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ATLBravesFan
8 Posts |
 Posted - 05/12/2015 : 07:26:56
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| At what age do kids (and their parents) embrace the importance of playing outfield? Or, will they always take it as an insult when they are asked to play outfield and not shortstop? Is this the case all the way up through high school or just the younger ages? |
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CaCO3Girl
1989 Posts |
Posted - 05/12/2015 : 09:16:07
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Around 11u the outfield became important, in my opinion. That is when the game became the entire field and not just the infield. If you don't have an outfielder that can catch a pop fly and or get the ball into second quickly your team is sunk.
They still get far less balls than the infield deals with but you want a decent kid in the outfield when the batters start to really put it out there.
Also, the most widely recruited positions for college and beyond are up the middle of the field, catcher, pitcher, shortstop, second, and center field....so yes the outfield DOES become important. |
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turntwo
955 Posts |
Posted - 05/12/2015 : 09:52:09
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I wish my son could be taught how to play OF well... He cannot for the life of him read/gauge/judge the ball off the bat from the OF.
And I'd say to parents who feel OF is an insult, watch a team with a weak OF and then have them ask themselves, how important is my son to our team, because he REALLY does make plays out there? |
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nwgadad
137 Posts |
Posted - 05/12/2015 : 09:58:09
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| My son started playing outfield at 7u. He loved it. Makes diving catches, reads the ball off the bat well, makes plays others can't because they do not have the experience, and loves throwing kids out. He is 15u now and still loves it. |
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mar1dxt
30 Posts |
Posted - 05/12/2015 : 11:23:29
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| In my opinion it becomes important at 13U. The out field gets much larger but the bats are still hot so you have to cover a lot of ground and know how to run diagonally to cut off balls. At 14U it becomes even more important. The BBCOR bats results in a lot of shots at 13U becoming fly balls at 14u. At 14u in many games the center fielder is making more plays than a the short stop |
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Ryno23
123 Posts |
Posted - 05/12/2015 : 13:17:43
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The timing of this post is so ironic for our team. We had a parent of a player who normally plays SS, C and pitches, get irate with our coach over their son playing OF for four innings this past weekend. While the kid is a strong player and does well for the team, the kids who were playing the positions he normally plays are more than capable of making plays at high level and by no means hurt the team. With over 30 games played this season, this kid has ONLY played 4 innings of outfield all season!!!
Not hijack this topic, but while most of us realize the importance of OF play, does your team have a parent/family that would take such issue of their son playing some OF from time to time? |
Edited by - Ryno23 on 05/12/2015 13:38:34 |
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ChinMusic
126 Posts |
Posted - 05/12/2015 : 13:52:42
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10-12u is probably where some players realize the importance - I think some parents struggle with it for much longer. SIGH
Out of coaching for a while now... but I would sometimes ask a young player, who might question playing OF, who's your favorite MLB player? Many times an OF name would come back as their answer, and sometimes the connection was made. |
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MariettaDad
13 Posts |
Posted - 05/12/2015 : 14:42:32
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My son loved playing outfield for his Summer 6U All Star Team last year. He had one of the better gloves and arms on the team, and we were having issues in the OF. In the end, he switched back to IF, but he never complained once where he played. It was the other parents who complained about why he was in the OF. He follows MLB a lot more than most 7 year olds and understands the importance of speed and arm strength in the OF. His favorite players are Trout and Stanton.
I think you just have a lot of parents and kids who may not follow the game and understand the importance of a good fast CF and strong armed RF. |
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CaCO3Girl
1989 Posts |
Posted - 05/12/2015 : 15:02:47
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I think almost every position goes through these moments where the position is perceived as a throw away spot where you put a less talented kid.
How about the 6u catcher? Not exactly a lot of bullets being thrown to the plate...but a 16u catcher is someone you better have on their game that day or you are sunk!
How about the 7u pitcher? You know the kid who doesn't actually pitch but he's there as a place holder for infield balls? Go tell a 17u team their pitcher is a place holder :- )
How about the dreaded 9u (first year of kid pitch) first basemen...since 90% of the people who pass first base where either hit by a pitch, or walked...not a lot of action there.....how about 14u where you need that guy to do a freaking split and make those bad throws from short look like they were dead on?
OF is just going through it's bad wrap period...it gets better.
