High School vs College Pitching

High School vs College Pitching 

By: Frank Fraschetti

High School Pitching:

    Most people probably do not think that there is a big difference between pitching in high school compared to college. The truth is that there are a lot of differences between the two. In High School, I would say that you have more of an advantage over hitters because of the strike zone. The strike zone in High School varies just in college, but it is a bigger strike zone which is in favor of the pitcher because he has more room to throw the ball and makes it harder on the hitter to make contact. In college, the strike zone is like the major leagues and the umpires become better. They do not miss a lot of calls and are pretty consistent across the board. 


Negotiating the Strike Zone During a Major League Baseball Game | THE INFO MONKEY


Hitters in College:

    Growing up and being around baseball and kids who want to end up in college is what you hear a lot about. Hitters at the college level start to realize and recognize the strike zone better and do not swing at pitches that a high school hitter would swing at. This makes it harder on the pitcher because as a pitcher you have to really trust your pitches and you can not be afraid to throw the ball over the plate. Also as you get older you get stronger so that is another thing that ties into hitting at the college level. Pitchers throw harder, but the ball is being thrown in better places and is more consistent. 


Prospectus Feature: The Universal Strike Zone - Baseball ProspectusBaseball Prospectus

High School Hitters:

    High school hitters are not as strong and do not recognize the strike zone as good. Also, the hitters are not all college hitters so that makes it easier on the pitcher. These differences make such a big impact and can really change the game or how you would pitch. A guy in High School throwing 85 MPH can be overpowering, but not at the college level because there are kids throwing in the '90s. 

Conclusion:

    High school hitters are just not as prepared or as good as college hitters. This can be seen by going and watching the two different levels. It is very easy to see just how much harder a college kid will hit it. Even a simple ground ball will be a lot harder in college because of its strength. All in all, pitchers have more of an advantage in High School rather than in college. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Short Versus Long Arm Action- Which is Better?

Image
 Short Versus Long Arm Action By: Adam Jeannette Joe Kelly with a short arm action What is a Short Arm Action?     -The term short arm action can be a bit confusing to pitchers around the world. Almost any pitcher has heard the phrase "stop short arming the ball" at some point in their career. This leads you to think that a short arm action is not what is ideal off the mound. However, a short arm action does not mean "short arming" the ball. Having a short arm action is actually not a negative way of throwing. For some, it can be a career saver while for others it doesn't make a difference. Now on to the question at hand, what is a short arm action? Short arm action is simply an arm action that takes a minimal, or short, path from glove break to the fully cocked position where the arm is up before layback. Below is an example of a pitcher, Lucas Giolito, who made a drastic change to his arm action over the course of a year and as a result, has had incredible suc...
Read more

Conditioning For Pitchers

Image
Conditioning For Pitchers by: Adam Jeannette Old School Conditioning What is it?     -It was common practice up until the last few years to have pitchers run long distances as a form of "conditioning" and "recovery." Coaches would tell players to jog a few miles the day after an outing to "flush the system" or "get rid of lactic acid." Most coaches even believed that running long distances would help pitchers increase their stamina on the mound, leading to longer starts. All of this is complete nonsense and has been proven wrong in recent years across all levels of baseball.    Why does it not work?      -I will start with the reasoning why running long distances is not an effective method of conditioning pitchers. The reason for this is pitching is a max effort movement performed over the course of a few seconds with anywhere from 15-20 seconds of rest between pitches. This gives the athlete time to catch their breat...
Read more

Does Mass = Gas For Pitchers?

Image
Does Mass = Gas For Pitchers? By: Adam Jeannette Intro     -The saying "mass equals gas" has been around the game of baseball for quite some time now.  What is meant by this saying is the more mass a pitcher carries, the harder it is believed they will throw. To most people, this seems way too simple to work. I mean can just gaining weight increase fastball velocity? That is what I am going to discuss here today to find out if there is any merit to the saying: Mass = Gas. Examples of Mass = Gas      -Some pitchers that come to mind that fit the narrative, mass equals gas, are Noah Syndergaard, Michael Lorenzen, and Jos é Alvarado. Noah Syndergaard is listed at 6'6" 242 pounds. These are the dimensions of a mass monster. Is it a coincidence his average fastball velocity was 97.9 mph in 2017 ( 1 )? Moving on, Michael Lorenzen is listed at 6'3" 220 pounds. Pictures of him demonstrate that he is a mass monster as well. This ma...
Read more