WAYS COACHES SELECT PLAYERS

[marriard]

I'm just a Mom, but I'm finding it interesting that DD has been told by several schools now (D1 and DIII) that her hitting is what matters; if she can hit, they will find a position for her on the field. She is a catcher, but I kind of assumed that, being a skilled position, her catching skills should be tip-top, but it sounds like that doesn't really matter much? <Shrugs>

Coach talk translator:
"We already have a catcher(s)/are recruiting a catcher (or several catchers): You may or may not be as good as them when you get here. Would your DD be OK playing somewhere else if she gets beat out as a catcher? And if she does get beat out at C, your bat will probably determine whether you can get on the field."

When you have a squad of 20 - which is somewhere around average - about 1/2 of the team is going to be beat out at their primary positions and some of them can't handle that. Some of them are going to be beat out for their primary position by players who don't consider that position their best spot (there are a whole bunch of travel SS's playing 2nd, 3rd and outfield). As a coach - worth asking the question of recruits about how they would handle that.

And of course.. coaches often just say things. The proof is on the field and in the stats. Seen quite a few 'have to hit' coaches have 3 players in their lineup that batted .120 and below with better batting options on the bench. One coach I am friends with told me, "I can only hide 1 player in the field - maybe 2 if I have a really fast CF."

 

[Vertigo]

Know of several schools that will only look at pitchers 5’10+. Doesn’t matter if they are legal or not. Funny that these same schools haven’t done very well the past couple of years...

 

[jmdub]

I notice it a lot....coaches that have players that resemble their daughter or a certain "type".

Can I guess on these?

• There is a college I know where every player in the team photo is blond and 5'6-5'10'. All of them. Every year. No exceptions. I would have said FL State but it's not them.

• One only recruits from 3 states; CA, NJ and NY. The school is not located in any of these states. I think this is Notre Dame.