The little righty wearing the Bob Feller jersey squeezed the ball, cranked up and let fly with all his might.
He seemed pretty pleased with his heater, until he stepped back and saw the radar reading: 47kph.
As the nine-year-old kid slowly trudged away, too embarrassed to look at his dad, the man running the speed gun arcade outside the New York Mets' spring training park in Port St. Lucie, Florida, shook his head.
"These kids see it on TV these days, it looks so easy," he said. "Those Tigers pitchers throw the ball 104 [167 kph]. Then these boys try it -- 27 [43 kph]."
So blame it on Joel Zumaya, Justin Verlander and company. They really started this latest heat wave, blowing away A-Rod, Jason Giambi and Derek Jeter in last October's playoffs.
Radar rage has taken over baseball in the US.
"It's definitely gotten out of hand," New York Mets closer Billy Wagner said. "I remember my first game with Philadelphia. I hit 100 [160 kph] with my first two pitches. My third was 99 [159] and they booed."
Fans demand that the numbers get posted on scoreboards and TV screens. Scouts point their Jugs and Stalker guns at every fastball. Even hitters fixate on the speed boys.
And with Jason Schmidt, Kyle Farnsworth, Bobby Jenks, Josh Beckett, Daniel Cabrera, Felix Hernandez and more, there are plenty of guys who can bring it.
"If somebody's clocking it hard on our team or the other team, I'm checking to see what it was," Florida second baseman Dan Uggla said. "Doesn't happen a whole lot. We're still fans of all that kind of stuff."
Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson are among the many aces who have won with heat. Then there are Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Jamie Moyer. They fly below the radar and rely on those pillars of pitching -- location and changing speeds.
When he was younger, New York Yankees star Mike Mussina said he cared more about his gun numbers. After 239 wins in the majors and 2,572 strikeouts, he's focusing on getting outs, rather than radar readings.
"I think it's become an entertainment tool at games, at stadiums," he said. "I think scouts and others, they find it important to be able to judge somebody's talent. But they're putting it in every stadium out there."
At 24, Marlins reliever Taylor Tankersley understands why someone would overthrow.
"It's everything that makes the inside of a man a man. You want to throw it the strongest, hardest, fastest that you can or anyone can," he said. "But sooner or later, you realize your job is to get outs, and with a couple of exceptions, that means anything but throwing it as hard as you can."
For some pitchers, the gun is a fast track to the majors.
"If it weren't for a radar gun, I don't know if I'd be where I was today," Dodger Brad Penny said.
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