Pitchers playing down in the fall

[collinspc]

I guess we don't really have fall ball by us then. It is tournament ball or nothing.

Our league does a 12 to 14 game season for the kids moving up/or needing more playing time for both softball and baseball.

 

[FP26]

Over the time I have learned to not worry about anything but our own team and players and what is best for them. We'll continue our journey of being the best we can be no matter who is in the other dugout.

As others have said, there is good and bad reasons to play up, play down, transition to whatever, but they are personal/team based decisions and as long as they are doing it within the rules, then fine.

I like this response. I try not to allow other teams to bother me, whether I agree with their decisions or not. I help coach a team that was 14u during 2014, but is moving to 16u for 2015. Anything we did during the fall was at the 16u level. I know several teams that would continue to play at the lower level until they don't have a choice.

FYI - Our team is half players that need to move to 16u and half players that have another season of eligibility at 14u. They wanted to stay on the same team so we are keeping them all together.

 

[collinspc]

I guess we don't really have fall ball by us then. It is tournament ball or nothing.

SL, you have summer year round in sunny CAli don't you?

 

[Sweet Lou]

SL, you have summer year round in sunny CAli don't you?

Pretty much. The weather is a bonus. But in our immediate area we have the choice of rec in spring, "all star" summer & fall teams, or year round travel.

 

[LostinNJ]

If your team got to play against older, stronger players, wasn't this to your team's benefit? I would like every player in the game to always be trying to get better, but my primary concerns are my DD and her team, so the tougher the challenges they face, the better it is for them as they move forward.

Each program has different goals, though, and I don't get to decide what another team's goals ought to be.

I agree that it's a definite benefit to play stronger competition so that girls can get an idea of what it's like to play on the next level. I also don't know the reasons for why these team had girls "play down". I'm not criticizing it, I'm asking what the thought process is. As I stated before, as a parent of a pitcher, I would think it would be most beneficial to my daughter to make the adjustment to the bigger ball and longer distance in the fall when it is supposed to be developmental rather than when in the spring when she can get limited circle time as a first year 12U due to her not being prepared seeing live batting with the new pitching conditions. JMHO.

 

[reagansdaddy]

I want to stress that I really don't have a dog in this fight. If it were my daughter, I would have her playing at the level she will play at the following spring. That is how we've done it and it works for us. Others have perfectly vaild points going the other way.

However, I think what makes this situation interesting is that we're talking about 10U pitchers. My daughter doesn't pitch, but I would have to imagine that for girls who are going to age up to 12U that a coach would want them to move to the bigger ball and farther distance as soon as the spring/summer seasons are completed. A position player playing "down" in the fall or even a pitcher playing "down" at the other levels is a totally different animal than a pitcher making the huge shift from 10U to 12U ball. I think playing them down is a big mistake for their development.

 

[CoogansBluff]

Is it better for a pitcher's development to move up in the fall? Sure, if she can be competitive and get innings.

Is it life-or-death to her development that she do so? No.

These are just 11-year-olds. It's just 3-4 months of their lives. There are 11-year-olds that aren't even pitching right now that eventually will pass some of those 11-year-olds who move up in fall. There are pitchers that take the fall off and do just fine. They've got the winter to catch up and work on going 35 to 40.

Again, not saying you should stay back. But it's not a disaster if they do. There is a lot more that will determine a pitcher's development and future than this particular decision and the speed at which they progress at age 11.

 

[JJsqueeze]

I want to stress that I really don't have a dog in this fight. If it were my daughter, I would have her playing at the level she will play at the following spring. That is how we've done it and it works for us. Others have perfectly vaild points going the other way.

However, I think what makes this situation interesting is that we're talking about 10U pitchers. My daughter doesn't pitch, but I would have to imagine that for girls who are going to age up to 12U that a coach would want them to move to the bigger ball and farther distance as soon as the spring/summer seasons are completed. A position player playing "down" in the fall or even a pitcher playing "down" at the other levels is a totally different animal than a pitcher making the huge shift from 10U to 12U ball. I think playing them down is a big mistake for their development.

It is not one size fits all, I don't know about your experience, but after 10u all stars we went straight to the 12 inch ball and 40 feet for practice and it really did not have any effect other than after one or two practices she went from a 10U flamethrower to a 12U meat baller. Then she used up her 10U eligibility until 11:59 on Dec 31st, and went on to get clobbered as a first year 12U in the spring. She played 12U fallball rec that year and 10U TB. Without her our mixed bag of 8-10 year old girls would not have been competitive in any games, with her they were respectable. She did not start every game, she pitched her 1/3rd of starts, but she got a lot of work as a reliever. If my DD had not had that few month window of dominant success at 10UTB I don't know how she would have weathered the spring beating she took as a 1st year 12U.

Fall is developmental, as such there will be a many ways that an individual team or player will be used to best develop. As long as it is developmental it does not matter what they do. Now if I found out that the 2001 Socal As was playing the USSSA November 12U B Turkey shoot fall classic then I might raise an eyebrow.

 

[reagansdaddy]

Great points JJ and Coogan's. Glad my daughter isn't a pitcher!

 

[PA SB Dad]

I've never had a team play down in the fall, and don't understand why any coach would do that. Last weekend, our organization ran a college showcase and my 14U team played 5 games against some pretty good 18U teams. We didn't really stand a chance and we weren't particularly competitive, as the game is still a bit "too fast" for some of my first year players. Nonetheless, it was a good experience, as my pitchers learned first hand they can't rely on speed alone, and my hitters learned that the first pitch is often the only "hittable" pitch they might see their entire at bat. I also loved how they hung in there and didn't give up against some pretty established teams.