Does your pitcher only pitch?

I'd say this is a case by case decision, both for coaching staff and player.  So very hard to make a blanket statement.  So many variables, and perhaps most important is what does the player want to do? 

Some travel/showcase managers will only take a guy as a PO because his glove and bat don't impress them as much as the player's pitching potential or ability.  Some guys are clearly "tweeners" where they are great at 3rd base and have a power bat and they can throw strikes but everyone knows they will NOT be pitchers at the next level, yet they do pitch often as a 16, 17, and 18 yo and are leaned on sometimes more than guys who are only POs.  Like I said, very hard to generalize.  Case by case basis. 

Personally my son made the choice to focus on pitching only, and he needs to, as he has a lot of work to do.  To taken BP and taking ground balls on top of working on pitching is too much for my player, and he made the very hard decision to forego being a 2-way guy. Has decided to focus the spare time when not working on pitching, to focus on basketball instead. 

Very personal and difficult decision and process to navigate. Son does play both ways on HS team as they are very thin on talent and bodies.  But for showcase, just PO.   

CaCo, I'm not sure what the "norm" is.  I am from your neck of the woods (south GA).  My son was a 2 way guy all the way until 2014 summer before his senior year in high school.  When he wasn't pitching, he played outfield, usually CF.  These are also the positions he played for his high school (AAAAAA) for all 4 years.  His last summer team was the East Cobb Astros, and he was told that he would be given an opportunity to be a 2 way guy for them.  Turns out, he was relegated to a PO.  He hated it at first, but after a few tournaments, he actually started to like it.  Our team was 17/18U that played all 18U tourneys except the 17U PG WWBA that summer.  All the older guys had to sit, as they were not eligible.  It really didn't matter because all of the position guys were 2015s, not 2014s.  In the 17U tourney, son got a chance to play after the second pool game because coach was upset at too many called 3rd strikes.  Son had been bugging him for weeks to let him hit.  So coach put him in the lineup.  Son went on to lead the team in batting average for that tourney.  Didn't much matter, he went back to a PO.  Coach explained to him that it was crazy as a LHP throwing 90 to risk getting hurt.  We both respected that.  It was just good for selfish dad to get confirmation that son could compete against that level of pitching.  Funny thing is, the coach at his current college gave him the opportunity to hit in the fall.  Son was excited about the opportunity until the coach explained to him a few days later that it would be as a DH, not a position player.  Son thought about it and politely deferred stating that he would rather focus on pitching and not take away time from that.  I thought that was a pretty mature decision and he said coach respected him for that.  You just never know.  We were always told to keep doing both and that at some point, the game will tell you which position will take you further.

It looks to be a mixed question. High School? How big a school? Summer is different. My son was, for all purposes a pitcher only on high school varsity this past year because the team started 8 seniors. However, he still picked up 10 PA's. Other than him, all the pitchers started in the field when not on the mound. Our HC does prefer, though that his infielders other than first and catcher don't pitch. Next season, my son will start in left when not on the mound and most likely hit clean up. It's a Colorado 3A school of a little over 600 students.

I think with bigger schools it a lot more prevalent, not because they are trying to save a kids arm, but because, due to numbers and talent, there are probably better options in the field and at bat. Smaller schools don't have that luxury.

Summer can-and usually is - different due to the concentrated talent level. Except for the occasional stud, most good summer programs will have better options. So, it would be rare that a kid good enough to start on the mound is also good enough to win a spot in the batting order.

Just looked back on maxpreps and my school hasn't had a true PO as far back as I look.

Pretty similar here. Son has basically been a PO since sophomore year in HS. DH for HS team when not on mound. 

Last summer all 2016s 5 top pitchers were PO only. One was our "weak armed" 2b/closer. Touches 90 not a normal combo. Starting 3B and RF pitched as well. 

I wanted to add that I think a lot of people on here tend to forget that there are a lot of schools where enrollment is under a 1,000 kids (heck, around here, there are three with enrollments under 40 kids). The talent pool isn't nearly as deep.

Edit: Our school (enrollment around 615) is by far the largest within 60 miles in any direction. There are five other schools within that range, none with enrollments over 100 students. Two of those schools play 8-man football and the other three play 6-man football. Two of those schools combine to make one 2A baseball team because they don't have enough players in either school to field a team alone. Strangely, though, they have enough for football.

