Position choice?

I'm not sure if they both wanted to catch because I did or not I never thought to ask them why. As they played each year it seemed as though they would add a position and become very proficient at it but aleways come back to catching. With the youngest (Sophmore in HS) it's now almost like he will get bored with one position after X amount of games and play somewhere else on the field for a few. Luckily he has the skills and ability for the coach to allow it (so far).

As to the originol question I'm not sure, I'll have to ask him tonight. (alright, conversation with a teenager )

In LL my son got to play ss because he had the strongest arm and the best glove that was true in HS also. In college the coach sent him to the outfield because he is the fastest player. He is currently in rf because he has the strongest arm.

This is an interesting question. I think you'll find kids playing positions for a variety of reasons.

First of all my son is a lefty, so he pitched and played 1st base starting out young. He had a coach from 10yo through 14yo that I really credit with part of my son's baseball success. As the boys got older and the coach needed someone in outfield, he put my son out there. He had an unbelievable ability to track a ball. It's been his primary position ever since, including high school. He still pitches some. This coach used my son in several positions though and that helped him to develop a broad knowledge of the game and positions that helps him perform in centerfield.

My son was put at 2B by his coach when he was 11. He played there until his sophomore year in HS.

In his Sophomore year the Varsity coach came to him and said that he could play 2B on JV or start on Varsity in the outfield.

He picked outfield and never looked back.

Funny you should ask! ..and..do you really want to know?
My son was always a pitcher third baseman until he came in as a freshman in high school. The high school coach needed a catcher and handed him the tools of ignorance. He was the starting catcher on varsity but did pitch a few innings as a freshman. His sophomore year his primary position was catcher but he pitched in five games. His junior year HE still considered his primary position as catcher but he anchored the pitching rotation, pitching in 11 games. Much the same his senior year, pitch/catch and was drafted as...well... the Scouting Bureau had him listed as a pitcher, complete with video of him pitching, but the Cardinals drafted him as a catcher.
He passed on the draft and went to college as a catcher. He was the starting catcher as a freshman but he did close a few games as a freshman. In one game he played four positions, catch, pitch, third, and first base. Some games he would catch eight innings and come out from behind the plate and close the ninth. His sophomore year he caught the first 15 games but when the SEC games started, he was asked to be a weekend started. He was asked to do this on three days notice. From that point on, he was a P/DH. He has a new coach this year and it appears he will be back to being the starting catcher. That’s where he wants to be...we’ll see. As you see, the needs of the team is the main influence in where a player plays.
Fungo

You know how the story goes. It was a daddy ball situation. I coached and I didn't care what anyone said, he was going to pitch or play ss and bat 3rd. He had no choice. His position was set in stone at 5 yrs old.

Mine started out as a catcher at 8yo because he wasn't good enough yet to displace any of my other players in the infield and he had a pretty good arm. As a 9yo going on 10 I bribed him with the promise of a video game if he could block 7 out of 10 balls thrown in the dirt. He did it. The next practice he blocked nothing. I asked what the problem was? He said "I don't get a game for blocking them so I'm not going to." I realized then he wasn't going to be a catcher. During his 10yo season the kid I'd drafted to be our #2 pitcher decided he didn't want to be a pitcher so my son was forced to be the #2 pitcher. He wasn't anything amazing on the mound that season but he's been a pitcher ever since.

He's also a shortstop right now at 13yo because he fields the ball well and has a good arm, but he really doesn't have the range to play SS so we'll probably move him to 3rd base. Unfortunately, my travel team has a glut of slow kids with decent arms who can't play anything but 3rd so I've been playing him in the corner outfield positions a lot.

Mine started out as a pitcher/outfielder as he always had a strong arm. When he was 10, since he had the strongest arm, he was moved to pitcher/catcher (no Babe Ruth rules) to keep kids from stealing. That lasted until he was 13 and we picked up a bonafide catcher so he went back to pitcher/outfielder. In HS since he was one of the tallest on the team he was pitcher/outfielder/1B. College, unfortunately the only bat they let him touch is the one that needs to be picked up after someone else uses it .

I think my son's position "choices" have always just been a combination of his skills and the team's needs, not his preference.

In little league, he usually had the strongest arm on the team and so was put at third and did some pitching. He pretty much stayed at third through his soph year at HS. He had become a pretty good fielder with those metal bat rockets you get at third and for his junior and senior years he played shortstop. Now in college it looks like he'll be playing the infield corners.

Through all of this, it was never really ever by his choice.

My son had been a catcher since he was nine. Freshman year on JV, Coach decided to try him as a pitcher. He did very well. Hasn't been behind the plate since. Sophmore year on varsity he set the high school record for ERA at 1.75. Last year he couldn't find strike zone for some reason. Moved to first and DH. Always been a 7.2-7.3 in the sixty type player. A couple of weeks ago in baseball class, he ran a 6.69 sixty. Coach says he is moving to the outfield. I don't care where he plays. I've always thought of him as a hitter.

