Should My Son Change Positions?

Zach’s Dad,
Welcome to the HSBBW. Always good to see a parent involved with their son. I’ll just give you my opinion for what that’s worth. He may be fine at CF but versatility does have more positives than negatives so it wouldn’t hurt to explore options. At this point I wouldn’t get too caught up trying to predict his height at 6’5” and allowing that to modify his game. More than likely his height will not hinder him at the college level. His tools or (talent) is going to be the major factor in his ability to play at the next level. Look at his tools and evaluate him on his tools. The five tools position players are rated on are basically hitting, power, running, fielding, and throwing. I suggest that hitting carries the most weight with coaches and can be improved upon more that the other tools. So instead of trying to hit him fungos at firstbase, I would soft toss to improve his hitting.
Fungo

ZacksDad,

Welcome to our forums!

I don't feel qualified to advise on whether your son should change positions, but I'll offer my two cents worth regarding the height issue.

With the parental heights of 5'8" and 6'5", your son could still end up in a range of height - anywhere from 6'1" to 6'5" or so seems quite realistic. My 19-yr-old (almost 20) who is about done growing height-wise at between 6'4" and 6'5" has parents 5'10" and 6'2", and was just a tad taller than your son at age 13 (about 5'10"). I'm not predicting that your son won't reach 6'5", but it's also quite possible that he could end up in the 6'2" to 6'3" range, which seems to be a good height for a HS or college CF.

Aside from the height discussion, it seems to be an advantage for a young player to try out a variety of positions and have some versatility. I've heard the comment from time to time at the HS level and above, "If he can hit, the coach will find a place for him!". My son was primarily a pitcher, with his secondary positions in HS being 3B and 1B, but he literally played every position except catcher in 4 years at the HS varsity level - wherever he was needed, because he could hit.

Good luck to your son and best wishes for a fun upcoming HS career!

Thanks for the reply Fungo. Based on your replys, and what other members say about you I hold your opinion in high regard.

We have always put a lot of emphasis on hitting and he does (I feel) really well in this department. This year in the spring season he played on an AS team that went to the state comp. and he hit 3rd. He has gotten to a point where I don't know how much more helpful I can be in making him a better hitter. He is signed up for professional instruction starting in Jan. This will be the first time he has had any "formal" baseball training.

Out of the 5 tools you listed on a scale from 1-5 I would give him a 4 on hitting, power, and fielding. I would give him a 2.5 on running (which hopefully will be corrected by a company we signed him up for to do sprint and agility training that trains/or has trained a lot of NFL players) and I would give him a 3 on throwing. Do you have any tips/drills for him/us on throwing that could help.

I am so blessed-he is such a good kid and I think he really wants to pursue this. He works so hard-not because his mom or I push him-but because he wants to. I just want to give him every opportunity/advantage that I can. Thanks again for your help.

a few things to consider...

it seems all the way up before highschool coaches play there best athletes at 3rd, short, and catch. then, when all these kids come together to form a highschool team, the coach has to just take some athletes and make them outfielders. the fact that your kid is a decent athlete and already an outfielder will be an adavntage. good h.s. outfielders are hard to find, i've had many coaches tell me this, so i'd stay in the oufield.

second of all, if your kid ends up being in the 6'4-6'6 range first base will be the obvious position for him to play. first base is not a hard position to play. if hes a good athlete he can learn to play the position when he needs to and it will not be a problem. the bottom line is...if the kid is 6'5 and can mash the ball, he'll play.

Your son sounds like a corner player based on his size and speed, but that it at the higher levels. In high school, he will play where there is a need. I learned a long time ago not to worry about positions. The higher you go, especially, the more important it is is to simply be on the field. The best example of course is A-Rod, who did not seem to mind moving from the premier position (ss) to a more limited (but still difficult) spot (3b) even though most would agree that is one of the few who is a better shortstop than Jeter.

Let me explain how unreliable it is in predicting a child's size when he matures using his parents to factor the size. There are 9 children in my family, all having the same parents, 6 boys and 3 girls. The males are 6'5", 6'3", 6'3", 6'1", 5'8" and 5'7" and the females are ....Come to think of it, since the girls never played sports they probably weren't ever measured.

First off, I'm a little surprised that a 13 year old who's been playing for so long has only played in the outfield. Every season I have our kids learn two positions, generally one outfield and one infield, and it usually works out that one or two of them play at three positions during the course of our season. Just from the standpoint of being a more versatile player I'd encourage learning another position, first base sounds like a good posibility.

As far as working on throwing, first make sure he's using proper throwing mechanics, then start doing long toss. After a few months of doing long toss two or three times a week you'll start to see results.

Thanks to everyone for the input.

For StyleMismatch-from ages 5-9 he did play various IF postions as well as the OF. However since the age of 10 he has played CF.

Now remember I am new here so don't laugh-CAN SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN "LONG TOSS" to me.

Zack’s dad,
Long toss. Long toss is the act of throwing a baseball from a greater distance that what one would consider a “normal” distance. The increased distance acts as an additional force which makes the player put extra effort into his throws which increases his arm strength. If you are going to be his throwing partner let me suggest you get two five gallon buckets. Fill one bucket with baseballs and give it to your son. You take the empty bucket and as your son throws to you, you catch the ball and put them in your bucket. When your bucket is full and his is empty, you trade buckets and repeat the process.
Another good item that helps build arm strength are “thera bands” These are resistance bands that the player attaches to a fixed object and pulls using different motions to target different muscles in his arms, shoulders and torso. You can “google” therabands and get more info. I also recommend the “rice bucket”. The rice bucket is simply a 5 gal bucket filled with uncooked rice. The player works his hands to the bottom of rice bucket using whatever hand wrist motion he can. This is very effective in strengthening the hands, the wrists, and the forearms.
All this is cheap stuff but remember, it’s not necessarily the money spent on a program that makes players better, but their time and effort that makes the difference.
Best of luck,
Fungo

Developing Arm Strength is very important at this age. I am in the process of a winter throwing program with my son. We long toss 3 times a week and also do soft toss to keep him used to swinging in the off-season. I am huge long-toss fan and getting thera-bands or even jaeger bands with definitely benefit you and your son. You will see results in 5-6 weeks sometimes less.

I have also heard that the RICE bucket works really well. Clemens still uses this and you can get all of this stuff for cheap!


Good luck, and tell us how your progress is going.

I would not be concerned with where he plays. I would focus on the things that will make the coach play him. Ability to hit. Arm strength. Speed and agility. Ability to field. Smart savy player. Mentally tough. Hustles has a great attitude. Versatility will allow him more opportunity to play. I would not worry about his size and how it projects where he will play in HS. You have no way of knowing how big he will be or what the teams needs will be when he gets to HS. He may be one of the best outfielders on the team but they may need him to play first base or third base etc. Work on the whole game. Outfield infield and of course hitting. If he has an interest in pitching and catching work on that as well. When I coached AAU every kid had a primary posistion that they worked on and played and they had a secondary posistion that they worked on and played as well. For instance if they were a primary outfielder then their secondary posistion would be 3rd SS 2nd or 1st. If they were a catcher then I would make sure they worked at an infield and outfield posistion. Versatility is very important.