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Versatile!
by Dave
Friday, July 11, 2008
Does it occur to anyone that Andrea Duran, a slapper, hits a fair number of home runs? Does it occur to anyone that Jessica Mendoza, possibly the best overall hitter in the game today, is equally comfortable dragging, slapping one to the outfield corners, or drilling one well over the fence? Have you seen Crystl Bustos play third? She has a rocket arm and lightening quick response to balls hit at her. By the way, she may not get down to first in 2.6, but she is NOT a slow runner by most human standards. Jennie Finch knows her way around the bat rack - she is a very good hitter. One of the elements of this game which differentiates it from baseball is the versatility of its top players. Ignore that at your own risk.
I once knew a girl who was a true peanut. She was smaller than girls two years younger. She was a quick runner so her parents decided to turn her into a slapper because "she was never going to hit the ball out of the infield." They followed this approach to the exclusion of any other kind of hitting. She's startiung to grow now and her strength is on the upswing. She may not ever be tall but she is probably going to be around average height once her body gets in gear.
There was a girl who, at the age of ten, was a "better athlete" than any of the girls in her rec league. She was good enough to play with the older girls and often did just that. By rec league standards, she was a good fielder with speed and a strong arm. She often played short, even when playing with older girls. Her parents saw her exclusively as an infielder even going so far as to exclude from consideration any travel teams on which she was not guaranteed starting time at short or another suitable infield position. Yet, anyone who watched her recognized that her throwing mechanics were not well suited to infield play and her instincts in the outfield were among the very best around - that is, best around travel circles, not merely in the rec league. In short she was a "B" infielder and an "A" outfielder.
My kid claims she wants to play second base. She has voiced some desires to see more time at 2B on the team I coach. But her load up on throws is a bit long for an infielder. She has a quick release when compared to her peers. But I can see that her throwing mechanics will be better suited to outfield if she is unable to change them. I've tried to correct this and perhaps we will one day but, you know, she's a very good outfielder who threw three people out at first in this her first year of seeing considerable time in right.
My other kid says she wants to play third. But when no action comes her way over say ten pitches, it is apparent to me that her attention wanes. We've talked about this but I have yet to see any improvement. She is a very good 3B on balls hit in front of her and her arm is suited to oplaying the position. But aside from the attention thing (which scares the heck out of me), she doesn't move laterally all the well on liners. She moves well to her left but her quick movements to the right are at or below average for all players and not as quick as they need to be at third. She can play outfield well enough. She's also not bad around 2B but hates the position.
We have a girl on this year's team who is an overall very good player. In the fall, we used her as a catcher. She was outstanding at the position. But she insists that she never again wants to go behind the plate. We used her some at first because she is tall, long in the arm, and scoops just about anything out of the dirt. It is pretty difficult to throw anything over her head and anything to either side is usually easy for her to get to. Once a throw pulled her off the bag and she quickly jumped off, caught it and tagged the runner before she made the bag. Nobody had ever taught her to do this. Her instincts fot her there. On another play, our infielder held a very fast runner at third and then made the play to first. The runner at third broke immediately to home. Everybody in the place froze. Nobody on the team, including coaches, found the voice to yell "throw it home." This girl made a great catch, pivoted immediately and threw the kid out by about three steps. Her throw, under pressure was about a foot off the ground, and a half foot off the plate. The catcher had only to make the catch and the tag was applied for her. This girl doesn't like first and would prefer to play third where her reactions are not quite as stellar.
We had a girl who insisted her one and only position was third. She was pretty good at it. But we needed a SS. This 3B was one of the fastest and quickest kids on the team, knew the game well, and could make any play required of a shortstop. We put her out at short one scrimmage game and she did quite well. But after that experience, she told us that she much prefers third. "That's my position." Anyone could see that this girl had the potential to be an "A" shortstop, anyone except her school and rec team coaches. Those folks had pigeon-holed her into the role of third baseman. It took everything I learned in the Dale Carnegie "How to Win Friends and Influence People" class I took in my late teens to finally convinve this kid to stick to short with us and play third wherever else she played.
I like girls to be happy in the positions they play. It is a cardinal rule of fastpitch softball that girls. particularly those just entering puberty, must be happy to play ball (the corollary being that boys must play ball to be happy). I don;t want kids out there moping around, cursing their assigned positions. That can be dangerous or a formula for losing and creating disharmony on a team. At the same time, I thoroughly believ that versatility is critical to a player's success in softball.
Many parents have approached me at various times to object to my playing kids at more than one, often more than two, different positions. They would like to know who is playing and hitting where in the line-up the same way they know their favorite professional team. Manny Ramirez never plays SS. Sabathia never is in the lineup as DH. Pudge Rodriquez isn't an outfielder. A-Rod doesn't play third base. Whoops, I messed up there. That last comment is a bit dated.
The parents really get upset when I place a kid at say 2B and she fails to cover first on a bunt. They let me know that "She doesn't know that position. She has never played there before. She doesn't know that she has to cover first on bunts." I like to respond to that oft-recited rant, "now she has and does."
Many very successful teams follow a principle of one player, one position, or, in the case of pitchers and catchers in particular, one kid, one primary position and one secondary one. In this manner, they have kids who "know their position." They avoid circumstances in which the girl out at second isn't playing the position for the first time and then fails to get over to cover first on a bunt. They avoid situations in which the LF doesn't know where to stand on back-ups. They are coordinated and their kids know what to do with the ball when it comes to their one position. But those kids lack verstility and often don;t have well-rounded senses of the game. They get on a team where there is a better SS, 3B, etc., find themselves trying to learn something new, and struggling in the field to learn this "new position."
