Velocity & Speed are NOT as important as you think

Hey team Alex here we're going to be talking about metrics. What is metrics Is your arm velocity, your exit velocity, how far you hit the baseball, how fast you run the 60 and so much more. We're going to be talking about why it's not as important as you might think it is and plus what to be focusing on to help your overall game, to help yourself play at the next level. Now does metrics have its place? Absolutely. It's part of the equation. But the problem is too many parents and student athletes, athletes think it's the end all, be all. If I just throw this hard, if I just run this speed, I will be recruited. I will play at the next level. College coach will want me. And there's a problem with that. But before we get into that, hey guys, if you get anything from this video, please select that like and subscribe button. I put out a weekly video on recruiting and just how to better ourselves on and off the field. I need to preface who I'm talking about and I'm talking about the 97 to 98% of high school student athletes that aren't throwing 90 plus miles an hour in high school or not hitting 15 home runs in a season. Now will throwing 90 plus miles an hour in High School and hitting 15 bombs in High school gets you recruited? Yeah. It's going to get you committed. Okay, so what am I saying? I am saying for the 97 to 98% of student athletes that are not doing that, you need to focus more on your attention to detail. You're command of your pitches. All right? Hitting more barrels, hard hit baseballs, other parts of the game, that's going to enhance your game, that make, it's going to make you more attractive to these college baseball players and just make you an overall better player throughout the season. Okay. There's too much attention on throwing 95 miles an hour, hitting a ball 405ft. Okay? And I want you to do that. Okay. I want you to continue to long toss. I want you to continue to work on your exit velocity. I want you to continue to be in the weight room. Of course, you've guys heard me talk about this, okay. I want you to improve your athleticism all around the field. I just don't want you to focus all your attention on, on your metrics. That, that is what I'm getting to. Okay. Because it's just too much of this is going around, of course, in my opinion and not enough about the game of what's going to make you a Good baseball player. Again, all those attention to details. Now, is it possible to be successful? Okay, I'm not throwing 90 miles an hour or not hitting, you know, an exit velocity of 98 to 105 miles an hour. It is. We're going to get into that right now. Let's talk about three MLB pitchers that have been studs on the mound that don't throw 90 miles an hour and again just have been awesome in their career. And then we're going to get into a couple hitters like them. But just on the offensive approach. Okay. The first guy we're going to talk about is Kyle Hendricks. Okay. His average fastball is 87.2 miles per hour. And just a few years ago he led the MLB and with the lowest ERA at 2.13, 2.13, averaging 87.2 miles per hour. The next guy is John Lester, five time All Star and his average fastball is 89.1 miles per hour. And I believe he's got a no hitter under his belt. Actually, I'm positive, now that I think about it, he's throwing a no hitter. And the next guy, Corey Kluber. Okay, average fastball 89.8 mph. 2 time Cy Young winner and just threw a no hitter recently as we in the 2021 season. Okay. What do these guys have in common? Obviously they don't throw 90 plus miles an hour consistently. Okay. But they have feel for their pitches. They are craftsmen or on the mound. Right. They can throw their breaking ball whenever they want. 20 counts, 21 counts, 31 counts. They can locate their fastball in, out, up and down. They know these hitters. They know themselves so well. They study the game again, they are craftsmen. That is what you need to be doing with your game. Okay. And improving the things that you need to be improving. All right, Those attention to details that we just talked about with those guys, really, rather than just worrying about I need to throw 95 miles an hour. Okay. Yes, improve your arm strength, but you also need to be focusing your attention on these other things. Now let's talk about two MLB hitters that are outstanding and aren't the biggest guys in the world that don't have crazy exit velocity numbers. The first one is Michael Brantley, a Silver slugger that is hitting.350 as of this time of this recording. And his average exit velocity is 89.3 miles per hour. Okay. Hey, that's not talked about a much. You, you kind of see this on Perfect Game and PBR again and this is more related to the high school level is hey, continue to get your exit velocity as much as you possibly can. What's this? Creating bad swings? Okay, hey, there is a place for those guys, obviously that has huge exit velocity numbers that hits a lot of home runs. But usually there's a correlation with that big swing and misses, okay? There's a give and take for that. You need to understand who you are. If you're not that guy, you need to be more like a Michael Brantley and a Daniel Murphy, which you're about to talk about. But the thing is with Michael Brantley and Daniel Murphy, frankly is they don't miss pitches, okay? They have quality at bats and hey, they get on base and they score runs. That is the name of the game. You need to score runs in order to win this game. Now speaking on getting base, you need to be good on the bases. You need to be a good baserunner. This goes back to attention to detail. You need to understand how you are as a base run where you need to improve, understand the picture, understand the catcher during games so you can enhance one yourself and your team. More importantly, so you can win games. Okay? That is what we do this for. We're here to win games and how we do it are these little things. It isn't your exit velocity, okay? And again, there is a place for those guys. But if it's not, you don't focus on that too much and try to improve it, but focus on these other things as well. Now Daniel Murphy at two time silver slugger, okay, I'm biased to this guy because I know him and he went to my alma mater. But his average exit velocity is 89.6 miles per hour. And he's very similar to Michael Brantley. He has quality at bats, he does not miss pitches, he barrels up balls. He's a doubles machine. Michael Brantley is also a doubles machine. That is what you're looking for. Hard hit baseballs, okay, and how do you work on that? Is off the tee with quality swings, front toss, as much BP as you can, having better focus in the box, things like that. Okay, but if you're too focused on, hey, again, these exit velocities and all these metrics, you're not focused on the right things. And again, I'm not taking anything away from metrics because again it does have its place. But, but don't be so overly attuned to those things as we move forward. Okay, so what can you be focused on? One, we mentioned it a lot of those things, but hey, focus on your athleticism. Focus on your physicality. I do want you in the weight room. I think it's really big that you are in the weight room to get bigger and stronger. That helps your metrics. Okay? This will help your metrics, but I don't want you to get so big that you're losing mobility, especially for pitchers and things like that. If you have any questions about workouts and things like, let me know. I can send some stuff to you. But this. Your athleticism, your. Your smoothness, okay? Doing skill work is huge. Again, skill work isn't on your metric side. Skill work is your hands in the middle infield, your catcher's footwork or skill work on the mound. All right? How's your delivery? How's your motion as you go to help you with your command? Focus on those things as well as your metrics. I'm not telling you not to focus on them. Just don't focus on as much. Hey, hope you got something from this video. And if you. If you did, please like that. Like and subscribe button. I put out a weekly video, and I'll see you in the next one.