AG Performance

This year’s MVP and Cy Young award winners. What do they all have in common? They hit the ball hard and far and they throw gas. Harper’s average exit velo is 92mph. Ohtani’s is 97 and his average FB velo is 96. Corbin Burnes’ average velo is 97 and Ray’s is 95. (The average MLB fastball is about 93mph.)

They all also weigh over 200 pounds and are strong like bull.

There’s a lot of debate out there about throwing strikes versus throwing cheddar and hitting for contact versus hitting tanks and which is more important. Here’s my take: if you want to win and be successful through high school, you can accomplish that with control, throwing strikes, and hitting for contact, maybe even at certain levels of college. If you want to play at higher levels, especially at the pro level, you have to bring the heat and you have hit the ball hard and far. 82 with control only gets you so far. There’s no two ways about it. No one is telling running backs to stop running faster, tennis players to serve slower, hockey players to hit the puck slower, or basketball players to stop jumping so damn high.

To do these things, you have to be big and you have to be strong and powerful. There are outliers, for sure, but that’s why they’re outliers.

If you still think throwing weighted baseballs (heavier or lighter) is dangerous, then please stop throwing these, too. No more football. No more wall ball. No more whiffle ball.

The weight, size, and material of a baseball is completely arbitrary and went through many iterations before it came to be what it is today. Moreover, those choices were made mostly because of what happens (how far it goes and how fast travels) when it is hit with a baseball bat