I've told you before that I was a catcher who found himself on a team with another catcher who would go on to have a fairly long major league career. I had a stick so they put me in the outfield. But I was lucky because the team ahd a coach who had played outfield in the minors and he taught me how to do it. I had played outfield for exactly one inning to that point in my career. I had no idea where to begin. Had this guy not been there to school me, my bat and I would have spent that season getting acquainted wiuth the bench.
Jessica Mendoza tells the story of how she became an outfielder. She went to Stanford on an athletic scholarship and when she got there found the team already had a sophomore All-America playing her position. Stacey Nuveman tells of how much of her early career involved playing exclusively SS. I'd be willing to bet that very few Div I college players played their predominant college position when they were 12, maybe even 14 or 15. Doesn't Cat Osterman say that she began pitching at 12?
It occurs to me that several pitchers I know were also pigeon-holed in their youth. One girl was pretty slow so her parents focused on her movement pitches rather than speed. I remember her 11 year old year. She was the smallest kid on the team. She threw maybe 40 mph with a tail-wind. I saw her yesterday. She is easily 5 feet 10 inches tall with very long arms and will possibly reach 6 feet within the year, right as she enters her freshman year of high school. She's about ready to give up pitching however because she gets tagged pretty good. She throws too slow for top level competition. her mechanics are wrong and her parents still believe the secret to her success is the movement pitches. (Don't take me wrong here - movement and location are critical but anybody can hit a 45 mph curve if it comes anywhere near the plate.)
Another pitcher I know was very fast at young ages. Now I'd say she has slightly below average speed. But her movement pitches are great and she has wonderful command. That's thanks to her parents and pitching coaches' recognition that she was not going to be particularly long or bulky as she aged. Early on the focus was to be well rounded. If she maintained speed, fine. In that event, she would be a fast pitcher with great control and movement. She's happens to be an outstanding infielder and, for that matter, outfielder. She also hits the stuffing out of the ball. This kid can play anywhere and does because nobody would ever leave her bat out of the lineup.
I watched some very young team play a tournament recently. They had a very good 10 year old pitcher. But she was kind of small. You could see her parents pacing the sideline as she pitched her way through every game that team played. Her stamina was as big as her parents were small and nervous. She pitched 3 games a day without any apparent drop-off in her performance. She played no other position. To be quite honest, I've seen better pitchers at the same age. This kid is supposed to be a plow horse when it comes to practicing and perhaps that will make all the difference for her. But to me, she is getting such a narrow experience that I believe it is harming her. She'd be better served to pitch on or one and a half games, at least on Saturdays and see some action at other positions. Perhaps her team would suffer as a result. Right now the kid suffers though nobody seems to be aware of that.
If you read this blog much, you have undoubtedly noticed I have a penchant for criticizing the "rotational" style of hitting. Today I'm going to let you in on a little secret. I don;t actually think it is wrong. What I think is wrong is teaching young kids to hit with the hip-trigger method in order to have them record extra-base-hits and homeruns in youth travel ball. What really gets up my ire is when I hear all those myths promulgated in the name of convincing everyone that rotational is the preferred method of hitting, is what all the colleges teach, and is what the Olympic softball players use. Another part of the myth is that all the big name sluggers in MLB use rotational hitting mechanics.
Recently somebody wrote something to me which included a reference to a piece of the rotational mechanic, wondered why I didn't focus on that, and criticized me for not talking more about it. When I replied, the complainer wrote me back repeating all the common myths about rotational hitting and had a link to one Olympian hitting in what appeared to be the rotational manner. I explained to him the error of his ways and I won't repeat all that again here. But suffice it to say that every truly great hitter is a rotational hitter (or appears to be one) on inside pitches and a linear hitter on outside opitches and balls up in the zone.
The Olympic team may very well teach roptational hitting mechanics but head coach Mike Candrea's hitting videos are pretty much all decidely linear in nature. Michele Smith's (she was a great hitter) advice on hitting is decidedly linear. All the major leaguers cited as rotational hitters are to a man disciples of Charley Lau, an anti-rotational voice. And if you examine tape on say Stacey Nuveman or Bustos, you will see them never let their hips fly open as the trigger to their swings unless somebody tries to jam them.
The link the fellow sent me involved a top hitter being jammed. She did look like a rotational hitter on that one. I sent back links to a dozen or more video clips which showed her to be more of a linear hitter than a rotational one and obviously demonstrating her versatility as a hitter.
The same feelings I have about rotational swing mechanics are true of slap hitting though I admit being totally in awe of what a slap hitter can accomplish in a softball game. It annoys me when I'm in the other dugout but I have to admit a grudging admiration for a girl who can chop a ball into the air and then reach first before the ball comes back to Earth.
Those circumstances are pretty rare. There aren't that many girls who can pull that off. Most slap hitters I see merely tap the ball into play. And they can't do much more than that because they have been doing only that since they were 9. The sickest feeling I get as a coach is looking at the on-deck circle and realizing our girl who can only slap is coming to the plate with the bases loaded and us trailing by a run with nobody available on the bench to hit for her. We've never won a game in those circumstances. If only the girl could pull a Mendoza and hit one hard down the line or drive one over the outfielder's heads, then things would be exciting! We have a slapper in the lineup who can drive the ball to all fields. She is always in the lineup. The one who merely dinks the ball into play is not.
A final area of consternation for me on this day is the big time, number 3 or 4 hitter who cannot lay down a bunt. I understand that on most teams, in most circumstances, you don;t want the kid who hits 5 or 600 with power to put one down. But it isn't difficult to imagine circumstances in which you might want her to do exactly that. I have interacted with coaches and parents who say, "We never want Sally to bunt. She's too good of a hitter for that." All I can say in response is "Mendoza."
