Baseball Prospectus: Developing Velocity

[weams]

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=27294

All teams want their pitchers to throw hard. Today?s low run-scoring environment correlates strongly with a league-wide uptick in fastball velocity and seemingly every club has a flamethrower or three on its roster. Some of them threw 96 from the day they signed a professional contract. Others are developmental successes, the product of mechanical instruction and hard work from both the player and the development staff. Not all teams develop hard throwers in equal measure, however. Some are better at developing velocity than others, and the clubs that proactively build arm strength and emphasize throwing hard as part of the developmental journey get the most gas from their farm system as a whole.