Tournament pitching

[xplosion10U]

Our 10U team has 5-6 pitchers that can throw strikes with decent speed. Of those six, 2 really standout and are considered 'aces'. My thought on entering tournaments is let the other 4 pitch in pool play to get experience and then ride your aces in bracket play. Most tournaments we have entered are single elimination and usually end up being 3, possibly 4 games.
I was just wondering what other coaches thoughts on this.

 

[lhowser]

I think the aces parents will want to see them some on Saturday. Take care of your aces and get them innings, you will want them next year and as time goes on the demand for more and more innings will go up and you will need to accommodate or they will move on. I would say - Start an ace in bracket and let her pitch 2, then sub and let 2 subs pitch 2 each. This also gives you a better chance of winning putting you in a better place on Sunday. A better place Sunday means early on you can start an ace and maybe bring someone else in early in elimination play. Anyway you look at it 6 is practically just to many to get meaningful innings, especially with the demands the better pitchers parents will expect.

 

[marriard]

Really depends.

Normally the pitchers sort themselves out - throwing strikes often doesn't always equal good game pitcher. I have gone into seasons thinking I have 4 pitchers and then finding out when it came to games I really only had 2 (or even 1 1/2).

If you goal is to win tournaments or go as deep into tournaments as possible, I find that with 2 pitchers, the aces will pitch a game each on Saturday and all the games on Sunday (and sometimes the top 'ace' will get all the games on Sunday). The others may get to pitch a third game on the Saturday or in relief where needed. I always want to win at least one game on the Saturday - if not two - to make sure I get a reasonable seed for Sunday (especially if that involves getting a decent non-crack-of-dawn game time).

If your goal is all about getting everyone time as a pitcher and other positions and you are not so concerned about results then spread everything around Saturday and hope for the best Sunday. You should still pitch your #1's on Saturday a few innings so they are feeling good about how they are pitching going into Sunday.

Most importantly - let your parents know your strategy and the thinking about why you are doing what you are doing. Facing parents after your #6 pitches a good game on Saturday and your #1 has a rotten game in the elimination game on Sunday is not the best situation if they don't know how you are going about things.

This gets easier once you start to know your regular opponents. You can plan better how you want the tournament to go when you know who you will face. You'll be able to identify your 'easy', 'competitive' and 'hard' games and plan accordingly (which then wont go how you planned because this is 10U).

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Normally the pitchers sort themselves out - throwing strikes often doesn't always equal good game pitcher. I have gone into seasons thinking I have 4 pitchers and then finding out when it came to games I really only had 2 (or even 1 1/2).

If you goal is to win tournaments or go as deep into tournaments as possible, I find that with 2 pitchers, the aces will pitch a game each on Saturday and all the games on Sunday (and sometimes the top 'ace' will get all the games on Sunday). The others may get to pitch a third game on the Saturday or in relief where needed. I always want to win at least one game on the Saturday - if not two - to make sure I get a reasonable seed for Sunday (especially if that involves getting a decent non-crack-of-dawn game time).

This gets easier once you start to know your regular opponents. You can plan better how you want the tournament to go when you know who you will face. You'll be able to identify your 'easy', 'competitive' and 'hard' games and plan accordingly (which then wont go how you planned because this is 10U).

Good advice, I agree 100%.

 

[sluggers]

I agree that you've got to get your aces some mound time on Saturday. They aren't going to be able to pitch well on Sunday if they don't get some mound time on Saturday.

 

[Momo'sDad]

Our top 2 pitchers are going to get a start each on Saturday. #3 & 4 can split a Saturday game. If we had #5 & 6 options, I could see working them in if we either had a game in hand or were getting blown out, but under normal circumstances, there just won't be enough innings to go that deep in the rotation on a regular basis.

If you're a strictly developmental 10u program, however, you might not have any problem giving each pitcher 2-3 innings at a time.

What are the primary goals of this team with respect to the pitching situation?