Could people responding to this also give us an idea of where their kids play HS and how big the school is?

A question. Do we consider a kid who hits as the DH when not on the mound a PO?

Also, my son was PO on his summer team with a couple of exceptions due to injuries to other players. However, that was mainly because he couldn't have beaten any of those kids out of a spot as a 2018 on an 18u team.

Root, my kid's school has an enrollment of around 2000.  We are in the largest school classification in GA (6A).

HS - team's primary objective is to win.  Smaller schools with smaller pools of players to pull from often are left with a limited number of "good" players that will help them compete.  So, if you have a good arm and you are a good player, you are likely to be a 2-way guy.  Also, if you know how to pitch well, you are likely to be a decent player in general and you are likely to be a 2-way guy.  Bigger schools with more depth can afford to ID players who they want to focus as PO's and not lose too much by not having them as a position player.  Next man up.  This allows those PO's to focus on honing their craft.  Of course there are exceptions.  It is fairly common for the best few players per team to have the best arms and so they are desirable as 2-way guys regardless of school size (Remember, most HS players were the best all-around players coming up through the youth levels).  Some of these guys see their future as one or the other so they may ask to focus.  Others want to play both ways.  Some coaches are more protective of arms than others.  Programs of all sizes also run across players who can contribute on the mound but can't crack the starting lineup as a position player.  And, these days, there are more and more kids getting specialized pitching training at an early age, so that's where they are most competitive. 

Summer ball - depends on age and focus of the program.  Much of the same applies but if a program is more focused on recruiting, they are more likely to put a guy on the field only where they feel his future is or where he can best showcase his talents as opposed to where he may best help the team win.  So, a HS 2-way who's future is more likely as a P will more likely be a PO for the summer team.

Just for kicks, I went through and did something similar to Root... looked at Maxpreps for our local HS leagues and a few bigger SoCal leagues for comparison.  It pretty much verified my observations.  Bigger programs had more PO's.  Although, I was surprised that there seem to be more and more PO's with smaller schools now than, say five years ago. 

Our school, over the last five or six years, has run the gamut and we are fairly small - 7-800 kids.  Our P's would usually at least hit when they are on the bump, some had to be in the lineup regardless and some were PO.  PO were the minority.  But the rest of our league and the other league in our immediate area consist mostly of much bigger schools than ours (1400-2700) so I see that first hand as well.  BTW, Root, it is not uncommon for us to run into SoCal and Central Valley schools that are 3K+ kids. 

My understanding Roothog is a pitcher only is a pitcher ONLY.  No hitting allowed.

FYI my son's HS is also a 6A school in Georgia, and Wikipedia says 2,500+ students.

Boom......there it is.  You can interchange "the game" with "the powers that be", or "coaches", but the above quote from younggun pretty much says it all.

Depends on the kid and sometimes the team they want to play for in respect to travel. If you want to play for the Astros and arent a 2-way guy or the best position player/hitter...you will probably make that team as a PO.

6A HS here as well, 2500 students and son played 2-way until senior year. Won cobb county POY as a junior and decided he would become a PO to shoot for that honor again and best help the team towards a state title. Unfortunately he missed on both, losing out on both to his rival pitcher in the Walton game in the final four. Although he didnt like it at first, he missed hitting and playing the field in middle infield or LF...but it eventually grew on him. Now at college i was talking to him about his schedule and he was like, yeah Dad, us POs dont have 6am workouts like the position guys.....big smile!

CaCO3Girl, as you know, I am in your neck of the woods, North Metro Atlanta.  In terms of HS, I really think it depends on the school and depth of talent there.  For my son, a pitcher in college, he was a 2 way guy all the way through HS.  Played 2nd or 3rd and pitched through his junior year (didn't play SS because we had a D1 commit there who has since been drafted) and played 2nd & SS his senior year (he was dealing with a nagging elbow issue his senior year so didn't pitch much and when it bothered him too much he asked to play 2nd).  He played at a 6A school with a population of about 1950.  But the fact of the matter was, they didn't have anyone better than him to play those positions.  At some schools, there are more options.  If a guy is a REALLY good pitcher and they have other REALLY good position players, the pitcher will be a PO.  But, if that really good pitcher is also a REALLY good fielder and hitter, they will be a two way guy in HS.  

