Choosing positions

[Brandi Brown]

Next week is our last week of 8U rec. Next year at least 7 of my 10 current girls are going to move up to 10U so I am preparing myself for a whole new set of rules. Hopefully they don't eat me alive next year..... Anyways, I have been chatting up many people and getting much needed help and information.

I have questions about choosing positions for the girls. I like the idea of having each learn two positions. I know there are certain positions that require a certain set of skills and dedication. Pitcher/Catcher if I am correct. One coach told me they won't let a girl pitch if they haven't played catcher first because 1. they have to pay their dues being pummeled by the ball and 2. they learn timing from watching the pitcher. I have 6 girls wanting to pitch who I am allowing to pitch because it is 8U and doesn't matter this year. I'm sure that will work itself out by next season. It will be apparent who did the work and who did not.

So my question is how do you pick the positions? What qualities do you look for in certain positions? The girls who didn't do the work but still want to pitch, should they be set at catcher to show their dedication to learning (provided they can catch)? Where do you put the unmotivated players? Slow? Can't catch well?

I know, it's a very deep question. I'm not looking for a novel just some basic ideas of where to start.

Thanks!

 

[crystlemc]

IMHO, true catchers are born, not made. That is a position that a kid has to have a passion for in order to do it correctly.

 

[Momo'sDad]

I am a 10u coach, both rec and comp.

In 10u rec, unless there is a safety concern, every player should get work in multiple positions. I don't care who your best SS is - she needs to get some time in the outfield, too, because when she gets to 10u All-stars, there are going to be 9 other stud infielders on the team. Giving your players outfield experience is going to help them when they start competing for a job on the All-star team.

How competitive is your 10u division? Do you have D3K? Open home plate? We did not have either, so anyone who wanted to play catcher could try it. We ended up developing 2 pretty good little catchers as a result. We'll have D3K next year, but are keeping home closed.

I handle pitching differently. She doesn't have to be excellent, but a player needs to demonstrate some ability to get the ball near the plate before I'll put her in the circle.

The only position that isn't open on my rec teams is 1B. I will not put someone there unless she can catch. I have had a couple players start off elsewhere and earn time at 1B as the season progressed. This spring, though, the same 3 rotated at 1B all season. We had no other options there. Having someone at 1B who can catch is critical, because she's vital to the development of your other players as they team up to make plays.

 

[BrianMonk]

Having to play catcher before you pitch is incredibly unusual advise. I've never seen the two tied together like that.

But for your pitchers and catchers, you definately need to look for girls who really like to play softball and practice a lot. A semi-psycho parent (or at least a parent really into softball) also seems to be part of the equation with the pitchers. Seems to come with the territory. Just make sure you can work with these parents.

For a catcher - I'd look for: #1) A girl that wants to do it and #2) isn't afraid of hard work with little reward (other than just playing). Size is very over rated criteria to look for. She should have a decent arm (L or R thrower is fine) but doesn't have to have a great arm. If she's willing to put in the work, it'll improve over time.

For 10's - girls that can judge long fly balls are at a premium in the OF. An athletic girl with strong arm & quick release at SS. Good fielder, athletic, but moderate arm strength at second (although at times this position is reserved for the coach's daughter). What coach in his/her right mind would stick their daughter in the OF at 10's?

Typically your more power hitters play the corners but that's not an absolute.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Have to agree with BrianMonk, never heard of the "requirement" of a pitcher needing to play catcher for experience. My DD has been pitching since 7, ( 16 now ) and has caught one game in all those years. A run rule game where I just put players in spots they never had been, and DD caught fine, but throw downs and pick offs were pretty ugly.

 

[Brandi Brown]

I am a 10u coach, both rec and comp.

How competitive is your 10u division? Do you have D3K? Open home plate?

Ha ha! That is a funny question. We are supposed to have fun but many of the coaches that I have met are uptight and intense. They were the ones that ate me alive last year for my first year. We will have the D3K rule next year. I'm not sure what open home plate means so I still have much to learn. I have read next years rules several times and will plenty before we start next year. Our team motto is to have fun and learn, my AC's support that 100%. My DD is that really good one I mention below, so to prevent psycho parenting or favoritism we do a coaches consensus. I try to never make decisions about her or our other players on my own. As for the two positions per player I was going to do that with the prospect of learning more as a girl puts for the effort to learn. Someone that isn't interested shouldn't be given automatic privileges over those who are trying regardless of talent. Right? One of my prospective pitches can't catch or hit, bless her heart, but she stepped out in that circle and showed a natural talent that could really blossom with some work over the off season. I'm hoping that will boost her confidence and improve her other skills.

I have my best catcher playing first base, as I always thought was important move. She is also our best pitcher, thrower, fielder, and second best hitter. I track their stats with a few simple tests for purposes of getting individual help where it is most needed. However, the other night a veteran coach ogled me and told me that 1st is where they put the slow girl who can't throw and that 3rd or SS are the coveted positions in that order (after pitcher and catcher).

 

[Brandi Brown]

But for your pitchers and catchers, you definately need to look for girls who really like to play softball and practice a lot. A semi-psycho parent (or at least a parent really into softball) also seems to be part of the equation with the pitchers. Seems to come with the territory. Just make sure you can work with these parents.


For 10's - girls that can judge long fly balls are at a premium in the OF. An athletic girl with strong arm & quick release at SS. Good fielder, athletic, but moderate arm strength at second (although at times this position is reserved for the coach's daughter). What coach in his/her right mind would stick their daughter in the OF at 10's?