Every kid who ever steps foot onto a softball diamond ought to learn to play every position on the field excluding one or two. Nobody should ever be limited to just one position. No youth team should play all of its games with one kid at a particular position, especially pitcher or catcher. It benefits everyone if every kid learns what is involved with most positions. The team benefits at times of injuries and illness. The kid benefits when, later in life, she wanst to stop pitching because she stops growing at 4 feet 11 or when her speed peaks at 53 mph. The all-star rec SS benefits by learning to play a little outfield, a little first and maybe seeing some action behind the plate. Our society is far too focused on specialization. Sure, most scientists aren't brauny enough to work a jackhammer. But that doesn't mean they should never leave their computers or laboratories.
Versatility is good.Labels: attitude, coaching, parenting, players, playing time
Permanent Link: Versatile!
 
2 The Hard Way And Other Matters
by Dave
Thursday, July 10, 2008
It's late in the game. The score is tied or your team is up by one. Your opponent has loaded the bases with one or no outs. You make the strategic decision to pull the infield in. You yell "infield, come on in." The girls give you a funny look, take a step forward and get ready for the next pitch. (Alternatively, they run to the pitching circle and wait for you to come out!) The batter bounces a nice one hop to your pitcher. She turns quickly, fires and throws the ball past the retreating first baseman who is late getting to the bag.
Here's a slightly different, probably more realistic scenario. Your pitcher or one of the corner infielders fields the ball cleanly, makes the throw properly to home. Your catcher either realizes it is a force and just catches the ball like a first baseman or forgets the situation and waits to apply a tag. You get the out but the next hitter drives in the winning run with a clean base hit.
How about this? A pop fly is hit to one of the outfielders and she catches it, then dutifully lobs it to an infielder never realizing that the runner from third was tagging up. Maybe an infielder went and grabbed the pop with her back to the infield and forgot that the runner from third can score. That's probably more likely on a pop into foul ground, behind first or third.
In any event, ball game over. You lose.
What the heck went wrong? The answer is a question. What did you do in practice?
There are obviously times when you want your infield in. There may be times when you want both the infield and outfield in. If you've never so much as mentioned this before in practice, you are going to perform a great comedy when you just happen to bring this up during a game. What did you think would happen? A better scenario is to have spent at least a half an hour on this in practices so let's examine these end game strategies in a little more depth and hope that you go over them during practice rather than bringing it up for discussion out in the circle as an in-game lesson.
First of all, what do we mean "bring the infield in" and why do we want to do that? By infield in, unless you play your corner infielders well back, behind the bags, you probably don't really want them to move in towards home much. Our corners play about 5 feet in front of the bag on a non-bunting play. Another five feet forward should suffice since one would hope they can quickly make the throw to home in plenty of time on most plays. Your middle infielders should be slightly in front of their respective baselines. They need a clean line to the plate and we aren't willing to risk them being interfered with by a baserunner and then hoping the ump will make the right call. So they should go to the line and then take a healthy step forwards.
More important than the fielders' positioning is the knowledge that come heck or high water, their next move after fielding a ball does not involve any thought. Rather it is a strike thrown at the chest of the catcher. The catcher should shed her helmet on contact between ball and bat. Her expectations are to catch a perfect throw with both hands, then quickly turn and make the throw to first base where somebody else is expecting to catch a throw from her.
You, the coach, are going to have to make the executive decision about who is going to cover the bag at first. Obviously, if the ball is hit to the first baseman, the second baseman should cover. If the ball is hit to the 2B, 1st must cover. If the ball is hit to one of the other fielders, you need to have instructed the girls as to who is going to have primary responsibility for coverage of first. You want your more clutch player to handle this because, if there is just one out, the catch of this throw is very important and, if there are no outs, the girl who catches the second out of the double play is going to have to at least be aware that the runner from second base, who is now on third, may try to score. Having the wrong individual cover the bag at first can still cost you the game even after you record a double play. But most importantly, you w3ant to make sure that everybody gets or stays out of the way.
If you do not assign responsibility, you'll get the out at home and then watch two players fight over who is covering first. If you decide to make the 2B cover first, make sure that your 1B knows that her most important job after the out is recorded at home is to get out of the way of the throw to first. She needs to duck or slide out of the way so the catcher can have a clean lane to first. By the way, the catcher should stride off the plate and make her throw out in fair territory. The person covering first should have her left foot next to or on the bag and her right foot well out in fair ground.
The most important elements of this situation are: predetermined responsibilities, player awareness of what is going on, and repetitious practice of this drill in which all scenarios are discussed and then worked in advance of games. You might start with a five minute discussion of what is happening and why you might have the girls do this. Ladies, bases are loaded with one or no outs. We want the out at home. If we can get it, we'd like the out at first too since the runner probably will not be able to beat it out in some circumstances.
So the play is: 1) infield in, 2) out on a force at home, 3) throw back to first. Work this into your normal infield drilling. This should be as important to your normal routine as field the grounder, check the runner at third, throw to first, then first to home.
After you have worked this into your normal infield practice, add a variation. Talk through the possibility that in addition to getting two, the runner newly arrived at third could possibly try to score. So now it's: field the grounder, throw to home, home to first, and then first back to home.
In addition to the infield being pulled in to nail the runner at home and taking the opportunity to record a second out in those circumstances you can get it, you also want to work the outfield into the conversation. In some late game instances in which you might pull the infield in, you may also want to pull the outfield in. For example, say the score is tied with one or no outs and you worry that this girl might not cooperate by hitting an infield grounder. So you pull your outfield in and instruct them to immediately throw in to home after any catch of a fly or pop (and don't forget to mention foul flys).
