122 feet per second equals 83.2 mph, not 86.2. That was clocked at 75 feet, so given your rough calculations of 1mph lost per 8 feet, add 9.3 mph=92.5mph for Walter Johnson. Sorry to nit pick your video.
You are correct. I did say the wrong velocity for Walter Johnson. I also couldn't, at the time, find the location where they measured his fastball, so I wasn't able to do the conversion. Since making this video, I have learned they measured a 15 foot space between 60 and 75 feet.
Just because the reaction times are equivalent doesn't mean that the difficulty of hitting the pitch is equivalent. Hitting soft toss from 10 feet away could require the same reaction time as hitting Aroldis Chapman's fastball, but is obviously much easier to hit
Still not easy to hit 83 at 46 feet.. but I agree definitely is harder to hit major league pitching. It’s impressive those kids can react at a major league level is all that metric is showing really
Right, because the speed of the pitch still dictates how long the pitch stays in the hitting zone regardless of how quickly the batter needs to initially react
An 83 mph fastball that breaks 4 inches left/right/up/down over 60 feet is also only going to break 1-2 inches over 46 feet, if at all depending on how late it breaks
remember when I was a kid there was a pitcher in my little league that threw in the high 70's. Our coach told us to not think about it, and to just shorten up with no load to our swings so the speed of the ball can do all of the work. We ended up hitting three home runs off of him and after that I realized velocity doesn't really matter if you don't have movement. These are great eye openers for kids that age and is a good way to show them that they shouldn't be intimidated by faster pitching when they play more competitively later on.
When I pitched I didn't throw super fast, just had a ton of movement on my pitches. Guys could never really make good contact. The one game I felt amazing and knew I was throwing 5+ mph faster than I ever had before I gave up 6 runs in the first innings and took a dinger off my kneecap and had to go to the hospital. I lost all my movement when I gained that velo.
@@LemonInYourEyes yep. Speed is not every thing. My son would rather hit an 80 mph fastball than a 60 mph sinker. It is more difficult to hit pitches with crazy ball spin than high speed low spin balls.
I coached a kid in LL who got his growth spurt early and was throwing either high 70s or low 80s. Unfortunately for him, and the rest of us trying to catch him, he had no command, nor intention/discipline to learn any mechanics. He just wanted to throw hard. He walked a TON of batters, lost a bunch of games due to wild pitches. It was SCARY to try to catch him in warm-ups when the catcher was still getting gear on. I didn't know where the ball was going, and neither did he.
And that’s why you need to teach kids not to throw hard. I could care less if I gave up a hit, but no way was I letting myself walk 6 batters a game trying to strike everyone out
I did the same in high school I could throw 86 ish but I had to dial it down to around 80 to gain control. I also still have elbow problems and I’m 28 so I never played any ball after school.
I played with kid in little league that only gave up 1 hit all season, including all-stars. He could throw pretty hard, but his curveball was deadly. He would literally throw it at the batters head and it would snap into the strike zone. Unfortunately, he was ineffective in high school. Everyone caught up to him in size by then and his curve broke too soon. If he had a twin, they would have won it all at Williamsport. Unhittable.
Normally, a good coach would not let a twelve or thirteen year old throw a curveball. It will kill his arm for some reason. Better he learn how to throw hard and straight even if he gets hit.
I have a similar story. Three years ago, I met a 12-year old kid that could throw around 80 on his fastball. A friend of mine was his coach which is how I met him. Not long ago, I ran into the same kid at a tournament. He's only throwing 85 now and batters have caught up.
@@jackattack2608 I can attest to that.. I was the starting pitcher for a travel team. The same catcher would catch for me since little league. 12 years old and I loved throwing 4 seam, 2 seam, knuckleballs and curveballs. My curveball was fucking nasty though. Feeling of throwing multiple no hitters made me never listen. then at age 16, my shoulder already started killing with every pitch. Safe to say i couldn't play baseball anymore.
Bro same thing happened to me. I had a nasty curve growing up that would make kids duck. Got to high school ball and it got blasted. Had to decide pitching wasn't for me since I wasn't the hardest thrower to begin with.
@@dallaswood4117 Exactly. His control was all over the place. I would be scared too. Getting hit in the ribs is one thing, getting hit in the head is something else
Alex will be a sophomore in 2022 for the Clemson Tigers. He's listed at 6' 1" and 215 pounds. So basically the same height as when he was 13, just put on some weight. Will be interesting to see if he eventually gets drafted into MLB.
I had 2 major growth spurts. In 8th grade I was 5'9" 160 lbs w/ 80mph fastball, junior year I was 5'11" 190 lbs w/ 88-90 mph FB, and at 21 I finally reached 6'1" 205 lbs w/90-93 mph FB. KEEP in mind this was the 80s/90s radar guns and pitches were clocked crossing the plate.... So you could add a couple mph's if the was clocked at the release point, like it is today...
@@andrewboyce7268 the 2 biggest factors to throw serious velo for myself were FLEXIBILITY & LOWER HALF MECHANICS. I noticed when I put on muscle, I lost a lot of flexibility and i had to "over throw" to stay around 90.... I
I played in the 05' LLWS for Guam(Pacific), and I remember there was a kid on a team from California throwing an average of 79-81mph. If I remember correctly he pitched a perfect game during pool play which I thought was insane.
I remember when my team was going thru the LLWS tournament . Got that cool patch after beating all the local teams . Won the first game of the regional tournament, but then we got absolutely crushed in the second game by a team with a kid throwing low 70s . Good times
For me the most amazing part of the video is at 1:08 (app.), where Feller is pitching to Hank Greenberg, the camera focusing on home plate and Greenberg's swing. You can't even see a blur as the ball passes through the batter's box. Wow!
