Ruts in the Batter's Box

[Eugene Stryke]

We have all seen the ruts that develop in the batter's box. They were particularly bad last weekend in our 4-day tournament. The girls' feet were almost always in an awkward position. Oftentimes I noticed the batter didn't want to step right in the ruts so they would stand on the slope furthest from the plate. This had their heels somewhat higher than their toes. Their feet were also often in a closed stance with the front foot closer to the opposite batter's box because of the nature of the ruts. These were 10U girls so they have pretty small feet; It seemed to me that it was affecting the hitter's balance, which is an important part of the swing.

Any recommendations? I brought it up with a coach and he told me it wasn't a concern.

 

[Eric F]

We have all seen the ruts that develop in the batter's box. They were particularly bad last weekend in our 4-day tournament. The girls' feet were almost always in an awkward position. Oftentimes I noticed the batter didn't want to step right in the ruts so they would stand on the slope furthest from the plate. This had their heels somewhat higher than their toes. Their feet were also often in a closed stance with the front foot closer to the opposite batter's box because of the nature of the ruts. These were 10U girls so they have pretty small feet; It seemed to me that it was affecting the hitter's balance, which is an important part of the swing.

Any recommendations? I brought it up with a coach and he told me it wasn't a concern.

Is this the same coach that told you that the techniques taught by NECC are "too complex for 10U girls"?

If it was me, I would find out who was responsible for field maintenance during the tournament, bring it to their attention, and ask them to remedy the situation.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I guess sprained ankles for the batters, catchers and umpires aren't a concern. I didn't know that.

 

[vcackerman]

That's just laziness by the tournament. This weekend my org ran a 64 teams with 9 fields going and we had crews stationed everywhere to touch up mounds, batters boxes and stripe between each of the 120+ games.

 

[Eric F]

While I agree that the tournament organizers should be taking care of the issue, the coach's attitude concerns me most.

 

[guero_gordo]

We had crews "touch up" the fields this weekend, which consisted of dragging dust into the ruts, then relining the box and spraying the field. Needless to say, the holes in the box didn't stay filled that long.

 

[Eugene Stryke]

Thanks for the input everyone! I'm not so sure the ruts were so bad Amy that it was a safety concern; I was more concerned about the hitters being balanced and in a good hitting position when they swung. I thought we should have been telling girls where to put their feet to avoid the ruts. I never saw one groundskeeper filling and packing the ruts in either the pitchers circle or the batter's box all weekend, although they might have. This was the Nationals tournament. I just wanted a little feedback to get an idea if it was even a concern. With girls' feet all out of whack it seemed to me like an obvious issue to address.