Do I Need to Tell Coach?

djcarter1966 · Sep 12, 2016

Your DD just needs to decide if she really wants to pitch. If the answer is yes then take lessons, get better and be ready. If she is not #1 pitcher material find a team where she is the #2 and gets 20-25% of the innings.

She needs to continue to work at it and see if she can work her way up to be a #1. As others have stated you are 100% in Daddy Ball land, if she can't even get innings when it's a blow out either way and she wants to pitch go elsewhere for travel ball. There are probably still some teams advertising in the area they need a pitcher.

cvsoftball · Sep 12, 2016

At 8U, I'd be pitchinhg everyone that wanted to pitch and do some weeding when it's obvious they're never going to be a pitcher. Yes, you can make that call at 8U. But, it's 8U, not win or nothing. Maybe get it down to 3-5 pitchers in 10U with more innings to the better ones as the season progresses. By the time it's 12U, you'll have some nice pitching prospects.

JAD · Sep 12, 2016

School ball and travel ball are two different things. In school ball a team can ride one pitcher because they only play two or three games a week. In travel ball you may play 5 games in a day. Will your DD pitch in TB? If she will it may be worthwhile to continue pitching lessons or at least working at home. I would also like to point out that things can change in an instant. What happens if the coaches DD breaks her arm? What if she loses interest in softball and decides to go play soccer instead? What if your DD works really hard and becomes better than the coaches DD? A lot can happen between middle school and high school!

rocktheball · Sep 12, 2016

JAD said:
School ball and travel ball are two different things. In school ball a team can ride one pitcher because they only play two or three games a week. In travel ball you may play 5 games in a day. Will your DD pitch in TB? If she will it may be worthwhile to continue pitching lessons or at least working at home. I would also like to point out that things can change in an instant. What happens if the coaches DD breaks her arm? What if she loses interest in softball and decides to go play soccer instead? What if your DD works really hard and becomes better than the coaches DD? A lot can happen between middle school and high school!

I'm giving all girls who want to try pitching a shot. Then like you said, pick the best 3-4 who will basically be the pitching staff. By the way, where I live we use a batting machine in 8U. I'm going to start working with all girls who want to pitch this fall then we are moving up next fall to 10U early. That way we get the game experience before we are forced to move up the following spring.

YOCOACH · Sep 12, 2016

rocktheball said:
This post brings up a question I have as a travel coach who comes from a baseball background. I understand how the arm motion allows you to use a fastpitch pitcher much more often than a baseball pitcher. I coach an 8U team and my goal is to try to develop 3 pitchers by the time we are in our second year of 10U. Use the best two the majority of the time and the 3rd will get what innings are available. I would really love to have at least two who will take turns getting starts. Is this a crazy idea seeing how most teams use pitchers in fastpitch? Is it wishful thinking to hope I have two girls good enough to share pitching duties? Am I doomed to lose one of them if I have them both share time or is it something that would work? Any and all opinions appreciated.

On my 18U team I have an absolutely unheard of situation IME. I have 4 extremely good pitchers, 1 outstanding catcher, 2 more that are very good and two more part-timers. With the exception of 2 catchers, every other player is also a utility. I told all 4 pitchers that they will split time equally (Pitchers were guaranteed pitching every other game) and told the catchers my #1 will get a majority of the time behind the plate but the other two would get time behind the plate as games allow. This was all told to them before they signed on which they all did. So far, after 3 scrimmages and a tournament, everyone is happy. It's all about setting the expectations up front and following through on your word.

JAD · Sep 13, 2016

YOCOACH said:
On my 18U team I have an absolutely unheard of situation IME. I have 4 extremely good pitchers, 1 outstanding catcher, 2 more that are very good and two more part-timers. With the exception of 2 catchers, every other player is also a utility. I told all 4 pitchers that they will split time equally (Pitchers were guaranteed pitching every other game) and told the catchers my #1 will get a majority of the time behind the plate but the other two would get time behind the plate as games allow. This was all told to them before they signed on which they all did. So far, after 3 scrimmages and a tournament, everyone is happy. It's all about setting the expectations up front and following through on your word.

Keeping 4 "pitch and sit" pitchers, and their parents, happy is difficult. Do any of them play other positions? If you split the time equally they are pitching 25% and sitting 75%...

quincy · Sep 13, 2016

I think I would rather DD pitch every other weekend and practice when she has the weekend off.

MNDad · Sep 13, 2016

JAD said:
Keeping 4 "pitch and sit" pitchers happy is difficult. Do any of them play other positions? If you split the time equally they are pitching 25% and sitting 75%...

Keeping the kids happy is a lot easier than keeping the parents happy in that situation

JAD · Sep 13, 2016

MNDad said:
Keeping the kids happy is a lot easier than keeping the parents happy in that situation

Very true!

cvsoftball · Sep 13, 2016

MNDad said:
Keeping the kids happy is a lot easier than keeping the parents happy in that situation

As long as you're winning, the parents think you're a genius, eh.

Do I Need to Tell Coach?

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