Keyser Soze wrote:
He's throwing weighted balls. It's the new rage in the pitching world. Throw 6 oz, 8 oz and 10 oz balls 15-20 times into a net. It's a 6-8 week program and they get some pretty amazing results. It's controversial but some guys swear by it.
Is it supposed to build velocity? Because Michael Kopech's issue is not velocity.
Quote:
An MLB pitcher can probably throw 120 mph if he walked into this throw the way this guys did. I mean pitchers can throw 100 mph in the classic wind up. They can hit 120 if they got the running start the way this guy did.
I think there is a physical limit to how fast someone can throw a baseball even with momentum. There more than a handful of outfielders around the league (even little Adam Eaton!) who can throw a ball 100 mph. This Aaron Hicks throw (
http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/31426364/v ... me-for-out) I believe is the fastest ever recorded by an outfielder and its "only" 105.5 mph. I'll have to defer to Keyser again here, but my understanding is MANY outfielders have arms that have more raw power than most pitchers. Pitching is obviously about more than just raw power though, I doubt Yoenis Cespedes has much of a breaking ball.
Kopech's arm strength is truly special. A pitcher with the ability to work in the triple digits and upper 90's with consistency (that is key) on a starters workload (even more key) is a very, very rare bird. Kopech obviously isn't there yet, but you covet the guys who even have that potential because they dont come around often. Even Chapman got sent to the pen.