Picking Up: What to expect

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Aug 19, 2015
1,118
113
Atlanta, GA
Some may know that DD's team disbanded over the holiday break due to losing 2 out of 3 pitchers. We think we almost have something nailed down for the spring, but we've spent the last 6 weeks trying out and talking with various coaches.

Thursday night, one coach texted us to ask whether DD would like to pick up with them for a one-day tournament this weekend. We hadn't had an opportunity to do a tryout with him, and even though we're pretty sure at this point we have a situation locked up, DD was interested in doing it to shake off the rust and just have fun.

This coach knows she is a catcher and told my husband that he would consider this a tryout. I took her and stayed for the first 2 of 4 guaranteed games (DH and I switched off; they're still there). So far, through 3 games, she's caught none, played outfield two innings, and first base one inning. She's batting last in the order and has been up to bat three times total.

Now, I understand that there is a balancing act when you have a pickup player re: giving that person playing time and letting the girls on the team have precedence. But given that he a) told DH directly she would have "plenty of playing time", b) he knows she's a catcher, and c) he apparently already has two catchers (which he didn't mention), what exactly was the reason to invite DD? Did he just need a warm body? Struggling to understand this reasoning.

ETA: DH just texted me. DD hit a home run over the fence. LOL
 
Last edited:
Jul 19, 2014
2,390
48
Madison, WI
Some may know that DD's team disbanded over the holiday break due to losing 2 out of 3 pitchers. We think we almost have something nailed down for the spring, but we've spent the last 6 weeks trying out and talking with various coaches.

Thursday night, one coach texted us to ask whether DD would like to pick up with them for a one-day tournament this weekend. We hadn't had an opportunity to do a tryout with him, and even though we're pretty sure at this point we have a situation locked up, DD was interested in doing it to shake off the rust and just have fun.

This coach knows she is a catcher and told my husband that he would consider this a tryout. I took her and stayed for the first 2 of 4 guaranteed games (DH and I switched off; they're still there). So far, through 3 games, she's caught none, played outfield two innings, and first base one inning. She's batting last in the order and has been up to bat three times total.

Now, I understand that there is a balancing act when you have a pickup player re: giving that person playing time and letting the girls on the team have precedence. But given that he a) told DH directly she would have "plenty of playing time", b) he knows she's a catcher, and c) he apparently already has two catchers (which he didn't mention), what exactly was the reason to invite DD? Did he just need a warm body? Struggling to understand this reasoning.

ETA: DH just texted me. DD hit a home run over the fence. LOL

I don't think you have anything to worry about, if she hit a HR.

When a girl is there as a pickup player, she is there to fill the needs of the team.
DD 3 is primarily a pitcher, but one time a team asked her to guest play as a catcher. It was a double header, and they did let her pitch a few innings the other game. Another team just needed a warm body to have 9 players (she was 10u guest playing on a 14u team) so they put her in left field.

ETA: DD 3 has played some positions guesting that she usually never plays.


Other teams have had her guest play because she is a pitcher and they really needed a pitcher, sometimes due to injury.

One time DD 3 was miffed because a team put her in OF when she wasn't pitching, even though she was a much better SS than the girl playing SS. The point was, that was league play, and the team needed to try different girls at SS, even if it cost them some errors.

The point when guest playing is to have fun, and try to help out the team as much as you can. Once DD 3 was a winning pitcher guesting in a game for a team that usually lost every game. So, that was a real win-win.
 
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Aug 19, 2015
1,118
113
Atlanta, GA
But it was also pitched to us as a tryout. How can she tryout for her primary position if he never puts her in at it? We are fine with it and happy with her hitting. Just seems weird to me.
 
Jul 16, 2013
4,659
113
Pennsylvania
But it was also pitched to us as a tryout. How can she tryout for her primary position if he never puts her in at it? We are fine with it and happy with her hitting. Just seems weird to me.

