Could the best javelin throwers do well at pitching in baseball?

Jan Zelezny tryout with the braves back in '96 had his top fastball recorded at 85

[I was a nobody pitcher and was a bit over this in HS]

so no, I dont think there are hidden MLB pitchers scattered throught T&F, cricket, etc although cricket seems to be a little more likely to make a splash someday. Javelin just doesnt overlap much w/a baseball

although w/football it's a little better

Only if the objective in baseball was for the pitcher to impale the batter with a spear hurled with great force.

I saw this and looked it up to see just how wrong you are.

It is me and my memory that is wrong. Your quote above is correct.

With this correction, it makes the "exclusive company" comment I remember pretty shaky as well. I am putting my tail between my legs and limping home on this topic.

*Thanks for the correction*

np, 85 isn't good, it also isn't terrible. I believe pitching coaches think they can take an already good pitcher and add 2-3 mph over the course of a season sometimes. Not necessarily though. Lets give him these 2-3 mph -- it's still a yawn unless you can demonstrate a slider/slurve or just something NASTY. I'm sure he had the standard fat-pitch assortment of zero movement. (like everyone else not playing professionally)

Maddux for instance probably had mid 90s stuff in his mid 20s /cant remember, but everyone knows he had to reach way back to hit upper 80s towards the end of his career.

it didnt matter for Maddux--it was enough. But he's unique is an understatement

everyone else who enters the league needs to be in the mid/upper 90s or you're going to get spit out. The knuckleballer thing doesnt really exist anymore and an offspeed specialist just doesnt seem to work. Who knows tho, perhaps the game will change again.

As I recall, he hurt himself doing it and ruined the rest of his track season.

Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine are in the baseball HOF. Both threw around that maybe could bust a low 90 mph once in a while.

But pitching is way more complicated.

Greg Maddux touched 96 when he first came up to the majors. However, he learned that he was at his best throwing tailing 2-seam fastballs in the upper-80s combined with a curve ball and devastating change up, all of which he could control extremely well. Every now and then at his peak, he reached back and blew hitters away with a 93-94 mph fastball, but he only did this about 3-4 times per game.

Glavine was also in the low-90s for the bulk of his career and was left-handed, so his stuff played up.

My father was an ncaa D1 javelin finalist in the late 50`s . He could throw a baseball in the high 80's. Couldn't come close to hitting a strike zone. His football throwing prowess was better but he never played that game. Pitching in baseball is a unique skill. His little brother had a similar arm but was a lefty pitcher. Never went beyond single A

Prior to his corruption in his 30s, Sam Colson was a World Class jav thrower, who went to college on a pitching scholarship and was then poached by the track coach.

The mechanics are quite similar.

en.wikipedia.org

Sam Colson

Sam Colson (born March 24, 1951, born in Beloit, Kansas) is a former javelin thrower who competed in the 1976 Summer Olympics where he finished fifth.In 1985, Colson was indicted for his involvement in the Clemson University...

Link:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Colson

Anybody know what Sam is up to now?

I read an article saying Zelezny did 85 mph, then saying that he assessed his level of effort at "70 percent" when doing that. It's not the hardest he could throw, but as fast as he managed that day when trying for the strike zone. Later in the tryout he threw a ball over the center field fence from home plate on his first try, and he was only the third person to ever manage it at the stadium.

I also read an article around 2008 saying Breaux Greer not only threw 98 mph in high school (and was heavily recruited), but that at the time of the article he could still do it and that it's "not that hard" for him. In that article or another one, the author witnessed Greer throw a golf ball from the top of the curve on the track over the entire infield to the top of the curve on the other side.

86 with no pitching training is pretty good. If he gets some training in, he could go above 90. It’s a plus if he’s left handed.

I do think it’s more of other way around. Baseball pitchers who couldn’t make it pro could try to see if he can become decent at javelin thrower.