Shortstop positioning

In my opinion he should play depending on where he believes the hitter is most likely to hit. But assuming he or his coaches know nothing about the hitter if he were my son I would want him playing dead center between 3rd and 2nd.  Of course on a double play situation you want him inching closer to 2nd.  

Does your son have the range to get everything to his right? Maybe that's why they don't say anything. A SS' range is really a big factor. 

In general, unless you know if a hitter's tendencies or your pitching a certain way (inside to RH for example), it really is a judgement call. As the game progresses you adjust. 

Really?

There's another infielder to his right...

Good hitters are taught to hit back up the middle so I can see why with no scouting insight he would cheat middle.  But if he knew where pitch selection / location were then he could cheat from that.  Inside pitch he could play more pull or outside pitch then he could cheat towards second.

Unless you truly know tendencies of hitters it's just best guess.

coach- At the high school/travel levels (which is the focus in the OP) I'd say that the pitcher's arsenal is also a factor, on top of what you and soulslam mentioned. The majority of hitters at that level, for example, have trouble turning around high-velocity pitchers, and therefore it may be in the team's best interest to shift according to general hitter tendencies based on the pitcher's arsenal.

Very true and good point.

Of talking about amatuer baseball there are too many variables to answer the question.

Range, arm, footwork, and athletic ability are all factors.  The toughest play for a shortstop is the ball in the hole.  That play alone can separate those that can play the position to those that can't.   The obvious disadvantage of playing up the middle is your increasing the size of the hole. And most all infielders have more range to their glove side. Also usually more sure handed to their glove side.

However, none of he above really tells you where you should be positioned. Many other factors, some that are mentioned in above posts, have a bearing on positioning.  

Often you will see Shortstops start up the middle and shift before the pitch.  I even did that 50 years ago.  Just made it easier to see the pitch called and then position/cheat depending on the pitch.  

No matter where the shortstop positions himself there could be disadvantages and advantages.  So much depends on the talent of the shortstop.  I know whenever our college was in no double defense our shortstop would be out on the grass right between where the LF and CF were positioned.  This was simply to take away the possibility of a hard line drive getting into the gap, but still able to make the play on a ground ball. Give away the base hit in the hole because that was never going to be extra bases. Others might coach differently.  Again, shortstops that are extremely talented can make all the plays. Positioning is easy to change, but having that talent is very difficult.

Some Coaches assume that the top of the lineup is better than the bottom. And these Coaches will pitch differently to the top Than what they would to the bottom. And if this was his tendency, he might also have a game plan of where he wants his defense to be positioned until they learn the hitters.

As you all suggest many variables to take into account.

Most importantly range to his right.

He has very good range, not great, and an above average arm, however it seems he has to layout too much to that side, when he possibly would get there standing up, and a simple backhand play could be made.

Seems to me by the thoughts of all of you,and I agree,his coaches should be positioning him on a regular basis constantly throughout the game.

Brings up another point.

Not to be critical with so many facets of the game to be taught, (that's why it is so great) it's got to be hard for coaches to touch all bases.

Should he learn on his own if the coach isn't instructing him one way or the other?

Not that he'll listen to me, however some of your suggestions need to be conveyed to him

You're right in that it's hard to touch all the bases in the game so he does need to learn this on his own.  But if the coaches aren't moving around other players then your son and you shouldn't expect them to move him around.  Lot of great information in this thread about how to best guess positioning if there's no data to show tendencies.  If he can take what's in this thread and learn it then it will probably help.

Personally, I rarely move around my fielders because at the HS level there is not enough data to get a good guess where they will hit it.  As a game progresses and I feel pretty strong that based on who's pitching and how they are throwing we may move someone around but it's rare.  Plus, if the pitcher / catcher are calling their own game I'm not going to know specifically which pitch they are going to throw to help with adjusting fielders.  Sometimes you can just over coach and hurt your team OR go the opposite route and do all the thinking for them but where's the fun in that?

Another aspect about the lack of data at the HS level is while there's not enough of it to me the biggest problem is how guys mature and grow in those 4 years.  You may face a guy at the JV level when he's a freshman and chart him in two games.  He's a 5'9 130 pounds soaking wet.  By the time he's a senior he's now 6'2 180 pounds of pure muscle.  What he does at the plate is going to be different than what he did as a freshmen so whatever data you gathered on him won't be reliable.

Tell your son to learn this and do it on his own until he plays for a coach that does it for him.