Outfielders

[Chris8]

I know...beating a dead horse...

Vent away! Preach it! I don't think you're off base. On our 14 team...EVERYONE is a OF. Some will play more innings than others and some will play very few innings but they ALL practice outfield skills, drills, situations during practices. What's been fun to watch this last year is how much its helping their overall under standing of the game, positioning and strategy. They take that back with them to their other positions and the team plays with much better synergy and execution. They will take that with them to their HS team and any future TB teams making them more versatile and hopefully valuable for their team.

KPower...by the way 2 of our 3 catchers are fantastic OF's too. And Lefty Catchers....look up Michelle Venturella for inspiration.

 

[KPower]

Vent away! Preach it! I don't think you're off base. On our 14 team...EVERYONE is a OF. Some will play more innings than others and some will play very few innings but they ALL practice outfield skills, drills, situations during practices. What's been fun to watch this last year is how much its helping their overall under standing of the game, positioning and strategy. They take that back with them to their other positions and the team plays with much better synergy and execution. They will take that with them to their HS team and any future TB teams making them more versatile and hopefully valuable for their team.

KPower...by the way 2 of our 3 catchers are fantastic OF's too. And Lefty Catchers....look up Michelle Venturella for inspiration.

I would like to "like" this 100 times!

And yes - we love watching lefty college catchers. Kind of funny - last weekend a dad was standing behind the plate and FINALLY (after a year) noticed that DD was a lefty. He was shocked. "What is a lefty doing behind the plate - that is crazy". By the end of the game he was asking - is this allowed in softball? She actually does a really good job back there. Ha!!! (Face palm).

 

[dbronstein]

Talking to them can be tough.

"Do you like outfield?" "Sure"
"Do you like infield?" "Sure"
"Do you want to pitch?" "Sure"
"Do you want to catch?" "Oh hell no."

I actually had six girls who wanted to catch. It was unreal.

 

[dbronstein]

I am just tired of listening to people (and this is mostly 2nd yr 14s and 16s I'm talking about) complaining about being stuck in the OF, or dumped in the OF, or yada, yada.

As I said earlier, this is because this is what coaches drill into them at the younger ages. At 8U and 10U (and to a lesser extent 12U) when the OF really isn't that important, coaches put their best players in the infield. The kids aren't stupid - they know if they are put in the OF it's because the coach doesn't think they are good enough to play the IF. So it gets ingrained in them and it's hard to change their minds about it.

 

[Westwind]

Resurrecting an old thread.

I don’t know if it is a coincidence or not but I have noticed so many outfield misreads, bad footwork, unimpressive play in the NCAA by teams that I know value good defense. One team in particular has a positively sparkling infield has players awkwardly running in on line drives, getting burned, and looking baffled after it gets by them and they have to play it off their wall.

Another team has a 2x hs Gatoraid player, a converted ss in cf that is getting eaten alive every game.

The players that are out there aren’t always spectacular offensive performers either.

Really makes me think that a kid that can hit and play above average outfield could kick the doors open for herself and bypass a whole lot of players that hit well and play a great middle infield. I become more convinced all the time that converting ss’s into outfielders is not quite as easy as it sounds.

 

[KPower]

Resurrecting an old thread.

I don’t know if it is a coincidence or not but I have noticed so many outfield misreads, bad footwork, unimpressive play in the NCAA by teams that I know value good defense. One team in particular has a positively sparkling infield has players awkwardly running in on line drives, getting burned, and looking baffled after it gets by them and they have to play it off their wall.

Another team has a 2x hs Gatoraid player, a converted ss in cf that is getting eaten alive every game.

The players that are out there aren’t always spectacular offensive performers either.

Really makes me think that a kid that can hit and play above average outfield could kick the doors open for herself and bypass a whole lot of players that hit well and play a great middle infield. I become more convinced all the time that converting ss’s into outfielders is not quite as easy as it sounds.

I have said this time and time again - and it always seems to fall on deaf ears. No - not EVERYONE can play good OF. DD's old coach used to say that all the time - "I don't need to pick up outfielders, I can turn anyone into an outfielder". So not true. They got beat in the OF time and time again. DD recently guest played with another team in an out of state tourney. She started in LF and was moved to CF in the 3rd inning of the 1st game and played there for the remainder of the tourney. She made two catches that literally blew my mind. I know she is my kid, but I have no idea how she got under them. She had a sliding backhanded catch that made the opposing coach congratulate her when they went thru the "good game" line. She had a reach over the fence that should have been a home run. And then according to her she had a several "routine catches" (which didn't seems so "routine" to me but ok...)

DD has caught for most of her life, she's a lefty so she's kind of limited as to where she can play. When she wasn't catching she played in the OF. More recently she has really come to really enjoy the OF. She loves being that last line of defense.

Her current team still has girls on the team who have a bias against the OF. And plenty of parents too. I don't know if it has to do with having played HS ball where you play where the coach puts you or you play the bench? or if some girls will always think they are above the outfield. There are several girls who will play horrible on purpose when they are put in the OF - girls I know that have the ability - they just don't have the team first attitude. They think they are "better than the OF".