For summer teams, my son played 2 way as long as he could.  When he was 15, summer after freshman year, he was a starting pitcher and starting SS.  When he was 16, they started easing him out of SS because his hitting was not as good as other options.  He was a better SS than anyone they had, but they wanted hitters.  Plus, they realized his future would be as a pitcher.  At 17, he started the summer on a new team and was playing SS and pitching.  He was soon weaned to a PO.  He really liked playing the field, but his passion was pitching and knew that's where his future would be, so he was fine with it.

So, baseball basically told him when it was time to move on.  Playing 2 way lasted quite a while, because he was such a good, athletic fielder, but he had always focused more on pitching than hitting, so the time came.

It's not a given that a guy switches to one or the other.  Basically what happens is, especially around Atlanta, there are so many options that kids start to fall into a category.  There is not that big of a drop off between options, so pitchers wind up becoming POs.  But, believe me, if a pitcher really is much better than the other options in the field, he will be a 2 way guy, even around here.

My son (2015 attending a D1) pitched and played SS in HS.  His first contact with the RC at the school he is now at was as a pitcher....though my son mentioned that his "favorite" position, at least at that time, was SS.  The coach came to watch him over the next 3 weeks....he proceeded to hit somewhere around .750 during that time.  When the coach offered he said "I'm the pitching coach, I see you as a pitcher, but you'll definitely get a shot to play both if that's what you want".  Fast forward to this week.  Monday, first day of small group workouts...my son is hitting and pitching...and then yesterday he did defense.  He must have done ok both days...as after yesterday's practice, the RC said "do you still want to do both?"...son said yes...and coach said "I'm ok with that".  He's the only kid out of 35 who is getting that chance so far....I guess we'll see how things go from here.

On almost every team after 15u My son, who just graduated from college was told he would be a PO. He might get some innings in the OF of a blow out. 

Never happened.

He usually ended up being one of eh starting OF, Usually CF. After a few practices. In some cases he was even moved up a level, even though he was already playing up. But once he got to College he was a PO. 

The only PO's on my kid's summer or HS teams have been kids who have proven that they cannot hit or play a position. HS enrollment is @1600 in Nor Cal.

Slightly off topic but I must say that as an old fart and a baseball fan with a long memory I like pitchers who are athletes, not just arms. Guys who can field their position and at the very least get a bunt down reliably. Better yet I would like to see more matchups like the one last night in LA, Zack Grienke vs. Madison Bumgarner, two guys  who are all-around great ballplayers, not just superstar pitchers.

At 2019Son's school (largest classification in biggest section in California), the no. 1 pitcher (2016; a D-1 commit) plays 3B when he is not pitching. The no. 2 pitcher (2016; also a D-1 commit) is a PO. The no. 3 pitcher (2018) was essentially a PO on varsity last year as a freshman, but he will not be a PO going forward. The no. 4 pitcher (2016) plays OF when he is not pitching (really, he is primarily an outfielder).

So it depends on the kid. The only hard-and-fast rule I have seen at his school is that the shortstop and catcher don't pitch.

My son (just starting sophomore year in college at a D1), was a 2 way player all thru HS and summer ball When he wasn't pitching played 3B, Dh'd day after he pitched on summer team. On HS team he played 3B. He was considered mostly as a pitcher for college but when he was watched by a number of scouts at a HS game (including one he is attending). he lit up the game with his bat (couple HRs, couple 2Bs) and was then quickly considered a 2  way prospect.

He came into college as a freshman primarily as pitcher but was given a chance to be a 2 way. I asked him after a week of school / practice how it was going. He said he was a PO, the other 2 guys they were looking at as 3B could hit better than him and he felt like best chance to see the field was to concentrate on pitching. Worked out well for him last year.

In HS and for most part his summer team he was only 2 way player because simply the other PO were not as good at hitting as their counterparts that played positions.

In son's case, that came to fruition in college.

As everyone has said, play as much as you can until someone tells you that you can't.

Our summer teams are the same as our high school teams so the answer is the same for both.  It depends on the kid.  2018Dream played first and third when he wasn't pitching and occasionally dh'd if they needed to get some other kids time or just needed to rest his arm after a complete game pitching.  The varsity coach would prefer to keep him on 1st if at all possible.  So I anticipate his innings at 3rd will go down on varsity next year.  He always hit but was probably the best hitter on the team so even when pitching he kept his spot.  The other pitchers would get a dh.  

