The D1 Pitching Skill Set

Hey, team, Alex Swenson here. Hey, thanks for joining me. Today we're going to be talking about the D1, D2 and D3 pitching skill set. The foundation that you need to pitch at the next level. And of course, we're going to be talking about velocity because I know everybody wants to know, how hard do I need to throw? We're going to be talking about that. And then also traits that college coaches look for. Important, important traits that you also need to be focused on. If you saw one of my last videos, there's too many people out there that are focused on the velocity standpoint and really nothing else. Nothing of the foundational things that we're going to be talking about, the skill sets, and they're only focused on velocity. There's no doubt velocity is important. Okay. But these other things are super important that we're going to get into. But before we get into that, if you get anything from this video, please select that thumbs up, that like button. Subscribe. I put out a weekly subscribe video. There was a tweet that just came out two days ago today of this recording is the 29th. You're probably seeing this whenever you're seeing it, honestly. Okay. You could. This is on YouTube, so you could be seeing this whenever you do. But coach, a football coach tweeted this out and it's definitely relevant to us. Okay. And it's relevant to any recruiting sports. Okay. So basically all sports that are in college. And let's read it. Okay, Recruits, this is quoted. If you're good, they will find you. Wrong. If you're doing nothing to be found, they will not find you. We live in the times of technology in digital media. If you're not posting your story, who will know your story? Okay. I love this. I don't actually necessarily agree with all of it. I agree with most of it. Meaning, hey, the very best of the best are going to be found. They don't need to tweet, Instagram it, whatever, Facebook it, they're going to be found. Okay? But if you're an athlete that was like me in high school, like above average, but needed help finding the right fit, okay. Needed to be proactive in finding the right schools. That is most of us, that is like 90% of us. Because the other 5 to percent that are just legit, God given, just amazing ability, yeah, those guys are going to get found. Okay. But the majority of us, we do need to be proactive. But if you are one of those athletes that is not in that 5 to 10% okay. Even if you are, you shouldn't be sitting back, but are just sitting back. Hey, they will find me. Not a good idea. Wrong. Okay. As this coach tweeted out. So I wanted to say that and make sure hopefully I'm sparking some of you guys into action and being proactive with your recruiting process. Alright, let's get into the pitching Skill set for D1, D2 and D3. Again, these are the foundational things that you need to have in your skillset to pitch at the next weather next level, whether it's D1, D2 or D3. First one, fluid quick arm action. This is always attractive to a college coach of when he sees a guy throw, whether it's on the field or in a video and it's just whippy, it's quick, it's good action with his arm action as they call it. Okay. That is something that you want to develop. Okay. Some driveline has a great program with this of heavy balls but also super light balls. That helps you speed up your arm, helps you with your quick arm action. The next one, repeatable delivery, being consistent with your delivery. If you're consistent with your delivery, you're going to be consistent with throwing strikes with it, which is super important. Which we're going to be getting into these next two bullet points. But how do you work on a repeatable delivery? Not enough people do this. Okay. They working on their bullpen. But you're throwing a bullpen once, twice a week, depending on the season. Okay. So bullpens are like gold because you can't throw them every day or your arm's going to fall off. But you can do dry mechanics anytime or you can do a ghost pin anytime. So what are dry mechanics, dry mechanics or that? They're just mechanics you can do anywhere. Working on without throwing a baseball. You can do it in your room. You can just work on getting into that position. Whether you're working on with your pitching coach, your back leg, sitting your back leg, getting your hands going at a certain time, maybe working on your front side, but you're constantly doing that, right? Getting good body awareness. Then ghost pins are so valuable. You going out to the field or into a bullpen and visualizing a hitter up there and you're not actually throwing a ball. You could have a ball in your hand if you wanted to. You could have a tallow, like for tallow drills, you could do that as well. But you're going in and you're throwing actually in the pin, but you're not throwing the ball. Okay, you're visualizing it, but you're doing it and you're visualizing it and you're making as realistic as possible. Okay? Make it as realistic as possible. That can be so valuable. And help you repeat your delivery. Keep commands, fastball to both sides, up and down. Be able to throw the ball away in up and down, sharp breaking ball that they throw for strikes. So you need to have two pitches at least and a developing changeup. Hey, if you have three pitches, fantastic. Work on throwing your changeup in long toss. Definitely work on throwing your change up in bullpens and even in games and pick your spots and situations when you do this. Next skill set, swing and miss stuff, good movement, fastball and other