Playing down to competition?

I always tried to get my teams to execute and focus on the fundamentals, Play to game right show the game is due respect regardless of what team we were playing. Another thing that worked was to keep them engauged, try to steal signs, what would you do in this situation. You have to make it a mental game inside the physical game they are winning.

Good question Hope this helps.

Coach the conference we used to be in had three teams that were absolutely horrible. What I did was start every kid that did not usually start. I also would bring up a couple of JV pitchers so they could get some innings. We would work on things offensively during the entire game. For instance.

First batter tries a drag. If he gets it down we sac him to second base. Then we would play it straight up. If he did not get it down we would sac bunt with no one on and then try and beat it out. We would spend the entire game working on baserunning etc. These games we would approach as an opportunity to get guys innings , at bats , that didnt get many during the course of the season in other games.

I found that it really hurt the starters to see this kind of pitching anyway. I would bring up JV posistion players to fill in the void for the guys I didnt have replacements for on the varsity many times.

Good luck.

I'm with Coach May on this - have some young kids available to get them some innings and let them get that varsity experience. Remember your regular varsity guys won't see the big deal in this game PROBABLY but these young kids don't care who the other team is. They know they are getting to play in a varsity game with the regular varsity guys watching them. They want to compete and will take it serious.

When we used to play teams like this I always started a young pitcher with my regular varsity players behind him. After two or three innings I would sub out as quickly as I could to get my other guys in. Usually I had another "line up" card ready with my subs planned out so it would be an easy / smooth switch in and out.

I agree with both of the above. We have a conference like this as well. I like to start a guy that has very little time on the mound to see what he can do. It keeps his focus, the boys want to see him do well so they play tough behind him, and after a couple of at bats, I get all my back-ups in. They sometimes hit better anyway because it is a better speed for them!

In this situation, I start all of my regulars, and after a few innings I put some of the guys who normally do not play in the game. I have found that if you do not start your normal guys, if things start to go wrong, you not only take this risk of losing the game, but more importantly you risk hurting the pride, motivation, and self esteem of the kids you are taking out. It can also show these kids that you do not have confidence in them. To me, I would rather lose the game than damage a kids pride.

There is another aspect to consider here---if the opposing team knows you are better than they are and you bring up frosh/JV players to play them are you not demeaning and insulting your opposition ?-- I say open with your starters and then filter in the subs when the game begins to get out of hand

quote:

Originally posted by TRhit:
There is another aspect to consider here---if the opposing team knows you are better than they are and you bring up frosh/JV players to play them are you not demeaning and insulting your opposition ?-- I say open with your starters and then filter in the subs when the game begins to get out of hand

Absolutely! I agree I dont believe in bringing up JV Players for this purpose. When it comes time to get their feet wet, they will, and that is the reason they are on the JV Team, and that is to get their feet wet in high school baseball, when they show me they are at the varsity level, than that is when they get brought up. I would be irate if a coach did this to my team. It is an insult.

I am more concerned with my team than I am with how the other team feels. When guys work their butts off the whole year and never get an opportunity to start or play significant innings that simply is not fair imo. When you get the opportunity to give your other players an opportunity then I take advantage of it. These same players will be the back bone of your team one day as well. They need the experience and they have worked hard and deserve it.

The problem with starting your regulars in these games is the 10 run rule. There is no game pressure when the other guys come in. There is always game pressure when there is no score. To each his own but when I know the other team can not compete with my team I use this as an opportunity to give opportunities. And I also use non conference games as an opportunity many times as well.

You can not build team depth if guys dont play. You can not build team experience if guys dont play. And you can not expect players to give you 100% day in and day out and then you dont give them an opportunity when you have it.

Of course this is just my opinion everyone has one.

quote:

Originally posted by Coach_May:
I am more concerned with my team than I am with how the other team feels. When guys work their butts off the whole year and never get an opportunity to start or play significant innings that simply is not fair imo. When you get the opportunity to give your other players an opportunity then I take advantage of it. These same players will be the back bone of your team one day as well. They need the experience and they have worked hard and deserve it.

The problem with starting your regulars in these games is the 10 run rule. There is no game pressure when the other guys come in. There is always game pressure when there is no score. To each his own but when I know the other team can not compete with my team I use this as an opportunity to give opportunities. And I also use non conference games as an opportunity many times as well.

You can not build team depth if guys dont play. You can not build team experience if guys dont play. And you can not expect players to give you 100% day in and day out and then you dont give them an opportunity when you have it.

Of course this is just my opinion everyone has one.