I think that when you live in an area where the talent in baseball is pretty abundant, you will see the seperation.  But that doesnt mean a pitcher will never be in the lineup, so the term pitcher only really means primary position.  

My son attended a large 6A school here in south florida. But some of the smaller schools use their pitchers the same way as he was used because of the competition. As implied by me in another topic, dont always assume the norm is the same all over the country.

Some college programs do recruit players that do both.  But if you want your son to get better at his position,  thats where he needs to focus. D1 programs very rarely have pitchers hit or play a position. There is just not enough time in the day to excel at both.

Yeah, but you live in South Florida where you can't throw a rock without hitting a D1 prospect.

How could being a pitcher only hurt being recruited?  On a 35 man max D1 roster there are 15-16 pitchers.  With 27 scholarships to give out, who will get the lions share of the pie?  

Coaches make pitchers only in HS, especially the power guys, because they need them not to get hurt playing the field.

FWIW, pitchers ARE usually the best players and have played almost every position. They became pitchers because someone told them that was what they would do, not because they couldnt hit or play the field.

Could be! Keep in mind that with so much talent with not an abundance of top tier D1 programs, you have to excel at your position if you want to stay in state.

I would think being a P.O. would depend upon the size of the school.  In our small district (schools with about 300-400 enrollment) I knew of only one P.O.   Most pitchers that I've seen at our level are good enough to play at other positions.  

I personally don't like a kid being a P.O. as that time will come after high school, if they are good enough.  

On a football note my son is now the QB, P and extra point kicker for Varsity.  Talk about small towns.  lol 

My 2016 is the starting SS for his HS team (small school, 450 students) and also pitches (though not an overabundance of innings).  Strictly a PO for his summer team. All major invites (scout ball, PG National, Area Code games)  have been as a pitcher only, as is his scholarship offer. He has had fun with the variety offered through HS, but is very aware that his future is on the mound. 

As others have posted, it really depends on player talent, team needs and student population.  When my son played HS the team basically had three pitchers - the ace was 5 tool player throwing in the low 90's, second pitcher was in the mid-80's and the last was our junk ball pitcher (FB at about 80, but had a wicked CB). 

The ace was always in the lineup as he hit very well (7 HR's his senior year).  For pitcher #2 it varied.  When he was pitching, the coach usually (but not always) had another player DH for him.  If #2 not pitching he was in the OF and batted in the lower third of the lineup.  Pitcher #3 was truly a PO.  He would come in relief unless he was the scheduled starter.  Only time he would bat is if the DH went away during the game (rare - but it did happen).

FWIW - at the time the HS was AA with a student population of ~1,250.  Since the reclassification they are now a 4A school with a student population of ~1,300.  In 2013 (or was it 2014?) the VHSL revamped the classifications.  It was up to AAA.  Afterwards it was changed to go as high as 6A.  So our HS went from AA to 4A.

It really depends on the teams needs.  Keep in mind the normal roster in our area is about 15 so that only leaves 6 on the bench.  My son's senior year they only had 13 on the roster though the coach did bring up two from JV when they hit the playoffs.  So more than likely if a pitcher can hit (even a little) he will probably play another position and bat.

The only time I saw a roster with PO's was when my son went to college.  Out of 35 on the roster about half were PO's.  The rest were position players.

for a HS team to have a staff deep enough that the none of the combo of starting SS, CF and 3B are in the pitching rotation would be impressive. Some HS coaches like to have PO's for several reasons but it is very rare IMO that some of the starters wouldn't better on the bump then the 4 or 5th PO. Just my opinion.

summer ball is just a different animal you can find an organization for anything you like.

I almost agree with your comment above.  I would say that 2 way players ARE usually the best players and played almost every position.  At some point, some of those guys become PO's.  I see a TON of PO's in all the major tourneys that are PO's because they CAN'T hit well or aren't athletic enough to play any position other than pitcher.  They may have a great arm, but it ends there relative to their position/hitting talent compared to position players.  

