Are You Better Than a Professional Baseball Player?

[jrinne]

I don't think people realize how hard it is to hit a 80 mph fastball. 70 mph is difficult enough. At 35, no.

 

[Junior Griffey]

Lots of double-headers I assume

Ha yeah. I was thinking 56 AB's, not games.

 

[RITM]

I could not. I know this based on previous visits to the batting cage.

 

[predatorkj]

I don't think people realize how hard it is to hit a 80 mph fastball. 70 mph is difficult enough. At 35, no.

It's all about timing. Hell, buy a pitching machine and set it at that. You'll get there. Point is, you need to be able to guess location and what the guy is throwing. That is what seperates major leaguers from guys like us.

If I struck out that much, I'd step into a pitch. Christ that sucks. In any case, like I said, your main focus at this level should be trying to guess/know what the guy will throw, watching his delivery and watching pitch location. In high school we had to go in cold turkey. These guys get some benfit with a half assed scouting report. In the majors, you get that and the ability to watch yourself and see what you need to tweek. It shouldn't be about being able to hit, it should be more about the mental side of it at this point. If you're not at that level, I don't understand why in the hell a club would waste a dollar on you.


All of this said, I don't exercise much any more. Got more important things to do like waste money on cards, go to school, work, and women. So I couldn't probably hit a cow in the ass with a fiddle at this point. But if it was my living, I'd sure as hell find out what I needed to do to fix the problem.

 

[Eamon]

I have batted in the 80+ MPH batting casges twice in my life.... they are almost impossible. I think I fouled 2 balls off in 20 pitches. I have a feeling I could put 1/2 in player and I most definitely would lean into at least one pitch before I decided to never step up to the plate again... but hey I would be on base.

 

[predatorkj]

I have batted in the 80+ MPH batting casges twice in my life.... they are almost impossible. I think I fouled 2 balls off in 20 pitches. I have a feeling I could put 1/2 in player and I most definitely would lean into at least one pitch before I decided to never step up to the plate again... but hey I would be on base.

It's all about practice......

 

[Johnny G]

I was honest and voted no. It isn't easy to hit a 90 MPH fastball with movement. Maybe luck if I stuck bat out and made contact, but it wouldn't find the gap.

 

[jrinne]

It's all about practice......

I stopped playing ball once I realized I lost a step. Practice wasn't going to help me get back to that form. Hell, I swing the bat the wrong way now a days and i can throw my back out.

 

[Hallsgator]

I was honest and voted no. It isn't easy to hit a 90 MPH fastball with movement. Maybe luck if I stuck bat out and made contact, but it wouldn't find the gap.

There are a ton of guys in the GCL who don't even come close to touching 90.

 

[markakis8]

I don't think people realize how hard it is to hit a 80 mph fastball. 70 mph is difficult enough. At 35, no.

Anybody that's played high school baseball can hit an 80 MPH fastball easily. 90 MPH is a different story.

 

[predatorkj]

I stopped playing ball once I realized I lost a step. Practice wasn't going to help me get back to that form. Hell, I swing the bat the wrong way now a days and i can throw my back out.

I hear that. I'm at that point too now.

 

[Hallsgator]

Fantastic article about Shaq here

http://www.weei.com/sports/boston/b...nderstanding-epic-struggle-why-prospect-shaq-

 

[scotty216brs]

Fantastic article about Shaq here

http://www.weei.com/sports/boston/b...nderstanding-epic-struggle-why-prospect-shaq-

No wonder he sucks, he looks like Darnell McDonald! :lol:

 

[notjomommasclint]

Fastballs wouldn't be the problem. It's seeing a 89 mph heater followed by a 78 mph curveball that has you on your front foot swinging a limp belt.

 

[thefatguy]

Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

 

[thefatguy]

Michael Jordan couldn't do it.

 

[Card Magnet]

Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

I know I is!

 

[All The Hype]

Anybody that's played high school baseball can hit an 80 MPH fastball easily. 90 MPH is a different story.

No way man...if you threw 80mph in most high schools, that would put you among the top 5% of pitchers in the conference (and even so, MOST high schoolers wouldn't be able to hit that effectively and consistently). I'd guess the average high school pitch speed to be about 72mph. I'd guess that the average high schooler can hit anything about 74 or lower with consistency, and anything above that takes one of the better hitting high schoolers (to hit it consistently).



Back to my point, there's a massive overestimation of pitch speed these days.

When you ask someone how hard they throw, you can basically plan on subtracting 7-12 mph from their answer to get the truth.


I mean, people have told me their 5'4" 11-year-old is hitting 79 on the radar gun. Let me help you out here: No he's not.
A) Sports Illustrated would be all over a story like that
B) His All Star team would have won the Little League World Series and probably the World Baseball Classic too, because at a pitching mound 46 feet away, that's equivalent to about 104 mph


Bottom line, humans are not radar guns, and I've found that most humans would make absolutely horrible radar guns if they tried.

 

[notjomommasclint]

Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

Not sure but I'm taller and can crush fastballs.. Even at age 37.

 

[thefatguy]

Not sure but I'm taller and can crush fastballs.. Even at age 37.

Lol
If I wasn't on my phone, this would be sooooo liked
Hahahahha