I remember this. Crazy to let kids this big play on that field. They should have kept the April 30 cut off date like travel baseball, but cut it off at 11. Moving to August 31, did huge harm to little league. Bad move.
@@PassionForThePlant Yes it is. Little League should be 8-10. Then 10-12 should move up to a diamond in between a little league field and a high school field
I pitched in Little League and one of the most important things I learned is that a lot of advantage is had if you are good at not telegraphing what kind of pitch you are going to throw or whether you even intend for the pitch to be a strike or not. Good batters often secretly wait for a particular kind of pitch, and the trick is to avoid giving it to him! For the pitcher there is a whole lot of strategy involved. One of my favorites is what I would dub a "stealth intentional walk". When a skilled slugger gets up, he is hell bent to humiliate a pitcher. But guess what, there is no rule saying a pitcher has to serve up a home-run pitch! It is for reasons like this that baseball is such a great game.
This is an experiment. Google screws me over regarding comments. In the 70s, we didn't have the means to measure pitch speed but when I was 12 (the max age) in LL, but we had to have our catcher wear a leather work or garden glove with a sponge inside that, to be able to catch me. I was also pretty big and tall, towering at least a foot over all my all-star teammates' heads. I'm not trying to compete with this kid by bragging on myself, just relaying my experiences in fastball pitching. Judging by the time it took to leave my hand and get to the catcher, I can honestly say, I threw just as hard, or maybe a mph lower. I wasn't wild, but I snapped a kid's humerus in two when it hit his arm. That HAD to be one of my hardest pitches, especially since it went wide right and the humerus is a thicker bone than either the ulna or radius. ;-) -- I was a better hitter than pitcher, hitting 15 homeruns in 11 games, but I'll always be proud of my pitching too. Unfortunately, my growth spurt ended and everybody caught up in size. I pitched in Junior High School (7-9 grades and 54 ft. mound), and did pretty well, but High School was the killer of my pitching career. I just wasn't big enough for 60 foot mounds. Meh... my hitting got me a double-scholarship, so no worries. Congrats to Alex... I hope you go far!
@@pbird5351 Cuz usually if you could throw strikes you could strike out 90% of LL hitters. I didn't throw hard at all and only threw a fastball in little league, yet had multiple no hitters and shut outs nearly every game.. because I didn't walk batters.
We had a kid In my Little League that was throwing mid/upper 70s. His team didn't even win the championship because he didn't have a great curveball. But it was something to behold.
I'm 54 now, my brother 57. When we lived in Miami in 1977, he played at the North Dade Optimist Club and had been clocked in the mid to high 80s, with many of the academies wanting him to play for them. Alas, we moved to Idaho and had to deal with people who did the whole father son thing when it came to choosing pitchers. He was running it up at 98 to 99 in High School, but the weather took it's toll up here on his shoulder. His stats in 1977 were 8-0, 2.8 Ks per inning, with a perfect game and several no hitters. He had an issue with his all-star coach that year and quit, at which point we moved to Idaho (we were leaving after his all-star season was finished). Would have been nice to see what would have happened to his future had we stayed in a warmer climate. I sure miss playing baseball. Would be nice to be a kid again for just that purpose.
@HENRY X81 lol. Nah, he was throwing 98 at 18, but living in Idaho, the cold does things to you. I got him a tryout with the Braves but he had a tweak in the shoulder that he wasn't willing to get cut on (1980s versus today). He's happy with his life, isn't Uncle Rico'ing it. Would have been nice to stay in Miami and see where he may have ended up. Coaches were definitely better down there and we could play ball all year round. There are a lot of reasons why great players come out of warmer climates more often. But then again, Idaho is a beautiful state whereas Florida.....well, it's Florida. Three inch cockroaches are a bit much. Then again, I'll take a Cuban sandwich over potatoes any day of the week.
I have a childhood friend who was born a week later than me. I remember when we were 13, I was playing in Babe Ruth, with major league dimensions, against 14 and 15 tear olds and he was tearing up Little League. He was hurling straight gas past 10 year olds and hitting a home run every other game. It was ridiculous. Obviously, he made the all star team and he carried them all the way to the regional, where they lost to a team from Michigan. It really wasn't good for him either because he was never really challenged. He dominated and it was mainly because he had hit puberty and was bigger and stronger than everyone else, not necessarily more talented. He went from being, hands down the best player in the entire league to not even making the high school team a year later
This always made me so mad as a kid. Our league was playing full dimensions at 12 years old. Watching kids that were supposedly much better than us play on such a small field felt like an insult.
I was never a hard thrower but I loved the mechanics of pitching and would practice by myself in the backyard for hours in the summer (undoubtedly why my elbow was constantly hurting by junior year.) Buti only remember 2 homers being hit off me and a lot of success with off speed pitches. I don't think I would made it pro but would've loved to see how I did if I had kept playing past sophomore year.
I used to live just north of Williamsport and went to the llws 9 straight years. The talent level of these kids is pretty remarkable. I think it would be a much better event if they moved the pitcher back 6-8 feet and enlarged the field. Kids hit balls to the walls and half the time only got singles. In nine years i never saw a triple. Its a great event and isnt super expensive so every baseball fan should go once.
I always like to see where these kids make it to - Alex made it to Clemson, but then transferred to Coastal Carolina - didn't pitch in 2024, no info why. Dylan Maclean got drafted and is listed as injured full season at the moment on the site I found him on.
