College pitchers and PEDs

[LouisEly]

To what extent is there concern about college pitchers and PEDs enhancing their performance? I know the same can be said about college hitters, but I have a couple of friends who played college baseball and while it wasn't commonplace it wasn't rare either. There is a big difference in how a pitcher is perceived with just 4mph added to their fastball - someone who throws 93-94 will get a lot more looks and probably drafted higher than someone who throws 89-90. Plus with how much and how frequently they pitch it can really benefit to speed the healing time between outings to be able to go more.

 

We wonder about college pitchers flaming out or getting hurt relatively quickly in the minors, and while it is often chalked up to their arms being "abused" in college baseball you have to wonder whether the use of PEDs in college baseball makes someone look better than they really are or contributes to injuries down the road in the minors.

 

Thoughts?

[TheCrew07]

There's always possibly of that PEDs were the culprit, the organization has added many players recently who've lost significant velocity and it's always been in the back of my mind, but I'm not sure a pitcher would reasonably pickup 4-5 mph either, that seems awfully high, 2-3 seems much more likely. It's too bad pitch f/x is just becoming popular, it would have been interesting to compare average fastball velocities from the steroid era to now.

 

There's been talk of testing all the way down to high school as a deterrent for PEDs. The problem with both the NCAA and High School is who pays for the testing? High Schools across the country can barely afford their sports programs now, there''s no money left to randomly test all the athletes. In college it would further strain athletic budgets that in most cases are highly dependent on men's football and basketball to keep the rest of the programs afloat the way it is.

 

The other question is if you're testing for PEDs do you also pay to test for illegal drugs that are athletic code violations in most high schools and have implications for college scholarship players as well?

 

As a coach I can see both sides, I'm certain we've had athletes that have used even at the high school level but there's really nothing we could do. The parents didn't think so, the athlete denied it, but the athletes didn't put in the time necessary to do it naturally, something fishy was going on. However, the funding of testing is a tremendous issue, as is the application of the rules. For example, we have parents that smoke pot, even if their children aren't smoking, would they potentially test positive being in the same house? A college player has quite a bit more control over his/her environment than they did in high school. That's just one example an issue that came up during the meeting I attended that no one had a good answer for.

[TooLiveBrew]

The other question is if you're testing for PEDs do you also pay to test for illegal drugs that are athletic code violations in most high schools and have implications for college scholarship players as well?

 

I knew a girl in college that played on the UW-Madison softball team, and she told me that all student athletes got tipped off as to when they'd be having a drug test... and they all kept clean urine samples around as well. There's just way too much that can be done to get around testing imo to believe anything 100%.

[colbyjack]

Why is the concern only restricted to college athletes? It's not like high school kids don't have the same opportunities.

[1e Corbeau]

Why is the concern only restricted to college athletes? It's not like high school kids don't have the same opportunities.

I don't think the possibility of PEDs in HS should be ignored, but one major difference between HS and college programs is the material conditions. While baseball isn't a huge revenue sport on most college campuses, it is on some--and more importantly the college baseball programs are intertwined with athletic departments that take in huge revenues and have a plethora of resources. In those circumstances with high financial reward (both for the institution and the individual athlete), I'd have to believe the opportunity for and availability of PEDs is increased.

[LouisEly]

I was just going to say what Corbeau said. PEDs definitely exist in HS, but according to my research are more prevalent in college. Like Corbeau said, colleges have access to a lot more resources. Colleges also have far more wealthy boosters, who are another source of resources (shoes, cars... I'm sure plenty of boosters are doctors or have connections to gyms/trainers). A wealthy booster can work with the same personal trainer as a college athlete, and it would be difficult to detect or enforce because the athlete isn't working directly for the booster.

 

The other thing is that high school players are given a longer leash because they are younger, so there isn't as much of a need for immediate performance. If a guy is 18 they will look at him and say, "he's just 18" and not have as high of expectations/need for immediate results as a 22-year-old college player.

 

Oh, and to go back to TheCrew's point, there is no way they can have the resources to test for it at the college level. Thus why the concern for it.