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Critical Mass
277 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2015 : 17:45:20
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| Oh boy, i remember back at 10U....this was a hot topic for me ...more so than my son. I tell this story all the time now, and i give all the foresight and credit to the head coach at that time who made the decision to start him in CF instead of SS. At the end of the day, you need a very good CF around 10-11U if you want to throw kids out at 1st and from the OF at the plate. My son did that often and i was still disgruntled. For the record, he was the all star-jeter-esque SS at 9 and it was well known he could flat out play. Accepted the travel invite for the coach who we played for at 9 and his two sons quickly took their spots at 2nd and SS....my son was ushered to CF...and i was pissed. Now those same two boys played with us at 9 and didn't really sniff SS. Anyway, when i tell the story now, i'm glad he did that, as my son can play any OF position and is one of the best on our team although he is a PO now. He has played varsity LF in years past and played well. He was never really allowed to pitch either back then (see two sons who got almost all the starts)...insert more bitterness here too, and i was a freakin coach.....Arggghhhh, now i laugh and with a huge smile on my face.... tell folks i would hug him for never pitching my son as neither of his kids are playing anymore and mine is a pitcher who is headed to a major D1 school without al the meaningless reps on his arm, YES I SAID MEANINGLESS. Yes i was frustrated and although i give him credit today, it was absolutely nepotism at its highest peak back then and we learned from it and got better and left for 11u ball elsewhere. |
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prestont
197 Posts |
Posted - 05/15/2015 : 08:20:57
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My son luvs playing OF, and says.... some kids make the easy catches look hard while others make the hard catches look easy :-).
One thing I can say after his first year in HS - atleast in our area - LOTS of infielders, not as many OFs. Footwork and technique is just as important in OF as it is on the dirt.
ATLBravesFan - my son really bought into OF at 10. Back then his hitting coach played OF for the Angles, and one day they decided to hit & work OF drills and he was hooked. |
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raiderlegenddad
12 Posts |
Posted - 05/15/2015 : 09:42:47
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| My son loves playing OF (true lefty) and will only play 1B if he has to. His preference is to roam the OF stalking the ball. On his current team, the coach turns to me after a few balls are hit to him in the OF and says I found my CF. The kid has learned that if its in the air then he has a chance and he dares kids to try and stretch for an extra base so he can try gun them down. |
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fly guy 21
30 Posts |
Posted - 05/15/2015 : 10:37:50
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| I think when coaches start putting there own kid in the outfield.A lot of coaches want there kid to play middle infield. |
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RACGOFAR
208 Posts |
Posted - 05/15/2015 : 14:27:11
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I have two sons and have coached 60+ teams from t-ball to HS level. My youngest was a lefthanded shortstop at 7-8u because he had the best glove and was considered to be one of the best players in his age group. At 9u, we thought it unfair to him to continue playing SS and also denying another kid the chance to develop at that position, so we moved him to CF. He was the starting CF on his HS team this year and now he hates to play IF unless he is pitching. My oldest was a righty and developed just the opposite. He started playing on the infield and wound up in the OF and pitched in HS.
Its real simple. At any age or level, its important to put your best defensive players up the middle: C, P, SS, CF. If you put your best available players in those positions, your defense will be pretty good most of the time.
At the younger ages, playing IF vs. OF for me as coach was a matter of safety as well as ability. If your son can't field a hard hit grounder, can't catch across his body, can't throw the ball from 3B to 1B, doesn't pay attention during pitches and can't catch or flinches when a hard thrown ball comes his way, then he should not be in the infield because he might get hurt.
Most good coaches will take time to work on those skills with weaker players and find chances to get players on the infield in situations that merit it. The last thing I would want is for one of my players to be on the infield when he shouldn't and he gets hurt and then doesn't want to play anymore. I always explained this to my parents at the beginning of the season.
If you think your son should be playing more infield, talk to the coach and ask him why he is not playing there. More than likely its your son's ability (be honest with yourself about your son's ability). Your son's physical attributes and the team makeup are also part of the ability equation. For example, LH players usually play at P, 1B, and OF. If your LH player is the shortest kid on the team, he probably won't be playing much 1B if there is a 6' kid who also plays 1B. If your son is big and slow with a good glove, he probably won't see much time at SS where you need explosiveness and quickness.
Playing baseball well takes lots and lots of practice. If the only practice you ever do is with the team, well then he probably will not advance that much. Work on your son's weaknesses outside of team practice and he will improve.
I've found that some kids are just better at infield and some are just better at tracking down fly balls. You need both on your team. By the time they are 12/13 yrs old most kids of average ability can play both in the OF and IF if they have practiced at it. By high school you start to see a lot of the better athletes in the OF.
Just my opinion, but I think the majority of the best athletes in the MLB are outfielders.
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BaseballMom6
233 Posts |
Posted - 05/15/2015 : 14:43:38
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My son at 15 is not an outfielder, he's a catcher, but he's the first to say how important the outfield is. He knows that the difference between 1 base or 2, or a tag up and run from 3rd is the strength of his outfielders. As the kids gain respect for the entirety of the game, they come to realize that every position is important and deserves respect.