Wait a minute. You said that the Rhode Island hitters weren't really having a problem getting to his fastball. Then video closes with the broadcaster saying that the pitcher just threw back to back no hitters. Ummm.....
I also said he got outs with his slider. They probably never saw a good slider in their baseball lives until then. It was really a good pitch. But they timed him up pretty well.
12 year olds throwing from 46' is bogus. There's a reason why USSSA and Perfect Game grow the field as the boys age. In PG I believe 12U are throwing from 54. My grandson in 10U throws in the upper 60s, from 46 but there's not a kid on the team that can catch it. He has great control, but it takes his teenage brother or older to have wrists strong enough to not pass a ball one out of every two.
I remember facing a pitcher in little league who threw 80 MPH, The coach took us to the batting cages and we hit 80MPH balls. I hit the second pitch from this guy so hard but in the late 60's they didn't have the little fences they have now, would have been an easy home run, but it was just a long fly ball. Still pisses me off to this day...
So you had someone timing pitches in LL in the 60's ??...Hmmmm That's when I played & I don't even recall that technology being available, & certainly not in LL.
@@safromnc8616 So, they removed my comment to you. You do understand that the speed of a baseball has been estimated with reasonable accuracy for years before the radar gun ? I can tell you, when you are standing in the batters box and an 80MPH pitch comes in, you know it pal...
My buddy Lenny Keunert was the greatest 12 year old to ever play and I will die on that hill. Lenny was an LSU commit in 8th grade and sat 81-84 when we were 12
I saw Bryce Harper pitch in a USSSA tournament when he was 12. He hit 82 on our gun, held behind the fence behind the catcher. One dude hit 2 HRs of him. He hit 3 off a guy throwing 81.
I don't believe there were guys 50+ years ago throwing faster than Chapman. The training/competition/mechanics are significantly more advanced. Seems much more likely that the measurements then were simply inaccurate (or the conversion to release velo is off).
I don't believe your calculations are dead on but I definitely accept them as educated approximations since mine are somewhat similar. Nolan Ryan's are believed to be even 108mph but I got 105-106 mph.
I was playing in the cal Ripken World Series and the age limit is 13 and we saw a kid from Dominican Republic who hit 84 on 3 different radar guns and a kid from china throwing low 80’s multiple times.
I remember seeing this kid. My son is 13and can touch 81-83. 77-79 he has very good control. He is on the HS team so it’s from 60’ 6”. But 80 from LL distance is nuts. You should be more accurate from 3/4 the distance. He has a straight 4 seam, a running two seam sometimes he moves the ball just a bit to get some cut. Great slider, boy his changeup needs work though. We have seen some very good 12-13 yr old pitchers, but it’s the ones that change velocity and can locate that do well.
I’m at 14u right now which is around the age of these kids but we are at 60 foot mound distance. There are kids probably throwing 80 but it is so much easier because we have 20 feet still to go on the mound whereas when it hits the 40 feet on LLWS
I was at Williamsport in 2001 when Almonte played. It's a pity some greedy adults took advantage of the kids ruined it all for everyone, including Danny.
I threw 80’s and then 90s in high school. The conference adjusted and it played no factor if anything it helped hitters after we switched to wood bats.
MJH, in my little league, there is a kid throwing 80 MPH at 12. Hopefully they can make it past. It comes out of peachtree city little league I know that is familiar to you.
I remember when I played AAU for the Tampa Bay Raiders, we had a kid named Ray Delphie that played for one of our rivals....and he legit threw 85 plus and we were all between the ages 13 to 16....it was crazy at the time
Alex's father is my best friend. haha I am talking to him watching this. When Alex gets over this injury I think he will be amazing again. of course I am bias.
Unfortunately my local league was bambino, and not sanctioned little league. When I was 11 there was a 6 ft plus 12 yr old who threw over 80 that I faced one game from 46 ft. It was absolutely unhittable.
You’re full of it if you think a 12 year old can step into an mlb batters box and even remotely get close to putting the bat on the ball lol. The reaction time is not equivalent at all….
i faced a kid who threw mid 80s in 2018 Warner Robins. and for anyone wondering, i would have to load my swing when he was winding up and start swinging when he let go of the ball, and prayed the ball hit my bat.
I never found a pitcher that could strike me out in LL. I was kind of a small kid but I was disciplined and strong for my size. My strike zone was tiny and I knew it was hard to hit it and I only swung and perfect looking pitches. I walked onto first a ton if I didn't gap it. I had the most stolen bases in the league that year. There was only one catcher that could get me at third if he was ready. I turned every walk into a double. I've had my coach tell me not to steal just because we were making the other team look bad. I of course didn't follow that instruction. I even stole home a ton tagging up from outfielders I knew couldn't make it to the home. I loved being tiny and fast. I always played 2nd, third, or shortstop.
I played catcher in senior league and the opposing team of the day put a big guy on the mound that threw really hard but was wild as hell. Well one came at my head and I stuck out my left hand and caught it :) I know technically interference but the ump was so impressed he just let me take first. To say the least my left hand was not impressed...lol
I coach my sons team 12u last year he was hit by the local hot shot fast pitcher (12 year old 73mph) that hits a lot of kids and has scared some right out the batters box. My boy had a bad bruise on his back for a month!!! Sometimes fast isn't that impressive!!!
Cole Wagner went to Georgia. My cousins team was the US champs who should have beaten Japan in 2015. Red Land LL would hit off any of those pitchers you mentioned.
