Proud dad video clips

If you're bored, feel free to view any of these VERY short clips.  Each one is about 10 seconds of my 16 yr old pitching against the Dominican Republic all stars in an international tourney a couple weeks ago.  Some of you have seen these on Facebook already.  I'm basically his pitching coach.  I teach him little things, such as how to throw his different pitches, pickoff moves or the quick pitch you'll see in these clips.  

This first one is him trying to get out of an inning with a quick pitch that we learned from watching Sox reliever Rondon.  Two outs, 0-2 count, and nobody on.  Didn't work.  Usually does, but didn't work here.  Hitter was ready and fouled it off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IGXxmWX5V8


Second one is my son luring a runner on second into a pickoff by using the inside move to turn to second but while keeping his head facing the hitter.  He noticed that the runner was taking an early secondary lead during his delivery so he pulled this little move out of his basket of tricks.  And it worked.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxVXTNHibBg


Third is Zak striking out the number 3 hitter on a 3-2 count to get out of the inning.  Throws him a curve from about a 3/4 arm slot or maybe a bit lower.  He throws the curve from all arm angles beginning at the 12-6 and ending at full sidearm.  Learning it from all angles has helped keep hitters from getting accustomed to it early in the game.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JItF8mlwsTQ

He's a very good 16 yr old pitcher, but he's not great.  Tends to run into trouble in the 4th or 5th inning because he's not in the best cardio shape, but usually for the first few innings is going to shut you down and usually leave the game in the 5th or 6th (of 7 inning games) with a lead.  He's beginning to receive college offers to play and get free college, but he's got a lot of growing and improving to do before any D-1 offers show up.  Fastball is around 80-82 but he's still just 5'11".  He's probably going to get to 6'3".  College coaches and scouts say they think his likely landing spot is going to be fastball ranging from 84-87, occasionally touching 89-90 if he reaches 6'3" and gains 25 pounds in the next few years.

The difference is Quintana is probably well aware of his limitations.  My dumb kid tends to blame all of his problems on people other than himself.  He figures that his problems in the 4th or 5th are because of the ump or because his teammates make errors.  I have reminded him that he pitches over the errors early in the game, but struggles to get out of jams later on.

SoxIlliniRob wrote:If you're bored, feel free to view any of these VERY short clips.  Each one is about 10 seconds of my 16 yr old pitching against the Dominican Republic all stars in an international tourney a couple weeks ago.  Some of you have seen these on Facebook already.  I'm basically his pitching coach.  I teach him little things, such as how to throw his different pitches, pickoff moves or the quick pitch you'll see in these clips.  

This first one is him trying to get out of an inning with a quick pitch that we learned from watching Sox reliever Rondon.  Two outs, 0-2 count, and nobody on.  Didn't work.  Usually does, but didn't work here.  Hitter was ready and fouled it off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IGXxmWX5V8


Second one is my son luring a runner on second into a pickoff by using the inside move to turn to second but while keeping his head facing the hitter.  He noticed that the runner was taking an early secondary lead during his delivery so he pulled this little move out of his basket of tricks.  And it worked.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxVXTNHibBg


Third is Zak striking out the number 3 hitter on a 3-2 count to get out of the inning.  Throws him a curve from about a 3/4 arm slot or maybe a bit lower.  He throws the curve from all arm angles beginning at the 12-6 and ending at full sidearm.  Learning it from all angles has helped keep hitters from getting accustomed to it early in the game.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JItF8mlwsTQ

He's a very good 16 yr old pitcher, but he's not great.  Tends to run into trouble in the 4th or 5th inning because he's not in the best cardio shape, but usually for the first few innings is going to shut you down and usually leave the game in the 5th or 6th (of 7 inning games) with a lead.  He's beginning to receive college offers to play and get free college, but he's got a lot of growing and improving to do before any D-1 offers show up.  Fastball is around 80-82 but he's still just 5'11".  He's probably going to get to 6'3".  College coaches and scouts say they think his likely landing spot is going to be fastball ranging from 84-87, occasionally touching 89-90 if he reaches 6'3" and gains 25 pounds in the next few years.

Very cool!

What schools have been scouting him?

My husband's best friend's son was also a pitcher.  He ended up going to University of Wisconsin Osh Kosh.  He missed his first season with Tommy John surgery, but had a nice sophomore year.  He was selected to participate in a summer baseball camp in New York, and Rick  (the dad) was very proud.  Then his son told him he was done...he didn't want to play anymore.  Rick, being the asshat that he is, called him names, told him he was letting down his teammates, etc.  Since Jack went to a D3 school, they couldn't give him any money, but they did give him in-state tuition, so they got a little something off of their annual cost.

In an unrelated story, my son Alex told us a few weeks ago that he wasn't going to run XC anymore, and we decided to fully support his decision.  Fancy that!

sharpy wrote:My husband's best friend's son was also a pitcher.  He ended up going to University of Wisconsin Osh Kosh.  He missed his first season with Tommy John surgery, but had a nice sophomore year.  He was selected to participate in a summer baseball camp in New York, and Rick  (the dad) was very proud.  Then his son told him he was done...he didn't want to play anymore.  Rick, being the asshat that he is, called him names, told him he was letting down his teammates, etc.  Since Jack went to a D3 school, they couldn't give him any money, but they did give him in-state tuition, so they got a little something off of their annual cost.


My kid played D3 as well - he got an offer to be a "preferred walk-on" at OSU (means no guaranteed scholarship but almost certain to make the team and then get some), but he didn't want to go to a large university. Enjoyed playing D3, but like your story, there was a lot of drop out from freshmen to senior year - he was one of a handful who lasted the whole 4 yrs. Even tho he enjoyed it, he felt it was more work than fun quite a bit of time - more job-like.  He always wondered if he felt that way in D-3, how much work must d-1 be?   But he was smart enough to know that his chances of making baseball his life's work was small - however, I think if he felt he could make it, or if scouts had told him he could make it, his mindset might be different.  

