How College Baseball Coaches Evaluate High School Pitchers
Nov 22, 2024
How do college coaches evaluate pitchers?
Good pitching beats good hitting
Every college program in the country is always looking to improve their pitching.
Below are some things college coaches look for when evaluating a high school pitcher.
Statistics
Here are the stats coaches pay attention to:
- Walks
- Strikeouts
- Innings Pitch
- Strikeout per inning
Let’s look at a few different examples:
Very good season:
40 innings
60 ks
6-8 BBs
Why?
This shows that the pitcher has good stuff, 60ks over 40 innings, while having good command (only 6-8 BBs)
Average stuff
40 innings
30 ks
8-10 BBs
This stat line would say to me that this player has good command, but might not have great stuff. Averaging less than 1 strikeout per inning.
Below average command
40 innings
50 ks
30 BBs
Too many walks.
1 walk every 2 innings - below average
3 walks per 9 innings - very good
1-2 walks per 9 innings - elite
Here are some things they’re looking for when evaluating a pitcher's stuff.
Body Type:
Short and stocky?
Long and Lean?
One of the questions coaches will ask themselves:
Is he tapped out?
Meaning, can he still continue to increase his velocity in college?
Or has he already hit his ceiling?
Mechanics:
At the high school level, you don’t expect anyone to have “perfect mechanics,” but the closer they are to being a finished product, the more likely a coach will want them.
This pitcher below is a D1 prospect and has solid mechanics.
Arm action
How does the arm move?
Is it a smooth motion? (Does it look effortless)
Is it tight and jerky? (Look forced)
Repeatability
Is his motion repeatable?
Or is it obvious when he’s throwing a FB vs. Breaking Ball?
The more likely the pitcher can make everything look the same, the harder it is for hitters to pick up on it.
At the college level, that means he’s more likely to get outs.
FB movement
How does his FB move?
Is it straight as an arrow?
There are some pitchers out there who throw hard, but the fastball is flat, meaning it doesn’t have a high vertical or horizontal break.
Does it have a high vertical break? (Seems like it’s rising to the hitter)
Does it have run (Moves horizontally)
Certain coaches might prefer a certain type of movement.
Breaking Ball
At the college level, you must have more than one pitch you can throw for a strike.
Even if you throw 90 mph in high school, if you can’t command a breaking ball, college hitters are going to have a field day against you.
Outside of being able to command the breaking ball, here’s one thing coaches look for:
How does the breaking ball move?
Is it a cement mixer?
Meaning, that the ball just spins and doesn’t have much movement.
Or can he spin it and have a good hitter swing and miss against it?
Above is a Notre Dame commit throwing a slider when he was 16.
At the end of the day, good hitters will tell you if you have good stuff or not.
Velocity
There’s no magical number that once reached, coaches will automatically offer you. ( I know wouldn’t that make things so much simpler)
Left-handed pitchers normally won’t have to throw as hard to get offers as right-handed pitchers.
There’s just less of them, so they’re a higher commodity.
I think everyone looks at the 90 mph mark, and while that is important, this is where the player’s body type comes into play.
Are they tapped out at 90 mph?
Or do they have the ability to add more mph for the future.
Makeup
Competitiveness
How do they react when things aren’t going their way?
The umpire has a tight zone
The defense makes another error
The hitter gets a cheap hit
A true competitor doesn’t let that faze him on the mound.
Work ethic
You can tell a lot about a pitcher by their pre-game warm-up routine.
Do they have a routine?
Or do they just go through the motions, play some catch with the catcher, and then go pitch?
How they prepare to pitch tells a lot to a college coach about their work ethic.
That's all for today.
Hopefully, you now realize everything coaches are looking for when evaluating a pitcher
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