Roster batting

[djcarter1966]

You have to ask yourself how hard are the girls at the bottom trying. If you are a dedicated player with any kind of drive and determination at all and have been playing travel ball for three years there is NO excuse for batting less than.100; unless you have zero athletic ability and I would dare say with three years of work you could almost teach any one to do it at 8,9,10 years old.

I would think if you can get to bracket play batting 11 then fine keep doing that; but once you hit bracket play I would rotate the three girls through that 9 hole (or 7 or 8 but that is a different discussion entirely), as soon as they bat sub them out. I would be honest with the girls they need to work harder to get better....are they seeing a hitting instructor, do they ask for extra reps or instructor from coach after practice? Size has nothing to do with it there is no reason they can't make solid contact and drive the ball through the infield at 10 yrs old 4ft and half ft and 70 lbs lbs.

 

[chinamigarden]

Ha, she does indeed bat second...

GameChanger is helpful, hard data to justify decisions. And the disparity we are talking about is significant, the difference between girls hitting .400-.600 at the top and .100 (or less) at the bottom. It's early in the season, however, and I don't think any decision is appropriate until at least 4-5 tournaments have been played, to give everyone a fair chance to prove themselves.

I guess my reasoning is that giving the team a chance to go further in bracket gives every girl more at bats with another game. But it's tough. The issue has been raised to the parents as a possibility in the offseason, just to make sure if we do it everyone is aware what is happening.




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there is nothing like competition and consequence for improving players. My bet is one of those 3 girls will be hitting over 300 by the third weekend.

 

[cager40772]

You have to ask yourself how hard are the girls at the bottom trying. If you are a dedicated player with any kind of drive and determination at all and have been playing travel ball for three years there is NO excuse for batting less than.100; unless you have zero athletic ability and I would dare say with three years of work you could almost teach any one to do it at 8,9,10 years old.

I would think if you can get to bracket play batting 11 then fine keep doing that; but once you hit bracket play I would rotate the three girls through that 9 hole (or 7 or 8 but that is a different discussion entirely), as soon as they bat sub them out. I would be honest with the girls they need to work harder to get better....are they seeing a hitting instructor, do they ask for extra reps or instructor from coach after practice? Size has nothing to do with it there is no reason they can't make solid contact and drive the ball through the infield at 10 yrs old 4ft and half ft and 70 lbs lbs.

Not a lack of effort, one even takes lessons. Frustrating.


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[djcarter1966]

Not a lack of effort, one even takes lessons. Frustrating.


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If you are taking lesson and really putting in the effort and are still batting .100 it might be either time for a new hitting instructor or rethink softball as your athletic endevour...although one thing I would do and it sounds silly is make sure those girls have all had recent eye exams I felt terrible putting off my sons for a couple months he mentioned something but he did not make a big deal about it after getting glasses it made a world of difference

 

[cager40772]

If you are taking lesson and really putting in the effort and are still batting .100 it might be either time for a new hitting instructor or rethink softball as your athletic endevour...although one thing I would do and it sounds silly is make sure those girls have all had recent eye exams I felt terrible putting off my sons for a couple months he mentioned something but he did not make a big deal about it after getting glasses it made a world of difference

Yeah I hear you. I can't stress enough that I do believe a lot of it is physical development. They don't strike out a whole lot more than the average girl, they just have no strength. I've suggested dropping to smaller bats to generate more bat speed, but that hasn't worked either. They can all bunt great, so eyes not an issue. Bunting is fine, but can't bunt them just to bunt them.


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[quincy]

Way off topic here but I have had batting coach get so in their head they didn't stand a chance. They had 15 things in their head when they were trying to hit ball.

Looked Ok, but ball was in mitt before their swing started.

DD used to be fast and beat out all the ground balls, then she started hitting it harder for easy outs.

Be patient, it will come around.

 

[#7sDad]

...Parents are concerned because they don't want to have to explain to their girl why they aren't batting...

Share this with the parents... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hER0Qp6QJNU. Skip to 1:30 regarding parenting.

 

[djcarter1966]

Yeah I hear you. I can't stress enough that I do believe a lot of it is physical development. They don't strike out a whole lot more than the average girl, they just have no strength. I've suggested dropping to smaller bats to generate more bat speed, but that hasn't worked either. They can all bunt great, so eyes not an issue. Bunting is fine, but can't bunt them just to bunt them.


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you said you used a stat tracker of some kind. I would look at the stats again and make sure what you think is on target if they are putting the ball into play at the same rate then it is a different problem but it is still probably batting technique they are making contact but it's just that contact they are not driving the ball and my guess is a lot of weak grounders to P, 1B and 2B. Since this is travel and competitive you need to strike the right balance between development and competition. With substituting during bracket play those girls might lose out on two or three at bats per tournament I don't think that is unreasonable.

 

[CoogansBluff]

They aren't dumb, they know the difference between ending a game with tying runners on and 10-11 coming up vs. the top of the order.

That tells me that you've got a very wide disparity between 9-10-11 and most of the rest of the team, which you confirmed with stats.

I believe in batting them all, or if not, at least giving the 9-10-11 players more time in warmup games to compensate for what they're losing in bracket play.

But, rather than debate that old argument, I'll suggest that the bigger issue is where the team is headed long term. The wider the variance in skill levels among the players, the more likely the team will start to split. The top players (and/or their parents) will start looking around for stronger teams, or be happy that the lower players were turned loose. My old teams reached that crossroad going into second-year 12U. If you have a heart, it's painful. Good news in your case is that the weaker ones seem to be working hard, and it might just be a question of needing more time. Hopefully they catch up.

 

[Rocketech1]

There is a saying that is applicable to your situation "When you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one". A couple of other random thoughts a) gamechanger stats are only as good as the scorekeeper and should only be one of many factors when setting the batting order and b) you said you are waiting for 4 or 5 tournaments to lock-in the batting roster but remember the batting order is fluid and some players will get better as the season progresses and some will get worse. It should not be set in stone but instead constantly changing throughout the year. Don't be afraid to mix it up, frequently.