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13 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP PLAY BALL THE LEAGUE WHYAREPITCHERS throwingharderthanever? "Because they're trying to,'' deadpanned one injury expert, paraphrasing the great George Mallory. The expert wasn't being sar - castic. It was a perfect four-word summation for a world gone mad for mph. From the youth leagues on up, the gun is god. Players recognize from an early age that velocity gets you the college scholarship. Kids know a good heater gets you drafted. Vogt sees the cult of the radar gun ev - ery time he agrees to catch a high school kid during the offseason. "They'll come out and they're throwing as hard as they can. And I'm diving for the ball," Vogt said, shaking his head. "I'll ask, 'Hey, what are you working on?' And they'll say, 'I'm just trying to throw hard.''' When young pitchers go to a showcase where scouts are watch - ing, they aren't trying to paint the outside corner. They're trying to light up the gun. It should be no surprise, then, the biggest rise in Tommy John surgeries is among 15- to 19-year- olds. The surgery rate for that age range rose 9.1 percent per year between 2007-11, according to one study. Overall, the trend among young pitchers has been enough to prompt noted sports surgeon James Andrews to make a plea for keeping radar guns away from the youth league fields. Good luck with that, though. For aspiring big leaguers (and, more to the point, for their aspir - ing parents), velocity readings are a siren call. The youthful yearning for more mph explains the emergence of places like Driveline Baseball, a pitching mecca on the outskirts of Seattle. Owner and founder Kyle Boddy has created a stir across baseball by incorporating weight - ed baseballs and mini-medicine balls known as PlyoCare balls. The controversial movement has been featured in USA Today and in Jeff Passan's heralded book, "The Arm." A's pitcher Daniel Mengden understands the lure of anyone offering a few more upward ticks to the fastball. "It was all about it for me grow - ing up,'' Mengden said. "Maybe there's a guy out there who is 89- 92 with good stuff, but scouts are way more excited about the kid who throws 95-97 and is all over the place. "You can teach someone to pitch, but you can't teach velocity." Cotton, a big leaguer at 5-foot- 11, knew he'd have to get the most out of his frame growing up, so his workouts were done with an eye toward the kinetic chain. "I would kill my legs. I feel like I had to build from the ground up,'' he said. "With scouts, all they wanted to see was your radar reading. How hard are you throwing?" Only after he was drafted did Cotton begin to seriously address the rest of his repertoire, refining the change-up that has become his signature pitch. Mike Reinold, a former Boston Red Sox head trainer and current Chicago Cubs consultant, is among those urging for cooler heads when it comes to high heat. Reinold, the founder of Cham - pion Physical Therapy and Perfor- mance in Boston, has emerged as one of the leading voices when it comes to the care and feeding of young arms. He's open to new training methods but said the problem is that "the internet has gone crazy." Reinold said young pitchers are seeing eye-popping videos online and rushing to put their blind faith into programs yet to be backed up by data. "They'llcome out and they're throwing as hard as they can," explains Oakland catcher Stephen Vogt, pictured above.