i was reading some of the draft profiles and i cant quite understand how danny rams who only throws 83 to second is a top round pick and he is deemed as having one of the strongest arms in the draft, however my friend can throw 87 to second, and may other good things, out of HS and has gotten no attention what so ever
how does this happen?

Do we believe your "83 to second" or a scout's assessment of "whatever is the highest grade on your scale, that's what his arm is"?

The scouting report also says he's 6'2" 226 lbs and launches tape measure blasts and that he might not end up being a catcher.

There's a lot more than meets the eye when profiling a player.

While I don't know all the talents or tools needed by a catcher to be drafted, a strong arm is only one of many.

Your friend the catcher might have been overlooked, but Rams wasn’t and for good reason. Actually at the PG National last year Rams threw 87 mph. I don’t agree with the quote from the scout, as we have seen even better arms, but Rams has two very interesting plus tools in arm strength and raw power. He can throw and hit tape measure shots.

He is no surprise, after all we have a long history on him an Arizona State signed him in the early period. We named him an Aflac All American and first team Rawlings All American. While your friend maybe didn’t have Rams exposure, Rams brings some serious stuff to the table. And the biggest question mark is whether he will be able to catch or end up playing 1B. My guess is Rams has much more power in his bat than your friend, thus the big drawing card. In fact, he has as much power as most any high school kid we’ve seen. The power bat is his big thing, the plus arm strength is next, catching is still up for debate. The kids who went 2nd and 3rd in the draft were picked there because of the bat!

You can blame us for hyping Danny Rams as much as anyone over the past 4 years. He was scouted as much as anyone in the country.

Good luck to your friend, 87 is great for a catcher at any level.

quote:

Originally posted by bakstop007:
i was reading some of the draft profiles and i cant quite understand how danny rams who only throws 83 to second is a top round pick and he is deemed as having one of the strongest arms in the draft, however my friend can throw 87 to second, and may other good things, out of HS and has gotten no attention what so ever
how does this happen?

As with pitchers, there's more to life than velocity.

A kid could have great velocity but a poor pop time because his transfer time (the time it takes him to get the ball out of the glove and ready to throw) is too long.

The kid who was drafted has good velocity (83 from a catcher is nothing to spit at) and probably has good pop time due to good transfer time.

He's probably also a good defensive catcher and a solid hitter.