CoachMay,

I can see your point. My question is when you say building experience, and players working hard all year, do you mean this with the guys who are already on Varsity who are bench guys, or do you mean bringing up the JV Guys?

Yes I like to reward guys for working hard, and giving you their all, but at some point, guys have to realize where they stand, and have to realize their role on the team. Some bench guys can handle this, some dont handle it as well. As the Head Coach, it is my job to put the best 9 guys on the field, and win games. Now I have found some other ways to keep the bench players in the game. Designate some sort of responsibility to them, have them doing more than just keeping the score book for instance. Bench guys must know that they still play a critical role in the team's effort. Picking signs, reading a pitchers tendencies, seeing a catchers faults like dropping to his knees when he throws the ball back to the pitcher. They can relay this information to their players to benefit them on the field.

These are just a few things I did as a High School Head Coach.

I agree that I'm more worried about my team than the other team. If they get mad then that's their problem. Maybe it should be a wake up call to someone at that school - players, coaches, administration - that something needs to change if their "varsity" starters cannot beat my JV pitcher / players. I know my kids on both varsity and JV work their rearends off and they earn their chances to get to play. Plus its my job to put them in positions that they will succeed.

I've never lost a game like this where an inferior opponent saw my younger guys. There were some close games for sure but I wouldn't take out my younger guys to put my starters back in. It's their game and their game to compete - win or lose. If that young group does lose it's probably because they made mistakes. I'm not going to yell and scream at them. I'm going to tell them that's why we do the things we do in practice - to prepare them for games to execute. I'm going to tell them it's time to get back to work and focus on the fundamentals to make them better. I'm going to tell them I still have faith and confidence in them that they will be a great varsity group one day but now they see they need to keep working in practice to get better. If they still lose their confidence or their pride is hurt too bad then you probably wouldn't be able to count on them anyway. Sounds like a mentally weak kid. A strong kid will take this opportunity to get ticked off and work harder.

One time I tried this I went with a totally young lineup due to the fact I was ticked at the attitude of my starters / older guys. The game before saw a lot of laziness, selfishness and other bad stuff I didn't want to see. Luckily we had a weak team the very next day. My entire JV team started that varsity game. They gave up 9 runs but scored 21 in a 5 inning mercy rule. They made a ton of mistakes which gave up the 9 runs but they played the game the way I wanted - effort, great attitude and tons of hustle. By the middle of the game my varsity guys were at the fence cheering on the younger kids. I even saw the older guys coaching the younger guys up on their mistakes. It was one of the greatest bonding moments I've ever seen and changed the whole attitude of my older guys. It created a "tradition" that in these games the older guys cheer on the younger guys and help them. If the other team got mad or insulted I didn't notice nor did I care. My team got tremendously better.

Another aspect is that this might be for the other team one of the only competitive / close games they get. In Kentucky where I was head coach for 9 years they did not have classifications - everybody played each other for one state championship. My team in all honesty was middle of the pack in our region. We had 850ish kids and we were competing against schools that were around 1400 kids and other schools that might have 300. Overall the competition was pretty even because we gave those bigger schools all they wanted but there were some schools that just weren't big enough to be competitive.

We probably would have mercied them by 15 or more if I had played my starters. Who benefits from that? My team doesn't because these games have the potential to create more bad habits than help in any way. The other team is getting killed so that doesn't help them in any way. But you go with younger guys against them I've seen nothing but win / win for both teams. My younger guys get great experience in a varsity game but the other team gets to play a competitive game. They aren't getting flat out killed by somebody so they get to feel what it feels like to have a chance.

I'm not trying to say going with your starters is a bad thing or the wrong thing. You do what you feel is best for your team because that's what I'm going to do.

Great discussion overall though - makes for some great thoughts.

I have never lost a game by playing my bench players against an inferior opponent. When your playing a team that simply can not compete with you that is the time to give those guys and opportunity. When your way up and your pitchers can simply dominate the game that is another example when you can play these guys. You could play your best 9 in every game regardless if thats what you want to do. I dont have a problem with that. I simply choose to look for ways to get guys innings and opportunities.

I know one thing when I get guys ab's and innings during the course of the season I feel a lot better about myself. I feel a lot better the next season when that kid is now a starter and I have seen him play innings and get ab's the previous year.

There is nothing about playing against teams that can not compete with you that helps your starters when your playing against teams that can compete with you. Now thats just my opinion. Beating someone 30 to 0 in five innings with your best 9 has never made me feel like we accomplished anything other than a W. Beating that same team 15-6 in 7 with my bench guys feels a lot better to me. JMO