What to do with a player...

[chinamigarden]

Where does she play best? where does she want to play? Start there and work it out. Stupid fast 9 year olds sometimes become average runners at 13, and slow kids become fast. Its not the time to really begin setting her up for her future. But in the spirit of the actual question. If she can handle it, I would put her at Short. Speed helps there and what ever she learns there will help her at any position she plays in the future. I would say more then 50% of all college outfielders played SS in HS, and its likely that 99% of them played SS at one point in their 10U-12U days.

 

[Hit by the Pitch]

Hit. Hit and hit.

Defense does not matter, just watch the games on TV.

 

[Jackel2168]

Move her to 2nd or 3rd, make her a great infielder, and later on move her to the outfield. Not a lot of games are won in the outfield, but many are lost. At the level you are at, that's even lower. If you can turn her into a good 2nd baseman you'll be solid. Gasso from OU wants her smartest and best athlete at 2nd.

 

[Sweet Lou]

Ask her where she wants to play but SS or CF would see like good choices.

 

[krrcoach]

FWIW, I have coached 10u for a few years...I agree with 2B or RF if she is a good feilder and you believe that she would be a great OFer I see a lot more hits to the right side of the field at this age. 2B will get more feilding experience and RF will get more OF experience including secondary responsibilities (backing up throws to first). IMO all outfielders need good discipline for secondary responsibilities. Generally at 10u CF and more so at LF, can get boring and hard to stay focused on the secondary responsibilities.

 

[Osric]

I'm starting to track where balls are being hit (thank you GAME CHANGER) at the 12U level this year and it is really not all that surprising to find out how few balls percentage wise are hit to the outfield. I would assume this number is even lower at the 10U level.

If she is that good of an athlete and has that much potential, put her in positions where she is going to have the most chances to make plays. Even if she screws them up, she's getting experience and learning what to do in situations which are significant. Worry about outfield training later when outfield positions see more action and the action they see has a greater downside if the play is screwed up.

I like my smartest/best athlete at SS, and second best at 2B. Corners are usually the girls who have skills, but may not be ummm....as 'mentally nimble' as the other infielders (apologies to all who have DDs who play 1st and 3rd. In my defense, I played 1B in my playing years...)

 

[JAD]

I would put her in CF, or possbily SS if she has a great arm. Either of those two positions will help her get a scholarship if she decides to play in college.

 

[MsDinosaur]

I like my smartest/best athlete at SS, and second best at 2B. Corners are usually the girls who have skills, but may not be ummm....as 'mentally nimble' as the other infielders (apologies to all who have DDs who play 1st and 3rd. In my defense, I played 1B in my playing years...)

Hehehe.

I'd say my DD is as 'mentally nimble' as anyone, but to have the physical range to play middle infield? Not so much.

She's seems to be enjoying third as her secondary position. You don't have to be nimble and speedy enough to cover a wide range laterally and handle all of the double-play coordination, you generally just charge hard like an enraged rhino, get the ball and throw 'em out.

Hmm, I guess you have a point--the position does also seem less mentally demanding than some. ;-)

And back to the point, I think middle infield with stints in the outfield. And when she's in the OF, how about right field? Have her play fairly shallow and try for outs at first. If there are deep hits, the odds are good that she can use her speed to make up for her positioning. Her speed would also make her a master at backing up all the throws to first.

 

[WARRIORMIKE]

any outfield position is good. Especially Right Field. If you are gonna rotate than either 2nd or 3rd. Just depends on your pitching at that given moment.

 

[42'sdad]

I coach a 10U rec team and new 10U select team. All 03s and a couple 04s.

I have a girl who is stupid fast. By far the fastest girl in our league or that I've seen in any regional tournaments. She is an outstanding athlete. Having just moved up from 8U this spring, I've switched her to lefty and teaching to slap/drag. It's going very well.



Ideas and why would be appreciated.

IMHO, she is way to young to just be a slapper. Maybe she will end up with crazy power? I think she needs to be taught how to hit first and occasionally slap after that. I do agree with moving her to lefty though, (the earlier the better) there is still plenty of time to learn a great swing and hit for power. Use slapping as another tool in her bag!!
Jackel, said it best, "don't pigeon hole her". Meaning, don't specialize any kid that is this young. Teach her fundamentals and mechanics, along with how to play multiple positions. Good luck!!