Conner beats Boone 4-3 in the bottom of the 7th on a double by Dustin Hermann over the LF's head after intentionally walking Padgett to put runners on 1st and 2nd with 2 outs. Brady Smiley pitched all 7 innings for Conner. A big kid on Boone hit a 3 run bomb in the 2nd or 3rd inning over the LF fence for Boone's runs. I think it was their starting pitcher. Great game and both teams played great defense.

 

I heard Blake Hart, the kid that can't run and has slow bat speed, had the two out double to start the rally and scored the winning run on Dustin's hit. Great job Blake!! Keep jumping rope, it will make you faster.

Highlands plays NCC at 1:00 at CovCath. Who is playing on the other side of the bracket?

I heard Blake Hart, the kid that can't run and has slow bat speed, had the two out double to start the rally and scored the winning run on Dustin's hit. Great job Blake!! Keep jumping rope, it will make you faster.

 

Who would have thunk it! Way to go kid!!!

Conner plays Ryle at Boone at 3pm

I heard Blake Hart, the kid that can't run and has slow bat speed, had the two out double to start the rally and scored the winning run on Dustin's hit. Great job Blake!! Keep jumping rope, it will make you faster.

 

Yes he did! I'm embarrassed for not including that.

First off, I never said this kid was going to be a "stud"... A Dixie fan did. If you are judging a kids speed as an 8th grader and think you can determine his speed by the time he is varsity, you are mistaken. You can claim to be as smart as you want about the game and your self imposed "scout" status but I've have seen several kids go from average or "below average" speed and attend speed training clinics and do speed conditioning and improve greatly. I've basically been pulling your chain as the family has already advised me of who you are and their wish is for you to quit bashing their son. You know all the times and weaknesses of a kid that you don't like "as a scout" but you don't know any other info about "the skinny red headed kid". Give it a break.

 

By the way, I heard there is an 8th grader at Conner that plays JV. I think his name is Williams but not sure. I may be looking for kids for my summer team about his age. Do you have any "scout" info on him?

Curious on whether the freshmen teams are made up of freshmen only, MS only, or freshmen/MS mix?

 

Down our way and a little further south, freshmen teams are usually MSers.

Fair enough. Consider it dropped.

LOL, you guys crack me up. So if he went 0-4 instead of 1-4, he would never reach 'stud' status? That's great for him that he got a nice hit. But don't I get half credit since the Hermann kid got the game winning RBI?

 

Look, most kids in HS baseball are slow. And when I say that, I'm viewing that through the prism of high end 16u and 18u programs, and college baseball. "Stud" high schoolers. That means (at least to me) that he's attracting college interest at a reasonably high level. And sorry to the Conner seniors that just signed but I don't view Thomas More as a "reasonably high level". (I'm not saying it has to be D1.)

 

You all are friends with this player or his family and that's perfectly fine. You should be rooting for him. But to claim that he's going to be a stud and college prospect (my interpretation) based on freshman baseball is pretty silly. And that goes with pretty much every other kid on Conner's freshman team. I like the Hermann kid. Of course you never know how kids will develop but he has a chance.

 

When I'm examining/rating players, I look for 'quick twitch', speed, and power. The player you guys are rooting for doesn't have quick twitch reaction time and doesn't have speed. He is long and slow with fielding, throwing, running. That's true for most every kid on his team though. I could see him muscling up on wheelhouse fastballs on the inner half and jerking some deep shots to RF. That's true of most kids. If you start seeing him or any other kids hitting the ball with authority the other way, then let me know. That, I would be interested in.

 

Let me put speed into perspective for you....

 

For stud high schoolers who expect to play college baseball, a good home to first time on barrel-ball contact to impact of bag is in the low 4's....meaning 4.1 to 4.5 seconds from RH batters box. For lefties it's a little quicker. I didn't have my clock with me but I'm pretty good timing it in my head. Your favorite player was 5.7 to 6.2 from the LH batters box, contact to foot impact of bag. It's not just him, most of the kids I eyeballed on Conner's freshman team were 5.3 and higher. A couple were pretty quick, low 5's, but nobody was sub 5. That means even the fastest kid on the team was over 5.0.

 

Of course some kids will continue to develop and get stronger and their speed will improve the next 3 years. But I can tell you this for sure, jumping rope every day the next 3 years won't make a 6.0 time become a 4.7 time, or anywhere near that.

 

How about 60 time, which is the standard since it's basically home to 2nd? Most MLB players are low 7's, ranging pretty much from 6.9 to 7.5 seconds. The really fast guys in MLB are mid 6's. The normal stud HS player is also in that same range of 6.9 to 7.5. Your favorite Conner baseball player is 10+ seconds barrel-ball contact to impact at 2nd base. That, my friends, is below average speed. In order to play even at low levels of college baseball, playing 1B or catcher (the slowest spots), you have to be able to hit the ball in the gap and make it to second base. You have to be able to score from second on a single, or you're completely useless to your team. Even the slow kids playing catcher or 1B in low levels of college are sub-8 seconds on their 60 time.

 

All that being said, these kids are going to keep growing and getting stronger. But speed is speed. If you're slow at 14 and your not way overweight, all the plyo in the world isn't going to make you "fast".

 

So, keep rooting for your friends. But try to keep a realistic view of what it takes to be a true stud HS player these days.

 

I've gotta go but I'll be glad to provide more info to anyone who is interested.

 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and go see a game somewhere!

 

OK, I would like to know, since you mainly see JV and Varsity games, who are some of the young 8th and 9th graders you do think are good? The player you named thought caught your eye is a good player, but if you are watching all these other schools then you should easly realize there are quite a few players that are at a different level than him and I would like to know who think thery are.

How about some results from the tournament instead of being critical of young kids? I sure hope those kids dont read these forums.

How about some results from the tournament instead of being critical of young kids? I sure hope those kids dont read these forums.

 

Ryle beat NCC 1-0 in finals

How about some results from the tournament instead of being critical of young kids? I sure hope those kids dont read these forums.

 

Oh, they read them, religiously. Most people don't think when posting about these young kids. It's pretty sad.

Ryle beat NCC 1-0 in finals

 

Congrats to Ryle. They beat Conner 6-4 in the semis. They have a very solid team.

Anybody have the score of the Highlands/NCC game?

Congrats to the Ryle Freshman!!! That is a very big win against a very strong NCC team.