of time to grow, I say if you want to be a pitcher go for it now. There are some 13 year olds in my league that can throw up to 60 MPH if you can throw between 40-70 at your age then you'r best choice is to start pitching if you feel it's what you want.

[bluezebra]

I want to know how i am doing . I am 13 and turning 14 in Febuary. I wanted to know if my arm strenth was over or below average for my age. How my hitting and fielding should be by now. And how i should be running the bases. Is it too late to become a pitcher now? Or will it mess up my future and throw my speed, hitting ,and everything else away if i start too pitch.

Ask someone who knows baseball, and sees you play. There's no way anyone here can determine what you're doing, and how well or poor that is.

Bob

[Spork]

I'm in the same boat as you. 13 turning 14 soon. For arm strength, well, lemme ask if you're in a traveling team or just house league? If you wanna pitch on the traveling team (i'm one here... A closer. Ya want some 68-73m/ph heat?) you should get at least 60m/ph on the radar gun. For house league, 40-70m/ph. If you're in OF right now, you SHOULD be able to throw it (unaccurately, mind you) from the fence to the 2nd baseman on 1 hop. Hitting can vary, cause' you might be a power hitter, a base stealer, or a contact hitter (or a Russ Adams>.>). same thing with base running speed(ps... if you suck at fielding positions[like me] you can always try 1b.

[bluezebra]

I'm in the same boat as you. 13 turning 14 soon. For arm strength, well, lemme ask if you're in a traveling team or just house league? If you wanna pitch on the traveling team (i'm one here... A closer. Ya want some 68-73m/ph heat?) you should get at least 60m/ph on the radar gun. For house league, 40-70m/ph. If you're in OF right now, you SHOULD be able to throw it (unaccurately, mind you) from the fence to the 2nd baseman on 1 hop. Hitting can vary, cause' you might be a power hitter, a base stealer, or a contact hitter (or a Russ Adams>.>). same thing with base running speed(ps... if you suck at fielding positions[like me] you can always try 1b.

Throw "unaccurately"? First, the word is spelled INACCURATELY. You think an outfielder should not throw accurately to a base? Are sure sure that you understand what you're saying? Or what the word means?

Bob

[Ry9770]

I'm in the same boat as you. 13 turning 14 soon. For arm strength, well, lemme ask if you're in a traveling team or just house league? If you wanna pitch on the traveling team (i'm one here... A closer. Ya want some 68-73m/ph heat?) you should get at least 60m/ph on the radar gun. For house league, 40-70m/ph. If you're in OF right now, you SHOULD be able to throw it (unaccurately, mind you) from the fence to the 2nd baseman on 1 hop. Hitting can vary, cause' you might be a power hitter, a base stealer, or a contact hitter (or a Russ Adams>.>). same thing with base running speed(ps... if you suck at fielding positions[like me] you can always try 1b.
my field doesnt have a fence....how far are you throwing from? the field i play on is the same dimension as a major league field but i playe deep at third

[Spork]

my field doesnt have a fence....how far are you throwing from? the field i play on is the same dimension as a major league field but i playe deep at third

Well, to be honest, I have absolutely no idea.


Ps: Bob, You can be a ******* if you want, but if so direct your rage towards somebody who gives a damn. And secoundly, i'm mesuring DISTANCE. I've seen alot of people able to improve on their accuracy, but not many (there are exceptions) can get more arm strengh with out alot of training, and i'm not really sure many 7 year olds want to do that.

[EdmondsFan#1]

I am 13 years old and i can throw about 65 mph, but that is fast. I'm glad that you came to these forums to ask because if you asked any other 13/14 year olds that throw semi-hard they would probably say they throw 70 mph... and trust me, they have no idea how fast that is. I'm not saying kids at this age can't throw 70 but there should only be a few kids that can in regular local ball leagues, most of the kids that can throw 70 are on travel. At 14 the average in our league is probably around 50 mph *I play american legion by the way*. If you are playing third base, your arm should be fine, I couldn't see why a coach would put a kid with a weak arm at third. We have seen 2 pitchers that have thrown about 65 mph (we faced them in the Finals). And 1 pitcher that kid hit about 75 maybe and about 1 kid that could hit around 70. But the two kids that were touching 70 were just killing everybody, but they were also about 6'2'' monsters, so they are probably just growing earlier.

Average 13 year old pitcher should be able to throw about 52 mph. I know average as a 12 year old was about 44 mph, but you grow alot at 13... Don't be intimidated by kids that can throw alot harder then that, those kids usually have began growing earlier/faster and you will most likely catch up with alot of them by late high school. My advice if you are going to pitch is to devolop a good changeup, that means accurate and at least 5 mph slower then your fastball (but 15 mph slower if you can get it that far.) devoloping a good changeup means you have control with it, it's comfortable to grip, and it's well slower then your fastball without losing arm speed. If you have a 50 mph fastball, and a good changeup, it will make your fastball appear 60 mph.

