Defense for P

There is a gap between DD and #2 pitch on our Team.

Our defense is not good.

HC has put our best Team on the field supporting DD, where #2 or #3 defense alignment has not been the best.

I think I would put the worse defense behind DD and the best behind the other pitchers.

Even when I managed, no DD on Team, I struggled with this.

Not sure there is a right anwser.

It's a strange animal. I know for our team, when the #1 throws, the defense isn't as good because another pitcher is also 1B (and she isn't a good baseman). Now the #1 pitcher is also an excellent 1B, so when she isn't pitching, our defense is actually better.

Idk, someone has stats somewhere but in SB P gets involved in a lot of plays.

Doesn't seem to be as much in BB?

I struggle with this too. Unless #1 P gets a ton of strike outs, then she gets the "poor" defense behind her but best catcher.

I assume this is some rec league with minimum infield time requirements for players. If not you can just put best defense behind all pitchers.

It is rec and there are some playing time requirements, nothing about position.

HC jungles players, my personality too.

quincy said:

It is rec and there are some playing time requirements, nothing about position.

HC jungles players, my personality too.

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I understand the "theory" behind what the HC is doing. But I'd have to look at it differently. I know it's rec, but usually rec still involves team placement ( 1st 2nd 3rd finish ) and All Stars. Usually the higher you place, the more All Star picks you get. For those reasons, I'd have to choose my pitcher AND defense on a game by game basis, according to the talent level we would face.

Learning to manage and navigate the competition, along with meeting the mandatory games/weekly innings per player, is one of the most important parts of a good rec coach. There is a time to teach, a time to learn, and a time to go for the win.

GOINGDEEP said:

I understand the "theory" behind what the HC is doing. But I'd have to look at it differently. I know it's rec, but usually rec still involves team placement ( 1st 2nd 3rd finish ) and All Stars. Usually the higher you place, the more All Star picks you get. For those reasons, I'd have to choose my pitcher AND defense on a game by game basis, according to the talent level we would face.

Learning to manage and navigate the competition, along with meeting the mandatory games/weekly innings per player, is one of the most important parts of a good rec coach. There is a time to teach, a time to learn, and a time to go for the win.

Click to expand...

Rec ball can be a challenging juggling act for sure.

On our team the top 2 pitchers are roughly equivalent as pitchers. One is faster, one is more accurate and has more pitches; they are about equally effective. The faster pitcher is not athletic though. She can hit but she's a big girl, and very slow. She usually will not even be able to field a slow grounder hit back in her direction at pitcher because she has a hard time bending over. The other is very athletic and mostly plays SS when not pitching. So our strongest defensive lineup is typically with the less athletic girl pitching, and the other at SS. I think that's why she's gotten less pitching time; when the faster pitcher is not pitching, she is sitting. It's interesting to see how the coach lines things up for games against different types of teams. Like sometimes when we've played really strong teams, he'll pitch our #3. I think he's thinking our odds of winning are very low anyway, it gives our #3 some pitching time, and it's very possible they might struggle against a slower pitcher when they're used to seeing 45+ at least most the time. Of course, she doesn't throw many strikes so that usually doesn't work out.

The strategy of softball is really interesting to me. I can't believe I used to think baseball was boring. I'm always drawing a diamond on a piece of paper for various teams and trying to decide who I would pitch and catch, and where I'd put everyone else. It very rarely lines up with what the coach does. lol I'm not saying he's wrong, he has way more experience. It would be kind of fun to get to decide for a day and see how it went though. haha

IDK, we have a P that can not field a ball hit to her, she is an OK pitcher but just put runner on 1st on consider yourself lucky.

Being the boss for the day is overrated, maybe I over think things but there always seems to be a lot,going on.