The reason he was so hittable could’ve been because of a low spin rate on his pitches, makes the ball look slower, easier to see and react to, and nowhere near the same movement even on his fastball. Look at the Nolan Ryan fastball clocked at 100, look at how it runs, that’s because of spin rate
My newphew who played on Hawaii’s Pony League World Champs 11-12 yrs old(2010)he was clocked at 80+…and Pony League dimensions were a little larger than Little League including the pitching mound…that year they played the other Hawaii(Waipio)team that represented Hawaii & West Regional/USA Champs that faced Japan…We beat that team badly!!!!!! Plus that was the same Japan Team that won the World Little League Title….funny thing is We played that same Japan team and OUR BOYS whoooooped their butts!!!!!!! Our team finished the season 45-0!!!!! 2010 Pony League World Champs!!!!! Beat out South Korea,Japan,and Puerto Rico(nephew tied the K’s record 16)….2015 Hawaii All State POY Pitcher & Hitter and 2015 Cincinnati 3rd round Draftee
If you think this is impressive go back to the 2005 LLWS the west team had a few players that could hit the 80-83mph range. Kalen pimentel struck out 18 batters in a single game. Hawaii had a few players pitching around that speed as well. It’s not common but it’s also not uncommon as well.
I caught a kid in little league days early 80s he threw in the 80s i hated catching for him my left thumb was broken half way through a game thought i was good til next morning ended up with pins in my thumb and a cast for rest of summer
I used to love the llws until I had kids. My 10 year old played on that size field and hit multiple home runs. No leads, no stealing by until the ball is thrown. You’re not a pitcher if you don’t have to deal with base runners
122 feet per second equals 83.2 mph, not 86.2. That was clocked at 75 feet, so given your rough calculations of 1mph lost per 8 feet, add 9.3 mph=92.5mph for Walter Johnson. Sorry to nit pick your video.
You are correct. I did say the wrong velocity for Walter Johnson. I also couldn't, at the time, find the location where they measured his fastball, so I wasn't able to do the conversion. Since making this video, I have learned they measured a 15 foot space between 60 and 75 feet.
@@MJHBaseball you tried MJH, you tried...and that's what matters
@Jesus is LORD Matthew sounds like a funny man, we should get coffee sometime.
@Jesus is LORD go get some bitches or something.
My brothers friend is in the little league and he can throw MAX 85 mph, I have no video in case if you ask for one
Just because the reaction times are equivalent doesn't mean that the difficulty of hitting the pitch is equivalent. Hitting soft toss from 10 feet away could require the same reaction time as hitting Aroldis Chapman's fastball, but is obviously much easier to hit
wow really good point
Still not easy to hit 83 at 46 feet.. but I agree definitely is harder to hit major league pitching. It’s impressive those kids can react at a major league level is all that metric is showing really
Right, because the speed of the pitch still dictates how long the pitch stays in the hitting zone regardless of how quickly the batter needs to initially react
An 83 mph fastball that breaks 4 inches left/right/up/down over 60 feet is also only going to break 1-2 inches over 46 feet, if at all depending on how late it breaks
Thank you finally someone who has common sense
remember when I was a kid there was a pitcher in my little league that threw in the high 70's. Our coach told us to not think about it, and to just shorten up with no load to our swings so the speed of the ball can do all of the work. We ended up hitting three home runs off of him and after that I realized velocity doesn't really matter if you don't have movement. These are great eye openers for kids that age and is a good way to show them that they shouldn't be intimidated by faster pitching when they play more competitively later on.
W coach
@@sethbruh9546 seriously that’s a fire coach
I threw 73 in Little League when I was 12. Lotta kids had a hard time hearing it when you drop a curveball at 55 60
When I pitched I didn't throw super fast, just had a ton of movement on my pitches. Guys could never really make good contact. The one game I felt amazing and knew I was throwing 5+ mph faster than I ever had before I gave up 6 runs in the first innings and took a dinger off my kneecap and had to go to the hospital. I lost all my movement when I gained that velo.
@@LemonInYourEyes yep. Speed is not every thing. My son would rather hit an 80 mph fastball than a 60 mph sinker. It is more difficult to hit pitches with crazy ball spin than high speed low spin balls.
I coached a kid in LL who got his growth spurt early and was throwing either high 70s or low 80s. Unfortunately for him, and the rest of us trying to catch him, he had no command, nor intention/discipline to learn any mechanics. He just wanted to throw hard. He walked a TON of batters, lost a bunch of games due to wild pitches. It was SCARY to try to catch him in warm-ups when the catcher was still getting gear on. I didn't know where the ball was going, and neither did he.
As someone who used to play travel baseball I feel like the majority of kids who threw faster tended to have less control of there pitches
Literally every kid who could throw fast in my house league did this where they just wanted to throw hard with 0 control
I thought you were gonna say the kid blew out his pitching arm.
And that’s why you need to teach kids not to throw hard. I could care less if I gave up a hit, but no way was I letting myself walk 6 batters a game trying to strike everyone out
I did the same in high school I could throw 86 ish but I had to dial it down to around 80 to gain control. I also still have elbow problems and I’m 28 so I never played any ball after school.
I played with kid in little league that only gave up 1 hit all season, including all-stars. He could throw pretty hard, but his curveball was deadly. He would literally throw it at the batters head and it would snap into the strike zone. Unfortunately, he was ineffective in high school. Everyone caught up to him in size by then and his curve broke too soon. If he had a twin, they would have won it all at Williamsport. Unhittable.
Normally, a good coach would not let a twelve or thirteen year old throw a curveball. It will kill his arm for some reason. Better he learn how to throw hard and straight even if he gets hit.
I have a similar story. Three years ago, I met a 12-year old kid that could throw around 80 on his fastball. A friend of mine was his coach which is how I met him. Not long ago, I ran into the same kid at a tournament. He's only throwing 85 now and batters have caught up.