The right positioning when bringing the outfield in is probably a matter best handled on the ground. That is, it depends on the speed, abilities and arms of your outfielders. The right position is close enough to catch anything hit beyond your pulled in infielders as well as make a quickly throw to home on a fly - quicker than the girl on third can tag and score. Your outfielders need to understand that anything they catch or field must immediately result in a quick, accurate throw to home. There's no holding the ball and looking around to see who they might be able to throw out. Catch and throw - no thinking.
If you prepare your kids, regardless of age, for the eventual possibility of making a play to hold off a run at home, possibly even making a double play (let's not even contemplate how great it would be to end such an inning on a triple play!), the rewards will be great. Not only might they make such an important play, but also, they'll actually understand your object when you tell them "infield in" or "infield and outfield in." Even if they never pull off a double play, they'll still really understand what is going on. If you pull off a double play and make it look routine, then you will get to bask in the glow when the other team's coach asks you, "how did you get them to do that?" You can say, "the double play? Oh that's a routine play we run in practice all the time."Labels: defense, game strategy
Permanent Link: 2 The Hard Way And Other Matters
Dangerous Game
by Dave
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Tom writes in with a quick story as follows:
"Yesterday we played a 14U game during which our second baseman loaned her game face to our third baseman so she could be protected from her very close position. The second baseman is a good player with fast reflexes and good ball-sense who gets in a good ready position before each pitch and who was playing deep, just in front of the infield grass, about 80 feet from the plate. Our opponent's number 7 batter took a good outside pitch and lined it towards right center. Our 2B reacted quickly but did not get her glove completely up in time. The ball glanced off her glove, struck her square in the face and bounced all the way to the shortstop who caught it in the air and thereby recorded an out. The 2B was taken from the field with her nose gushing blood. Emergency personnel were summoned and took her to the hospital via ambulance.
At the hospital, where she spent the night, it was determined that the girl had suffered a broken nose plus several broken bones around one of her eyes. The girl underwent emergency surgery to reset her nose and take a look at the other breaks. It appears as if her vision will probably come back but, for now, she suffers some double vision. Doctors claim that is to be expected in the short-term though they are still somewhat concerned."
Tom's reason for writing is to encourage everyone in this game, in the strongest terms possible, to use the game face or a similar device (such as the D Mask). Tom knows that many girls playing infield positions refuse to wear these masks because they believe they make them look funny, they may perhaps somewhat obscure their vision, or in some way make them "different" from the other girls on the field. His hope is that if we make these commonplace, most, if not all, girls will wear these things routinely. I have to agree with his reasoning.
Beyond this particular accident, beyond nose and eye socket concerns there is something else I would like you to consider. A very expensive type of injury can also happen on the softbalol diamond involving dental issues.
Some time ago, a friend of mine told me a story about a drill his daughter's team was running either in practice or before a game. His daughter played second base at the time and the drill involved outfield cutoffs. A ball was hit to the rightfielder who fielded it. The 2B went out to get the cutoff but was told by the SS to let it go through to third. The 2B ducked down but the RF hooked the throw and beamed the ball right into the 2B's face, striking her square in the mouth.
The girl went down and was helped from the field spitting a little bit of blood. Her father took her for medical professionals who determined that she did not have any kind of break or damage to any place that had absorbed the blow. I believe that she did not suffer a consussion, a broken jaw, or any permanent damage to teeth. Luckily, she had been wearing a good mouth guard and that apparently had prevented serious injury.
The father, being a normally prudent person, took his daughter to a specialist at a top hospital just to make sure the original diagnosis was correct. There the specialist concurred and noted that had she not been wearing the mouthguard, she most definitely would have had permanent, possibly irreparable damage to both her jaw and teeth.
Lots of girls wear mouthguards though certainly not all. I believe I have seen more infielders and a few outfielders don the gameface and D mask this year. It isn't quite as prevalent as perhaps it will be next year. But the usage of these inexpensive, effective protection devices is growing in our sport.
I've grown a little weary of a common response to discussions regarding safety devices. Most frequently these involve discussion regarding face guards. A few sarcastic individuals make ignorant comments such as "why don't we just put all the girls out there in suits of armor!" That's absurd. These relative few individuals make suggestions like "the boys don't wear these things. Why should the girls?"
One subject which sometimes comes up about this sport is the issue of face masks on batting helmets. I don't wish to addresss this other than to say that foul balls to the face area are pretty common in fastpitch softball. I believe all but the college and international game require such masks and they probably prevent hundreds of potentially serious injuries every year. There's no point in discussing the issue further with anyone who doesn't know that reality.
What seems clear to me is a softball player ought to voluntarily wear a mouth guard when she is in the field. Infielders would be well served if the game decided that a face guard was required for them. Face masks on batting helmets are absolutely necessary and thankfully already required.
When it comes to rulemaking (in sports and other places) which require ever increasing amounts of protective gear, I get anxious. I do not like to be protected by big brother. Yet the same way a catcher is required to wear not just a mask but also a helmet, knee and shin guards, etc., I believe the entire sport ought to mandate batting helmet facemasks and I'm beginning to think that mouth guards for all defensive players and face guards for infielders ought to be a part of the required equipment. You can't play football without a mouth guard because of the concussive force likely to be experienced. The same should probably true on the softball diamond.
Aside from these equipment issues, I would like to bring up one other subject which is probably best targeted at the less experienced, less serious softball player and her parents. I do not believe serious and/or very experienced players need to be told the following. So, if that's you, you can skip the rest of today's class.
Recently I was coaching a 12U game and our team was playing very poorly. By playing very poorly, I don't mean we lost a game or got bumped early out of a tournament. Rather, what I mean is our girls were not making some plays which they have routinely made for months. Ordinary groundballs, with no bad hops, were slipping in between legs; routine flyballs were striking gloves and then finding the ground; and routine throws were being tossed into the stands. We won because some girls hit and because we were playing an inferior team. But our level of play was not particularly encouraging to anyone who has sc hooled these girls in defensive mechanics. Actually, it was rather upsetting and disheartening.
