where would you put this hitter in your lineup

ez_softball · May 7, 2018

"Dead last" as you put it, is "second lead-off" for most coaches... don't look it as a negative... for many coaches it's an honor to bat 9th. Turning the order over is a critical spot and the benefit is often the number 9 batter get's some of the best pitches to hit.

bmakj · May 7, 2018

I get all that, but you also have to remember these are 10 year old girls, not 16u with scouts coming to games. I have no illusions, there are almost certainly no athletic scholarships in the future for DDr, same for probably 90% of the girls playing travel softball. simply not that much $ to go around. a big part of participating in youth sports is about building confidence and self esteem. if the coach has her batting last to help turn the order over (and I've always felt that big innings start in bottom third of the order), they have not said anything like that to her. to me a youth coach is measured by a lot more than Ws and Ls. 15 years from now few if any will remember winning this tourney (which they did this past weekend), but the impact of their youth sports in general will still be with them.

Battle · May 7, 2018

bmakj said:
I get all that, but you also have to remember these are 10 year old girls, not 16u with scouts coming to games. I have no illusions, there are almost certainly no athletic scholarships in the future for DDr, same for probably 90% of the girls playing travel softball. simply not that much $ to go around. a big part of participating in youth sports is about building confidence and self esteem. if the coach has her batting last to help turn the order over (and I've always felt that big innings start in bottom third of the order), they have not said anything like that to her. to me a youth coach is measured by a lot more than Ws and Ls. 15 years from now few if any will remember winning this tourney (which they did this past weekend), but the impact of their youth sports in general will still be with them.

You may have already said and I missed it but have you asked the coach respectfully if there is a problem and state your concerns? I would think if you only have 10 on the team he would be fairly straight with you.

Cyder517 · May 7, 2018

Could your feelings on the situation be impacting her confidence? In my house, we are guilty of having the good/bad/and downright UGLY softball conversations in front of DD.

If she is 10u and has always been at the bottom, I don’t know why her confidence would be waivering. Everyone has to bat somewhere. If you don’t view it as a negative thing and just have her focus on doing her best, regardless of order, I’m sure she’ll be fine!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

bmakj · May 8, 2018

we have nto talked with her about it at all as good bad or indifferent, and we in our conversations with her we focus on her and the teams performance. Her confidence is low because this team is the first time she has clearly not been one of the top two or three players on her team (which is OK, but she is having trouble adjusting). she has worked really hard to be more aggressive at the plate (faster pitching at this level intimidated her at the plate at first), and to not just swing for contact, but swing to hit the ball hard, and she has seen the results in her performance. my biggest concern is the widening gap between her and everyone else in # chances to do show what she can do, nearly every game ends with her on deck or in the hole.

Eric F · May 8, 2018

bmakj said:
I get all that, but you also have to remember these are 10 year old girls, not 16u with scouts coming to games. I have no illusions, there are almost certainly no athletic scholarships in the future for DDr, same for probably 90% of the girls playing travel softball. simply not that much $ to go around. a big part of participating in youth sports is about building confidence and self esteem. if the coach has her batting last to help turn the order over (and I've always felt that big innings start in bottom third of the order), they have not said anything like that to her. to me a youth coach is measured by a lot more than Ws and Ls. 15 years from now few if any will remember winning this tourney (which they did this past weekend), but the impact of their youth sports in general will still be with them.

I get it. I'm not that far removed from the world of 10U ball. I also agree that a youth coach should be about more than just W/L record. However, in a tournament - even for a 10U rec all-star team - I expect the coaches will play to win. That's the difference between the spring rec season and tournaments.

This past fall, during a 14U TB tournament, my DD wasn't playing on defense as much as I would have liked, and I was a bit bothered by it. The day after the tournament, I sent a text to the coach asking what she should be doing differently to get more playing time. His response was clear and satisfied my concerns.

MNDad · May 8, 2018

I think my biggest concern would be if a coach was relying on 10U stats to create a lineup. I would hope he sees them enough at games and practice to know who can do what. Next I’d question the judgement of a 10U coach giving stats to parents.

I do agree he should be moving girls around. Travel or rec its ridiculous to have fixed positions or batting orders at that age. You can play to win and still give girls an opportunity at other places. She needs focus on what’s in her control and be the best #9 hitter she can. If she moves up, great, if not she’s still batting every game. Not all kids get to do that. There are so many positives to take away from virtually every game or practice it’s not worth it to get tied up in the batting order.

Seattlecoach · May 8, 2018

bmakj said:
a big part of participating in youth sports is about building confidence and self esteem. if the coach has her batting last to help turn the order over (and I've always felt that big innings start in bottom third of the order), they have not said anything like that to her.

This might be the biggest problem. Is helping build confidence in young girls important? Yes of course. But giving her a different spot in the batting order than the coach thinks she deserves the way to do it OR IMHO an effective way to build confidence anyways? No. More importantly it definitly not the coach's job to go out of his/her way to explain every decision to players/parents. The only way to know for sure is to (respectfully) ask the coach how she can move to a different spot.

Morgan Stuart had a good post about this recently (can be found here), just substitute playing time for batting order. Look at the text, not the video.

Rocketech1 · May 8, 2018

Is it possible to ask the coach what yout DD can do to bat higher in the order? Likely daddy ball issues.

However, stats especially at this age with inexperienced scorekeepers (moms and dads) can be very misleading. For example, one season i coached in 10u, 3 of the 6 rec teams did not have a single player on their whole team “reach on an error” the whole season! and had team batting averages in the .500 and .600. Garbage in, garbage out.

bmakj · May 8, 2018

this team only plays tournaments, so there is no reg season. team will end up with like 8-10 tournaments for the spring

HC has no kids, so daddy ball not an issue.

as for skewed stats, they probably are, but should be for all players. will talk to coach I guess. just wanted some other eyeballs on this. just kinda sucks being dead last every game (tournaments they have played so far they have batted everyone every game). assuming when they go to some higher level tournaments, where you only bat 9, she will not play basically. might need to let coach know we are not going to the ones with travel required then (not spending $1-2k in expenses to watch here sit in dugout)

where would you put this hitter in your lineup

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