Offense vs Defense

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Feb 15, 2016
273
18
I know a lot of coaches believe in the adage that you need to find a way to get your best hitters in the game. At what point does that become counterproductive if they are a liability on defense? I watched a lot of good college ball this past weekend and at times the defense was close to awful. I know it is early in the season, but this is especially apparent in the outfield where poor angles and reactions turn routine outs into doubles, triples, and runs. How much better does a hitter have to be to make it worthwhile to play them on defense if they are a liability?
 
Feb 17, 2014
551
28
I was having the same thought about outfield defense last week after watching 5-6 different games. Makes me want to go watch games in person so that I can really see what's happening.
 
Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
Good question.

I am a fan of not giving up runs more then hitting.

CF beat us one game, she was good. Can not remember how she hit but anything in OF was hers.
 
Jun 12, 2015
3,848
83
What's sad to me is how much fun it is to watch a really good defensive team. If all they care about is hitting, you miss out on seeing some really awesome plays. I get it to an extent though. If they can't hit the ball, they can defend all day long but they won't get many runs on the board. I'd like to see a balance, but of course, no college coaches are asking my opinion.
 
Apr 5, 2013
2,130
83
Back on the dirt...
I know a lot of coaches believe in the adage that you need to find a way to get your best hitters in the game. At what point does that become counterproductive if they are a liability on defense? I watched a lot of good college ball this past weekend and at times the defense was close to awful. I know it is early in the season, but this is especially apparent in the outfield where poor angles and reactions turn routine outs into doubles, triples, and runs. How much better does a hitter have to be to make it worthwhile to play them on defense if they are a liability?


This is good timing. I started a similar post last week but didnt finish. I am also curious about how you divide up your practice?
 
Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
If we do hitting we setup a few stations, also work on hitting outside of practice.

10 minutes of hitting x 12 girls you run out of time pretty quickly.
 

marriard

Not lost - just no idea where I am
Oct 2, 2011
4,312
113
Florida
I know a lot of coaches believe in the adage that you need to find a way to get your best hitters in the game. At what point does that become counterproductive if they are a liability on defense? I watched a lot of good college ball this past weekend and at times the defense was close to awful. I know it is early in the season, but this is especially apparent in the outfield where poor angles and reactions turn routine outs into doubles, triples, and runs. How much better does a hitter have to be to make it worthwhile to play them on defense if they are a liability?

Good question and hard to answer. IMHO a player better be worth at least a run a game more than an alternative player. You KNOW that outfield error or miscue is pretty much going to cost you a run.

I am prepared to have ONE defensive liability in the field and pitch around it for the first few innings if she is truly worth a full run more than another option. And then I will substitute and re-enter her for a better fielder later in the game at least once ideally right after she bats so I have the chance of keeping my better fielder out there for 2 innings before reentering my hitter.

I also prefer to let my pitcher hit and flex a better fielder in if at all possible. And I ALWAYS have a DP/Flex in play.

Frankly coaches at ALL levels don't do enough substituting in softball - they forget they can re-enter players. They hesitate and wait for a 'better time' - there is normally no better time than right then. Even slightly better fielders should be out there in the bottom of the last for example. And they don't understand how DP/Flex works and how it can be used to their advantage. And I mean ALL levels - right up to top 10 college programs who I have seen mess it up many, many times - and they have even less excuse because they normally have a whole bench of players to pull from.
 
Last edited:
May 20, 2016
433
63
Talked to a few coaches about this over the years. Consensus usually comes down to you never win a game if you don't score. You see the same thing happen in major league baseball. They will always replace the great fielder with someone that hits better but is a worse fielder than the person they are replacing.
 
Last edited:
Jul 19, 2014
2,390
48
Madison, WI
To some extent this depends on the position.

We all know a great pitcher who can't hit is better than a great hitter who can't pitch.

Catcher is fairly similar. Some of the stat freaks looked at MLB catchers. They wanted to see what was the minimum batting average for a great defensive catcher compared to a great hitting catcher. They decided that even with a batting average of .000, the great defensive catcher is more valuable. Just framing the pitches well can be worth > 1 run per game, and the best hitting catchers aren't worth > 1 run per game on average.

Occasionally you can hide a poor fielder in LF if the CF is really, really good. The Phillies won their first World Series with the best defensive CF in baseball, and very weak D for LF. They also had Rose, Trillo, Bowa and Schmidt in the IF, with Carlton as their Ace. In other words, incredibly solid at all spots except LF.

I remember DD 3 used to be the starting pitcher (the ONLY starting pitcher) for a C level team which had great hitting and weak D. She often had 1.5 - 2.0 K per inning, since that was often the only way to get an out. When she was getting a lot of Ks, and the D held up, they would shut out good B level teams. I remember one tournament she had 14 innings in a row without giving up a run. A strong C team, they beat one of the best B teams in the state 7-0 in the quarter finals. In the semi-finals, the wheels came off the D. Errors all over the place. They lost to a good B team 7-6.

After that, I decided that great hitting was wonderful, but great D is a necessity. Think about it. If the D on that team had held up for another shutout, they could've won with 1 run. With bad D, 6 runs was a loss.
 

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