Thrown for a loss

If you read Thursday’s blog entry, you know that Josh and I settled a long overdue bet. It started last summer, when I inexplicably claimed I could throw a baseball 75 mph. I had pretty much conceded 75 going in, but my goal was at least 70.
So to settle this, we went to In The Zone Baseball Club in Fall River, Mass., where our friend Ron Westmoreland, the owner, hosted us.

We took a number of cuts in the cage as a warmup, and Josh and I threw around the baseball for a good 10-15 minutes before Ron put the gun on me. As you can see in the top video - not to mention I have a motion that is a cross between Kevin Appier, Keith Foulke and Daisuke Matsuzaka - I start off strong.

“64,” Ron says.
“67,” he said on my next pitch.

On my third clocked pitched, it wasn’t a strike. In fact, it hit a Rubbermaid barrel nearby, but more importantly, it was fast.

“69, and 30 dollars for the security deposit,” Ron Joked.

OK, I’m about five pitches in, and I’m 1 mph away from 70. From there, though, I topped out. I hit 69 twice more, as you can see in the top video, and then Ron wanted to give me a few tips.

He told me that I wasn’t getting enough power out of my push-off leg, and that I needed to gather all of my power in that leg before pushing off. Apparently, I was drifting forward and losing my power.

He was right, but the problem was this: Instead of concentrating on throwing, I was only concentrating on the tips he gave me, and I was losing velocity. Not to mention that, at 32 years old and as someone who hasn’t touched a baseball in six months, I was running out of gas in a serious way.

The second video is like watching a slow car crash. I’m going downhill and downhill fast. I don’t think I get above 67 in the second video, and I’m pretty sure I get as far down as 61.

Overall, I was disappointed but not discouraged. Josh may have won this round of the bet, but it’s not over yet. Here’s to hoping a little more throwing and conditioning, and I’ll get to that mark of 70.

On a side note, if you're serious about baseball or softball, or have a son or daughter serious about baseball or softball, check out In The Zone. It's not a far drive from Aquidneck Island, and it really is a top-notch, year-round facility.