I wasn't sure what I could do to help these girls. I felt we had drilled them pretty hard and taught them well. They were much better than they had played. I wasn't sure what happened. Later, between games, I found out what had happened. I was sitting by myself not too far from where our girls were hanging out, eating their lunches, and overheard a conversation between several girls. Apparently, these girls had held a slumber party the night before. They called it a "sleep-over" but sleep was not an important part of the evening's agenda. One girl mocked another who had fallen asleep by one o'clock. She bragged that she had not gone to sleep until well past four. I had my answer but I was not pleased about it.
More than a month prior to this tournament, one of our coaches had dared to do the unspeakable. he had issued an e-mail suggesting how one might prepare for a tournament. he encouraged the girls to drink lots of fluids the day before a tournament; to eat properly, avoiding candy, ice cream, etc.; and to make sure to get to bed by 9 or, at the latest 10. There was an uproar after that e-mail went out. Several parents wondered where this guy felt he receiuved the right to talk down to them. They wanted to know whether he thought them stupid. They let it be known that they are at least as good of parents as he and do not need ridiculous advice such as this.
Yes, some of those who complained about the condescension were involved in the slumber party. They also were among the folks who made inquiries as to why their children were not listed in the lineup cards as playing infield after making errors in the early games.
Let me be clear about one thing and that is sleep deprivation has some impact on a player's ability to play this game. I can't quantify the effect. Studies have sometimes resulted in contrary findings. But I don't think anyone believes even for a millisecond that getting no sleep the night before the game is just OK. I don't believe anyone thinks that any player will do as well with less sleep than she would with more.
There is some debate as to whether sleep deprivation constitutes torture at Guantanamo Bay detention center. I do not wish to enter that debate in this particular forum. What I will tell you is those who are against it argue that it does result in responses similar to what alcohol consumption does - greatly reduced reaction speed, possibly causes permanent reduction to higher level function, but definitely causes short-term reduced function on normal, mundane tasks. I don't know whether you can claim it is torture or with any certainty causes permanent brain injury (or maybe I better go seek medical help immediately - as a result of having been a parent!). But there's no question that a sleep deprived kid will have a greater tendency to miss easy groundballs, strike out against pitchers she usually hits hard, etc. And where I'm going with this is, I wonder what this says about the risks incurred by the no-mouth-guard, no-game-face, sleep-deprived infielder or pitcher.
Recently, my 14U daughter got very angry with my wife and me. She was angry because we flat out denied her request to "sleep over" at her teammates house on a Saturday night of a three day tournament. The girl sponsoring the "sleep-over" is the manager's daughter and team's only viable catcher. She may have to catch 5 or more games (doubtful that we'll play more than 5 given the circumstances!) over 3 days in what is expected to be 90 degree, humid weather. Our games are scheduled for the hottest parts of the day. Another girl who will be "sleeping" over is our third baseman who routinely positions herself 45 feet from home, 30 and charging in bunt situations, but wears no protective devices. My daughter will likely see a lot of time in the circle. And in our preliminary games, we will be facing some of the best hitting teams around.
I'm going to leave now so I can go pray for the remainder of the day that nobody gets injured. You go do whatever you like.
Follow-up:
Tom read the above piece and wrote in to correct me as follows:
"You are NOT right about ALL the national organizations requiring face masks
on batting helmets. Little League does not require this proven safety device
to be on batting helmets. They also do not require chin straps to keep the
helmet on the players head. They announced their intention of doing so over
a decade ago and most leagues have converted but they never made it mandatory. I have no idea why they have not done so except for the faces not showing up
well on TV; it can't be concern for player's safety."Labels: coaching, parents, players, safety, Tournaments
Permanent Link: Dangerous Game
The First? Fielder
by Dave
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Paul writes in to ask:My daughter, a pitcher, has some problems fielding her position defensively. She tends to have a panicked look when the ball is hit back to her and loses focus on what to do with it once in her glove. Part of this is fear of getting hit with an odd bounce and part is just lack of proper fielding technique. After that she needs to understand where her place is after a hit and she needs to move to a back up position. I don't want to teach her the wrong things but need to get her working on this.
Here is my response:
The very first thing I want to address to you is the "fear factor." Pitchers may develop a fear of balls being hit back at them, especially if they have a little scar shaped like laces on the ball or located where their broken nose or jaw was fixed. It's very tough to be so close to the gal with the stick in her hand. I strongly believe that every pitcher needs to be schooled on keeping the pitch away from the sweet spot on the bat, that is, to hit corners on every pitch. If you can paint corners, your fear of having a hotshot hit back at you should gradually diminish.
My personal belief is that in fastpitch softball, pitches should never be on the middle 8 inches of the plate. From 10 or 11 on, pitchers must be taught to work corners. Our game's ball is just too big and bright. 1 thorugh 9 of any team worth its salt can rip it when it is thrown down the midddle.
Some of us out here watch too much baseball on TV and fall in love with a 95 mph fastball thrown down the middle, challenging the hitter to catch up with it. That's baseball, not fastpitch softball. I am an advocate of teaching pitchers to throw hard before learning command. But even I have my limits. I don't particularly care whether your 11 year old can hit 55-60 on your coach's radar gun. If she throws that cheese down the middle, eventually she is going to find someone who can hit it and hit it hard. If the ball is in the center of the plate, chances are pretty good that the 60 mph pitch is going to come back at her at 94-98. And that may end your stud's pitching career regardless of how fast she can throw. Stay on the corners. It is extremely rare for a hitter to hit anything on the corners hard, straight back at the pitcher. That is the first thing you need to teach your pitcher in terms of defense.