OK. When next season starts things may change but for now... Three of the girls pitching have a parent coach and at least one other will be trying out for the position, depending on who we pick up new. My plan is to have a couple of unbiased judges that don't know any of the girls come see the challenge to pick the top 3 before the season starts. As fair as I try to be, since my DD is the "star" of our team, just kidding, I don't want my being a fan influence who earns the position. I am very fortunate in that none of these girls, actually for the whole team are problem parents. They are supportive or absent.

Thank you for the rest of the fielding advice but one question. We are rec so what do you do with the girls who aren't motivated? I will play everyone but I want to reward the ones who put out maximum effort with the "better" (for lack of a better word) positions. If the other teams are like my girls we have four to five who are hitting doubles consistently so I am sure the OF will not be a waste of a good player. Plus I don't want them thinking it is not important. Oh and just for the record I do put DD at RF or CF if someone wilt less talent is trying out a new position at 1st or 2nd. She knows what she is doing and backs them up so it is less stressful for them. Or at least that is my theory. I do that with both of my fast, good athletes.

 

[Momo'sDad]

Open home plate (hot plate) means the girls can steal home. I personally don't like that rule for my town's rec league, but it works in other places where rec play is a bit more advanced. We have always closed home plate and no D3K in 10u rec, but have both in All-stars and TB. Next year, we will bring D3K into 10u rec for the 1st time, but keep home closed (cold plate).

It sounds like you have a solid coaching philosophy and I encourage you to stick with it, regardless of what the other coaches are doing.

As for the advice given to you be the veteran coach, you're doing the right thing. In your 8u rec division, you put the player at 1B who could catch and in 1st-year 10u rec, doing the same will help your team's success. In winning time, 3B should generally be your best defensive player, but that's not a hard-and-fast rule. SS is generally the 3rd-best infielder behind C and CB, and 2B is usually the weakest infielder. Those aren't set in stone, though. My team had fast pitching, so 2B was normally stronger than SS, and I still had 3B as the primary on bunts. In fact, my RF was stronger than my SS so that we could get outs at 1B.

 

[crystlemc]

In rec ball around here, we have open home and D3K as soon as they leave coach pitch. It's crazy how rec ball rules are so much different everywhere you go. We moved to a town about 1 hour north of where we are from and I got into a "discussion" with a guy who informed me that LL is travel ball, not rec. I then had to ask him, "Then what do you call what my DD plays?" He said that it was just another form of travel ball. Ugh.

I think that your 3B should be the most aggressive/the animal on your team. Your SS is quick footed with a good glove and arm. 2B is, like Momo's Dad said, usually the weakest infielder. However, that no longer applies if you have a faster pitcher, since a large number of balls will travel in 2B direction. 1B obviously has to be the best "catcher". If you don't have anyone who is volunteering to catch, try to figure out who is the least afraid of the ball. That's a good start. Good luck!

 

[Chewy_06]

Hmm!

I coach both a house and select 10u team here.

For house, I ran pitching and catching practices that started half an hour before our regular practices. Pitchers that attended went into two pools - an A pool for pitchers who could consistently put strikes across that would get about 70% of the innings and a B pool for pitchers who were trying but werent consistently delivering - these kids get about 30% of the innings. In regular season games (which really are glorified practices). In tournaments, in games that are not blowouts, the B pitchers dont typically see action. Catchers - the kids that come to catching practice got the lions share of the innings - 80% or so & i rotated the other kids through there periodically so that everyone had a couple innings at least. All of the dedicated catchers are second year kids, so I also gave the first year kids a couple extra innings so we have some kids interested in working more on it next year.

For the select team, I have one primary pitcher and two second string kids. The rest of the kids who pitched at all during the regular season and made the team from my crew, will not see game pitching duty. Catchers similar, despite the work we put into the kids, we really didnt have any strong catchers emerged (none of our catchers could consistently catch the fast strikes our primary pitchers were delivering). Fortunately, we did pick up a great little catcher from another team for the select team. She will be primary there and the best of my lot will be a backup.

In house play, the rest of the innings were rotated. I worked hard to ensure that bench time on a percentage of innings available basis was as even as I could get it & I spread kids around the other positions as much as possible (and tried to ensure an even IF/OF% balance across the team). It made no matter whether a kid could catch consistently, she still got innings at 1B & 3B. I did try to pay attention to where the weakest kids were so that I could bookend them with the strongest kids, but beyond that, regular season games - we rotated happily.

Select and tournaments for the house team, different game completely. The house team, I still balanced innings played, but, we didnt rotate as freely. Strong kids went to key positions.

Select - we're working on finalizing the who's going where still. For the most part we've got it nailed now.

what we looked for - 1b - good glove, good wheels & drive to get in quickly to cover home; 2b - steady capability, smart enough to be able to move to cover & stays engaged; SS - good hands, good arm (able to throw to 1B consistently), smart player (able to go to OF for relays, able to move to take 3B or 2B); 3B - good glove (speed, smarts, arm all less significant for this position). P&C well, someone said it about catchers - i think the same applies for pitchers, they're born, you just need to find them. After that, the outfield - what i'd like to have there is good gloves, flat out speed & good arms - what I usually end up with out there are the kids that we feel less comfortable with being in the infield (sad I agree, but, on our select team, theres a distinct drop in caliber of the players once we get past the top 7-8 kids). We're still trying to teach the outfielders at least one infield position each and I really hope i get them all in there, but, generally, they're all struggling.