Lineup strategy

[SnocatzDad]

Someone brought up the concept of rating them all 1-4 and not putting a 1 next to a 4 (i.e. 1,2,2,3,3,4,3,2,2). I like that idea, but as it relates to speed, nothing burns worse than to get a slow kid on base in front of a quick kid and to not be able to advance, that's why in a 9 person lineup if I have a speedy leadoff i try to put at least a reasonable quick hitter at 8 and 9 so that they don't clog up the bases on subsequent times through the order..

 

[Mrek]

Actually the person says their hope is both #1 and #2 will make it on base and that when #3 bunts, the 3rd baseman will make the wrong decision and hold the ball rather than taking the force at first, giving them bases loaded and no outs with #4 coming up. I believe they're assuming that the league pitching and fielding will be weak and their good batters will hit better than .400 against the other teams.

On the other hand, this guy/gal says he/she stacks the good hitters for tournament play, because the pitching will overpower the batters and you have to maximize your chance to score runs.

Remember probability...

Percentage of time both #1 and #2 get hits = (.400 X .400) = .160. Or 1 in 6. So that "big inning" scenario only occurs every Game and a Half at best. And after the first inning #1 and #2 may not bat back to back again.

If the strategy is designed for facing a bad team where 3B does not know where to go and your lineup is going to hit better than .400 (14 hits in a 7 inning game), then your team should be playing better competition and really doesn't need a lineup strategy. Especially one that features bunts sprinkled throughout the lineup.

 

[Momo'sDad]

Great input! Thanks, everyone. Our league doesn't have any girls I'd consider to be burners in terms of raw speed, but I drafted a pretty quick lineup, my strategy being that solid pitching and excellent defense would give our team the best chance to be successful in those games we're trying to win. Though a couple of girls have potential, we do not have any real power. I do expect, however, that a few of our girls will hit doubles fairly often and the most impressive part to me is that all our girls are making contact.

I've worked out a couple of girls at catcher, but that position is still up for grabs. The parents and players know that the girl or girls who put in the most work to be good catchers will receive the most playing time throughout the season. The same applies to the pitchers. Our pitching is supposed to be fairly solid, but I've only had one day to really evaluate the trio and only one (my DD) has pitched to live batters so far.

It's impossible to predict how the season will progress, but our basic strategy is going to be to limit our opponents' runs, by making smart plays on defense. That's how we'll play every game defensively. On offense, though, we'll be trying things in some games that won't make sense at the time, but which will hopefully lead to success later in the season. I won't have the weaker hitters bunting every at-bat, because even if they're great at bunting, I want them to develop game-quality swings as well. We'll see whether our slowest player can initiate a double steal. And every chance we get, we're going to put pressure on the defense to make a play, even if that means bunting 5 times in a row, on occasion.

 

[ArmWhip]

There is also a strategy used by a former Major League ballplayer when he won a couple of LL Baseball championships. As a general rule he batted his kids in order from best hitter to worst. His thought was that in a low scoring game the top of the lineup will often get one more at bat than the middle or end so put your best hitters up front because they will get more chances to hit.

 

[chinamigarden]

My mens slow pitch softball team used to use a variety of methods to determine line up. Some days it was the order that we arrived, or by height, and alphabetical.

 

[Mike]

There is also a strategy used by a former Major League ballplayer when he won a couple of LL Baseball championships. As a general rule he batted his kids in order from best hitter to worst. His thought was that in a low scoring game the top of the lineup will often get one more at bat than the middle or end so put your best hitters up front because they will get more chances to hit.

I like this. I had always tried strategy but the problem is it usually only works the first inning. In fall ball last year I put them in the batting order according to there averages. I didnt share there actual average but they new how the order was put together. Our team average went up just over 200 points from our regular season. If they were last they new why. That might be a little much for 10u rec though, so far I liked starsnuffers advice the best.

 

[Slick]

For 10U rec league we have a slightly different lineup strategy. Most pitchers in our 10u rec take a batter or two before they find the strike zone (or the umpire adjusts), so we always bat the fastest girl that can not hit or bunt first to draw the walk. Then we start with the best hitters to the worst.

 

[StacieM]

A lot of times it seems like if your "good" batter's aren't hitting, the weaker ones are. So if you bunch them, you will have a "bunch" hitting in any given game. Of course, this does NOT work every time lol

It's really hard to say not knowing the personnel. Sounds like you are batting everyone right? 13 hitters. Play with it. Try it different ways. See what happens. You may be surprised at what moving different batters into different parts of the lineup does to their performance. Sometimes good, sometimes not.

Hopefully, you have a portion of your season to try things out (or set up scrimmages to experiment).

 

[cwestwjg]

In tournament play our goal is to get 1 run per inning, typically most of our 55 minute games are decided by less than 2 runs and end with less than 5 total runs. We rate our players by who puts the ball in play rahter than who records a hit.

We could penalize alot of solid hitters that just happen to have 8 at bats that grounded out to a very strong infield or line drives to short which happens alot.

I like diong my line up based on speed it seems to work better for scoring runs. Slow girls hit in front of the biggest bats fast girls hit 1,2,5, and 8 in the lineup. Our pitcher is always in the 9 spot.

 

[rowdy]

The batting order is not as important as other aspects of the game. The most important in my opinion is you must be fundamentally sound defensively and have good enough pitchers that they don't give the game away with walks or HBP. Second is all your players must be able to lay down a bunt when asked. I would say 100% of the time but I know that is not reasonable but the vast majority of the time. Third, I like the speed at the top of the order and the last two in the order. If you have runners on base that can run you can do a lot of things to disrupt the other team. Fourth, you should work with your players to ensure you have no automatic outs on your team. Practice swinging the bats and use a lot of tee work, soft toss and live pitching. We usually give them no more than three swings at a time to simulate an at bat in a game. Last thing and most important is have fun and don't stress out if you lose. This experience is for the kids and as a coach your responsibility is to make sure the girls love the game more when they leave than when you got them.