@@jackattack2608 I can attest to that.. I was the starting pitcher for a travel team. The same catcher would catch for me since little league. 12 years old and I loved throwing 4 seam, 2 seam, knuckleballs and curveballs. My curveball was fucking nasty though. Feeling of throwing multiple no hitters made me never listen. then at age 16, my shoulder already started killing with every pitch. Safe to say i couldn't play baseball anymore.
Bro same thing happened to me. I had a nasty curve growing up that would make kids duck. Got to high school ball and it got blasted. Had to decide pitching wasn't for me since I wasn't the hardest thrower to begin with.
A fastball hurts your arm more than a curveball, the curveball is said to be the least harmful pitch a player can throw
1:56 That kid in the batters box looks scared, not blaming him with an 80 something mph fastball coming at him from 46 feet.
With zero control to boot
That doesn't really even look like the "I'm scared face" it's more like the "let me get focused and ready face".
Nah kids are fearless bro. Probably scared he’d strike out though
@@andrayday8064 agreed
@@dallaswood4117 Exactly. His control was all over the place. I would be scared too. Getting hit in the ribs is one thing, getting hit in the head is something else
Alex will be a sophomore in 2022 for the Clemson Tigers. He's listed at 6' 1" and 215 pounds. So basically the same height as when he was 13, just put on some weight. Will be interesting to see if he eventually gets drafted into MLB.
6' 1" and 215 is about perfect for a pitcher. The lanky ones who throw 102 usually need elbow surgery.
Unfortunately Alex has had to have Tommy John a few years back. Has thrown 96mph at Clemson, but has struggled with command. Also has a nasty slider.
@@andrewboyce7268 true except Randy Johnson. His knees were his only major issue he had.
I had 2 major growth spurts. In 8th grade I was 5'9" 160 lbs w/ 80mph fastball, junior year I was 5'11" 190 lbs w/ 88-90 mph FB, and at 21 I finally reached 6'1" 205 lbs w/90-93 mph FB. KEEP in mind this was the 80s/90s radar guns and pitches were clocked crossing the plate.... So you could add a couple mph's if the was clocked at the release point, like it is today...
@@andrewboyce7268 the 2 biggest factors to throw serious velo for myself were FLEXIBILITY & LOWER HALF MECHANICS.
I noticed when I put on muscle, I lost a lot of flexibility and i had to "over throw" to stay around 90.... I
I played in the 05' LLWS for Guam(Pacific), and I remember there was a kid on a team from California throwing an average of 79-81mph. If I remember correctly he pitched a perfect game during pool play which I thought was insane.
Think that cats name was kalen piventel or something. The catcher from Hawaii that year was chucking low 80s too IIRC
I remember when my team was going thru the LLWS tournament . Got that cool patch after beating all the local teams . Won the first game of the regional tournament, but then we got absolutely crushed in the second game by a team with a kid throwing low 70s . Good times
W
Played on 2 teams with Alex. He’s always been ridiculously good even in little league.
For me the most amazing part of the video is at 1:08 (app.), where Feller is pitching to Hank Greenberg, the camera focusing on home plate and Greenberg's swing. You can't even see a blur as the ball passes through the batter's box. Wow!
He threw hard but also the technology at the time couldn't film in as many frames per second back then. So there's part of the reason.
The extension from this tall kid makes it look even faster. Especially from the short mound distance
I remember this. Crazy to let kids this big play on that field. They should have kept the April 30 cut off date like travel baseball, but cut it off at 11. Moving to August 31, did huge harm to little league. Bad move.
its 10-12 thats not a bad age range
@@PassionForThePlant Yes it is. Little League should be 8-10. Then 10-12 should move up to a diamond in between a little league field and a high school field
I pitched in Little League and one of the most important things I learned is that a lot of advantage is had if you are good at not telegraphing what kind of pitch you are going to throw or whether you even intend for the pitch to be a strike or not. Good batters often secretly wait for a particular kind of pitch, and the trick is to avoid giving it to him! For the pitcher there is a whole lot of strategy involved. One of my favorites is what I would dub a "stealth intentional walk". When a skilled slugger gets up, he is hell bent to humiliate a pitcher. But guess what, there is no rule saying a pitcher has to serve up a home-run pitch! It is for reasons like this that baseball is such a great game.
That is baseball at every single level...
This is an experiment. Google screws me over regarding comments.
In the 70s, we didn't have the means to measure pitch speed but when I was 12 (the max age) in LL, but we had to have our catcher wear a leather work or garden glove with a sponge inside that, to be able to catch me. I was also pretty big and tall, towering at least a foot over all my all-star teammates' heads. I'm not trying to compete with this kid by bragging on myself, just relaying my experiences in fastball pitching. Judging by the time it took to leave my hand and get to the catcher, I can honestly say, I threw just as hard, or maybe a mph lower. I wasn't wild, but I snapped a kid's humerus in two when it hit his arm. That HAD to be one of my hardest pitches, especially since it went wide right and the humerus is a thicker bone than either the ulna or radius. ;-) -- I was a better hitter than pitcher, hitting 15 homeruns in 11 games, but I'll always be proud of my pitching too. Unfortunately, my growth spurt ended and everybody caught up in size. I pitched in Junior High School (7-9 grades and 54 ft. mound), and did pretty well, but High School was the killer of my pitching career. I just wasn't big enough for 60 foot mounds. Meh... my hitting got me a double-scholarship, so no worries. Congrats to Alex... I hope you go far!
Then I stole 2nd and third from all of those catchers because none were fast enough to get me. God I loved LL.
