Article on our new pitching coach

[Todd4State]

http://www.cdispatch.com/sports/article.asp?aid=47579&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter


Get ready to watch some radar guns light up boys.

Zac Houston at 97-98, Hudson at 95. This makes me happy.

I remember LSU in their heyday under Bertman had some pitchers that threw really hard as well. The difference is I think Wes can actually keep our guys healthy.

[I seen it dawg]

Finally

[ZedFedder]

Wow. If this is accurate then we will make that necessary jump. Also think of guys like Jared Padgett and Ethan Small. Potentially could be that high as well. Wow!!!

[ShotgunDawg]

[url]
I remember LSU in their heyday under Bertman had some pitchers that threw really hard as well. The difference is I think Wes can actually keep our guys healthy.

That's because they were all juicing.

Worst kept secret in the history of college baseball

[ShotgunDawg]

Wes is an absolute stud.

The guys will be improved this year, but wait until he gets "his" recruits in.

It's one thing to teach a pitcher how to throw harder, but it's different actually recruit players that have the necessary components to throw harder.

[Taog Redloh]

Wes is an absolute stud.

The guys will be improved this year, but wait until he gets "his" recruits in.

It's one thing to teach a pitcher how to throw harder, but it's different actually recruit players that have the necessary components to throw harder.
What is there to wait on? He has one of the most talented classes in the country on campus now.

[ShotgunDawg]

What is there to wait on? He has one of the most talented classes in the country on campus now.

No doubt, we have a lot to work with, but Wes Johnson is one of the premier pitching evaluators in the United States.

Perfect Game & Kendall Rogers can rank classes how they want, and, for the most part, they are fairly close, but comparing their evaluation ability on pitchers to Wes' is like comparing Yancy's to Mullen's.

Lastly, evaluating pitching is a lot like evaluating QBs. There is no exact thing your looking for & different coaches prefer different styles & skill sets. Butch wanted left handed pitchers that threw strikes, & that's what he recruited. Wes wants flexible athletes, who's bodies are more like rubber bands than human, & he doesn't so much care what hand they throw with or how many strikes they throw. If you gave Butch a Wes type prospect, it would be like a 12 year old trying to drive a stick shift, &, if you gave Wes a Butch type guy, Wes probably wouldn't be as good as Butch at using him.

Nobody is right or wrong, it's just preference. Personally, I believe Wes' method is more applicable to college baseball today, but that doesn't mean every good coach would agree with me.

[BB30]

No doubt, we have a lot to work with, but Wes Johnson is one of the premier pitching evaluators in the United States.

Perfect Game & Kendall Rogers can rank classes how they want, and, for the most part, they are fairly close, but comparing their evaluation ability on pitchers to Wes' is like comparing Yancy's to Mullen's.

Lastly, evaluating pitching is a lot like evaluating QBs. There is no exact thing your looking for & different coaches prefer different styles & skill sets. Butch wanted left handed pitchers that threw strikes, & that's what he recruited. Wes wants flexible athletes, who's bodies are more like rubber bands than human, & he doesn't so much care what hand they throw with or how many strikes they throw. If you gave Butch a Wes type prospect, it would be like a 12 year old trying to drive a stick shift, &, if you gave Wes a Butch type guy, Wes probably wouldn't be as good as Butch at using him.

Nobody is right or wrong, it's just preference. Personally, I believe Wes' method is more applicable to college baseball today, but that doesn't mean every good coach would agree with me.


I agree to an extent, but I can assure you Wes cares about how many strikes a pitcher throws. Hard to get outs or keep a team in a rhythm when you are walking people. And you can't teach a kid to throw 97 Hudson and Houston would have thrown this hard probably regardless they have a very free and easy arm action. Biggest thing for them was getting in a weight program and maturing.

[ShotgunDawg]

I agree to an extent, but I can assure you Wes cares about how many strikes a pitcher throws. Hard to get outs or keep a team in a rhythm when you are walking people. And you can't teach a kid to throw 97 Hudson and Houston would have thrown this hard probably regardless they have a very free and easy arm action. Biggest thing for them was getting in a weight program and maturing.


Of course. Just illustrating the point.

[Todd4State]

That's because they were all juicing.

Worst kept secret in the history of college baseball

Very true. That was team was worse than probably any MLB team during the steroid era as far as using them.

My point was I think Wes can get us similar or in some cases maybe even better velocity than what LSU had at that time and do it on the up and up and without destroying everyone's arm.

[Todd4State]

No doubt, we have a lot to work with, but Wes Johnson is one of the premier pitching evaluators in the United States.

Perfect Game & Kendall Rogers can rank classes how they want, and, for the most part, they are fairly close, but comparing their evaluation ability on pitchers to Wes' is like comparing Yancy's to Mullen's.

