Playing Hard and Gritty, Sometimes "Dirty"

I agree with all of those EXCEPT "Not afraid to get in or start a fight". That doesn't sound right. I can understand protecting your pitcher/teammate, but going out of your way to start a fight doesn't make sense to me.

Playing through injuries and sacrificing the body sounds like a good plan, though.

Blake, yeah I should reword that, he was telling me pretty much if there was a fight, be willing to stick your nose in it.

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- Not afraid to spike the opposing player just to break up the double play

Just remember,,,,,what goes around, comes around.......

That make a little more sense. I don't see any recruiter looking for a brawler. Of course, they want to see a player who will "take care of business" on the field. I try to break up the fights instead of fuel them, but that's just me. I prefer not to spike people unless they have somehow provoked it. I try and go shoulder to knees (sliding), knocks 'em over without any real damage. Breaks up the double play, which is all I care about.

It sounds like to me he was talking about liking the kids that just get after it. The kids that are not just going through the motions.

RH - Son's been fortunate enough to have played for coaches who taught the concepts that the scout in question was looking for. The players were taught to play hard, aggressive baseball - but I wouldn't say "dirty". They were NEVER told to deliberately injure another player, but they were taught to break up a dbl play, push through the pain, etc.

I remember the first team mtg of the first AAU team my son played for (back when he was 12). The director addressed the parents for a while and then spoke with the team. I'll never forget hearing him tell them that if anyone ever attacked one of their pitchers, they'd better be out of that dugout and into the fray or they'd be off the team. I was FLOORED! I spent all that time teaching him not to fight and the coach was telling them they had to. Took me a little while to understand the concept of "protecting your own."

Son is now stictly a pitcher. Went to a showcase, last fall, where coaches from several colleges were in attendance. Coaches working with the pitchers told them straight out that they better be arrogant if they want to play college ball. They better know that they are good and they better take that attitude to the mound. They were really straightforward about the fact that they were looking for mental and emotional toughness in pitchers.

The scout is a mope.

If I played against him and his "crew" who were "trained" to play that way, I would be certain that his kids "got back" what they gave times 10; and, at the end of the game, I'd visit him.

Had to be an "old timer" nearing his assisted living facility years!

Gees.

Sounds like a good way to have a lot of serious injuries and a broken down pitching staff. Yes, scouts love it and coaches love it.

It was funny last night at the baseball banquet because one of the coaches praised a player who made "so many diving catches". All the other players on the team were rolling their eyes. They knew full well that the kid dives to impress and misses balls that should be caught as a result.

I've seen a few plays blown this season when kids dove for grounders in the infield with nobody on base and missed or couldn't make the play on balls that they could have reached by staying on their feet. But the coaches loved it. I've seen injuries on dives for balls kids couldn't reach. I saw a kid go out and play shortstop in pain one game (he made a couple errors because he couldn't make the throw) and then go out a game or so later and pitch in pain and get hammered. The coaches loved it, but they weren't happy when he was shut down for a couple weeks. This is the same kid who threw 7 innings in the summerball playoffs after not having thrown more than a couple during the summerball season and then went out to play in pain at shortstop the next day. The coaches loved it. He was in pain from then on and missed a good part of his sophmore season in a brace for a partial UCL tear.

That doesn't mean a player should never dive. If by diving an infielder can stop a ball from going through with a runner in scoring position then that's great and worth it.

However, I'd rather take a Garrett Anderson who has had a much longer and more productive career than a Darin Erstad who was the epitome of tough and gritty and injured.

Yet Erstad in his prime is exactly what the scouts and the coaches loved. His prime just didn't last very long as a result.

Better to play the game for a short time "the right way" then to play it for an extended period of time pulling off.

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If by diving an infielder can stop a ball from going through with a runner in scoring position then that's great and worth it.

To me, any time you allow a hitter to get on first base, you are placing him in scoring position.

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- Not afraid to spike the opposing player just to break up the double play

This is the only one I have a problem with. This is malicous contact. Causing injury to another player is not a trait I would value greatly.....

How about "the ones who play through injuries"?

A couple days ago we had a kid who was restricted by his doctor to pitching 1 inning go out and pitch 2 innings. The coach knew he was restricted to 1 inning. He then put him at second for a couple innings.

We later found out that the kid's arm was sore before the game, but since the coach has demonstrated that players who don't play through the pain won't get playing time later he went out there anyways.

This is the same kid who pitched in pain a year ago for the same coach and ended up missing the first half of the regular season in a brace for a UCL tear and the same kid who a couple weeks ago was playing shortstop and not able to make the throw to first his arm was hurting so much. The coach had to be told that the kid was in pain. Even so, if he had been able to make the throws it probably wouldn't have mattered.

This is a HS sophmore with the potential to be a mid to high 80s guy as a senior who is probably going to destroy his arm in order to do it the "right way".

Of course there's always my kid who was given a chance to play shortstop last year when I wasn't there, played in pain, played a great game and won the position away from the starter at least for a while. Unfortunately, the stress fracture in his elbow he suffered or aggravated as a result got in the way of that and the next year or so.

BTW, there was great example on TV during one the CWS regionals of a plays hard, get dirty nitty, gritty player who dived headfirst into first base on a close play. Only problem was it was very obvious from the replay that he probably would have been safe if he'd run through the base while he was clearly out as a result of diving. But I'm sure he impressed the scouts and the coaches even if he may have lost the game for his team.