Becoming a dedicated pitcher only, when???

[BT3100]

What is the final outcome for these players that got better at practice but never or rarely sniffed the dirt?
They had a good time? They learn how to be a good teammate? OR they helped the Org. financially?

Getting better allows them to do more than sniff the dirt. There is a reason why some kids excel and others don't. More often than not it's practice habits. I too was a critic of more practice and less games. Not anymore.

 

[mmeece]

DD is quickly approaching the end of her 12U season and I'm already starting to seeing it on some of the other high level teams around her. I'm also hearing from the parents of pitchers a few years ahead of her, that it may not be that far down the road that we can expect coaches to start playing her less and less in the field unless she's in the circle. We know it'll probably happen at some point, but when. DD plays solidly in middle infield, though her time there is slowly lessening even to girls who may not play it as well as she can. She can play anywhere in the outfield, which she still does quite a bit, however we had a conversation with the coach the other day about this.

He didn't ask us to take her out of the field, nor did he say that he wanted to, but during our conversation he brought up that he wants to spend more time teaching the mental approach to attacking a batter (ie, exploiting their weaknesses, pitch location and selection, pitch location based on base runners, etc), and that he can't teach her that when she's the outfield. DD and I (and PC) have worked on the mental aspect a bunch, and she does really well currently. He thinks teaching her in live games could give her even more of an edge up because he can point out exactly how it applies and she can see the example better, and I do understand that point. She's getting approx 40% of the circle time and doing pretty well when she's in, I'm just hesitant to see her come out of the field. I'm afraid those skills will deteriorate.

Though he hasn't mentioned it, I guess this same concern goes for batting. She's in the top 6 on her team, but I also see pitchers stop batting in a lot of cases. A good example I used to explain this to DD happened to her a few nights ago (she was HBP just above her left ankle, though she continued base running with slight pain, it did really hurt when she landed on that foot while pitching. She made it through it okay, but I could tell it was bothering her. It did, at least a little, affect her pitching. Is it worth it for her to be batting, when she's needed much more as a pitcher.) Is this something we should expect too? If so, when?

What's everyone's experiences and thoughts on these two issues? I don't think he's wanting her to only pitch, but I've seen it happen to so many (not with our coach specifically, just within the sport) that I'm cautious about that door opening.

One more reason to be careful about specializing early. What if she is injured in a way that takes away pitching or some of her effectiveness pitching? My dd had an issue with her ulnar nerve that required surgery. She worked hard at rehab and practice but her pitching just never came back to a level of consistency that let her be effective. Had she already specialized her career would have essentially been over. She was at a higher level as a pitcher than position player, but just received her first college offer as a position player.