I know it sounds like I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth - NO - not everyone can or should play outfield - but everyone should respect OFers. And as far as I'm concerned everyone should give the OF a try at some point - who knows, you might really love it??? And if you wind up in the OF for whatever reason - give it everything you have - if not for yourself - for your team!

 

[Rambler34]

I have said this time and time again - and it always seems to fall on deaf ears. No - not EVERYONE can play good OF. DD's old coach used to say that all the time - "I don't need to pick up outfielders, I can turn anyone into an outfielder". So not true. They got beat in the OF time and time again. DD recently guest played with another team in an out of state tourney. She started in LF and was moved to CF in the 3rd inning of the 1st game and played there for the remainder of the tourney. She made two catches that literally blew my mind. I know she is my kid, but I have no idea how she got under them. She had a sliding backhanded catch that made the opposing coach congratulate her when they went thru the "good game" line. She had a reach over the fence that should have been a home run. And then according to her she had a several "routine catches" (which didn't seems so "routine" to me but ok...)

DD has caught for most of her life, she's a lefty so she's kind of limited as to where she can play. When she wasn't catching she played in the OF. More recently she has really come to really enjoy the OF. She loves being that last line of defense.

Her current team still has girls on the team who have a bias against the OF. And plenty of parents too. I don't know if it has to do with having played HS ball where you play where the coach puts you or you play the bench? or if some girls will always think they are above the outfield. There are several girls who will play horrible on purpose when they are put in the OF - girls I know that have the ability - they just don't have the team first attitude. They think they are "better than the OF".

I know it sounds like I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth - NO - not everyone can or should play outfield - but everyone should respect OFers. And as far as I'm concerned everyone should give the OF a try at some point - who knows, you might really love it??? And if you wind up in the OF for whatever reason - give it everything you have - if not for yourself - for your team!

I totally agree and can relate. DD is a lefty and once we left coach pitch and playing the circle she turned into an outfielder. She also caught to learn something new but she has spent 8 years learning how to read balls and make plays. She was pulled up to varsity as a 7th grader and played 7 positions her 7th grade year and 6 her 8th grade year where we made it to regional finals. It turned out it was easier to turn an outfielder to an infielder. She had spent so much time behind them she knew where they were going on every play. Having a great bat got her into the lineup but versatility kept her there.

 

[marriard]

Really makes me think that a kid that can hit and play above average outfield could kick the doors open for herself and bypass a whole lot of players that hit well and play a great middle infield. I become more convinced all the time that converting ss’s into outfielders is not quite as easy as it sounds.

The majority of college coaches are surprisingly really, really slow to change their recruiting habits or how they think or coach, so I wouldn't hold your breath.

A large number like to take athletes or specific profiles of athlete over softball players thinking they can 'fix it' or coach up the athlete and take on projects - ignoring that this 'project' has been playing softball since she was 8 and they will just be another in a long line of coaches who will not make any difference.

I have had multiple conversations over the year about 'potential' versus 'finished product' with college coaches when they were considering and comparing two of our players. I will tell you the coaches who took 'finished products' over potential generally got 3-4 year contributors (more often or not starters) while projects generally ended up providing nothing - in the best case they got 2 decent years.

There is a list of coaches I call when certain types of players enter our organization and start the recruiting process. You don't meet their profile of what makes a player in their program, it really doesn't matter how good you are, you aren't getting recruited there. The opposite as well - they can be a terrible player but they have the things they are looking for they have a real chance.

 

[_MIA_]

If you don't know how to coach OF then sure you are not going to magically turn a SS into a good OF. College softball is just following what professional baseball does..I would guess a good percentage of MLB OF were SS in HS. The difference in professional baseball is a) they have instructors just for OF and b) they have minor leagues. I am sure you would see plenty of overrun balls if you watched low A minor league baseball game.That said, while I don't doubt what Rambler said regarding it being easier for his DD to go from OF to IF, 99% of the time it is not going to be easier to teach a HS OF how to play SS/2B/3B then it would be to take a HS SS/2B/3B and teach them OF. First base maybe, not SS/2B/3B. It isn't only about knowing where to be, that can be taught in a week, it is about learning proper footwork to get a good hop, different arm angles for throwing, when to backhand and when to not backhand etc. Those things take years to perfect.

 

[Rambler34]

If you don't know how to coach OF then sure you are not going to magically turn a SS into a good OF. College softball is just following what professional baseball does..I would guess a good percentage of MLB OF were SS in HS. The difference in professional baseball is a) they have instructors just for OF and b) they have minor leagues. I am sure you would see plenty of overrun balls if you watched low A minor league baseball game.That said, while I don't doubt what Rambler said regarding it being easier for his DD to go from OF to IF, 99% of the time it is not going to be easier to teach a HS OF how to play SS/2B/3B then it would be to take a HS SS/2B/3B and teach them OF. First base maybe, not SS/2B/3B. It isn't only about knowing where to be, that can be taught in a week, it is about learning proper footwork to get a good hop, different arm angles for throwing, when to backhand and when to not backhand etc. Those things take years to perfect.

You are probably right about it being taking years to teach them a lot of IF techniques. For years in TB as we did drills and IF work where she was held to the same standards as any other kid on the team. We would work them all taking balls at third then SS and so on. She was expected to make plays at each spot as we rotated through. That probably makes the transition easier even though she never played those positions.