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
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!
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.
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.
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.
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
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
OPP