I would say I see more of those than 2 way guys once you hit 16 and older.  Ditto at the HS level.  There are a large number of players that wouldn't make the team as anything BUT a PO.  In some cases, they are a top level pitcher and in others, they are the middle of the bullpen guys.

Nuke83 I think we must be neighbors because that is what I have been seeing and hearing about too. There seems to be a great divide in the Atlanta area that if you are seen as an excellent pitcher it is almost assumed you are/will be a PO regardless of your other strengths. Perhaps it is due to a large talent pool, as previous posters have said, and/or because our schools are so large, but that is what I have seen around here.

Caco,
Not in agreement with your observation
. At one point in time all pitchers hit, not
all hitters can pitch.
Note: edited by moderator.

My son hit & pitched throughout high school.  High school had 2,300 + students, and he is now at a JC.  He was recruited as a LHP, but he was told he would have the opportunity to hit in the Fall, and they'll see where he is at.  He was also told that if he hits, he will not play in the field. They don't want additional wear and tear on him.  Anyhow, he has been hitting quite well in the 2 intrasquads.  He homered over the 400' sign in dead center, and went 2 for 3.  Then Tuesday, he went 3 for 4 with 2 2b's and 3 RBI.  I am pretty sure he'll get to DH some.

His JC uses wood bats too...

We have seen many 2way players from the Atlanta area.

Here is one example in the current class.

http://www.perfectgame.org/Pla...ofile.aspx?ID=336708

My son attended a large classification high school. They were a good team winning two conference titles and a second over his three years. In that time only two pitchers also played a position. The biggest issues for all those pitchers is they couldn't hit and weren't that good in the field.

in his soph year the center fielder was a starting pitcher. I believe another could have been the DH. But he was slow afoot. Plus he hurt himself by constantly irritating the coach (when his father wasn't irritating the coach). He was ultimately kicked off the team. 

My my son was the closer. He came from the field. Soph year he played short. Junior and senior year he played center. He would warm up between innings. 

I completely agree with the area comment as well.  My son is in the largest school class in Nebraska where many of the schools are around the 1800-2000 student population.  And I think every school has a couple of POs with the exception of a few who just don't get enough kids out for baseball.  I think that most coaches would love to have more POs but the best pitchers are usually also pretty good all around ball players so they don't really have the luxury of sitting them if they want to win games.

My 2016 is a PO both HS and summer.  HS is about 1100 students located NE of Atlanta.  Successful program - 5 year playoff streak, with two Sweet 16's, one Elite 8, and one runner-up in that span.

For HS team, he no longer hits consistently enough to hold a fielding position.  But it's not because he isn't athletic.  To the contrary, it's because he also plays football (starts at OLB, WR & P) and basketball. (So I guess you could say he's a 5-way player instead of a 2-way player.)  Playing those sports just doesn't leave him enough time or energy to maintain his swing in the offseason. And by the time he joins the baseball team after basketball he doesn't have time to get his swing and timing back before the season starts.  If he runs into one, he's got some pop.  But he's just not consistent enough.

In summer ball, he was offered as a PO when he first entered the program last spring.  The head of the program told him during that first meeting that with his build (he's currently 6-6 195) scouts & college coaches would immediately look at him and think "Pitcher" anyway without giving a rip what other positions he played.  That has turned out to be true.  (He once had a pro scout stop him to talk to him when he was just watching a college game in street clothes.  About the 3rd thing out of the scout's mouth was, "Do you pitch?")

Transitioning to PO was kind of an adjustment at first.  In fact, it was a little bit of a buzzkill for him.  But over the past year+ he's learned to love the PO-Diva lifestyle.  After running his rear end off from July to February with the other two sports, he now enjoys being able to gear it down and physically recover in the spring.

He is a better pitcher than a hitter though by a good margin.  Really did not play very much in the field over the summer because he could not hit.

he must be a slacker, not playing any defense? LOL sorry, couldn't resist

Son's school usually had 40-45 tryout for freshman baseball (have FR, JV and V team). Sub varsity levels kids are two way players. Up at Varsity most are POs with some exceptions. The exceptions aren't can he play another position (which a bench player could). If a pitcher hits and especially for power, he will play a position. As for the conference, I am hearing that neither the 2 D1 pitchers who hit 90 (one consistently) will be a PO in college. Hearing that one will be 3B, the other will be a P, but DH for the other pitchers.