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Story about Chapman's 105 mph heater and the evolution of pitching

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by CarltonBanks, Apr 19, 2011.

  1. CarltonBanks

    CarltonBanks New Member

    Aroldis Chapman hit 105 on the gun. Is this about as hard as the human body can throw a baseball? Tom House thinks not...

    http://www.canada.com/sports/much+faster+fastball/4520145/story.html
     
  2. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    I haven't believed anything Tom House has said since he was quoted all over the place in 2001 saying Mark Prior --- whose delivery was all arm --- had "perfect mechanics."
     
  3. CarltonBanks

    CarltonBanks New Member

    That's true. I cannot believe Chapman is going to last very long...especially when you look at what happened to Strasburg. This is why Nolan Ryan was/is such a freak of nature. Yes, he had huge legs and his drive off the rubber was amazing, but he threw thousands and thousands of pitches at 90+ mph and never had a bad arm injury.
     
  4. GoochMan

    GoochMan Active Member

    Yep...same thing I say about Charles Barkley. Guys like Ryan come along once every other generation.
    And it will be awhile--maybe never-- before we see a 6'4 power forward dominate in the NBA the way Barkley did for that length of time.
     
  5. dkphxf

    dkphxf Member

    To be fair, every scout in the major leagues said Prior had perfect mechanics and was easily the best college pitcher that year and the top pick.
     
  6. RickStain

    RickStain Well-Known Member

    There was one guy who said his mechanics were horrible and he was roughly shouted down. Something about an inverted W or something.
     
  7. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

    Whoever was developing the young arms for the Mets in the late 1960s probably knew what they were doing when you look at the careers of Seaver, Ryan and Koosman.
     
  8. Pancamo

    Pancamo Active Member

    Mike Marshall
     
  9. doubledown68

    doubledown68 Active Member

    I believe Posnanski made this point in his blog a while back, but the speed that a human can throw a baseball is about the only athletic achievement that hasn't increased in the last 40 years.

    People can run faster, jump farther, get bigger and stronger, etc. If velocity were analogous to 100-meter dash times, wouldn't guys like Chapman be the norm by now, instead of a freak of nature?

    The best arms in the world throw as hard now as Seaver, Gibson, Feller and Mathewson ever did.
     
  10. EagleMorph

    EagleMorph Member

    Chapman throws in triple digits, but the radar gun in Cincinnati is way off. They had Pittsburgh's Joel Hanrahan at 100-101 the other day, and he doesn't throw above 96-97.
     
  11. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    I don't know about all scouts, but most of the sportswriters and analysts who raved about Prior as a draft prospect and minor leaguer were simply parroting House.
     
  12. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    Actually track and field records have noticeably stagnated in recent decades.

    The 400m record is 11 years old, the 1500m record 13 years old, the high jump 18 years old, the long jump 20 years old.
     
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