~How ATHLETIC is your PITCHER?

[El Oso]

We want our pitchers to be versatile and play other positions. No 1 trick ponies. If we had a 20 person roster, sure a couple pitcher only players is fine. But not with 14-15 on roster,

I don't know what age or what level you are talking about but we've played roughly half of the Top 20 18u Gold teams and I can tell you very few, if any, have pitchers that also play other positions. Most coaches want to protect their good pitchers from injury because they are too hard to come by. Plus the fact that when you get to the Gold level, it's hard for a pitcher to be as good defensively as a Gold level fielder. Those fielders spend just about as much time practicing fielding as a pitcher does practicing pitching so it becomes impossible for a pitcher to keep up starting around the 16u level.

 

[radness]

There are only so many hours in the day RAD and most of these girls don't want their lives consumed with one thing, ie... softball. A good pitcher is going to spend at least 2 hours per day practicing. That includes travel to and from the facility and the warm up/cool down periods. Adding additional time to that is asking a lot of a teenager who also needs to study and likes to spend time with friends like everyone else is doing.

... and yet there are some pitchers who are both capable of pitching and being a defensive player starting at another position.

My comment was I think it's 50/50 on which you may get on a team. Some teams are going to have a roster that wants multi-talented pitchers. And some rosters are fine just taking pitcher only.

Opinion, it is not only about time it is about dedication and goals.


If this were only about being in the circle...
Certainly you know that there are some pitchers who are much better defensive players in the circle than other pitchers are.
These are the pitchers who generally can play another defensive position.

 

[radness]

I don't know what age or what level you are talking about but we've played roughly half of the Top 20 18u Gold teams and I can tell you very few, if any, have pitchers that also play other positions. Most coaches want to protect their good pitchers from injury because they are too hard to come by. Plus the fact that when you get to the Gold level, it's hard for a pitcher to be as good defensively as a Gold level fielder. Those fielders spend just about as much time practicing fielding as a pitcher does practicing pitching so it becomes impossible for a pitcher to keep up starting around the 16u level.

Yes I would agree at that level pitchers are predominantly pitcher only. To that point, when does this start becoming obvious to DFP as pitchers developing up Through the Ages 12u 14U 16u...

Could be by the start of 14u?
So at 13 years old???

The disparity in developed abilities starts to show and I think it might be more obvious in certain competitive levels than others.

 

[_MIA_]

... and yet there are some pitchers who are both capable of pitching and being a defensive player starting at another position.

My comment was I think it's 50/50 on which you may get on a team. Some teams are going to have a roster that wants multi-talented pitchers. And some rosters are fine just taking pitcher only.

Opinion, it is not only about time it is about dedication and goals.


If this were only about being in the circle...
Certainly you know that there are some pitchers who are much better defensive players in the circle than other pitchers are.
These are the pitchers who generally can play another defensive position.

The better fielding pitchers are often the ones who are athletic enough to be able to get away with less reps. They would often be middle of the field type players had they chosen not to pitch. In today’s game Jordy Bahl is a good example..

 

[radness]

I have known pitchers who demanded that they get Fielding reps.
And I have known pitchers who could care less about that.

I have known coaches who required pitchers to get Fielding reps. And I have seen coaches who overlooked that completely.

*Coaches and Pitchers...
what category do you want to be in?!

Choices Choices Choices

 

[_MIA_]

And I have known pitchers who could care less about that.

Could not care less (sorry..pet peeve..carry on)

 

[El Oso]

My comment was I think it's 50/50 on which you may get on a team. Some teams are going to have a roster that wants multi-talented pitchers. And some rosters are fine just taking pitcher only.

Opinion, it is not only about time it is about dedication and goals.

Not sure what you are talking about with the 50/50 thing.......................................... I based my post on this comment you made, which seemed to indicate that you thought the pitcher made a choice to not work, ie... spend time, on being an asset (good fielder) and that you didn't look favorably upon that decision.

"Imagine that, could be an excellent pitcher but chose not to be an asset as a defensive player in the middle of the field..."

I merely stated that it's quite normal for that to be the case because most of these girls have lives outside of softball and do not want to spend the time necessary to be proficient at both pitching and fielding. And I don't blame them. You can call it "dedication" or "goals" but both of those take TIME, of which there is little of as a teenage pitcher.

 

[radness]

Not sure what you are talking about with the 50/50 thing..........................................

50/50 some pitchers are only pitchers and some are comparable to the other players on their team at other positions.
But not all.

"Imagine that, could be an excellent pitcher but chose not to be an asset as a defensive player in the middle of the field..."

That comment you quoted was in response to the poster before me that I attached it to.They had indicated @Agcy post #9.

 

[El Oso]

That comment you quoted was in response to the poster before me that I attached it to.They had indicated @Agcy post #9.

Yes I'm aware.

 

[radness]

Not sure what you are talking about with the 50/50 thing.......................................... I based my post on this comment you made, which seemed to indicate that you thought the pitcher made a choice to not work, ie... spend time, on being an asset (good fielder) and that you didn't look favorably upon that decision.

"Imagine that, could be an excellent pitcher but chose not to be an asset as a defensive player in the middle of the field..."

I merely stated that it's quite normal for that to be the case because most of these girls have lives outside of softball and do not want to spend the time necessary to be proficient at both pitching and fielding. And I don't blame them. You can call it "dedication" or "goals" but both of those take TIME, of which there is little of as a teenage pitcher.

Imagine that somebody who could have been a better player on the field and chose not to, of course I would prefer a pitcher who could also be an asset as a defensive player in the middle of the field while they're pitching and elsewhere if needed.

That is what the discussion point is~
that there are some pitchers who are more of an asset on their teams than others.
What percentage rate do you think the split rate is on those abilities?