Defensive positioning against a slapper

[ScottBev]

I was wondering how everyone has their defense play against a slapper?

I generally have the 3B play about 3-4 steps in front of their regular position so 35-40' from home plate, and maybe a extra foot off of the baseline. The SS then plays a step deeper and 2-3 steps to her right. The 2B moves a step or 2 to her right. And finally the RF & CF shade a 2-3 steps to their right.

 

[MsDinosaur]

I think DD's coach has the 3B, SS and 2B all play up and the 1B stays back. This is at 12U, so both the slapping and the defense of it are a work in progress.

 

[chinamigarden]

My dd is a lefthanded batter, and she bats lead off. Lots of teams think that means slapper so we see various changes for the first at bat. One that really struck me was the 3rd base moved up about 4 steps, SS moved up about 5 steps and Left field was on the edge of the grass between the ss and 3rd base. DD hit a rope right at the left fielder who made the catch. The shift worked, but not the way they thought it would. We never saw that alignment the rest of the game.

 

[starsnuffer]

Traditional slapping defense isn't as useful as it was 5 years ago. Now players are soft slapping, drag bunting, and power slapping depending on the defense is. The last thing you want to do is run a 90's style slapping defense with your third and short in, 2nd next to the pitcher, and your outfield in on the skin and then have a kid powerslap over your left fielders head.

Just run a standard defense and learn to be quick.

-W

 

[ScottBev]

Thanks for the replies. Always interesting to get other's takes on things.

Considering my DD is a slapper, I've seen quite a few variations. One of the craziest defenses was 7 players on the left side of the field. #B & SS about 35' from home plate. LF & CF about 30' behind them. 2B & RF were just to the left of the pitcher playing fairly shallow. That looked great, but DD read the defense and got all the way around on a change up. Nice little grounder to right field.

 

[SBFAMILY]

Screwball said it best: My dd is a slapper. She is told one thing "Read the defense" We have seen about every kind of defense you can think of. She went 3-4 with a SACB, in play offs , against 3 different variations till they gave up and just played her straight up. SS was back, soft slap, easy single. Outfield in, stand up triple , if it gets by the outfield and the kid has speed good luck! Third base in, but LF back, duck hit down the left field line, double. Today's slappers are just not slappers. You might get by with some variations at the lower age levels, but it won't work as they get older. Watch the college games and how todays slappers attack the defense.

 

[CoachChuck]

I think a lot depends on how good the batter is at each technique, and also how you plan to pitch the batter.

New slappers and/or younger slappers typically only bunt and soft slap. So you can keep your left side defense in pretty tight, 3b 35-40 feet, SS in front of the baseline, and LF barely in the grass. Whether you have 1b or 2b or the pitcher in bunt coverage is a situational choice based on your player's ability and base coverage responsibilities, also determined partially by the pitch selections.

Intermediate slappers can usually bunt, soft slap, and some sort of hard slap/chip shot hit to the middle or left side of the field. This means your SS and LF may have to stay a little deeper and hopefully be pretty athletic so they can cover a lot of ground. Again, how you pitch this batter needs to be taken into consideration.

Advanced slappers can do it all; bunt, soft slap, hard slap, and swing away like a normal left handed batter. These batters also tend to change what they do on a pitch by pitch basis, based on the defense and the pitch they are expecting. For these batters your outfield has to respect the hard slap or swing away, while your infield has to respect the short game. Your pitch selection and location determines a lot of the outcome for this batter, keeping them off balance is your best weapon. Which can be said against any good batter.

I coach a 12U A team and high school JV softball, generally I don't see the best slappers. Typically a new slapper with terrible technique who is bailing out of the box early, and sometimes an intermediate level slapper. Oddly I see better slappers in 12U than I do in high school, but the better slappers normally get pulled to Varsity, where I wouldn't see them.

The first time I see them run through the box is how I determine the rest of that batters pitches. If they bail I am staying outside with occasional high pitches for them to pop up. If they stay in like they should, I pitch low and in, then high and away. Outside change ups can work but your pitcher better have a good change up, like 8 to 10 MPH slower. This makes them either be out of the box at contact, so they are out, or they have to slow down and negate some of their speed to first.

Defensively we have 3b about 40 feet, SS just inside of the baseline, with either 2b or 1b about 40 feet depending on whether or not there are other base runners, or my 1b speed. LF about 10 feet in the grass shaded a little closer to the foul line, and CF 10 feet in the grass shaded to the 3b foul line as well. If I don't think they can hard slap/chip shot at all they may be in the dirt depending on which player is in each position.

It's also pretty difficult to bunt/slap/hit to the first base side on outside pitches, even if the batter is staying down and over the plate.