(As an aside, to umpires who "require" the pitch right down the middle - who don't give corners, particularly when one team is beating another pretty badly, you must be ready to take personal responsibility for the broken noses, jaws and other body parts, the shortened careers, etc. which your approach has caused. I have seen so many umps change their zone or do other things to make the game move along or to provide the beaten down team with something, anything, to make them feel less bad. Just the other day, the field ump called our runner out when she was obviously safe in order to end the top of the first because we were up by 7 already. He pretty much admitted this to me. He noted to me that the other team was all 11s. So I told them we have 5x11s and 1x10 on the field with just 3 young 12s. I think he was a little surprised but not as surprised as he was when the other team scored 3 runs in the bottom half and then held us down in the top of the second before scoring again in their half. Umpires should never try to control games like that. That's what the time limit and run rules are for. And they shouldn't try to make pitchers throw down the middle unless they want somebody injured.)
A lot of how a pitcher does things defensively depends on her team's coaches and players. General fielding (balls back at her) is a matter of normal fielding mechanics, athleticism, repetition, and confidence. Let me try to develop this topic, give you some advice on what you can do, and try to list some of the issues which may vary from team to team and situation to situation.
A pitcher is in a difficult position defensively, standing about 35 feet from the plate after release. She needs to get immediately in some sort of defensive position after release. She needs to be in shape physically so that her reactions are good. And she needs to practice fielding mechanics the same way any other player does.
The first, most important step, is to get into a good ready position. That means low, balanced, and ready to move. In my opinion, she should not aspire to get quite as low with her glove as the third baseman whose glove should probably be just inches from the ground, if not actually touching it. There's not enough time for that anyway but it isn't necessarily the best defensive position for a pitcher. Most balls hit back at the pitcher are bouncing ones hit hard into the dirt. She should be low but not as low as 3B and her glove should be about knee high, in front of her, and open. Pitchers sometimes close their gloves hard or slap it into their thighs as they release the pitch. They need to be schooled to get it out in front, open and ready to make a play right after this.
Her knees need to be bent, feet even and about shoulder width apart. Her glove hand should be out in front of her. And her shoulders should be square with the plate. You can't do anything without a good ready position. You can't move equally well to either side if your feet aren't squared up. So your first goal should be to finish the pitch with a good ready position after release.
The second consideration is physical conditioning. If you want to react faster to balls hit back at you, being in the best physical shape is the pathway regardless of natural athletic ability. Kids who are in the best shape they can be will necessarily have shorter reaction times. A good off-season, or in, program of speed and agility is advisable for any softball player. The same is true of pitchers. While it is a given that everybody possesesses different athletic ability, engaging in a good speed/agility program can help anyone. It will also help a pitcher's pitching so I encourage you to pursue this.
Pitchers, like anyone else who walks onto a softball field need to be schooled in fielding mechanics. My guess is your daughter doesn't pitch every inning of every game she plays in. She could play many other positions. She should be schooled in fielding mechanics of all varities at this age in any event. If there are good fielding clinics near you, Kobata, etc., sign her up. Aside from this, I would hope your team's coaches work all the girls at fielding mechanics of all positions anyway. If they do not, you need to have her out fielding grounders, linedrives, etc. from all positions just for her own development. If you can get out once or twice a week to hit a half hour's worth of balls, that will definitely help her.
The next consideration is drills for fielding grounders from her position after release. Repetition is the key to sound fielding at any position and this does not exclude the pitcher. I recently saw a pretty good drill for doing this run at an OC Batbusters clinic. Basically, you put a girl at first, a catcher behind the plate, and the pitcher out in the circle. The pitcher pitches the ball like she would in a game and a coach immediately hits a grounder back at her. She fields it and throws to first. You can place fielders at each of the bases or have her throw home as you wish. Obviously the footwork on throws to each of the bases is different and should be practiced.
The coach should hit all sorts of balls to the pitcher. You want hard ones and soft ones, liners at her feet, bouncing balls to either side and so on. Coaches should do something like this in practice but if they don't, talk to them about a "drill I saw done" and describe this to them. You need to have other players to do this drill so it's best done at team practice.
Sometimes coaches will assemble an infield and hit balls to the various fielders including the girl standing around the pitcher's plate. This doesn't get the job done. Sometimes the coaches will have the pitcher mimick making a real pitch. This isn't enough either as she will go through the motion but make getting ready her primary goal. The pitcher needs to throw a pitch and then make a fielding play. And it is really so simple to do. There's no good reason not to spend 5-10 minutes on this at every or every other practice.
If you cannot convince your team to do my (really the OC Batbuster's) drill, I suggest modifying it at your local field. If you can't get somebody to catch or play the bases, use surrogates. A pop-up net will suffice for a catcher. Most fields have garbage cans standing around - move one over to cover first. And then hit away. This is certainly not optimal but do what you have to do to get this work in.
Additionally, there needs to be an understanding between the pitcher, the coaches, and all other infielders regarding what a pitcher's responsibility is on struck balls. My team uses a general rule of thumb which is a pitcher's responsibility for fielding a ball ends inside the circle. That is, she should not have to run outside the circle to field grounders and pop-ups. Bunts are the responsibility of the first and third basemen. There are obvious exceptions to this and the pitcher will end up fielding surprise drag bunts and other balls which do not fit neatly into my general rule of thumb - those will be practiced in the drill I discussed above.
In my experience, there's no need top tell a pitcher to go after balls. Usually she will naturally and reactively go after a lot of plays beyond her area of responsibility. But it is important to let her know that she has a team of four infielders behind her, excluding the catcher who generally will cover anything hit within a few feet of home, and she needs to develop judgment about what she can and cannot do better than the other fielders.