By the way, I'm an outfielder/pitcher (outfield when im not pitching) and i can throw from our left field (300 ft) to pitcher on about 1 or 2 hops... I know i can throw it from left field fence to shortstop on a line because i have done it several times before and i also know i can throw from mid-outfield to home on a line, so i'm just using an educated guess.

[TonyK]

"Are sure sure that you understand what you're saying? Or what the word means? "

Bob: I think I understand what you meant to say, but I'm not sure if he does. ;-)

[Charger567]

At 13 I throw about 70, and as for distance about 200 feet. It really depends, we know nothing about you. What position do you play? Have you ever been gunned? What kind of competition do you face? What roll do you play on your team?

[bluezebra]

Well, to be honest, I have absolutely no idea.


Ps: Bob, You can be a ******* if you want, but if so direct your rage towards somebody who gives a damn. And secoundly, i'm mesuring DISTANCE. I've seen alot of people able to improve on their accuracy, but not many (there are exceptions) can get more arm strengh with out alot of training, and i'm not really sure many 7 year olds want to do that.

What rage? By the way, to sink to your moronic, immature level, it takes a turd to know an *******. By the way, do your parents monitor your use of the internet? They would be proud of your language.

You have no clue as to what you wrote. I suggest you learn to use a dictionary, and get to know what words to use, and what they mean. And grow up.

Bob

[Charger567]

What rage? By the way, to sink to your moronic, immature level, it takes a turd to know an *******. By the way, do your parents monitor your use of the internet? They would be proud of your language.

You have no clue as to what you wrote. I suggest you learn to use a dictionary, and get to know what words to use, and what they mean. And grow up.

Bob

At age 74 you'd think you'd have something better to do than correct people's spelling on a baseball forum.

[Spork]

"Are sure sure that you understand what you're saying? Or what the word means? "

Bob: I think I understand what you meant to say, but I'm not sure if he does. ;-)


...read my secound post.

[flea45]

At age 74 you'd think you'd have something better to do than correct people's spelling on a baseball forum.

we dont need this on a baseball forum....take it back to the gutters where it belongs. come on guys, grow up and stop taking cheap shots at what others have to say on here.

[CarmelPitcher]

Im 15, and a sophmore in high school. I throw 80 mph accurately. Last year as a freshman i was around 72-73, and in 8th grade (13- 14 yrs) i was throwing 67-68. I was on a travel team and a starting pitcher. If you are in house leage, the as long as you have control, you should be fine. Travel on the other hand, you should be in the 60's. BUT, accuracy is key. If you cant throw strikes, it doesnt matter how fast you throw. As for beginning pitching now... i would DEFINETLY start now. If you live in a cold climate, find an indoor training facility near by and go with a friend or dad and pitch to them. If you have friends who are pitchers, go with them and they can give you advice. Good Luck with your pitching!

[Street20]

Here is the requirements for the Bay Area, California:

13-year-olds 66-68
14-year-olds 71-73
15-year-olds 78-80
16-year-olds 82-84

Now these are the above-average pitchers in the Bay Area. The top pitchers will be throwing a few miles faster than that. The best pitch that shouldn't destroy a young persons arm at all is a slider. The grip is called a three-seam fastball grip. You hold the ball (index and middle fingers) along the sides of the horseshoe and then move your middle finger slightly inwards. Throw it like a normal fastball but pull your middle finger down at the last second.

[DaYankeeKillas]

Dude's Im 14 and what is everyone worrying about all you can really do is get in shape and work on your form. It doesn't matter if we are AAU Champs now but what we do it 5 years. Get it?

[EdmondsFan#1]

Okay, I was just a winter camp and out of the 13-14 year olds could only throw 55 on average. And these were all good players that play for travel teams and their school teams. The fastest was 70 mph, but the kid got to crow hop it. And another kids fastest was 67, and he also got to crow hop it. And these readings were with a dead accurate gun that the highschool varsity coach uses too, not the crappy inaccurate ones you see at fairs. So even with a ton of extra momentum only 2 kids could get close to 70. Another example of all these 13 year olds on this forum saying how they can throw 70, please take my word for it, you probably don't. I bet out of all the 13 year olds that said they throw 70, only about one can actually touch that. A high school coach was telling me that he went out to the batting cages and clocked his players and they were so far off of what they thought they threw that they never talked about it again. Because the harsh reality is, if you are 13 throwing 70 you would be throwing harder then most kids in the little league world series. 99% of people don't grow up to throw 90 mph heat.

I was clocked at only 60, 5 mph off what i thought i threw.

[TG Coach]

out of the 13-14 year olds could only throw 55 on average. And these were all good players that play for travel teams and their school teams.

55 is very slow for 13U travel. No one on our 13U team threw that slowly. At 14U a majority of the pitchers are in the upper 70's. Seven of the eight top pitchers are at least 5'9". Even the 5'6" kid who hasn't hit puberty yet, is at 68-70.

If anyone is wondering I'm not a big fan of radar guns until high school. The kids don't know their speeds. It's more important they focus on command of their pitches. By soph year of high school if they want to pitch varsity, control won't be enough unless some of these kids end up throwing so hard they smoke hitters.