95 is the new 90, and it doesn’t even guarantee you’ll have a chance to play professional baseball anymore.
You’re competing against players who have finely tuned development plans, dialed in 4-6 pitch arsenals and who do nothing but obsess over how to get 1% better each month.
There’s a 95-98 mph arm who was an all star last year in Indy ball (ERA <3.00) and can’t get signed.
There’s a 94-96 mph arm with 4 pitches for strikes who has big league time and can’t get signed.
12 years ago I was drafted in the 15th round because I touched 95 with one pitch and average command.
I had teammates who didn’t even play but hit 97 in a scout day and got drafted in the top 10 rounds.
Those days are over.
The players today need to be so dialed to get noticed (especially after age 23-24), that there isn’t time to try to figure it out on your own.
Because the only chance the non genetic freaks have is to max out virtually every aspect of their development - stuff and pitchability - before age becomes an insurmountable barrier to that reality (unless you throw 100, of course).
If it feels like you’re being left behind, it’s because that’s exactly what’s happening, and all of us - coaches and players - face a decision about whether we want to keep up or let those at the forefront pull further ahead.