Velocity Matters: Looking Back at The ‘22-’23 Offseason
The "big three" of pitching in baseball, namely throwing velocity, stuff, and command, are fundamental aspects that contribute to a pitcher's effectiveness on the mound. These three components are closely intertwined and play crucial roles in the success of a pitcher. Throwing velocity refers to the speed at which a pitcher can throw the ball. Stuff encompasses the quality and movement of a pitcher's pitches, including factors like break, spin, and deception. Finally, command refers to a pitcher's ability to consistently locate their pitches in and around the strike zone with precision and control. The mastery of these three elements is highly sought after, as they have a direct impact on a pitcher's ability to overpower hitters, induce weak contact, and minimize walks/baserunners. Pitchers who excel in all three areas are often considered the elite of the sport and can be formidable forces on the field.
Towards the end of this offseason (2022-2023), we discovered some ways to track command and stuff via Driveline’s Intended Zone Tracker to help us keep track of miss distances and The Blob (also Driveline’s) that objectively measures the stuff of a pitch solely on its shape and velocity by quantifying it with the metric, Stuff+. With little time left, we played around with it to determine the best way to use it. So while we didn’t have the chance to track those two KPIs effectively, we did track the third; throwing velocity.
Pitching velocity is a critical aspect of baseball that has captivated the attention of players, coaches, scouts, and fans alike. Rightfully so as the speed at which a pitcher throws the ball holds tremendous significance in the game. Why is pitching velocity so important? The increased speed adds an element of surprise and difficulty, forcing hitters to react quickly and making it harder for them to time their swings effectively and make good swing decisions. In addition to the impact on batter reaction time and overall effectiveness, higher pitching velocity also enhances the movement and break of pitches. The increased speed adds spin to the ball, enabling pitchers to generate more movement and deception. For instance, a fastball with a higher velocity could exhibit sharper and later movement (possibly some “hop”), making it more challenging for hitters to track and make solid contact. Similarly, breaking balls such as curveballs and sliders benefit from increased velocity as it enhances the sharpness, movement, and depth of their break, making them even more elusive for batters to decipher. Consequently, this can help increase the pitcher’s Stuff with their pitches becoming harder to predict and hit effectively, further solidifying the importance of pitching velocity in baseball. Basically, a higher-velocity pitcher has a better chance to overpower opposing batters, leading to more strikeouts and fewer hits, ultimately contributing to the success of their team.
Furthermore, pitching velocity plays a crucial role in a pitcher's career prospects. In professional baseball, scouts and talent evaluators often prioritize velocity when assessing pitchers. A higher velocity is seen as an indicator of raw talent, suggesting that a pitcher has the potential to dominate hitters and succeed at higher levels of competition. Pitchers with impressive velocity are more likely to garner attention from college recruiters, professional scouts, and even media outlets, which can open doors to better opportunities and contracts. Therefore, aspiring pitchers should spend time and effort to improve their velocity, recognizing its impact on their performance, reputation, and prospects in the world of baseball.
As you can see, velocity can have a huge impact on a pitcher’s current and future success in the game of baseball. So if we were going to track any one of the “Big 3”, pitching velocity would be it. Now enough on why it is important, let's take a look into how well we helped the athletes who came through The Lab’s doors during the 2022-2023 offseason with gaining throwing velocity.
The Basics
Age: The average age of the athletes is 14.5, with a minimum age of 10 and a maximum age of 29. This indicates a wide range of age groups participating in training. However, 29 was an outlier as the next closest in age was 18. On the other end of the spectrum are the two youngest athletes who came in at 10 years old. We tend to focus on athletes ages 12/13 and up so these two young athletes had less of a focus on a “velocity” phase and more just having fun throwing hard but still saw some substantial gains.
Number of Trained Days: The average number of trained days is 149, with a minimum of 28 days and a maximum of 266 days. Once again this is a wide range. Some athletes took advantage of time by training all offseason while going through all the training phases and then some got tuned up right before going into their spring season.
Beginning Velocity: The average beginning velocity is 65.53, indicating the initial speed at the beginning of the training period. The minimum beginning velocity is 45, while the maximum is 87.6.
Best Velocity: The average best velocity achieved by the athletes is 70.01. The minimum best velocity is 53.4, while the maximum is 91.1. This indicates the highest speed achieved during the training period.
Velocity Increase: The average change in velocity is 4.48, representing the improvement or change in speed from the beginning of the training period to the best velocity achieved. The minimum change is 1, while the maximum change is 9.4. This demonstrates the variability in improvements made by the athletes.
Overall, the data suggest a diverse group of athletes with varying ages, training durations, starting velocities, and speed improvements. Some athletes show significant improvements, while others demonstrate more modest changes. The standard deviation values for age and trained days indicate some dispersion in these variables, suggesting a degree of variance within the group.
With such a wide range of those two variables, we had to narrow them down into groups to truly see if there were trends and why some athletes saw better gains than the rest. So just like last year, we are going to break the participants into two different groups: by playing level and by days trained.
Days Trained
When we break it down, the number of days trained is an important factor in an athlete's performance and progress. Here's how the data can help illustrate the importance of days trained:
Variation in Trained Days: As mentioned above, the data shows that athletes trained for different durations, ranging from a minimum of 28 days to a maximum of 266 days. This indicates that some athletes had significantly more time dedicated to training compared to others.
