Question for coaches!

[Orange Socks]

What is wrong with playing OF? It should not be looked at as a demotion. Who is gonna play SS when OP is pitching? 14U is still developmental years. Pretty rare to see a pitcher that also plays SS. My DD is a primary C, but is pretty much only playing 3rd this year. She could never play OF and would look foolish tracking fly balls. OF has a different skillset. Errors in the infield cost Bases, Errors in the OF cost Runs. Embrace the OF. College coaches do actually recruit OF players. OP DD needs to figure out if she is Primary Pitcher or a Primary fielder.

 

[Strike2]

In my experience, two things guarantee constant playing time...1) being able to hit and, 2) play the OF well.

It is also inarguable that the more positions players can perform at well, the better for all concerned. If she is a good infielder, she should get time there. In travel ball, DD was the best on the team at her infield position, but there were others who were also competent. Depending on who was present, the best overall defensive alignment was sometimes with her in the OF. However, she also got time in the infield...often in the most important games.

If your DD is a good pitcher as well as a good SS/OF, that's real leverage. Coaches don't like to lose pitchers, and if there isn't playing time available at SS on this team, my money says there is on another team. Have her politely go to the coach and say that she's fine playing some OF when needed, but also would like time at SS.

 

[Hawk_]

Just glancing over this: If she is a pitcher I probably wouldn't want her at SS either, cause when she pitches now there is a big whole in SS. Also on a 14u B team, the outfield is pretty dang important.
Should she ask..... absolutely! But that's the answer that I would be prepared for. Need a full time SS not a half time one.

 

[cvsoftball]

at my last AC job, the HC's DD was the starting pitcher. When she wasn't pitching, she was the starting SS (LH, no less). She always batted in the top 3 spots. Off the field, she healed the sick, raised the dead, and walked on water. To this day I feel ecstasy to have been graced by her presence.

 

[Beeg]

At what age would a coach expect the player to come to them with questions? My DD (14) has an issue and questions about her playing position. She was put into the outfield this year from playing SS all last year and having 6 errors on the year, makes almost all of the winter practices, practices at 150%. SS is now held by a new player that has only made 1/4 of the practices and made over 6 errors in the first weekend of a tournament. DD is a shy girl and is not the type to cause trouble or questions. So the big question is....should I push her to ask him?? Or as her parent should I bring it up?? Or should she keep quiet and just play where she is? Whats expected here?

thanks for your opinions!

During the fall, DD (14U) went to a new team. Since 8U, she primarily played SS unless she pitched. Yet, with this team, in a tournament with 5-6 games, she got to play 1 or 2 innings as SS. No matter what the other SS did-multiple errors, watching ball flew by, or overthrowing to 1B, HC wouldn't switch them. When DD did get the few chances to play SS, she worked hard and did everything she was expected to do. She ended up with 1 legit error and 1 questionable one the entire season. (With the questionable one, runner was going from 2B to 3B, so DD automatically threw to 3B, expecting someone would be there, but no one was. These were high level tournaments, so there was no time to look, and her previous coaches taught her to expect your teammate to be there.)

We finally convinced her to talk to HC. She was so scared, but got up the courage to talk to HC. Nothing changed. A tournament later, she asked again. Nothing changed. We finally realized there was nothing DD could do to change HC's mind. The entire season, DD played a handful of innings as SS.

Along with multiple issues with the team, we decided that she needed to change team. If she never got the chance to play SS now, she'd never learned to play SS when she moves into 16U.

You should encourage your daughter to talk to HC. I believe this is between the player and the coach, so as parents, we didn't talk to the coach directly. But if that doesn't change, she will have to ask herself whether playing SS is important. If it is, she would have to find the right team. (This ended up being a great learning lesson for my daughter to learn to speak up. She now has no problem asking teachers for extra assignments to get her grades up.)

For us, at 14U, we want a team that rotates players in and out of different positions. 14U is not college ball, and they should be developing players and giving them chances to learn different positions. If your daughter doesn't get the chance to play SS at all, she would never learn that skillset. Think about how her coach rotates players. If players played in the same position 80-90% of the time, this may be time for her to switch team.

 

[Beeg]

The other guess might be that somebody put in his head the idea that there is no such thing as a P/SS. PO, P/1st, P/OF and Maybe P/3rd but no P/SS. Same people think pitchers can't/shouldn't hit.

Agree. Many coaches think so, that's why DD just decided to stop pitching. It's tough to find a team that allows her to do both pitching and SS.

 

[Rolling Hard]

Agree. Many coaches think so, that's why DD just decided to stop pitching. It's tough to find a team that allows her to do both pitching and SS.

Maybe if you paid dues for 2 players, they might let her do both! LOL

 

[coach_w_dirt_dobberz]

Agree. Many coaches think so, that's why DD just decided to stop pitching. It's tough to find a team that allows her to do both pitching and SS.

I will take her, lol 2 of my pitchers play short stop and 2 play first base, they rotate with each other. I don’t care what their secondary is. If I like the kid and they work hard and have a lot of heart and push and motivate the team we do the g wiggle and work it out. I want them to play every position. And then tell me what they like doing better. Not because you think it is cool or it’s what your parents want you to play. I want to know what the player wants, but having that open dialogue they need to be ready for constructive criticism as well. I only critic attitude and drive generally as I think the skill specific items will come. But I have also been put through my paces with my DD. Heart, hard work, dedication, and a positive attitude always win out.


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[LRH1969]

I appreciate the answers. After last practice I told her she needs to talk to her coach. They did outfield drills and she complained of her shoulder from throwing the balls in. As the dad of a pitcher and if the soreness continues from throwing hail mary's from the outfield, should I tell him? I dont want her to injure her arm being she is primarily a pitcher. She is not one to take any position slowly, she is 120% all the time. She knows that once in college if she is pitching that will be mostly all she will be doing. She just enjoys playing SS, and mentioned last night she hates the OF, even though she is good enough to play there. Stat wise she played 26 games last season with 6 errors. The girl playing SS now matched those errors in 4 games our last tourney. Its sad, I am thinking of finding a better team for fit and we have barely even started the season.

 

[Orange Socks]

I appreciate the answers. After last practice I told her she needs to talk to her coach. They did outfield drills and she complained of her shoulder from throwing the balls in. As the dad of a pitcher and if the soreness continues from throwing hail mary's from the outfield, should I tell him? I dont want her to injure her arm being she is primarily a pitcher. She is not one to take any position slowly, she is 120% all the time. She knows that once in college if she is pitching that will be mostly all she will be doing. She just enjoys playing SS, and mentioned last night she hates the OF, even though she is good enough to play there. Stat wise she played 26 games last season with 6 errors. The girl playing SS now matched those errors in 4 games our last tourney. Its sad, I am thinking of finding a better team for fit and we have barely even started the season.

See what the coaches says and then what he does.

I don't think you mentioned how much pitching time she gets.