To Pitch and only play when you pitch, or play a position and play every game?

[David Carter]

I think the difference is between being a good hitter and a great hitter....all things being equal it is probably easier for the coach just to have certain kids play certain positions then they have less thinking to do...BUT I if your DD can really crush the ball there are very few coaches that will leave that player on the bench...hopefully you don't have one of those coaches

 

[fusionmom]

Oldest DD pitched and was complaining her freshman year that she wasn't seeing very much field (or batting) time for HS ball. For TB she played 3rd when not pitching. Dad went to watch a practice. When they got done, he told her that if she wanted to play more she needed to work harder in practice and make the coaches notice her glove and her bat. She did and she played. Senior year she broke the batting average and RBI records. Played 2B every game she didn't pitch, though she was the work horse that year in the circle. Work hard and you will get noticed/play.

 

[left-field]

Well, there you have it. High school ball can be notorious for politics, and certainly the level of talent can frequently not be up to par. The coaching isn't always the best.
For different reasons than yours, we learned a long time ago not to sweat things in school ball. It is what it is. It's probably not the forum for getting your daughter well trained in secondary positions anyway. Leave that to travel ball.
Let high school offer what it can for playing. Use it as practice for life lessons. Let DD enjoy the social side. Don't depend on it for the softball side of the experience. I think you'll find if you lower expectations for the school team, you might end up enjoying it more than you thought.

Your condescending attitude drives me a bit nuts. Granted, there are some really weak HS programs, just as there are some really weak travel ball teams. I've coached both TB and HS and am here to say that I've seen many TB coaches who couldn't coach their way out of a paper bag. They sit on the bucket and randomly call pitches instead of trying to set up batters to fail. Many of them have never caught or pitched at a high level and the only thing they know about pitch calling comes from a book the bought.

When it comes to developing players all they do is recruit what they need and go from there. At the HS level you can't place a notice in a softball web site and say you need a #1 left-handed pitcher or a power hitting RF. In high school you have a limited number of players and you develop what is needed... quickly.

I guess our HS is lucky because we have a very good coaching staff. The JV team has a D-II baseball pitcher and a D-II fastpitch catcher. The varsity has a D-II All-American SS and then a head coach who played college ball as a catcher.

 

[starsnuffer]

Most kids are much happier when they are playing the game. If they can hit, they will play, but they are even happier if they can play another position. I know my 14yo DD is much happier in the outfield then the bench, and she took the time to learn how to read a ball off a bat, learn the footwork, and become a great outfielder. She's moving up to 18 gold this fall and will be going from being the ace pitcher on the 16u team to being a #2 or #3. She's painted a target on the #1's chest, but in the meantime while she works hard at earning the ace role, she is confident in her ability to hit and play utility (outifled/2b) that will get her playing time.

I've seen and coached way too many "can't do anything BUT pitch" kids to know that they are, for the most part, miserable unless they're pitching. I've also found the kids that can do multiple things are actually better at the one thing (in this case pitching) than the kids that only do one thing, although this may be more of an effect then a cause (IE if they resigned to just pitch at 14u they missed a ton of experience doing other skills for years).

-W

 

[Scl1991]

Your condescending attitude drives me a bit nuts. Granted, there are some really weak HS programs, just as there are some really weak travel ball teams. I've coached both TB and HS and am here to say that I've seen many TB coaches who couldn't coach their way out of a paper bag. They sit on the bucket and randomly call pitches instead of trying to set up batters to fail. Many of them have never caught or pitched at a high level and the only thing they know about pitch calling comes from a book the bought.

When it comes to developing players all they do is recruit what they need and go from there. At the HS level you can't place a notice in a softball web site and say you need a #1 left-handed pitcher or a power hitting RF. In high school you have a limited number of players and you develop what is needed... quickly.

I guess our HS is lucky because we have a very good coaching staff. The JV team has a D-II baseball pitcher and a D-II fastpitch catcher. The varsity has a D-II All-American SS and then a head coach who played college ball as a catcher.

There was no attitude intended. Perhaps, being written instead of spoken, it read differently than my intention. I didn't say that every team was prone to politics or weak experiences; I just said it's there.

I am very well aware that there are some awesome high school coaches/teams out there. Ours, and many in our area, are not. Coaches, a lot of times, happen to be whatever teacher agreed to take on the team. The talent level of the kids is whatever is in the school- some schools are lucky and are stacked. Others have maybe one kid who has ever played the sport before. This is true not just of softball, but any sport. Our high school team is one such team. Two miles away, there is a high school that has top notch coaching, and they win. We do not.
I am also keenly aware that there are travel ball teams out there that are a joke, and that have "coaches" who have no business coaching. There are also first class teams with coaches who know the game. There are others that pick up talented players and make a name off of that- no coaching involved. But with travel, when your kid wants to play, you have some freedom to look for a good team. High school- you're stuck with what you get, good or bad.

Most people, when they post on this site, speak from their own personal experiences. I wasn't trying to insult anybody's high school team. Geez. I was just trying to let the OP know, that even if their DD is not playing in positions or with the amount of playing time, and possibly having a coach who ignores hitting, etc., then there is still something to get out of high school ball. No use in fretting about the experience before it happens.

 

[SCDad]

Pitchers have it the hardest of any player on the field. In 10U & 12U they get to pitch probably every other game, bat every game, and play a position in the field every other game. They are the hardest working, to keep up with pitching.

As you get older players specialize. Some focus only on hitting and fielding, and not pitching. In HS if you are not the #1 hitter, many times you don't see much playing time. The specialized hitters, and specialized fielders have now advanced past the level of a pitcher trying to hit or play the field. It has to be frustrating.

Glad mine is a hitter and a fielder. See's action every game. Great to be #1 pitcher, but sometimes you see the bench a lot more than the others if not #1 ... in both travel and high school.

 

[left-field]

Thanks for the clarification SCDAD. I tend to agree with you when you say pitchers have it the hardest of any player on the field. And coaches love to protect their prize pitchers by not risking them to injury by playing them at other positions when they are not pitching. It can be a real catch-22 for really good pitchers. At the same time, it's nice to see teams like Cal, Oklahoma, UW and other top programs use their #1 pitchers to hit or play defense and hit when they are not in the circle. From a coaches point of view, I guess it all depends on how much faith you have in your #2 and #3 pitchers. If the faith isn't there then #1 rides the bench when she isn't pitching.

 

[obbay]

I guess our HS is lucky because we have a very good coaching staff. The JV team has a D-II baseball pitcher and a D-II fastpitch catcher. The varsity has a D-II All-American SS and then a head coach who played college ball as a catcher

FWIW- in contrast to your school, our varsity Head coach has a floundering yard-cleanup business, worked at the deli dept of a local grocery store for awhile, is not certified by any softball organization let alone the State interscholastic Athletic Association which is required of all "new" coaches. His qualification is that he assisted with a JV team in another town and he is friends with the AD as they have coached football together. The assistant coach is the father of a girl who pitched and graduated 5 or 6 years ago.

Just showing a glimpse of the other side of the tracks. and given our reality, the following statement is both encouraging and dead-nuts on.

Let high school offer what it can for playing. Use it as practice for life lessons. Let DD enjoy the social side. Don't depend on it for the softball side of the experience. I think you'll find if you lower expectations for the school team, you might end up enjoying it more than you thought.

I appreciate all the responses