Positive Correlation with Improvement: Generally, a higher number of trained days provides athletes with more opportunities for skill development, muscle adaptation, and physical conditioning. The data demonstrates the positive correlation between the number of trained days and the improvement in velocity. Athletes who trained for longer periods tended to achieve greater increases in velocity compared to those with shorter training durations. This can further be seen when we bucket timed training into month blocks after 60 days of training as we see jumps in both average and max velocity gains at the 60, 90, and 150-day marks (data below).
Individual Progress: Analyzing the data, you can observe that athletes with more trained days generally had a larger change in velocity. For example, an athlete who trained for 266 days achieved a maximum change of 9.4, while one who trained for 28 days had a minimum change of 1. This suggests that longer training periods allow athletes to make more substantial progress in their performance.
Consistency, Skill Acquisition, Long-Term Development: The data indicates that athletes who trained for longer often achieved a bigger increase in their throwing velocity. This suggests that consistent training allows athletes to refine their mechanics, develop muscle memory, and enhance their overall performance. Also, training over a more extended period allows for progressive development, enabling athletes to build upon their previous gains and continually improve their performance.
In summary, the number of training days plays a crucial role in an athlete's development and performance. Longer training durations generally correlate with greater improvements in velocity, suggesting the importance of consistent training and allowing sufficient time for skill acquisition, physical adaptation, and performance enhancement. The longer an athlete trained, the higher the average and max velocity was gained.
Playing Level
Next, we took a look at the training level:
We have four categories: Little League, Middle School, High School, and Other. Each category has a corresponding number of athletes and the velocity changes for that group. Here's an analysis of the data:
Little League: There are 9 athletes in this category, and the average velocity change is 4.5 mph. The minimum was 1 mph while the max was 8.4. Being a young athlete leads to a wide range of outcomes based on the physical maturity of the athletes. No matter the gains at this age, it sets a good foundation for arm care and throwing habits that should generate a positive return in the long run.
Middle School: There are 9 athletes in this category as well, with an average velocity change of 4.8 mph. This group saw a minimum gain of 2.3 mph with a max of 9.4 mph this group saw a bump to the minimum and maximum compared to the Little League group. This could be explained by the fact the intensity of their training increased allowing for bigger gains.
High School: There are 16 athletes in this category, and the average velocity change is 4.3 mph. The minimum here was 1.2 mph and the max was 9 mph. This seems like a mix of the first two groups. This could be because there was a wide range of goals in this group from a senior who gained 1.3 mph going into their senior year mostly tuning up for the month going into his final season. The max was set by a freshman going into pitching for the first time who trained for a long period of time. So he was raw with a lot of low-hanging.
Other: There is 1 athlete in this category, with a velocity change of 4.4 mph. This athlete was a local Men’s league pitcher. During this time, most college pitchers' training was focused on pitch design and getting ready for their season, not velocity development. So we left out the data of the college pitchers in the building at that time.
To put it simply, velocity gains held a pretty consistent average throughout the bunch. This is a good sign for us as this represents successful scaling based on age. The methods of training we use are geared towards older physically mature athletes, so making sure the younger group receives the proper stimulus keeps them engaged, healthy, and seeing the same progress as older athletes.
This was a simple breakdown of last offseason’s velocity gains for those who trained at The Lab. However, it shows two main takeaways:
If training is scaled to keep athletes engaged, healthy, and properly monitored, velocity and arm strength training can be had at all ages. This is important as arm strength translates to the long-term success of an athlete, whether they plan on pitching or just becoming a position player.
The main takeaway is that there are no shortcuts to gaining velocity. Putting in the work, time, and effort will yield the most results and be the healthiest in the long run. The data shows that you can’t show up a month before the season and expect to change yourself into a completely different pitcher. Those who trained 120+ days saw velocity gains above the facility average of 4.48 mph. In fact, those who trained at least 120 days gained an average of 5.1 mph. We saw this same jump in velocity increase at the 120+ day mark last year, so if you are looking to give yourself the best shot of gaining 5 mph, you better be ready to put in around 3-4 months’ worth of work.
The final takeaway is that our training methods have yielded rather good results over our first two offseasons in business. Between our assessment process, drill assigning, and helping athletes through the training progressions, we have seen the average gain of about 4.5 mph which can help those achieve playing at a higher level. Whether that be for college prospects or making their Varsity high school team. Some have even seen game-changing velocity gains of 8-9.4 mph. No matter what we build out for our athletes though, we have seen a great group of athletes coming through The Lab to put in the work and trust the process. No gains could be had without that.
I don’t write this up each year just for marketing purposes, but to reflect on what we have done and how we can better serve our athletes. Towards the end of the offseason, we brought on a strength trainer who is now in three days a week to work with those athletes looking to get even better and put in more work. We are excited to see how this addition helps the athletes not only improve but keep them healthy during their season. As this next offseason progresses, we will provide insights on how we assess our pitchers, choose their drills and why they should benefit them, and how certain athletes progress through the different training phases while improving their velocity.