@@pbird5351 Cuz usually if you could throw strikes you could strike out 90% of LL hitters. I didn't throw hard at all and only threw a fastball in little league, yet had multiple no hitters and shut outs nearly every game.. because I didn't walk batters.
We had a kid In my Little League that was throwing mid/upper 70s. His team didn't even win the championship because he didn't have a great curveball. But it was something to behold.
For those of us who were middle aged, it was more to behold 35 years ago when there weren't light bats.
You don't need a curveball when you're throwing 80. 12 year olds shouldn't even be throwing curvaballs.. changeups.
Funny seeing my old team pop up on RUclips. Love our shift everytime Alex was on the mound - 3rd basemen
I'm 54 now, my brother 57. When we lived in Miami in 1977, he played at the North Dade Optimist Club and had been clocked in the mid to high 80s, with many of the academies wanting him to play for them. Alas, we moved to Idaho and had to deal with people who did the whole father son thing when it came to choosing pitchers. He was running it up at 98 to 99 in High School, but the weather took it's toll up here on his shoulder. His stats in 1977 were 8-0, 2.8 Ks per inning, with a perfect game and several no hitters. He had an issue with his all-star coach that year and quit, at which point we moved to Idaho (we were leaving after his all-star season was finished). Would have been nice to see what would have happened to his future had we stayed in a warmer climate. I sure miss playing baseball. Would be nice to be a kid again for just that purpose.
@HENRY X81 lol. Nah, he was throwing 98 at 18, but living in Idaho, the cold does things to you. I got him a tryout with the Braves but he had a tweak in the shoulder that he wasn't willing to get cut on (1980s versus today). He's happy with his life, isn't Uncle Rico'ing it. Would have been nice to stay in Miami and see where he may have ended up. Coaches were definitely better down there and we could play ball all year round. There are a lot of reasons why great players come out of warmer climates more often. But then again, Idaho is a beautiful state whereas Florida.....well, it's Florida. Three inch cockroaches are a bit much. Then again, I'll take a Cuban sandwich over potatoes any day of the week.
2023 Pitcher from Chinese Tapai 🤯
China has a pitcher right now throwing 81-82 mph at 12.
This year Chen-Jun from Taipei hit 80. He was so impressive though because his breaking stuff was filthy and he just threw strikes all day.
ah yes the LLWS, where skill means very little but the age you hit puberty means everything
LOL
I LOVE wll the B.S. stories in here trying to relate😂😂😂.
Aaron Alvey threw some nasty pitches and allowed no runs for long streaks. Insanity
My best friend growing up was Bob Fellers grandson. Got to meet him and go to an Indians game with them. Such a cool experience
It was worth it giving him the award!
He’s now pitching at Clemson 😳
Good analysis.
13 year olds playing on a diamond made for 8, 9, and 10 year olds is a joke.
I have a childhood friend who was born a week later than me. I remember when we were 13, I was playing in Babe Ruth, with major league dimensions, against 14 and 15 tear olds and he was tearing up Little League. He was hurling straight gas past 10 year olds and hitting a home run every other game. It was ridiculous.
Obviously, he made the all star team and he carried them all the way to the regional, where they lost to a team from Michigan.
It really wasn't good for him either because he was never really challenged. He dominated and it was mainly because he had hit puberty and was bigger and stronger than everyone else, not necessarily more talented. He went from being, hands down the best player in the entire league to not even making the high school team a year later
This always made me so mad as a kid. Our league was playing full dimensions at 12 years old. Watching kids that were supposedly much better than us play on such a small field felt like an insult.
Fr
That’s the way it goes. Boys playing in girls sports, cheating is allowed. We’re teaching our youth cheating is ok.
I mean it’s tha rule’s
We're seeing 80+ by a kid from Chinese Taipei in 2023. I think he's been clocked as high as 82 thus far.
Fan Chen-Jun hit 80 mph yesterday for Chinese Taipei
I was never a hard thrower but I loved the mechanics of pitching and would practice by myself in the backyard for hours in the summer (undoubtedly why my elbow was constantly hurting by junior year.) Buti only remember 2 homers being hit off me and a lot of success with off speed pitches. I don't think I would made it pro but would've loved to see how I did if I had kept playing past sophomore year.
Can I ask - does a pitcher look at the glove the whole time? where does he look? thx I'm learning
@@nofurtherwest3474depends on the pitcher’s mechanics, I don’t look at the glove because I’m a sidearmer but most overhanders do
I used to live just north of Williamsport and went to the llws 9 straight years.
The talent level of these kids is pretty remarkable.
I think it would be a much better event if they moved the pitcher back 6-8 feet and enlarged the field.
Kids hit balls to the walls and half the time only got singles.
In nine years i never saw a triple.
Its a great event and isnt super expensive so every baseball fan should go once.
I think that there are organizations where the 11-12 year olds play on a 50/70 diamond, and 13-14 play on 54/80.
I always like to see where these kids make it to - Alex made it to Clemson, but then transferred to Coastal Carolina - didn't pitch in 2024, no info why. Dylan Maclean got drafted and is listed as injured full season at the moment on the site I found him on.
Wait a minute. You said that the Rhode Island hitters weren't really having a problem getting to his fastball. Then video closes with the broadcaster saying that the pitcher just threw back to back no hitters. Ummm.....
I also said he got outs with his slider. They probably never saw a good slider in their baseball lives until then. It was really a good pitch. But they timed him up pretty well.
