Thread: OF is a Good Position

DD does not play the OF very much, I am not sure why it is so underrated at younger ages. She plays P or SS, played 1st 1 inning. When we work together on fielding we work on OF, boy she looks good.

Went to the park together with no specific plan, I asked her what she wanted to work on 1st, OF was the answer. Not pitching, not hitting, OF.

I asked her how much she practices OF during her Team practices and she says she doesn’t anymore. She has worked fairly hard the last year and is proud of herself.

A girl who can track a fly ball off a bat on a windy day can make many others look silly.

OF is where the athletes go

OF can drop a fly ball and look silly, SS misses an easy ground ball it is just one of those things.

I try to tell our young players why outfield is so important. At some point I heard someone say that "an error in the infield means extra bases, but an error in the outfield means extra runs."

I think the problem is twofold . The first part of the problem , at least in our area , is that in little league you are lucky to have 5 good players on your team and these make up your infield , one brave soul is going to chase balls and let someone fling an 11-12 inch ball at her as hard as she can over and over again and we call her the catcher and the rest of the uncoordinated , dandelion picking , God Bless her Heart types are going to be hidden in the outfield in the hopes that nobody hits anything anywhere near them . Now as clueless as our kids are to the things we tell them we would like them to do they manage to pickup on the fact that the outfielders are not the top 5 kids on the team . Now as they age up and the 5 girls with talent , heart and a desire to play find the joys of travel ball they are plopped onto a team comprised almost entirely of kids who have always been one of the top 5 on their team and out of those 10-12 top tier players someone has to play the outfield , yes the same spot we have been hiding kids for the first 4 years of their softball playing career . Now try as we might to tell them its important to have good outfielders they have been conditioned to the fact that on every team they have played on up till now the outfield is where we hide girls and thus they do not want to play there .

The second part of the problem is that once they make a travel ball team they start getting exposed to recruiters . This well meaning bunch of folks tells them they need to decide which college they want to go to , what kind of grades they need and what colleges are looking for including what the most highly sought after players are . Guess what the 2 most highly recruited spots on any college softball team are (hint:It ain't the Outfield) you guessed it Pitcher and Catcher followed by Corners and SS . So guess what happens ? The girls resist playing or being called an Outfielder with the passion which only a teenage girl can produce but since they want to play they will be a good little team player and go yawn in the outfield for hours on end . You can call her a Utility Player , talk about her batting average , let everyone know that prior to this point in time she has played all over the infield but whatever you do don't call her an outfielder .

I am just like you guys and sit there during tryouts or practices and marvel at the athleticism of girls who read the ball perfectly off the bat and fly like a Gazzelle across the field to the exact point where the ball is going to fall to then catch it cleanly and then to top it all off have the presence of mind to actually know where the play is and gun the ball into the infied without the need for a cutoff to get a second out . Just don't try to call her an Outfielder

This of course is just my 2 cents and the opinion is worth every bit of what you paid for it .

Honestly, as the parent of a college outfielder, parent do these kids a disservice when they tell them which positions to play by how much money they will get for school. A good outfielder who can hit ( or who is so fast on the bases that she is extremely hard to get out) will get money. Yes, pitchers and catchers are high profile positions, but they are not the only ones who get money.

Mine was recruited as an outfielder, had outfielder on her profile, etc. As we have said on our team, "Outfield may not win you games, but it can sure lose you games." As we get older, I have changed that somewhat because a great catch in the outfield can preserve that win. Ask pitchers how much they love outfielders.

DD1 is an outfielder as is proud to say so! If you want to see one angry girl let her hear you say "anyone can play outfield." Whay drives me crazy are coaches who get caught up on the outfielders who are jumping up and laying out to make OF catches. Don't get me wrong, those plays "look" impressive and sometimes they're necessary, but give me the girl who can read the ball, track it and be waiting for it to get to her with the arm to gun it anywhere on the field. That girl is a ballplayer!