How hard can YOU throw?

[bbrages]

I took my 9-y/o son to a ball game a few weeks ago. We went early and got a couple of signatures... that was pretty cool.

While we were waiting for game time, we tried the "how hard can you throw" booth.

My 9-y/o hit about 44. I managed about 53. I thought that was pretty pathetic for a 35-year-old, 6' 190-lb male.

I'm sort of inclined to see if I can get my own velocity up. I could use myself as a test bed for any crackpot pitching mechanics theories and see if they work.

It's shocking to me that an elite 9 or 10 year old can probably throw harder than I can!

On the plus side, I can throw decent batting practice for kids to hit off of.

For what it's worth, we did one of those booths three years ago and it was his 33 vs. my 57. But I think that one was exaggerating.


What can you do? More than I can, I'd bet.

[azmatsfan]

It's sad. When my son was nine we were both measured by a radar gun. I threw 57 mph, then my son threw 63 mph. It was tough playing long toss with a 9-year-old when he got it to me in the air and I had to one hop it back to him.

[giantheart]

I took my 9-y/o son to a ball game a few weeks ago. We went early and got a couple of signatures... that was pretty cool.

While we were waiting for game time, we tried the "how hard can you throw" booth.

My 9-y/o hit about 44. I managed about 53. I thought that was pretty pathetic for a 35-year-old, 6' 190-lb male.

I'm sort of inclined to see if I can get my own velocity up. I could use myself as a test bed for any crackpot pitching mechanics theories and see if they work.

It's shocking to me that an elite 9 or 10 year old can probably throw harder than I can!

On the plus side, I can throw decent batting practice for kids to hit off of.

For what it's worth, we did one of those booths three years ago and it was his 33 vs. my 57. But I think that one was exaggerating.


What can you do? More than I can, I'd bet.

My son and I are about the same as you and your kid measured off one of those fancy radars attached to the back glove and adjusting for speed at the mitt vs speed leaving the hand.

[Standballdad]

It's sad. When my son was nine we were both measured by a radar gun. I threw 57 mph, then my son threw 63 mph. It was tough playing long toss with a 9-year-old when he got it to me in the air and I had to one hop it back to him.

Are you saying your 9 year old son threw 63?

[azmatsfan]

Are you saying your 9 year old son threw 63?

Yeah. The last time he was gunned was when he was 10. He was clocked at 69. I purposely have avoided having him gunned since so he doesn't worry about velocity. He hasn't pitched in over a year due to the stress on his growth plates from the torque. He's a 14 y.o. Freshman. The varsity HS coach told someone he thought my son could throw around 90 mph, but that seems like an exageration to me. He's blessed with a strong arm, but we'll see what he can do with it once he's pitching again.

[d-mac]

My 10 year old was around 55 last year. I hit 71, throwing as hard as I could.

[Standballdad]

Yeah. The last time he was gunned was when he was 10. He was clocked at 69. I purposely have avoided having him gunned since so he doesn't worry about velocity. He hasn't pitched in over a year due to the stress on his growth plates from the torque. He's a 14 y.o. Freshman. The varsity HS coach told someone he thought my son could throw around 90 mph, but that seems like an exageration to me. He's blessed with a strong arm, but we'll see what he can do with it once he's pitching again.

Wow, that it very impressive, were you guys at the 14U JO's this past summer?

[Standballdad]

Wow, that it very impressive, were you guys at the 14U JO's this past summer?

The last time I clocked myself at one of those radar gun booths, was about 5 years ago, I topped out at 74, I am 51 now and would probably hurt myself if I tried to do that now. I do throw a lot of BP but its nowhere near max effort.

[azmatsfan]

Wow, that it very impressive, were you guys at the 14U JO's this past summer?

No. A lot of his friends played in it, but I had heard it wasn't worth the money for the 14U division, so he didn't play.

[Bothrops Atrox]

Sadly, I can only hit close to 60. However, I can hit close to 60 with both arms.

[songtitle]

I'm sort of inclined to see if I can get my own velocity up. I could use myself as a test bed for any crackpot pitching mechanics theories and see if they work.

I used my own son to test crackpot ideas against a radar gun. I used my own broken body to test what hurts using crackpot theories. So, it's good to have a bad shoulder for this purpose.

[Roothog66]

I recently topped out at 68. This was about a week ago. Depressing. I threw mid 80's in hs.

[The Flush]

I have no idea how hard I can throw, but my 9YO told me hit hit 43 at a booth at Columbus Clippers game a month ago. I can probably throw a good bit harder than him over a short distance, but my long toss is terrible as it hurts my elbow most of the time. If my son could pitch like he throws in long toss or even from 3rd to 1st, I am sure he would be throwing a lot harder than what he was clocked at.

[HeinekenMan]

I have a terrible arm. I had poor mechanics as a kid, and I haven't been able to change them. If I spent time at it, I'm sure I could fix my mechanics and improve my throwing. But I do enough to get by. My boy has developed a strong arm in the past year, and he has great mechanics. My guess is that he's around 50, but there's a plus/minus of about 10 mph.

[pheasant]

When I was a 15 year old freshman first baseman at 5'6" 130 lbs, I was clocked at 71. A buddy of mine as a pitcher was clocked at 78. At age 35, I was clocked at 63. 4 years ago at age 40, I was clocked at 42. Apparently, military presses completely destroyed my fastball. Weightlifting and age have not been kind to me. I remember back in the 1980s, Bob Feller at age 66 was clocked at 79 in the Cleveland Indians park. Back then, pitches were measure while crossing the plate, not when released.