The corollary to this is, while a pitcher should not field a ball outside the circle, even if the ball is in the circle and another fielder can make the play, the pitcher needs to let them do that. This is really a pop-up rule. If a batter hits an infield pop-up with any real height to it, the pitcher should not usually make that play. If the ball is coming down in front of her, that is typically first or third's play. If the ball is coming down to her left at or beyond the circle, that's either 2B or SS's play. If the ball is right in the circle, the SS should take charge and call for it. In these cases, the pitcher should get out of the circle and away from the play, allowing her middle infielders to make it.
About a year ago I witnessed a play on which a pop-up was hit sky-high and came down about where the pitcher's plate is located. The pitcher stood there, hands high, watching the pop-up come down. I'm not sure whether I heard both the pitcher and SS call for it, or if nobody actually did. But in any event, the SS and P collided and the ball fell to the ground. By the way, the bases happened to be full and there were two outs at the time of the "major league pop-up." I don't recall how many runs scored but I think it was two. That left runners on second and third with still two outs. The next girl lined a single into the gap and both baserunners scored. That one simple play allowed four runs to score. And that was a Gold level game. The defensive team never recovered from those four runs.
I think sometimes we, as coaches, coach a little too much to the age group we have in front of us. In 10U ball, often the team has something like 3-5 good players, often including the girls who pitch. We encourage the pitcher to get to everything she can and make the play because it is a matter of winning and losing. At 12U, we should hope to have more than 3 players who can make routine plays every time but sometimes because of conditions beyond our control, we still encourage the pitcher to make every play she possibly can.
Even at 14U, I have heard coaches encourage pitchers to do similarly. I like to think of this as the "BNB principle" which is, the tendency to view the team like one would the Bad News Bears - a few good players who should be encouraged to jump in front of all those kids who "don't belong out there" and make every play they possibly can. But the question is, what does this practice do to the kid who continues to pitch into her later teens, perhaps even playing at the Gold level? What it does is set up the play on which an infield pop results in the pitcher running into another infielder, maybe getting hurt in the process, and allowing 4 runs that should never have seen the light of day to score.
So, in this discussion, what I'm saying to you is teach the pitcher to get out of the way on high pops, to field balls only within the circle, and let her infielders field the rest of them including ordinary bunts. That is true regardless of age level since every 10 year old is eventually going to be 18, God willing. She will naturely field some balls outside the circle anyway. She doesn't need to be told to do that. What she needs to hear is that her fielding responsibility should usually end at the pitcher's circle line. Teach good habits early. Don't subscribe to the BNB primciple.
With this in mind, I certainly recognize that not all teams' coaches will agree with me. And you do have to get along with your team's coaches. But there are limits to what you as the pitcher's parent should tolerate. One of my kid's teams follows the BNB principle due to a certain lack of talent on the roster. For example, we have a first baseman who cannot field a bunt. To me, a first baseman who cannot field a bunt is similar to a slap-hitter who tends to pop the ball up. I call that person by a particular name which is "bench player." A first baseman who cannot field a bunt is not a first baseman.
The first baseman also cannot field a pop-up more than 5 feet in front of her, no matter how high it is hit. She sees her role on the defensive side of the equation as one in which her job is to get to the bag and then catch the throw from infielders. Anything that is too far to her right is left for the 2B to field because she just has to get to the bag.
I'm not a coach on that team. Actually the father of 1B is a coach. And he encourages this errant approach because he is far too steeped in baseball. He doesn't know anything about the FP game. So he has schooled the girl that her primary responsibility is covering the bag. And the other coaches feel there is nothing they can do about this. So, instead of correcting the mistaken approach to playing the position, they tell the pitcher to get everything to her left. This includes all bunts, every soft grounder, and pop-ups. They don't worry about the P colliding with the first baseman since she will see the ball is more than five feet in front of her and retreat to cover the bag.
(As an aside, the 1B also believes any throw that is not perfectly thrown is not her responsibility. If she cannot catch it without moving her feet, it isn't her responsibility. I've never heard her corrected for not pursuing the ball first and the bag second. I just don't understand how any coach or parent can allow a first baseman to continue to play the game at that position with such a wrong understanding of what her responsibilities are. But they do and maybe you've seen similar circumstances too. But to me, a team which follows this approach is a team we won't be playing with any longer.)
As far as backing up bases, etc., this often really depends on your team's approach. Some teams use the pitcher as the primary cutoff between other fielders and home. Some teams teach their first baseman to perform this function. Obviously, if the pitcher is the primary cutoff, she is not responsible for backing up bases. Her work is to get lined up between the catcher and the outfielder or infield cutoff between her and the outfield. My personal preference is for the 1B to be primary cutoff and the pitcher to be a base backup. I think at higher levels this is usually the case. But I don't want to go any further into the topic because I have seen a fairly wide amount of variation and regardless of what I said about the BNB principle or the lack of talent at other positions, the pitcher should perform base back up responsibilities in conformity with her team's practices. I'm not willing to be taken to task on this issue as I was with the other one.
Base backup responsibilities are not something you can handle within a vacuum. You need to have this covered in practice. Yes, I have seen teams which never handle cutoffs or base backups in practice and then scream at the pitcher for being out of position on base backups. This is wrong and maybe there is nothing we can do about it other than to have a discussion with coaches that these things need to be handled in practice.
Aside from this, I think the bottom line is, if the pitcher has base backup responsibilities, the coaches do not handle this in practice regardless of how much you implore them to do so, and you are frustrated about what to tell your pitcher daughter, here are my suggestions:
If the backstop is not a college one where there is considerable distance between it and homeplate, there is no purpose to trying to backup the catcher on plays at the plate. If the play is at home and nowhere else, the best you can do is pick a point to retrieve errant throws. I believe that is a point along the third baseline in foul ground. The first baseman should cover the area in front of home along that baseline. And the 3B should be covering her bag since, if there may be a play at home, there may also be a play at third.