pitches. So, hey, maybe your velocity isn't as high as everybody else, but man, you can really command it. You have good depth to your fastball. You have a good breaking ball, you have a good changeup that has depth. You move the ball around, you get a lot of weak contact. Okay, A lot of weak contact is super important. What these scouts also look for, some traits that these coaches look for, is a good presence on the mound. How do you look on the mound? Do you want the ball? Okay? Do you get it? Do you go out there? Are you sluggish, your shoulders kind of tilted over? Did you have a bad inning? And you're just kind of like body language that you don't even want to be there. Hey, not attractive at all. That's a trait that these coaches do not want. Are you athletic? Are you projectible? Projectable is athleticism in a pitcher. It's a lot of these things, like quick arm action. Do they see yourself growing into that body? How does your lower half work then? Coachable seeks knowledge, work ethic leads academically strong. And some of this stuff is getting into it. When they talk to your high school coach or when they talk to your summer ball coach, where they'll be able to tell them to develop your relationship. Make sure you have this. Make sure you have these things that you're coachable. You seek knowledge. You obviously work hard. Gotta work hard, okay? You lead, lead by example, and you're academically strong. But develop a relationship with your coaches. It's super important, okay? It's super important. You don't have to like everybody, okay? It's very important. You need to understand you're not going to like everybody. You're not going to like all your coaches, but you need to learn how to have a relationship with a person that you might not like all the Time, Okay. Because relationships can help you get a lot of places. Let's get into velocity. Okay? There are definitely exceptions to these velocities, but these are kind of on average if you will, and this is some of the stuff again we can be up to this up to 88 miles an hour. And you probably will get some chances some places that you will, but you, and you're not. But if you're not throwing strikes, if you can't repeat your mechanics, if you can't throw a breaking ball over for a strike, you're just not going to pitch. Okay. And then potentially they're just going to let you go. All right. You're going to go to a JUCO or something like that. All right. So again these are ranges and that's why I wanted to go over those skill sets before because that's such a foundation. But velocity, there's no doubt about it, it does matter. So d1 velocity ranges, right handed pitcher, power fives. Most of these guys now are 88 plus, definitely mid majors, 86 plus, left handed pitchers, 86 for power fives, 86 plus mid majors, 84 plus but can really command it. Division two, really good baseball. Division two, 85 plus left handed pitchers, 83 plus D3s, 83 definitely plus for right handed pitchers and left handed pitchers, 81 plus. But you know, there's again there's all different ranges. There's of course exceptions to this. You could go on to Division 1 team and see a guy that's a right handed pitcher on a mid major, you know, throwing 83, 84. And this is really what I need to make sure these are consistent. Okay? It's not like hey, you're on a mid major and you're sitting 80, 81 and you pop in 84. Now you need to be consistently 84, 85, popping 86. These are consistent miles per hour. So make sure that you understand that, okay? It's not your top end speed because top end speed usually you can it ranges but you can be two to three, three really two, three, four miles an hour over your average, sometimes even five that you top out but you're averaging. So for example, you hit 85 but you're really sitting again 80, 81. Okay? So keep that in mind and work on your velocity. I want you guys to work on your velocity, but make sure you're doing it the right way. Let's get into some video of what a Division 1 pitcher looks like that's coming out of high school. So this is high school and this guy went on to a power five division one. Okay, but I want to go over some of his video right here. There's about six to eight pitches here, but very simple mechanics. Ball comes out of his well. Good arm action. That's quick right. He's balanced. This is a repeatable delivery. There's nothing crazy going on. That's a sharp breaking ball. Here's another breaking ball here. Sharp breaking ball. Good movement. Ah, he's got a change up. Good pitch. Guy had some depth to it. Another change up. Again, very repeatable arm action and mechanics here. Boom. This guy is now consistently in the mid low to mid-90s. Next guy, left handed pitcher. Okay. Also went to a Division 1 school. Let's take a look at the left side. Oh, good arm action, especially for a lefty because there's not as many of them guys. That's why lefties are so attractive. Really good arm action. Here's a breaking ball. Again, repeatable. Simple mechanics. Throw it for a strike. This guy's filling it up right now. That is what you want right there from a left handed pitcher at the Division 1 level. A guy that's just consistent throw strikes. And yes, that has some velocity, but you need him to throw strikes here. Let me see if I can pull this back up. All right, so guys, hey, if you got anything from this video or have any questions, please comment down below. Please like and subscribe and I put out a weekly video Again, if you have any questions, go on and ask down below. I will see you in the next video. Take care.