First came the glove then the position. To determine what type of glove to buy for him at age 6 we had to first figure out if my son was going to be a lefty or righty as he threw with both hands. He decided on left (but to this day that is all he does w/his left arm).

His first coach decided that he should play 3B as a lefty........

I watched from the sidelines for about 2 practices then politely suggested (since my son was too young and too green to know this wasn't right) that 3B wasn't a good place for a lefty so he suggested SS or 2B..... again asked very politely that maybe that could be a handicap for him and the team so I suggested that he (the coach) should think about 1B or OF for him.........

long story short the coach made me his Asst. Coach that day and 10 yrs later my son is still playing and loving 1B and when he was old enough he became a pitcher. And my coaching career ended when he was pitching age.

TX05Dad,

You mentioned that your son improved his speed from respectable to exceptional.

Just curious if you don’t mind sharing, what do you attribute it to? Did he get bigger? Any special workouts?

Is he a tall, slender athletic kid who filled out as a senior?

Sounds like he is going to do some good things this season?

Merry Christmas to all,

During tryouts, we have them list 3 positions in order of preference as to what they are trying out for. However, we look at them with an open mind. One year, we had an average outfielder with regards to speed. However, he had a hose for an arm. We went to him his freshman year and asked if he had ever pitched. He didn't have it listed. No, he hadn't. By his senior year, he was our #1 pitcher and the DH. He won 10 games his senior year and won 24 total on the varsity starting his sophomore year.

There is the position you grew up playing and then there is the position you are willing to learn/play in order to get playing time. They aren't always the same position. BTW, this young man went on to pitch in college as well.

My son started out as a pitcher/ss. The same dad kept drafting him year after year and used him as a pitcher/ss/1B but gradually he became a pitcher/catcher/ss as the other starting pitcher was the coach's son, a fireballer with no control, and my son was the only kid on the team who wasn't afraid to catch him. Some daddy ball stuff came into play after coach's son flamed out in the first game of the playoffs and my son went in and threw a perfect game the rest of the way, but the team still lost...that was the last time my son pitched for that coach...coach drafted him again the next year as a 13yo and then buried him on the bench. (Can you tell I'm still bitter )Fortunately other coaches in the league stepped in and "rescued" my son, but son had lost his taste for pitching at that point and went back to catcher/ss/and a little 3B. Went out for catcher in HS, made varsity as a soph, then varsity coach decided he was needed at 3B; meanwhile pitching coach wants him to start pitching again so he's working on that; now HS coach says he will be playing every inning this season but he might need him at 1B in spite of his good arm, because HS team lacks enough players who can consistently field/catch the ball. Summer coach loves him at 3B, one fall ball team had him at catcher (where he made all-league this year) and the other mainly at 3B/P with stints at 1B, C and even center field. So now I guess he's a 3B/C/1B/P as a junior. Next year he'll probably be in center field

SBK

He started working out with a program for pitchers we got from Kerry Rosenboom last June. He was at the gym five days a week when he wasn't traveling for baseball. Then this fall the High School Coach worked the boys very hard in the gym in baseball class. Mostly Olympic type lifting I think. I know his bench went up 25 lbs this fall. He has added quit a bit of muscle. Also he is was a late bloomer. He turned eighteen a month ago and he is just now starting to shave a little. It would be my guess that is is a combination of maturing and working hard in the gym. He is 6'1" 192.

My experience with my son so far is that there's been a lot of different 'forces' that influenced what positions he's played ... and it's been different in each team, age, or situation. The constant has been his bat and pitching. In LL, he played practically every position at one point or another, depending upon whether we needed his wingspan (big target 1B, C), soft hands (3B & SS), or arm strength (OF) given the makeup of the roster. Yes, he actually played catcher occasionally in LL ... he was taller than most of the umpires, but the only kid that could reduce the number of pass-balls when we had a wild, inexperienced pitcher on the mound.

On his various club teams he plays 3B and 1B pretty evenly depending on who's pitching and when he last pitched. No more OF ... while he's solid with the glove and arm, there's simply faster guys on the roster at that level. No more C for obvious reasons ... umpire can't see over him . On his HS team, he'll probably not see any 3B time and play mostly 1B or DH when he's not pitching because he'll have a lot more innings on the mound than his club teams ... the HS coach will want to protect his arm. My son's attitude is any position is fine with him as long as he gets to swing his bat.

One thing I did see occur in other kids making the transition from LL to club/HS ... a couple of kids were all-star catchers in LL, but it was pretty clear from genetics that these kids would never be very large. They were exceptional atheletes, and throwing-down on 60-ft basepaths wasn't a problem. Once they hit HS, they simply didn't have the physical stature to make the throw-downs on 90-ft bases and had to give up catching. They would have been much better suited to 2B had they converted when they were younger.