Watch the documentary Fastball on here. Walter Johnson was closer to 104. It was clocked at 75 ft if i remembered correctly
Bob feller just did it to me on mlb the show cant get away from this guy
My friend Tristan Lucier threw a 77mph fastball when he was in the LLWS
2:14...I had to pause it there to read the rest. The first part had me worried.
"I'm not just his sister..."
The dominican kid: give me the ball
Walter Johnson got the most cartoony ahh form when he pitches 💀
Nolan Ryan's fastest pitch was 108 mph when he was with the CA Angels. I was there in the 3rd row between home plate and 1st base.
12 year olds throwing from 46' is bogus. There's a reason why USSSA and Perfect Game grow the field as the boys age. In PG I believe 12U are throwing from 54. My grandson in 10U throws in the upper 60s, from 46 but there's not a kid on the team that can catch it. He has great control, but it takes his teenage brother or older to have wrists strong enough to not pass a ball one out of every two.
It's kinda hard watching a kid throwing that hard at that age and not think he's going to blow his arm out
I remember facing a pitcher in little league who threw 80 MPH, The coach took us to the batting cages and we hit 80MPH balls. I hit the second pitch from this guy so hard but in the late 60's they didn't have the little fences they have now, would have been an easy home run, but it was just a long fly ball. Still pisses me off to this day...
So you had someone timing pitches in LL in the 60's ??...Hmmmm That's when I played & I don't even recall that technology being available, & certainly not in LL.
@@safromnc8616 So, they removed my comment to you. You do understand that the speed of a baseball has been estimated with reasonable accuracy for years before the radar gun ? I can tell you, when you are standing in the batters box and an 80MPH pitch comes in, you know it pal...
My buddy Lenny Keunert was the greatest 12 year old to ever play and I will die on that hill. Lenny was an LSU commit in 8th grade and sat 81-84 when we were 12
Prepare to die. I saw Bryce Harper play a USSA tournament when he was 12. He threw 82, and went 13 for 13 with 12 homers and a double.
@@bigtalk2598 I would say only 10-20 twelve year olds ever have been on that level, Lenny and Bryce are definitely 2
I saw Bryce Harper pitch in a USSSA tournament when he was 12. He hit 82 on our gun, held behind the fence behind the catcher. One dude hit 2 HRs of him. He hit 3 off a guy throwing 81.
I don't believe there were guys 50+ years ago throwing faster than Chapman. The training/competition/mechanics are significantly more advanced. Seems much more likely that the measurements then were simply inaccurate (or the conversion to release velo is off).
Or those guys were freaks. I don't believe most of the pitchers of those eras threw that hard like that though.
Back in 1978, we faced a flamethrower who looked like a NFL linebacker. Dude supposedly threw 80+ mph. Was a bit intimidating.
There was a young LL Pitcher from West Middlesex Pa in the early 2000's that was clocked in the 90's!!!
no 12-13 year old has ever thrown 90,
SC coaches mismanaged Alex pitch count. He should have been available against Pennsylvania. Crazy talent that year with Alex and Cole Wagner.
I don't believe your calculations are dead on but I definitely accept them as educated approximations since mine are somewhat similar. Nolan Ryan's are believed to be even 108mph but I got 105-106 mph.
when i was 13 i was on the big field 😭
I was playing in the cal Ripken World Series and the age limit is 13 and we saw a kid from Dominican Republic who hit 84 on 3 different radar guns and a kid from china throwing low 80’s multiple times.
I remember seeing this kid. My son is 13and can touch 81-83. 77-79 he has very good control. He is on the HS team so it’s from 60’ 6”. But 80 from LL distance is nuts. You should be more accurate from 3/4 the distance. He has a straight 4 seam, a running two seam sometimes he moves the ball just a bit to get some cut. Great slider, boy his changeup needs work though. We have seen some very good 12-13 yr old pitchers, but it’s the ones that change velocity and can locate that do well.
I’m at 14u right now which is around the age of these kids but we are at 60 foot mound distance. There are kids probably throwing 80 but it is so much easier because we have 20 feet still to go on the mound whereas when it hits the 40 feet on LLWS
1:56 that kid fears for his life.
I was among the African team representing the Europe and African team that played in LLWS 2015.
Alex really had smoke on those pitches.
Sweet
i played little league with a kid who was rumored to throw 80, apparently pitch hit and run competition clocked him at 82. he was 12
Danny Almonte is the greatest little leaguer of all time. He was throwing 80 when he was seven years old.
Yea was pitching to12 year olds when he was 14 so he was just lame.
I was at Williamsport in 2001 when Almonte played. It's a pity some greedy adults took advantage of the kids ruined it all for everyone, including Danny.
I'm not sure he could hit 80 when he was 17 let alone 7.
Cool video, however its happening this year! Kid from Chinese Taipei. Kids is a freak beast!
I have a friend who’s 12 and pitches 79-81
no you dont
@@italianwaterice9594 look at his perfect game profile Max Kimbrell Birmingham Stars
How will it not be beat with people getting stronger each day? When I was younger, we had a pitcher that threw 75mph+ fast balls
That is an absolute absurd fastball for LL. Unreal.
Nolan Ryan was the ultimate pitcher. his release on fastballs and breaking balls was the same motion. god status
He was good. But I'd have to say Maddux was the ultimate. Surgical. He had so many pitches and could put them wherever he wanted, every single time.
What was Cody Webster pitching speed in 1982 for Kirkland Washington?
Jeff Allison from Peabody threw 86 at 13 from 60’ 6” and 98 his sr. year. I wonder what he threw in LL lol.
I actually played against Alex scariest thing ever
Where did you find the footage of his 83 mph pitch in Little League?
