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Gerry Melendez/gmelendez@thestate.com/
USC's Sam Dyson delivers a pitch in the first inning during the Gamecocks game against Arkansas at Carolina Stadium, Friday, April 3, 3009.
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Morris: Radar gun inflates Dyson's heat
South Carolina's Sam Dyson
AP Photo/Anderson Independent-Mail, Mark Crammer
Posted on 04.14.09
SAM DYSON IS A hard-throwing, right-handed pitcher for the USC baseball team. A 90-plus mph fastball alone makes Dyson a pro baseball prospect, although scouts will have to wait another season for him to become draft eligible.
Early this season, Dyson looked like the next coming of Nolan Ryan to USC fans. A few of his pitches reached 98 mph on the Carolina Stadium scoreboard. As much as he was lighting up the stadium radar gun, he was igniting talk on the Internet and on radio that Ray Tanner finally had found a flame-thrower.
Tanner did not like the talk. So the USC coach immediately had the stadium radar gun re-calibrated. Now, when Dyson takes the mound this weekend against Auburn, his fastest pitch is more likely to be in the 93-94 mph range. He still can pop the catcher’s mitt with great velocity, but he is not in Ryan’s range.
Tanner knew there could be problems associated with placing a radar gun in the press box and posting the speed of every pitch on the scoreboard. He kind of liked the idea of not having a scoreboard posting pitch speeds when USC played its games at Sarge Frye Field.
“I’m not a big proponent of that,” Tanner says, “because the kids are watching it. From a player standpoint, it can be a distraction. I understand fans like it. I understand that. So, I was OK with the whole thing for the big picture.”
Under one condition: The speeds must be accurate.
The last thing Tanner wanted was for Dyson, or any of his pitchers, to let scoreboard numbers affect his pitching. A pitcher returning from an injury can be discouraged by a scoreboard reading or misled by an inaccurate radar gun. On the other hand, a Blake Cooper can recognize he has gained a few mph on his fastball, occasionally hitting 90 mph this season.
Radar readings long have been a controversial subject around baseball parks. Scouts have been accused of relying too heavily on speed in evaluating pitchers. Pitchers have been known to overthrow in an effort to impress scouts. Recently, Boston pitcher Jonathan Papelbon complained that scoreboard readings created an unfair advantage for hitters.
There is no questioning the value it adds to the fan experience. The smattering of fans at Capital City Stadium forever will remember in 2003 when 19-year-old left-handed prospect Scott Kazmir occasionally hit 100 mph with his fastball. Accurate or not, the gun reading verified for fans that Kazmir soon would be a major leaguer.
“You’ve got to get it right,” Tanner says. “You’ve got to get it as close to accurate as possible. To say that guys don’t pay attention to it, they do. The other team does, our guys do, coaches do. It’s right there. It’s right there.”
USC uses a Jugs radar gun that is stationed in the press box, high above home plate. It resets about every six or seven seconds and operates on its own. USC purchased the gun for approximately $500 as part of the scoreboard package.
During a recent USC game against Furman, one National League scout sat in the stands behind home plate with a Stalker radar gun. Like all major league scouts, he preferred to remain anonymous, even when talking about radar guns.
“Some of them do read high,” the scout said of Jugs guns, like the one USC uses. “They have the reputation of reading a mile or two (per hour) high. But it depends on the individual gun.”
The scout also said a reading can change depending on where the gun picks up the ball. At the pitcher’s release point, the gun will give a higher mph reading. If the scout gets lazy with his arm, drops it slightly and picks up the ball closer to home plate, the mph drops. USC’s radar gun picks up the ball close to the pitcher’s release point.
With Jay Brown pitching for USC against Furman, the scout agreed to chart one inning of pitches — his radar gun reading vs. the scoreboard reading. Of the 19 pitches Brown threw that inning, 12 recorded the same reading on both guns, including the final six pitches he threw.
Of the seven pitches with a difference in reading, all recorded a higher velocity on USC’s scoreboard radar gun. Four pitches were 1 mph faster on the scoreboard, one was 2 mph faster and two were 3 mph faster.
“I can sit with a pack of 10 scouts and we can all get varying reads,” the scout said. “I think you can say (the scoreboard) is very accurate.”
So, USC fans can be assured that one day they may be watching a Nolan Ryan in the making. It is just not Sam Dyson, yet.
Listen to Morris Tuesdays from 4-5 p.m. on ESPN Radio 93.1 FM.
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