High School Baseball. These kids aren't the same as back in my day. 102mph!!

This coming Monday the two local High School are playing each other (Lincoln Way East vs Lincoln Way West).These are two teams from the south suburbs of Chicago, about 50 - 70 minutes south of downtown.

Lincoln Way East has a left handed pitcher that has been radared throwing 102 mph. Jack Bauer is the young mans name. His last game he pitched in he through two innings and had 7 pitches that were over 100 mph. When my kids started telling me about this my first thought was that this can't be true, no way is a local high school kid throwing 100 + mph in a game. Boy was I wrong. Looks like the young man could/will be drafted high in the first round of the upcoming MLB draft in July of 2025.

Lincoln Way West is currently the #1 team in the state and they have two pitchers that throw in the mid 90s. Both kids are committed to high level D1 colleges. There is supposedly supposed to be 60+ MLB baseball scouts at this game on Monday.

I am currently 45 years old. Just makes me remember my days playing high school baseball. I don't ever remember facing any kids back then even throwing 90 mph. Back then if a pitcher was throwing 85 mph he was throwing really hard. Now you got freshman (15 years old) throwing 85 mph on occasion. I just find it amazing how good some of these young men are at their age.

Baseball is a different game now. Some kids got personal coaches to build up their speed and strengthen their areas. Lots of kids only focus on baseball and have cut loose other sports if they feel baseball is going to be their meal ticket. When I was growing up, American Legion ball was your way to a scholarship, now it's travel teams. It's just a whole different dynamic and now some of these kids can make that ball humm.

Different game, not finishing a game you started felt unfullfilling, now its the norm. Could not imagine going 4 or 5 innings and racking up no decisions feeling good

Wow..........just hope his body holds up for a few years.

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Originally Posted by ccm

Different game, not finishing a game you started felt unfullfilling, now its the norm. Could not imagine going 4 or 5 innings and racking up no decisions feeling good

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Very different game in aspect of pitching. MLB has certainly gone towards the philosophy of using the bullpen much more now than 20 years ago.

I don't think the kid in high school that is throwing 102 mph is going to be throwing more than 3 innings this high school season. Too much risk from overuse when you are this close to possibly signing a 6-10 million dollar contract in a few months. Would not be surprised at all if the kid is on a 50 pitch max pitch count for the rest of the season.

The hormones and things that are in our food of all types are changing things. 50 years ago 13 year old girls weren't built like a 20 year old. Effects males also. :confused2:

Pretty amazing. But there is a good chance he won’t last. What he is doing is terribly hard on a still growing developing body. He will need surgery before he becomes a MLB star. I can only imagine what it’s like to be around that sports dad.

There was a kid a grade ahead of me who threw high 90's but that was his only trick. He got the team to the title game but his arm was fried by the final game. Red Sox were impressed but told him he had to go to college and learn to be a complete pitcher before they would take him. He was definitely not college material so that was the end of his baseball career. I wonder if things would have turned out different if he'd been born 20-30 years later

Awesome for him the Tommy John surgery will be suggested if he has not already had it. I’d say he’s on a pitch count. Mid 90’s and up in high school kids fixing to be wealthy.

It is amazing. I was in high school in the early to mid 80's. When people learn that I was a pretty good pitcher back in my day, the first question is always how hard did you throw? I always tell them exactly what the op says. I was low 80's to maybe 85 if wind was behind me. lol. And I can see the look on their faces. I'm like - look I know every Texas 5a HS has 2 kids throwing 90's, but in my HS time, we had 2 kids in the whole state of Louisiana throwing 90's. We were all pretty much just natural back then. Heck, I played through college and never had a true pitching coach in my life. Now days they have a pitching coach by age 10, weight training, throwing motion animation, video, coaching. But here's the thing, with all of that training and way more attention to pitch counts and relievers, arms don't last as long as they used to.

Good for him. Hope he doesn’t need Tommy John surgery later.

I graduated HS in 2009 with one of my distant cousins. He was the star pitcher on the team. He was throwing low to mid 90s but ended up needing Tommy John’s the summer we graduated. Because of it he ended up just going to the local community college after a couple D1s pulled their offer. He never got his speed back up to pre injury levels. Had some interest from the minors but his ball career ended at community college.

it is wild that kids nowadays are playing at such a higher level compared to years past. Even in track, the stars are much faster now than ever before. heck an average D1 football team could probably destroy an NFL team from 30 years ago. I think it’s genetics and just the advancement of technology and training.

But I do think the average athelete in high school is at a lower level now than years past. What is considered “decent” in track now would finish towards the bottom back when my dad ran track. Back before all the tech and smartphones kids were much more physically active.

Good friend of mine grandson plays high school ball. Pitcher and SS. 10 grader on time already had TJ surgery and sitting out Jr. year so he can pitch his senior year

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Originally Posted by ECobb91

it is wild that kids nowadays are playing at such a higher level compared to years past. Even in track, the stars are much faster now than ever before. heck an average D1 football team could probably destroy an NFL team from 30 years ago. I think it’s genetics and just the advancement of technology and training.

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The evolution of sports in general is pretty amazing. Specialized training, the integration of strength training, nutrition, all of that has led to some super athletes. I was watching 1940's pro basketball clips for another thread and it's almost comical to see the game as it was played 80 years ago. Of course, it was whites only and the jump shot hadn't been accepted yet but even a jump ball was a clumsy affair. The level of skill and strategy is like grade school gym class today (assuming they still have P.E. these days).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuHC1GpZkHs