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On the lookout for lefties
Around 10% of all high school baseball players will ever play in college. That includes Divisions I, II and III, NAIA, JuCo, in addition to all the big-time programs that receive the rare television coverage that college baseball gets.
One surefire way of getting looks from college coaches is to throw with the wrong arm, especially if you have good movement on your fastball and can get an off-speed pitch over.
In the Dominion game I covered about ten days ago, a young man named Thomas "Gipper" Breeden threw the last few innings for Manassas Park, picking up the victory without giving up a run. He throws in the low 80s, which is hardly impressive, but his fastball had some wiggle and he collected numerous strikeouts on a big bending curve that most high school hitters couldn't touch.
Manassas Park is a Group A school, so the level of competition they face isn't what Stone Bridge or Westfield or TJ faces. Nonetheless, Gipper is a potential college pitcher -- and decent lefties are like big men in basketball: There just aren't that many around.
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