The kid who truly loves to play the game does not care about position--he just wants to know if he is in the lineup--and where he hits in the lineup

Did you as a kid play every position?

Talk to the kids on our travel team-- we has shortsops 3, who played third and second as well and another ss who pitched Every on eof the outfielders on the roster as a Centerfielder on his HS team

Any coach who his salt at the HS level will select the top players and worry about where they play once he the top 18 0r 20 players he needs--Pitchers and catchers are obviously different because they are specialty positions

Even at our showcases we are known to ask kids to try other positions than they list because a coach or scout or even our own people wanted to see how he did.

CASE IN POINT: a year back we had a 6ft 6 inch catcher at our showcase. He showed a excellent arm-- we asked if he had ever pitched- he said yes a few years back in LL---we asked would he mind throwing an inning ot two- he did---
all he did was cruise at the 85/86 MPH mark-- now he throws in the 90's and cruises at 88--he just committed to Duke and is highly regarded in all the ratings and rankings--in fact in the Top 50

One never knows !!!!

For any young players--don't lock yourself into one slot-- listen to coaches that you can trust and follow their lead, even at HS tryouts

My son has played short stop or been a pitcher since his little league days. Now depending on whether he had a Daddy Ball coach or a real coach, he has pitched on off over the years.

A funny thing happened to him last year, we were new to the area, and thought he had made it on a pretty decent travel team. Most of the kids on the team knew he had an arm, but the coach would never try him out as a pitcher. He would remind them at least once a week that he knew how to pitch. Well they never gave him the time of day. About three months into the season, the team headed down to Atlanta for a tournament. During the second day of losing, the coach finally asked if our son really knew how to pitch or was he just saying that. Well of course we confirmed that he has been pitching for 5 years. The coach tells him he is going to pitch, gives him 10 minutes to warm up, mind you he hasn't pitched in a game in 6 months at this point. He proceeds to the mound, strikes out the first three batters and left everyone on the his team stunned including the coach. The best part of all, was the smile you could see on his face the minute he hit the mound. That is when we realized his true love for the game and pitching.

He is a freshman in HS this year, and will be trying his hardest to make the team. Conditioning begins in two weeks, and he is thrilled about it. I wish him all the luck in the world , he so deserves it!

My boy, being the coach's son up until he turned 14, played every position on the field over those years. He filled whatever weak spot we had on the team. When the situation was ugly and tough, but someone had to go out on the mound in relief, he was the one who climbed the hill.

I always liked him at second, but most of the time couldn't put him there because there were other kids who needed infield time but only had enough arm to play second. As a result, he can execute the assignments for any position on the field.

Since he started playing for other coaches, it has been interesting. {I did threaten him with banishment if he told any coach he could catch.}

He has played up on older select teams for the past year. One season, he was the first string second baseman. Another, he spent most of his time at second and third and was quickly put in the starting pitching rotation. On a third team (he played on a couple of teams this summer, one team took him when he was not playing for the other) he played mostly OF and closed. This fall he was the closer, and spend most of his time at second. Although this coach also used him to fill holes at times.

He really doesn't care where he plays, he is just happy to be on the field. And if he is happy, I'm happy.

Tigers

That is the key word --HAPPY !!!!

Just put me in coach !!!!

It was an easy decision from day one. 1B-P-OF
The lefty is happy anywhere

It is funny. The term position choice? The coach makes out the lineup so i guess you really do not have a choice? I once asked a kid what high school he played at. He told me. I asked what position he played. He said wherever they put me. Great attitude. Will take you far.

At the coach pitch level (5-8), all the kids want to play catcher because they get to wear the equipment. Many go 1 inning and want out because of the wear and tear. My son really liked the action and wound up playing there more often than not.
Our Little League is small so the age bracket is 9 - 12. As a 9 year old, my son was mostly playing 2nd and right field (as expected) and one day he found one of my old catchers mitts and brought it to a LL game. He used it during pre game warm ups. His Coach noticed this and came over and asked me if I thought he could handle catching in a game. I told him I thought so but I suggested that he ask my son. Next thing you know he's the youngest catcher in the league.
He still has 1 more year of Little League, so I don't know if his future is in catching, but I suspect it will be.
I was a catcher all through Legion and HS. When I was a college freshman, our team had 2 very solid sophomore catchers who were returning starters. Coach came up to me after the first tryout and said, son, you are a pitcher now and handed me this enormous basket of a glove!