If the backup seems to be most important at third but the fence and out of play are say 15-20 feet from the bag, again, I suggest about the same position though closer to third than home. This way if the ball gets away from the 3B towards home, she can retrieve it quickly. If the ball goes out of control up the line towards the outfield, the LF should get after those. If the LF is making the throw to third, the pitcher would need to be in foul ground along the baseline anyways to back up the throw. Otherwise the LF should be crashing in and handle everything up the line. Some coaches would have the pitcher positioned right behind third to prevent the bad throw from going out of play. But if the pitcher is just 10-15 feet behind the 3B, there is little chance she'll be able to make a play on anything the 3B can't get. I believe along the line in foul ground is the place to be.
On all other plays, where the ball is going to 1B, 2B or just in to some infielder, the pitcher, and everyone else for that matter, need to be aware that the ball may get away and be prepared to retrieve it quickly in such eventuality. Just as I want the first baseman to be wide awake and aware that a throw in to second on a basehit with nobody on may go astray, I want the pitcher to be watching any throw in that might get away. Everyone should backup every throw just as the 2B must backup all throwbacks to the pitcher with a runner on. Outfielders make mistakes just like anyone else, even on easy, no action plays. Everyone needs to be awake on every pitch, every play, every throw in.
As far as learning the situation on which a pitcher needs to back up home, if appropriate, third, etc., given that she is not the primary infield cutoff, I'm not sure what to tell you. Basically, this is dictated by game and inning situation which I'll get to in a minute. More importantly, the coaches need to explain to their pitchers where they want them on certain situations or during the actual play. The best teams conduct drills with this in mind, remind pitchers before the play develops, and then instruct them during the play. This is just like having a baserunner on first with one or no outs and telling them to watch linedrives. You've taught them this in practice, you tell them the situation when they are on first, and then you scream "BACK" when there is an actual linedrive. The same should be done defensively.
When, say, a ball is hit to the outfield and gets past the fielder, coaches should be instructing, for example, the SS to go out and get the cutoff. They also should be judging where the play is going to develop based on where the ball is coming to a rest, the apparent speed of the baserunner(s), etc. In doing this, if they want the pitcher to, for example, back up third, they should yell this to her. What should never happen is a situation in which the coach wants the pitcher to back up third, he or she never says anything (either in practice or before or during the play), and then when the right backup has not taken place, the coach rants and raves at the pitcher for failing to backup. That does happen but it is wrong.
Finally, it is an absolute that every player on the field needs to know the game and inning situation on every pitch and have some idea of what they will do if a ball is hit their way. The CF needs to be aware that she cannot merely soft toss the ball in to the 2B after a hit when there is a runner on second. She needs to know that there may very well be a play at home. Similarly, with runners on first and second, a pitcher needs to know that if a grounder is hit back to her, she is going to third with her throw. I don't need to go over all the possible situations. You ought to be able to handle this in practice if you are a coach or jot it down on paper and go over it with your daughter if you are the pitcher's parent.
The bottom line is, before throwing every pitch, a pitcher needs to check off in her mind where she will go with the ball if X happens. Sometimes, it can be difficult to do this with young kids. It is difficult but it still needs to be done. It is an important part of any player's development. You cannot move up to the next level if you do not think this game through on every pitch. It is as important as getting into a ready position or learning good fielding mechanics. If you have to stop and think after you field the ball, you're dead at least 75% of the time.
In closing, teach your daughter to get in a ready position after release. Do this whether you are conducting pitching practice or running specific drills. Improve her athleticism by engaging in speed/agility drills or by signing up for clinics which do this. Anything that improves her physical condition will improve her ability as a ballplayer and pitcher. Teach her good general defensive skills. She needs this anyway. She may decide to quit pitching in future years but still want to play ball anyways. Good defensive skills are a necessity for every player who wants to keep playing. Conduct drills specific to the pitcher position. I gave you one. Maybe you'll find others in your travels. But do something. Try to convince your team's coaches to conduct pitcher-specific fielding drills. If you are unsuccessful, conduct some on your own. The drills must involve throwing a real pitch and then fielding a ball and making a throw to a base. Teach your pitchers, whether you are a team coach or just a mild mannered parent, what the limits of their responsibilities are - in the process also teach the other fielders to take charge in the right circumstances. Teach your pitchers to think through game and inning situations before making the pitch. If you find yourself on a team which follows the BNB principle, get away from them. You are doing your daughter a disservice if you stay. And eventually, through lots of repetition, discussion, and learning, you should develop your pitchers' defensive skills.
Follow-up:
Tom writes in to discuss something for the pitcher which I'll include here and in another place I mention defensive drills for pitchers:
"One of the more important drills that I've seen involve teaching pitchers to defend themselves from batted balls. A fielded ball can result in an out and a missed ball can take out your pitcher for the season. The most effective practice that I have discovered uses the lite-flite Jugs ball. They look like softballs and throw like softballs but don't break anything. When the pitcher is in her workout, the coach throws lit-flites back at her to defend as she pitches to the catcher, starting easy and moving to more difficult. We work with her trying to deflect the ball with her glove and not using her throwing throwing hand. Pitchers tend to try to catch with the bare hand which can cause a season ending injury) We work with her to get into a defensive position as soon as possible after delivering the pitch. Again this is practiced with the emphasis on safety and NOT on making a play. I can get the next out but I can't replace an injured pitcher easily. This changes her focus and quite frankly her overall fielding improves as her confidence increases."Labels: coaching, defense, fielding, parenting, pitching
Permanent Link: The First? Fielder
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