I threw 80’s and then 90s in high school. The conference adjusted and it played no factor if anything it helped hitters after we switched to wood bats.
MJH, in my little league, there is a kid throwing 80 MPH at 12. Hopefully they can make it past. It comes out of peachtree city little league I know that is familiar to you.
What about Kyle carter in 2006 ?he threw 81 consistently and won the championship complete game against Japan.
I remember when I played AAU for the Tampa Bay Raiders, we had a kid named Ray Delphie that played for one of our rivals....and he legit threw 85 plus and we were all between the ages 13 to 16....it was crazy at the time
85 plus when you're 16 is not crazy at all
Alex's father is my best friend. haha I am talking to him watching this. When Alex gets over this injury I think he will be amazing again. of course I am bias.
Unfortunately my local league was bambino, and not sanctioned little league. When I was 11 there was a 6 ft plus 12 yr old who threw over 80 that I faced one game from 46 ft. It was absolutely unhittable.
You’re full of it if you think a 12 year old can step into an mlb batters box and even remotely get close to putting the bat on the ball lol. The reaction time is not equivalent at all….
i faced a kid who threw mid 80s in 2018 Warner Robins. and for anyone wondering, i would have to load my swing when he was winding up and start swinging when he let go of the ball, and prayed the ball hit my bat.
@MJH-Baseball my homeboy Landon throws eighty plus down here in Houston
I never found a pitcher that could strike me out in LL. I was kind of a small kid but I was disciplined and strong for my size. My strike zone was tiny and I knew it was hard to hit it and I only swung and perfect looking pitches. I walked onto first a ton if I didn't gap it. I had the most stolen bases in the league that year. There was only one catcher that could get me at third if he was ready. I turned every walk into a double. I've had my coach tell me not to steal just because we were making the other team look bad. I of course didn't follow that instruction. I even stole home a ton tagging up from outfielders I knew couldn't make it to the home. I loved being tiny and fast. I always played 2nd, third, or shortstop.
'Glory Days' LMAO what round were you selected in the draft ?
I dunno, I was a kid. I had a coach that liked me and I always seemed to end up on his team.. *shrug*
He is at Coastal now and rarely pitches. Transferred in from Clemson.
I played catcher in senior league and the opposing team of the day put a big guy on the mound that threw really hard but was wild as hell. Well one came at my head and I stuck out my left hand and caught it :) I know technically interference but the ump was so impressed he just let me take first. To say the least my left hand was not impressed...lol
I have a friend who is 13 that throws 83 from 54 or 60ft I can’t remember
I be throwing that too, the distance from the pitcher to home plate is too close.
I coach my sons team 12u last year he was hit by the local hot shot fast pitcher (12 year old 73mph) that hits a lot of kids and has scared some right out the batters box. My boy had a bad bruise on his back for a month!!! Sometimes fast isn't that impressive!!!
Never say never. Fan-chen-jun from Tapei clocked in at 82mph this year.
ian anderson had a signing bonus of 1-1.5 m signed to the braves out of shen in 2016
Alex edmunson plays at Clemson now. Pretty cool.
Cole Wagner went to Georgia. My cousins team was the US champs who should have beaten Japan in 2015. Red Land LL would hit off any of those pitchers you mentioned.
It’s easy to light up the radar gun when kids are pitching at a shorter distance than kids at the same same in non little league organizations
The reason he was so hittable could’ve been because of a low spin rate on his pitches, makes the ball look slower, easier to see and react to, and nowhere near the same movement even on his fastball. Look at the Nolan Ryan fastball clocked at 100, look at how it runs, that’s because of spin rate
That catcher is almost as impressing as the pitcher
That catcher dropped every pitch and could barely block
I would have stole a base from him on every loose ball. I'd be feeling pretty comfortable getting to 3rd if I got on 1st.
My newphew who played on Hawaii’s Pony League World Champs 11-12 yrs old(2010)he was clocked at 80+…and Pony League dimensions were a little larger than Little League including the pitching mound…that year they played the other Hawaii(Waipio)team that represented Hawaii & West Regional/USA Champs that faced Japan…We beat that team badly!!!!!! Plus that was the same Japan Team that won the World Little League Title….funny thing is We played that same Japan team and OUR BOYS whoooooped their butts!!!!!!! Our team finished the season 45-0!!!!! 2010 Pony League World Champs!!!!! Beat out South Korea,Japan,and Puerto Rico(nephew tied the K’s record 16)….2015 Hawaii All State POY Pitcher & Hitter and 2015 Cincinnati 3rd round Draftee
That’s impressive. Those kids who get early puberty can throw much faster compared to the typically developing kids. It evens out eventually.
If you think this is impressive go back to the 2005 LLWS the west team had a few players that could hit the 80-83mph range. Kalen pimentel struck out 18 batters in a single game. Hawaii had a few players pitching around that speed as well. It’s not common but it’s also not uncommon as well.
How about an update in a few years to see if he hurt his young and still tender arm tendons and shoulder muscles.
He's playing at a D1 college as a pitcher. Forget which one, but part of the SEC.
I hate the 46' distance at this age. If my 13yo pitched from 46' he's be un-hittable as well.
I caught a kid in little league days early 80s he threw in the 80s i hated catching for him my left thumb was broken half way through a game thought i was good til next morning ended up with pins in my thumb and a cast for rest of summer
I used to love the llws until I had kids. My 10 year old played on that size field and hit multiple home runs. No leads, no stealing by until the ball is thrown. You’re not a pitcher if you don’t have to deal with base runners
dope video fr
Did he say the kid was 15 years old and 6 feet tall? In Little League?
Aye respect to that guy who didn’t give him the award