Does this coach know your DD in any way? Played for? Played against? DD joined her current team as the result of a similar situation. The team asked her to play as a pickup player at a fall tournament. While she didn't know much about the coaches other than playing against them, we learned that they seemed to know a great deal about her. They told me at a later time that they had targeted her because they liked her skills and thought she would be a good fit for their team. The true purpose of that "pickup/tryout" was to see how she fit with the rest of the players. They wanted to make sure she liked them, and they liked her. That type of fit is very important to them. Maybe this coach is testing the same thing with your DD (and possibly her parents as well).
 
Jul 19, 2014
2,390
48
Madison, WI
It is hard to say what is going on.

It could be they are seeing how she fits in, like FP26 suggested.

It could be they know she can catch, but they want to see what else she can do.

That could mean one of several things.
One situation is they know they will have a lot of catchers, and the catchers will have to fight for catching time, and they want to see if she can play other positions beside catcher when she isn't catching. WARNING -- she might not get to catch much at all unless someone is injured.
Or, if could be they expect to lose a catcher or two, and there is a strong possibility she will catch a lot, and they want to see her hitting. This is a better situation for your DD, but nothing is guaranteed.

Is this a 2-day tournament? Will she get a chance to catch tomorrow?
 
Aug 19, 2015
1,118
113
Atlanta, GA
Nope, one day only. Other than her homerun, I would say the experience was fair to bad. At one point, I was standing by myself and a Dad from a team that was about to play near where they were having their after-game powwow approached me and asked if we were on that team. I replied that we were just picking up and not a permanent part of the team. He then told me that the coach gathered the girls and began his "pep talk" with, "Hey, congrats on completely sucking during that game." The guy told me he's coached baseball for 15 years and he'd never talked to his team like that even at their worst. I was like, well alrighty then. So, not a good fit and we are moving on. The potential situation we are about to cement is much more preferable and we knew that going in. This was just going to be a warmup tourney for her.
 
Oct 31, 2014
43
6
Nope, one day only. Other than her homerun, I would say the experience was fair to bad. At one point, I was standing by myself and a Dad from a team that was about to play near where they were having their after-game powwow approached me and asked if we were on that team. I replied that we were just picking up and not a permanent part of the team. He then told me that the coach gathered the girls and began his "pep talk" with, "Hey, congrats on completely sucking during that game." The guy told me he's coached baseball for 15 years and he'd never talked to his team like that even at their worst. I was like, well alrighty then. So, not a good fit and we are moving on. The potential situation we are about to cement is much more preferable and we knew that going in. This was just going to be a warmup tourney for her.

Sounds like you got to try them out as much as they were trying out your DD. That is not a bad scenario for you. She knocked some rust off and got a feel for their coaching style without having to commit to them.

FWIW, we asked a catcher to guest catch with us on an indoor tournament this off-season. We wanted to see if 1) she could play at our level, and 2) how she fit in with the girls. She played 3 total innings the first 2 games. She showed enough that we invited her back for day 2 of the indoor. She did a great job with our pitchers, and hit the crap out of the ball. She played a bunch on day 2. She made it impossible to say no to her. She is now on our team, and is in the rotation as a main catcher on our 16Gold team.

I guess the moral of the story is that sometimes this is a good situation for all. At worst it gives you a situation to compare other teams and coaches to.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Aug 19, 2015
1,118
113
Atlanta, GA
Am I misremembering but isn't your dd hurt and having a hard time throwing without pain?

No, that is correct. She was out for 6 weeks and has just completed PT and been cleared to play. I had her special ice shoulder thingy all ready to go today but she didn't need it because she never got put in to catch.
 
Jun 12, 2015
3,848
83
Interesting. DD's picked up a lot for a lot of different teams and they've always used her for her positions (P, SS mostly). I don't understand why they picked up a catcher they didn't need for her position. That seems weird. I'm leery of coaches who pick up players they don't need in general. Had a very bad experience with that last year & don't think I'd join a team that did that. So for us that would probably cross them off the list right there, which means it was not a waste of time, it just eliminated a team from the list. That's how I'd see it anyway.
 

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