Fly Guy - at the younger ages I agree completely. When coaches only play their kids in the infield, they devalue the outfield positions. I think how the kids approach the outfield positions is in direct correlation to the coaches attitude towards the position. |
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NF1974
62 Posts |
Posted - 05/15/2015 : 15:39:45
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| Oh how I wish my son has played some outfield!. My son just completed his freshmen year at a d-3 school. The only positions he ever played were 1st and third. he was fairly big and slow but could always hit. He has leaned out and is now average speed and a good arm. it just so happens that there are real good first/third players on his college team and he is going to be in a dogfight for playing time. I am going to challenge him this summer to try and work to play in the outfield. The moral to the story is to be versatile. If you can hit, give the coach a reason to get you in the lineup. Heck, looking at Gattis in leftfield for the Braves was an eyesore but they wanted him in the lineup. |
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ABC_Baseball
90 Posts |
Posted - 05/22/2015 : 08:54:39
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My son is a lefty so his primary position at 10u this year is RF. He does play 1B a good bit as well as other OF positions. Honestly, I started preparing him mentally for OF after 7u (rec ball). He played 1B all 7u. When we moved to travel ball, to my surprise and his delight, he was the best first baseman and played there most of the year. 9u was the first time he was used mostly in the outfield. It was up and down b/c it was really his first time being an outfielder. Reading a fly ball is something you have to learn to do and it takes time, especially balls hit over your head that you have to move back on.
You will realize how important the OF is when you have kids that can't consistently catch it. The diving catches and catches on the run are just as important and exciting as any play the infield could ever make. My sons is thriving out there now and he enjoys those occasions where he gets to throw a kid out at 1B from RF. Personally, I don't like it when he is at 1B. To me it is an opportunity missed to grow as an outfielder. I don't think he is going to be 6'2'' and he is too good of an athlete in my book to be on 1B. |
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rippit
667 Posts |
Posted - 05/22/2015 : 09:41:16
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"and he is too good of an athlete in my book to be on 1B." by ABC Baseball
THIS! is what I was referencing in my post on why 1B gets a bad rap.
Please go tell Freddy Freeman that he isn't as good an athlete as everybody else. Ever seen him do a full split? |
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hshuler
1074 Posts |
Posted - 05/22/2015 : 11:19:15
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There is a distinction between a good athlete and a good first baseman. Freddie is not a great athlete but he's a helluvah first baseman.
If someone is a great athlete, most organizations would probably prefer that he play outfield over first base. The one constant regarding first baseman is that you better be able to produce a ton of runs in the batting lineup...athlete or not. |
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CaCO3Girl
1989 Posts |
Posted - 05/22/2015 : 11:27:39
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quote:
Originally posted by ABC_Baseball
I don't think he is going to be 6'2'' and he is too good of an athlete in my book to be on 1B.
He's too good of an athlete to be at 1B???????
If you think 1B is an easy position, or for the non-athletic players, you either have a team that is VERY talented in their throwing ability, or you have been watching 1B's that don't know how to do it right.
It isn't just the split, which is very impressive, but how about the ability to track an incoming bouncing in the dirt ball while stretching out BUT keeping your foot on the bag, and somehow coming up with the ball as a runner is coming towards you as fast as they can...or how about the split second decisions of should I wait here for the ball or is it going to miss me completely and I have to come off the bag....that throw is 3 feet over my head...jump or get off the bag, if I jump I need to do it in such a way that the runner doesn't plow into me but I have to land on that bag...crud it's a bunt sure hope that second basemen moved over to 1B because this is my ball...that throw from the outfield will never get to home plate in time and 2B is on his bag he won't make it, I have to cut it off so I can fire it in to the catcher or the run will score...this all sounds pretty athletic to me, and that anyone playing that position is going to need a very high baseball IQ. |
Edited by - CaCO3Girl on 05/22/2015 14:42:05 |
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Be69chevy
18 Posts |
Posted - 05/28/2015 : 15:21:39
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When does outfield become important???
8u tournament ball
We are going through this now.
Most of the tournaments are on 225-300 ft fields. If the outfielder can not catch it in the air and can not stop the hard hit grounders.....you can't win tournaments. |
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nastycurve
244 Posts |
Posted - 05/28/2015 : 17:43:55
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| I agree that its important the whole time, but I do have a question... What 8u tournament is being held on a 300 foot field???? this must be that Super-DUPER-Major ball lol |
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Topic |
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Playing Outfield
