High school: pitcher only or pitcher and position

Son #1 - P / 1st Base and DH

Son #2 - P / 3rd Base

Son #3 - P only

Son #1 PO (2020)

Son #2 P/1B (to cut down on throwing when not pitching)

PO, which I don't think he minded. I was a hitter and I always thought he could hit but he never really got a chance. I often would see or talk to old friends or teammates and when they heard I had a playing son often I'd be asked "can he hit it like you did?". My standard response was "no, he doesn't hit like me, but I sure never could throw it like he can"

I need a third choice since my son doesn't pitch:

* Position Only

My kid is a C/OF (POS Only)

Oldest son : freestyle swimmer                     Middle son: P/OF in HS, PO in college          Youngest son : position player HS & college

P/1B in HS

PO in college

When he aggravates me I call him a P.O.S!

Pitcher and ss.

1B/LHP in HS

PO in college but trying for 2 way (D3)

HS - Center fielder and relief pitcher

College - made him a PO

pitcher and position player  (LHP/1B ... sometimes DH or EH)

* On HS team this spring - he was in the weekly pitching rotation, however, his positional playing time and his DH ABs were inversly proportional to his strike-out rate the prior week.

* plays on two summer travel teams, as a two-way for his local team that competes in mostly regional events; and as a PO on a travel team that set a goal to win WWBA 15U this week.

baseball adults tell my son he is going to be a PO ... the kid is still in the denial stage (far from ready to except his pre-determined baseball fate).

HS Sr Year - RHP & DH (note: in his JUCO recruiting journey all college coaches asked if he wanted to be PO or 2 way and he told them all PO - his decision)

HS JR Year - PO (Occasional pinch hitter or DH) - started lower but finished the year as #2 guy in rotation

I want to play along too, but need a 3rd category--position player only (started 6 positions- all but 1B,P,C)

In HS, P/2B.

OF and extremely reluctant P. Got recruited by a lot of schools as a 2 way because he looks the part. Position player only now.

C/OF...knucklehead also made some eyebrow raising comments about playing 3B and Ricky Vaughn for his HS team, yikes

There is no reason to take the bat out of the hands of a HS pitcher, even if he is mediocre, or worse. Remember, 50% the MLB requires pitchers to hit.

MLB owners create POs because they want to protect their investment - pitchers are usually the highest paid individuals on the field and their employers want to minimize risk. Having POs on HS, club and even college teams is emulation of a model that’s not relevant.

@DD 2024 posted:

There is no reason to take the bat out of the hands of a HS pitcher, even if he is mediocre, or worse. Remember, 50% the MLB requires pitchers to hit.

MLB owners create POs because they want to protect their investment - pitchers are usually the highest paid individuals on the field and their employers want to minimize risk. Having POs on HS, club and even college teams is emulation of a model that’s not relevant.

That’s an interesting take that very few people would agree with in totality. I will give you the part about HS and club ball. There is no good reason to take the bat out of a pitchers hands at those levels - assuming that the P in question is the best available hitter on the team (and that’s sometimes not the case). In HS ball having another player bat instead of the P is a way to get one more kid into the game and some HS coaches are worried about politics enough to play it that way. In travel ball it’s all about money and making kids POs is a way to increase the roster size and increase revenue accordingly. Your argument loses credibility after that. It’s been discussed many times that once you get to college ball there are only so many hours in the day. At every level except D3 the time demands of position specific workouts, film study, classes, homework, study hall, team meetings, travel, and social life make it unrealistic to try to be a two way player. Anyone that has been there will attest to that. The same is true at the MLB level, and while NL pitchers still currently stand in a batters box a time or 2 when they pitch, very few are good hitters at that level - and if they had tried to continue hitting they likely would never have made it to the big leagues. NL is probably headed towards the DH anyway which will end some of this speculation.

PO and loved it.   Also played basketball....Freshmen year.  No more basketball after that because he was on varsity baseball his sophomore year.