recruit or develop

[bmakj]

DD (2nd year 12u) is playing on a mostly first year 12u team, only 11 girls on roster for fall. Coaches are moving girls around a lot, using fall to see what they have (I think 6 or 7 girls are from spring team that played 10u), which is great.

after a few friendlies and a one day tourney, a glaring weakness / hole is becoming apparent. There is not a real OF among them. DD is competent in OF, probably second best in OF on team, but they are going to have her behind the plate for at least 50% of the pool innings, and probably close to 100% of bracket innings (single day tourney, she caught 3.5 out of 4 games, gonna talk to coaches, they are going to have to lighten her load in pool games I think). when not catching, they like her at 3B (only 3 or 4 girls on team can make the 3B to 1B throw). I honestly would love to see her in CF when not catching (and am OK with her sitting some too).

next best OF is probably one of the ACs daughter, seems to prefer SS and 1B (not aggressive enough for former, good on latter). she is fast, would probably be best CF on team. due to team politics, cannot see them putting her in OF.

the biggest problem though, is most of the girls that have been playing OF, with one exception during a friendly (#2P, also plays 1B, lefty), all the girls who have been in OF are letting fly balls they should be getting under, drop in front of them, and most are also on the slower side.

how do you get girls to go all out for fly balls? to me fall ball is the time to be running at and/or diving for those catches, and if you miss, it is fall ball. gotta trip over that fine line a bunch to learn where it is. or should the coaches be recruiting some real OF, to push everyone.

part of the issue is also the team politics, most just moved from 10u, and while they may say they realize OF is important in 12u, deep down they do not really get it yet., and everyone thinks their DD should be SS. so with one or two exceptions, no one is playing more than a couple innings in OF generally.

 

[djcarter1966]

Like you said this transition takes time even at 12U it really just starts to be noticed, wait until you are playing 16U if your outfielders are slow and can't track the ball you have zero chance at being competitive...go watch some HS games where they have C- rec level girls playing outfield those teams are getting run ruled unless they have a strikeout pitcher, also ask all those SS playing college ball and being put in OF because they are fast after a while they will all tell you OF is hard work.

All that aside you probably just have to let it play out until HC realizes it makes a difference and work with the girls you have it is a skill that can be taught. The other thing that works is designating an OF coach, I did this when I coached and it helped a lot, spend time doing OF drills every practice and I don't mean just hitting pop flies while the infield is doing their practice, I mean tracking drills specifically, should also have signs so girls understand they don't stand in the same place they get a sign form the outfield coach. During full on practice the OF coach should be really on the girls about hitting the cutoff if the balls over their head, direct throws to the right base on balls in front of them, always being in the right backup positions. Once they start realizing it's no place for picking daisies any more maybe some players will start stepping up and wanting to be out there.

 

[Long Baller]

Going out to "recruit kids"? Is coach going to go out and poach other teams? He will probably have to promise exclusive infield time to get talented kids to come to the team, thereby adding to the team politics....Mostly 1st year 12U team, the outfield isn't going to be very good at that age anyway.

 

[Rick M]

DD just moved up to 14U, and all of a sudden, the outfield is super-important. At 12U, it's still seen as a place to bury your weakest players, outfielders rarely get more than a handful of chances per game. Getting good in the outfield takes time, there isn't much you can do practice-wise other than hit them fly balls and get game experience.

DD's team still lets too many balls fall in front of them, but I think it's still a leftover from the priority in 12U being to stop the ball from getting behind you. Once they develop some confidence in their teammates -- that they can sell out on a ball and someone will be backing them up, their ability to get to balls will rise.

 

[Eric F]

DD just moved up to 14U, and all of a sudden, the outfield is super-important. At 12U, it's still seen as a place to bury your weakest players, outfielders rarely get more than a handful of chances per game. Getting good in the outfield takes time, there isn't much you can do practice-wise other than hit them fly balls and get game experience.

DD's team still lets too many balls fall in front of them, but I think it's still a leftover from the priority in 12U being to stop the ball from getting behind you. Once they develop some confidence in their teammates -- that they can sell out on a ball and someone will be backing them up, their ability to get to balls will rise.

Yep. 14U is where your OF will make or break you. Lots of players are driving the ball the OF on a regular basis. Zero good 14U and older teams have mediocre OF'ers. If you can get a handful of players to buy in to the importance and value of OF positions, and truly work on their game, it will change a team.

Here's an example of what a committed 14U CF looks like...

 

[justanotherguy]

Playing at a high level 18u team, I can't explain just how much a very strong OF'er can absolutely save your bacon. Our CF'er is a rather small girl, doesn't come up with a ton of huge hits, but man can she make some plays! Both she and our main SS are seniors and it'll hurt when they leave, but I swear I dread losing our CF'er more than the SS. The plays she makes are just extraordinary. If players took the OF that serious, their strength will really be starting to show at 14u. The girls that just get put in the OF to hide them are no longer playing ball, and instead the girls that have devoted themselves to the OF become stars. So I say develop them and take it super seriously. Praise the big plays! Missing a big play at SS often just means a single. Missing a big play in the OF is a double or triple.

 

[Sweet Lou]

How much time is devoted to OF drills in practice? If it's an after thought you're probably not going to see a lot of improvement. That said if you only have a "a few girls who can make the throw from 1st to 3rd" I'm guessing the HC is working on suring up the IF defense as much as possible and letting the OF chips fall where they may. There are only so many practice hours in a week.

 

[_MIA_]

Recruit a better SS than the one you have and move the one you have to CF and work with her for a month (and have somebody hit her fly balls outside of practice twice a week). Problem solved.

While it is certainly true that if an OF screws up it could turn an out into a triple (believe me I know...I see it almost every game with my DD's 1st year 12U team), that probably will happen a few times a game at most (unless they are really bad..see my comment about my DD's team above ). A SS will have at least 5 times more opportunities to screw up during a game (cutoffs, ground balls, steal attempts) which could easily cost you 7 to 10 outs...

As the competition gets better every position counts, some count more than others however, which is why stat guys use positional adjustments when calculating WAR in baseball.

 

[Silver 2200]

Yep. 14U is where your OF will make or break you. Lots of players are driving the ball the OF on a regular basis. Zero good 14U and older teams have mediocre OF'ers. If you can get a handful of players to buy in to the importance and value of OF positions, and truly work on their game, it will change a team.

Here's an example of what a committed 14U CF looks like...

That was a heck of a play. How long has that girl been playing the outfield? I am guessing she has been in the outfield for a while, since she is left handed.

 

[The Man In Blue]

Want to keep playing as you move up? There are three times as many outfielders as there are any other position. More opportunity.

Yes, 12u is where the outfield starts to drastically change from the place to hide players to the place you need players. The hardest part is getting the players and parents to believe that.