Expert: Willie Ansley Jr. - 1/3/2009

Question
Hello,

I'm a lefty pitcher now in my late thirties. I started pitching at an early age and pitched until my sophmore high school year. I threw many no-hitters prior to reaching high school. The fastball was the only pitch in my reprotiore although I was told it was quite fast and had good movement. When I reached high school, I pitched for the varsity team. However, the coach usually pitched more seasoned pitchers. One practice he decided that the velocity of my pitch would make for good batting practice. I didn't know better at the time, so I threw a lot pitches as he requested and hurt my arm during that practice. I sat out the next season and never returned. I felt my arm had healed but did not like the coach and also was not quite in the click of the other baseball players.

At 29, I returned to the game that I love in an adult baseball league. I clocked myself throwing a fastball in the upper 70's. I'm having a great time in the league, but I can't help but wonder what would have happened if I had returned to baseball in my senior year of high school especially being a lefty.

I've heard that fastball speed peaks at 29. So, perhaps I would have never thrown any faster than upper 70's. I never really developed a curve. With those two thoughts, I believe that I would have only made it to college ball. But does sitting out from pitching for over 12 years decrease fastball speed? I'm not sure how fast I threw back in high school. I still had not really thrown many curve balls at that time. Just wondering if I missed a good opportunity when I was younger.

Answer
Well I would say that we will never know. just not throwing curve balls does not mean your fastball velocity would have increased.If you told me that in your mens league you began pitching and after a year you were clocked at 88 mph then I might have to say you might have wasted your ability.