Position Ranking

[marriard]

I have to disagree on the value of C at 8U (no D3K, no stealing home). A good catcher puts a dramatic limit on base stealing, turns short bunts into outs, and keeps the pitcher's head in the game. Although it's rare to find an 8U catcher who can reliably make a strong throw to 2B, a good 8U C can cut down runners at 3B with some consistency. With a C who lets a lot of balls get away from her, and is slow to get them, a single becomes a runner on 3rd nearly automatically.

Reason I rate C down in 8U is that in most 8U - including most travel - there is no stealing at all. And no bunting on coach pitch. So there really isn't any value to catcher. Now if you are doing kid-pitch 8U and have stealing that is a different matter but we don't see any of that locally - and if you can pitch in 8U they'll likley play you up in 10U in rec.

 

[marriard]

C is #2 once players can steal home and D3K, before that you can get away with a weak C.

I think 2nd is an interesting position, it seems to be where we play our weakest fielder to give them some infield time.

DD played there quite a bit this year, it is her least favorite position on the field for some reason.

Your coaches are making a mistake if they are using 2B for infield time on any sort of competitive team. Rec maybe so where you are trying to put your weak arms and fielders in a position of safety while meeting play requirements (play deep 2B, SS or 3rd to keep them safe) but there is way too much action at 2B to have a weak link there. I see way too many errors at 2B with this strategy and everyone always wonders why.

Playing 2B properly is a LOT of work. You run and move a lot further than other IF positions, you'd prefer the same sort of range you get with a SS and you have more decisions to make than any other position than C - included non-prescriptive decisions including things like what kind of throw to make and how hard depending on where you field the ball. We play our smartest game players at 2B. It is also the sort of position where you expect to get an out every time the ball is hit there or a bunt is covered so it is a tough place and really active. You see the elite SS make the diving play to her right and then not get the out and we know it was a great play and a small chance of an out - same play at 2B you expect the out as well.

 

[Eric F]

Reason I rate C down in 8U is that in most 8U - including most travel - there is no stealing at all. And no bunting on coach pitch. So there really isn't any value to catcher. Now if you are doing kid-pitch 8U and have stealing that is a different matter but we don't see any of that locally - and if you can pitch in 8U they'll likley play you up in 10U in rec.

With all coach-pitch and no stealing at all, I agree, it's a different issue.

For us, 8U ASA-B All-Stars (which includes local, District, and State tournaments) is all kid-pitch, and you can steal 2B and 3B (1 base per pitch - no stealing home). You might be surprised at how well some of these kids can bunt. The good pitchers are throwing 40+mph from 30', and not walking very many batters.

For our local league, 8U uses kid-pitch until they get to 4 balls, then it's coach-pitch until the batter either hits or strikes out. In the last few weeks of the Spring rec season, it's all kid-pitch to get ready for All-Stars.

 

[canyonjoe]

I don't think second is undervalued, but often you have more people that can play second adequately versus SS,C,CF. However I agree with you that second is very hard to play well. Almost every play has multiple options on where to throw and as you suggest how to throw. You have 2 full bases to protect,etc. With a runner on 1st an a hard grounder to 2B, an average player gets the out at first, a good player gets the out at 2nd and a great player tags the runner and gets a DP. Also if you have good pitchers a lot of bloops are hit over the 1B head especially if they are playing in. If you have someone with great range a lot of hits turn to outs. If you have the depth of talented players, this is a position that you can afford to put a great athlete out (assuming you already have SS and CF covered).

 

[Sweet Lou]

2B is a position for players who are good fielders but don't have the arm for SS.

 

[marriard]

2B is a position for players who are good fielders but don't have the arm for SS.

I agree on the arm, however our current SS couldn't play 2B. She can't be relied on to make a situational decision but she is an elite athlete with the elite arm to match.

And our current 2B can't play 3B though she can play SS.

This is what makes ranking positions hard.

 

[mawilson2]

1. Most important without a doubt is Pitcher.
2. Bucket Dad every night of the week.
3. Pitching Coach once a week.
4. After that 8 good bats and you have a team to fear.

Joking aside: P,C,SS,CF,3rd,DH,2nd,LF,RF,1st

 

[Eric F]

Joking aside: P,C,SS,CF,3rd,DH,2nd,LF,RF,1st

What age group?

 

[LPF4]

For 10u which we just completed I would say
P, C, depends on your pitcher
We had one of the best in the league who gave up very few hits if she did most were to the right side so I would say 1b then 2b
I rate 1b over 2b because of all the throws that go to first.

Last season we had a suspect 1b who put us in many 4 and 5 out innings and turned singles into doubles.

For all stars same type of pitcher I put my best outfielder in right and hid my worst in left.

 

[James Smith]

1st is always top 3, I think people with older Teams have players that can catch the ball but do not necessarily have a lot of range or a strong arm so they are moving 1st down their list.

For a little while this year we needed to move our SS to 1st until we found another one which we did. Better to give up something at SS then 1st. Nothing worse than a 1st that drops a lot of balls.

After the above brief hiccup all DD’s Teams this year were blessed with some good 1st basemen. Forget just catching the ball, they caught the bad throws and were smart. Made the entire Team so much better knowing you had players there to throw the ball to.