PG,
Now that the players ages aren't included in the profiles, are their ages available to the coaches/scouts?

Yes, their birthdate and lots of other info is in the database and the pgcrosschecker files.

PG Staff,

In your experience, do college coaches and scouts care if a kid is young or old for his graduating class? Do you get many questions on that issue from coaches/scouts?

There usually is not enough difference in age to make a difference. This can be much more important to professional scouts, they would prefer the younger age in most cases.

Pro scouts are more likely to ask about DOB than colleges. Many top colleges recruit JC players. They are more interested in the present ability to help their program than the projection of a player.

The one thing colleges that recruit high level prospects do often consider is if a player will turn 21 before his junior year. This means they could lose him to the draft after his sophomore year rather than having him for three years.

So in the above case... I guess they would prefer the same player be younger or the normal age rather than older for his class. This still doesn't stop them from recruiting the older players if they can help out right away.

Interesting. I would have thought given that pitchers tend to gain more mph between 16 and 17 than between 17 and 18 there would be a tendency to follow a younger pitcher at a given velocity. Of course if a 17yo junior is throwing 3 or 4 mph faster than a 16yo junior going into their junior season one would go with the bird in hand, although I'd think there'd be a tendency to keep an eye on the younger one as a possibility for the late signing period just in case the younger one made some strides in ability over the next year plus.

In the end, a player has to demonstrate they have the talent to play at the next level whatever age they may be, and despite my focus on velocity there's also more than velocity involved as long as the velocity is there.

Given his velocity right now as a fairly young 16yo, I expect CASon's best chance at signing with a D1 as a freshman will be during the late signing period next year as it would be a stretch for him to add enough velocity prior to then. If not he should be able to go the JC route if he's set on D1 or play at a lower level than D1.

CADad,

Gaining velocity is very much an individual thing. I know you have done a lot of research on the subject and could be more educated than I am in this area, but we see a lot of young pitchers who really improve velocity a lot between 17 and 18 and even later on in college or professional baseball.

I think it might have more to do with physical maturity than age.

Bottom line… Colleges tend to be more interested in what they presently see, while pro is just as interested (if not more) in what they think you will be four or five years from now.

A physically mature 17 year old with a 90 mph fastball and good size may not be as interesting as a 90 mph kid with a good frame who has not matured physically. Not to open up a can of worms again, but colleges care less about body type/size and projection than pro scouts do.

PG,
I agree. The physical maturity is more important than the age. The age and physical maturity tend to go together but not always.

One can look at things in general terms but when push comes to shove a coach or scout has to look at the individual and decide how important projection is or isn't in assessing that individual.

There was one pitcher at the CA Underclass who is registering about the same velocities he did at 14. He's also about the same size as then and his picture looked fairly mature at 14. I understand he's capable of throwing harder and he was throwing such a high percentage of strikes at the event that I wouldn't be the least bit surprised. Even so he may not be all that projectable as a pitcher and as good as he is he may not be quite as interesting to the pro scouts as a pitcher as a result. However, it is also pretty obvious he could contribute at a D1 right now so he can be expected to get a whole lot of interest from them. I'm also not saying he won't get interest from the pros, just that the interest that he gets might not be based all that much on projection.