In or out of the Dirt??

is he a lefty? if not let him play every where,if he is let him play first base. kids should learn to play as many positions as they can. and have fun doing it. it will get all to serious soon enough.enjoy this time while you can.

20dad,
He is a right hander. He's not a big kid but can really run well and rakes from both sides. Thanks for the input.

11YO is a little early to be locking a kid into any one position.

Texan,

I agree but coaches from other squads and junior high/ high school keep projecting him in CF!!

My philosophy differs from most in developing kids. I coach a fairly respectable 13U team in VA. Our goal is to develop kids to play HS and college/pro (if they are so lucky). With that in mind, we teach them a primary and secondary spot. Our SS's can play both sides of the bag as well as OF. Our corner guys play both corners and OF. If a kid wants to catch or pitch, we teach them. We start practice by taking GBs in their IF position and then flyballs in their OF position.

For example, my son is our starting CF and our #1(b) catcher (we have 2 good catchers). BUT, he is the starting SS on his middle school team. A few college coaches and pro scouts that are friends of mine say he will be a pitcher. Who knows...

Another of our kids made his JV team as an 8th grader. For us, he is a 3B and probably the best around our area. In his JV team, he was moved to 2B and made the team because he was never lost...no matter what position they put him in.

To answer your question, taking GBs at SS shouldn't interfere with his progress in CF. Get him work at all positions.

gg18, projecting where an 11YO will end up is extremely difficult. I don't care who is doing the guessing.

You have a medium build righty. He could end up anywhere.

Don't box him in just yet. There is absolutely no reason to do so.

If it were my son, I'd let him play a variety of positions.

Definitely work him at all positions for two reasons:

I have seen more than one kid who played centerfield from Little league up into High school get into all kinds of trouble when asked to slide over to left or right. Ball comes at them differently and after years of reading the ball off the bat one way, making the adjustment is somthing they have a hard time doing.

Secondly, and probably more importantly, you have no idea what will happen after they hit their growth spurt - they may end up growing a lot, losing their speed - and needing the infield skills to play 3B or 1B.

I had a coach at the 8 YO level who in practice had the players rotate through every position. By end of practice you had taken a groundball everywhere, taken a flyball everywhere and knew where to go for various situations. When game time came, you didn't play everywhere - but you probably played in 2 or 3 positions per game. In my opinion, best thing that a coach could do for a group of 8 YOs.

Very good points, 08Dad. My son, a SS all his life, had to play 2B last summer for the first time ever to fill in for an injured teammate and had a very difficult time adjusting. He mentioned this to his hitting instructor, a former 2nd baseman for the Texas Rangers, who commented, "I had the same problem seeing the ball when they moved me to 2nd. I didn't feel comfortable until I had about 2000 balls hit to me."

Thanks to all posters in this forum! I will continue to work him in the dirt and OF with all things mentioned in mind.

quote:

Originally posted by gogolf18:
Texan,

I agree but coaches from other squads and junior high/ high school keep projecting him in CF!!

Let them project all they want. It doesn't mean diddly at his age. Mine is only a few years older (14u) and has changed SOOOO much over those 3 years. I can't even fathom where he'll be in 3 more so I'll just sit back and enjoy the show.

I agree with most everyone else--let him play a variety of positions. When he does get to HS, you never know where he might be needed. For instance... My son is a very good 2b and pretty good OF, and hits very well. When he got to HS there was a guy who is an average 2b but hits very good, but can not play any other position. To make room for him (and his bat), they moved my son to OF.

Flexibility is always a good thing, especially for young kids. He'll have to specialize in a position if he gets to a high enough level, but he might as well stay able to play many positions right now. As a head coach, it sure is nice to have guys that can play a number of positions so that we can make simple adjustments when we change pitchers.

CF has to have the most speed. So if he doesnt have great speed he eventually will be moved.

It is way too early to lock in your son. Let him play anywhere he wants and get experience at other positions.