Texan makes a great point having his son play several positions. We wanted the same for our child. Things went well until that fatal day when she was put in to pitch. Now, that is all she does. My wife and I want her to play everywhere because the star at 11 often is not at 17. If I had a boy, I would play him at each and every position. That is what my Dad did with me. Then, in high school, my coach knew he could move me to any position. It made an average player such as I more valuable to the team.

My son started out as a SS/P early in his career.

One day when he was abou 10, the High School coach asked him at a camp if he had ever played outfield. He was shocked, only losers play the outfield.

The high school coach told him with his speed, he needed to work on his outfield skills.

He never played more than 1 or 2 innings a year of infield. His friends now call him "Rock" whenever he does play infield. His hands have gotten a "little hard" for the infield.

My son was blessed in that he has always had coaches that encouraged playing the all over field so you could learn the game and see just what skills you might have.
As a little tyke, he was a middle in-fielder a lot but played third as one of the few who could throw across the diamond on a line. As another poster mentioned, he wanted to catch then because the equipment was cool. He changed his mind after a few summer games in Texas

He started pitching as soon as he was old enough and it remains his favorite spot. He thrives on the you against me competition with the hitter.
Fortunately for him, his coach outside of HS still allows the players to move around the field. He likes the outfield because he LOVES throwing guys out.....sometimes 9-3 and a sometimes times at the plate. He gets mad cause they usually quit running on him after the first attempt.
He plays a lot of 1B and 3B...in fact, now middle in-field is where he plays the least!

HS, he played SS, 1B, 3B and pitched as a freshman but as soph and junior (on varsity) he has been restricted to the mound.

If there are parents of young players reading....hopefully you will find out a way to let them play any position they want....even if they aren't the "prototype". Specialization comes soon enough. And sometimes, they will discover they love a position even if it is not the one other people picked out for them.

Our son played every position as a young player, but his favorite position was short stop. Somewhere around 13-14 he lost his speed (when the feet and legs became too big for his body). He wanted to play every game,as he became older pitching prevented him from doing that, but eventually realized it could lead someday to bigger and better opportunities.

Back when I coached LL, I always made a point of having all the boys play as many different positions as possible. I prep'ed the parents for this at the beginning of the season ... told them that while I would try to have the team play competitively, I wasn't going to focus on "playing my best defense" all the time just to record a win. Beyond the obvious things like having a decent SS, a 1B that could actually catch, a good CF, and a catcher that could catch ... I moved it around alot. I also tried to pitch any kid that thought it was fun and could throw a reasonable amount of strikes ... I felt too many coaches go with just 2-3 main 'stud' pitchers all season. I wanted to encourage some of the other kids that could pitch if given the opportunity. You never know, a kid might take an interest in pitching that may just take longer for them to mature into their bodies, and eventually surpass the LL 'stud'.

My feeling was that so many things change as these boys are growing up, that you never know what physical assets they'll develop by the time they're teenagers, so why not have them learn as much as possible about different positions ... they would have plenty of time to specialize as they got into their teens. It was just LL after all. Of course there's always one over-zealous parent ... we lost a game by one run that knocked us out of 1st place due to an error by a kid I had rotated into 2B that was a 50/50 player. After the game, a parent confronted me wanting to know how I could put that kid at 2B and loose the game ... I told the parent that I wasn't there to win that game, I was there to help a kid learn to have the courage to try something new, and succeed or fail, to want to come back and do it again ... better. I told him that in the grand scheme of things winning that game was meaningless ... but to that kid, to learn that the world didn't end when he made that error, that he would actually be encouraged to come back next week and make a couple of great plays and feel good about it, THAT was something that would have a lasting impact.

The more positions you CAN play the better things will be for you later on. Kids will gradually settle in to where they are the best but versatility is a commodity that is to a boys value to the team. A kid goes to high schol and there is a stud ahead of him. If he can play somewhere else it is to his advantage. If he can not then? One thing I would greatly encourage young players is to try catching. If that is part of your resume so to speak it just gives you another edge when roster time comes around especially in high school and college.

Will

What you say is so true

We carry two "front line" catchers and at leasst two plyers who list catching as a third or fourth position--they are there if we lose both catchers and it has happened.


Having catching on your resume can be a tie breaker for a kid in making the team

As far as this position thing goes everybody is a baseball player. Some do things better than others. During my tenure i moved kids all over the place with one thing in mind to make our chances of winning better. sometimes kids would come in as freshman and by junior year being the starting catcher when they never caught before. or pitching or whatever. But as the years progressed i found it more difficult convincing kids to try new things. to all the parents players let me say one thing and I "think" it makes sense? coaches would not ask a layer to do something(catch or play third pitch etc) if they did not see something there. So look at it as a compliment. A coaches job is to put a player in a position to be successful but more over his success greatly enhances the teams.

Mine was born left-handed and had a tough time turning the double play from 3rd.... about all that was left after that was LHP.

OPP