Rob, not sure I'd put all of my faith in scouts predicting where your son will "top" out on in velocity - if he truly does grow to 6'3" and puts on 25+ pounds of muscles, with the right coach who can optimize his mechanics, 86-88mph seems low to me 

Definitely.  In fact, the coach that told him this said "could be higher, could be lower...." but he was just telling me what the average coach will figure his median landing spot to be.  I grew three inches in height as a junior and am 6'3" and my wife is fairly tall, so I assume he'll do the same.  He's a bit lazy, so putting on 25 lbs of muscle might be a bit of a challenge.

blondy28 wrote:

SoxIlliniRob wrote:If you're bored, feel free to view any of these VERY short clips.  Each one is about 10 seconds of my 16 yr old pitching against the Dominican Republic all stars in an international tourney a couple weeks ago.  Some of you have seen these on Facebook already.  I'm basically his pitching coach.  I teach him little things, such as how to throw his different pitches, pickoff moves or the quick pitch you'll see in these clips.  

This first one is him trying to get out of an inning with a quick pitch that we learned from watching Sox reliever Rondon.  Two outs, 0-2 count, and nobody on.  Didn't work.  Usually does, but didn't work here.  Hitter was ready and fouled it off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IGXxmWX5V8


Second one is my son luring a runner on second into a pickoff by using the inside move to turn to second but while keeping his head facing the hitter.  He noticed that the runner was taking an early secondary lead during his delivery so he pulled this little move out of his basket of tricks.  And it worked.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxVXTNHibBg


Third is Zak striking out the number 3 hitter on a 3-2 count to get out of the inning.  Throws him a curve from about a 3/4 arm slot or maybe a bit lower.  He throws the curve from all arm angles beginning at the 12-6 and ending at full sidearm.  Learning it from all angles has helped keep hitters from getting accustomed to it early in the game.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JItF8mlwsTQ

He's a very good 16 yr old pitcher, but he's not great.  Tends to run into trouble in the 4th or 5th inning because he's not in the best cardio shape, but usually for the first few innings is going to shut you down and usually leave the game in the 5th or 6th (of 7 inning games) with a lead.  He's beginning to receive college offers to play and get free college, but he's got a lot of growing and improving to do before any D-1 offers show up.  Fastball is around 80-82 but he's still just 5'11".  He's probably going to get to 6'3".  College coaches and scouts say they think his likely landing spot is going to be fastball ranging from 84-87, occasionally touching 89-90 if he reaches 6'3" and gains 25 pounds in the next few years.

Very cool!

What schools have been scouting him?

My husband's best friend's son was also a pitcher.  He ended up going to University of Wisconsin Osh Kosh.  He missed his first season with Tommy John surgery, but had a nice sophomore year.  He was selected to participate in a summer baseball camp in New York, and Rick  (the dad) was very proud.  Then his son told him he was done...he didn't want to play anymore.  Rick, being the asshat that he is, called him names, told him he was letting down his teammates, etc.  Since Jack went to a D3 school, they couldn't give him any money, but they did give him in-state tuition, so they got a little something off of their annual cost.

In an unrelated story, my son Alex told us a few weeks ago that he wasn't going to run XC anymore, and we decided to fully support his decision.  Fancy that!

I will not at all be surprised if he changes course and drops baseball after one year, or if he really gets into it and excels.  I always expected him to burn out, but he seems to be embracing it a bit more lately and even insisted on playing fall baseball this year after begging his way out of it the last two fall seasons.  He's even been willingly doing his daily long toss every day with me this month.  

It's hard to know which teams are specifically "scouting him" because he only just finished his soph year.  Schools can't approach a kid until after their junior year.  He has to approach THEM in order for them to speak to him.  We had lunch the other day with the Elgin Community College coach who said he'd take him right now and assure him he'll get him a full ride for two years if he can just get a B avg in high school and get a 20 or more on his ACT.  That, I assume, won't be a problem unless he develops a drug, alcohol, and apathy problem for his final two years of high school.  Beyond that school and a couple of other local community colleges where the coaches know him and have told his travel coach they'd love to have him come there, it's hard to be sure.  He plays in college showcase tourneys, where they log every pitch as a strike, ball, fastball, curve, change, etc, and they log the velocity of every pitch he throws.  Then, after that, the tourney officials pass that data to all of the colleges that are paying for access to it and then those colleges pick through there and if they see a kid that interests them they send you a "showcase invite" asking you to come to their college and do a session in front of some coaches or play in a couple of exhibition games and listen to a workshops about their tuition.  He gets those invites from low level schools all the way up to VERY high level schools that are perennial top 25'ers.  I don't take much of that very seriously, as some of those schools just want to get you to do their showcase and pay the $80 fee, and a few others are specifically geared to recruiting where they hope you'll come there, perform, like the look of the program, and then start asking the coach about going there.  Once the kid or the kid's dad asks, the coaches can recruit you and tell them how badly they want you.  I haven't really taken him to these because I figure he has another 3 inches to grow while most other juniors are done getting most of their height.  Showcases are filled with 81 mph kids that are 6 feet tall.  Nothing special about it.  Standard community college type of pitcher.  

I've asked the local community college coach (who is also his travel coach) about these showcase invites and he says some are legit interest and others are garbage.  He's going to let me know which ones to pay attention to, and which to ignore.

Did anyone notice the number he wears?  Been wearing it since he was 10.