Lastly, evaluating pitching is a lot like evaluating QBs. There is no exact thing your looking for & different coaches prefer different styles & skill sets. Butch wanted left handed pitchers that threw strikes, & that's what he recruited. Wes wants flexible athletes, who's bodies are more like rubber bands than human, & he doesn't so much care what hand they throw with or how many strikes they throw. If you gave Butch a Wes type prospect, it would be like a 12 year old trying to drive a stick shift, &, if you gave Wes a Butch type guy, Wes probably wouldn't be as good as Butch at using him.

Nobody is right or wrong, it's just preference. Personally, I believe Wes' method is more applicable to college baseball today, but that doesn't mean every good coach would agree with me.

Butch also liked arm angle guys- guys that dropped down or had a lower arm slot like Reed, Girodo, etc.

Wes has a much more biomechanical approach- which I find interesting because I'm into human anatomy and all of that. He talked about how fast a pitcher's arm actually goes in the article and I have honestly never heard that tidbit before. Pretty cool stuff. I remember hearing about Sandy Koufax's shoulder pretty much dislocating every time he threw a pitch and then recoiling back like a shotgun- so I would imagine he was pretty loose to say the least. And maybe that was one reason why he threw so hard.

[Todd4State]

I agree to an extent, but I can assure you Wes cares about how many strikes a pitcher throws. Hard to get outs or keep a team in a rhythm when you are walking people. And you can't teach a kid to throw 97 Hudson and Houston would have thrown this hard probably regardless they have a very free and easy arm action. Biggest thing for them was getting in a weight program and maturing.

You always want pitchers that throw strikes. But I also think that a pitcher who throws hard probably has more confidence to throw strikes sometimes because they know that they can overpower hitters a lot of times- especially at the collegiate level. At any rate, if you throw hard- like 98- you have a little bit more margin for error than a guy that throws 90. You also get more swings and misses too- I saw a Peter Gammons tweet that showed that as the average velocity in MLB has gone up, the number of swings and misses has also gone up as well.

[BB30]

You always want pitchers that throw strikes. But I also think that a pitcher who throws hard probably has more confidence to throw strikes sometimes because they know that they can overpower hitters a lot of times- especially at the collegiate level. At any rate, if you throw hard- like 98- you have a little bit more margin for error than a guy that throws 90. You also get more swings and misses too- I saw a Peter Gammons tweet that showed that as the average velocity in MLB has gone up, the number of swings and misses has also gone up as well.

No doubt velocity increases strikeouts and swing and misses which is something we have lacked. As far as confidence to throw strikes everyone is different. Velocity certainly allows you to get away with more but I have seen a lot of kids that threw hard and struggled to find the zone.

[ShotgunDawg]

To clear things up, here is Wes' philosophy in a nut shell. In fact, I wouldn't be shocked if Wes is actually the college coach quoted here.

http://i.imgur.com/TOr24Rd.jpg

[QuadrupleOption]

http://www.cdispatch.com/sports/article.asp?aid=47579&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter


Get ready to watch some radar guns light up boys.

Zac Houston at 97-98, Hudson at 95. This makes me happy.

I remember LSU in their heyday under Bertman had some pitchers that threw really hard as well. The difference is I think Wes can actually keep our guys healthy.

Wow, two guys on staff with the potential to hit triple-digit velocity? That's just sick.

[Political Hack]

I agree you can't compare Rogers to Wes, but I feel like baseball talent scouts who do this are actually much more accurate than football and especially basketball talent scouts. For one, there's way fewer people doing it so there's not nearly as much to refute them. Also, there are hundreds and hundreds of prospects including pro ready kids and college kids coming out of high school. There's a huge margin for error, but they actually do pretty well when tagging the recruiting classes.

If we have 3/4 guys hitting mid to upper 90's, we're going to have a lot to work with. I think we're going to be better in pitching, defense, and hitting this year.

[Taog Redloh]

but I feel like baseball talent scouts who do this are actually much more accurate than football and especially basketball talent scouts. For one, there's way fewer people doing it so there's not nearly as much to refute them. Also, there are hundreds and hundreds of prospects including pro ready kids and college kids coming out of high school. There's a huge margin for error, but they actually do pretty well when tagging the recruiting classes.
Your logic is completely backwards.

Basketball scouts are going to be the most accurate, simply because the top players play against each other. If your numbers are correct, then football would be next due to the sheer number of guys doing it. Baseball would be least accurate because of the lack of scouts ie 'checks' against stupid opinions. You go on to say a "huge margin for error", which I agree with, but also lends to the fact that it isn't very accurate.