House league draft - tips?

[NoVA Softball]

Our house league is starting a player draft for 10U & up this season (this is new for our league). I'll be coaching one of three 12U teams.

I've done player evaluations before for all-stars, but never for a house league draft.

So, any tips?

I think the top few players will be relatively easy to spot and will obviously go early (duh!). The top three pitchers will probably go 1-2-3, followed in the next two rounds by pitchers 4-6 and catchers 1-3. Per the draft rules, each coach has to draft their DD in the round the other coaches and draft coordinator believe she would otherwise be drafted. I am guessing for my DD (a catcher) that'll be somewhere around rounds 4-6 (overall 10th through 18th pick). The picks go serpentine (ABC, CBA, ABC, CBA)

So I think my draft order goes something like:
Round 1: P
Round 2: P
Round 3: C
Round 4: best available all-around (could also be a P and/or a C, but not necessarily)
Round 5: DD (who is a C)
Round 6: a 3rd P if I don't already have one, otherwise "best available"
Round 7+: Just look for overall talent from here on

The teams will probably have 11-12 players each.

At this age, the pitchers and catchers are still typically also the best hitters and position players too, so it's not like this selection order would leave me without solid hitting and fielding too.

Other questions:
Would you favor offense or defense for these players?

I am also open to ideas on how to select the middle of the pack players. I know when we did all-star tryouts I found it very difficult to grade out subtle differences in the more-or-less average players. So my plan is to look for coachability (hard to evaluate in a couple of minute tryout), and general athleticism (easier to spot in this format). I figure I can train the rest. I will know about 1/3 of the players in the draft from having already coached them, so that will make it easier.

Thanks!

 

[4 girl's dad]

http://www.discussfastpitch.com/softball-discussions/17878-picking-rec-league-team.html

I just asked this and here are some of the replies. We pick this coming Monday. Looking for speed after a P&C. Mine is rec not TB. Maybe some differences there.

I also recommend watching attitude while they are waiting for there chance to try out. We had 40something at our tryouts in the 11-12 age group. It's tough to watch them all so maybe ask for some help.

 

[Greenmonsters]

Draft no more than 2 players with the same first name.

 

[Delran]

We hold evaluations, then the coaches get together before the draft and rate all players on a scale of 1,2 or 3. Then we choose a random draft order. We start draft by only drafting #3 players ( 3 being the best) then we draft #2's then #1's. This helps keeps teams even on a talent level. We use this for our U10 rec divisions.

 

[NoVA Softball]

@ 4 Girls Dad - Good thread. That's what I get for not searching.

Good comments from the other thread about watching for girls that are having fun. I've loved coaching rec for this reason - play everyone in every position they can play safely, make sure they have enough fun to come back next season, and if you lose a few to travel, consider that a job well done.

 

[Momo'sDad]

For the players I don't know, the bulk of my evaluation is done when the girls are just throwing the ball during warm-ups. The players who can throw move higher up the board than those who cannot.

Obviously, all girls in a rec draft will be placed on teams and in a fair league, the greenest players will be sprinkled among all the teams, but if I had to choose between a player who could throw yet did not hit a single soft-toss vs a player who made contact 4 of 5 times but could not throw at all, I'd have to take the former. Once players are around 10-12yo, in my experience, it's much easier to teach hitting than it is to teach throwing when you've got a limited-contact rec schedule.

 

[Katsfan59]

Our rec league?. Rounds 1, 2, 3 go like this Pitcher, catcher, pitcher. If you can get a girl who can pitch & catch you're ahead. You can only pitch 4 total innings a game in our rec league so you need two girls who can pitch. Usually only one is a starting caliber pitcher, the other one you just want to be able to get the ball over the plate. After first three rounds it's best available player.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

We never had to pick our own kid. They didn't even try out. It seems to me, that just adds to the number of kids that are there.

 

[smddad]

Draft no more than 2 players with the same first name.

Reminds me of the year I drafted two sets of twins. Oy vey!