Barely Any At Bats

[Shiloh]

ask your hitting coach if they have another team suggestion to tryout for

Boom!

Good one RAD!

 

[jadefish]

Just curious, we always hear people advise “talk to the coach.” Has that ever worked? Anyone ever seen a bench player (or their parent) explain all the work they’re putting in and then find themselves in the starting nine?

That is also puzzled me and I also want to know how other parents handled the situation with some kind of success.

For us, we signed a contract that parents can't discuss playing time with coaches for our prior team. Most of the time, I felt coaches cared about being right more than winning. You can hit if they say you can hit. You can not hit if they say you can not hit. You pitch slow if they say you are slow. Stats, radar guns,... do not matter.

Last weekend tournament our prior team coach came over to talk to me while DD's new team was playing. He made a comment that DD was playing 2nd and SS. I explained to him that this new team rotates players' positions on Saturday. I knew that he implied that I pulled DD off his team because I wanted DD to be the best player on a team. But the truth is I just didn't want to be the least favorite on his team and not to get play. I was so mad at the guy. It was so hard for DD to leave the team. Even 10U girls can be so mean. I monitor DD's email and saw some conversations. Why they were so mean to DD? Couldn't they see that we left the team only because DD didn't get to play? DD played with some of girls over 3 yrs. Her old team won the championship while her new team was in the bottom two. I know DD was sad. But does anyone want to be in the dugout all day Sunday in order to be on a winning team?

Till this day, I still could not ask the guy why he treated DD so badly because I just don't think I will get an honest answer. I try to think that maybe as an experienced coach, he could see something in players that normal people could not see. He certainly treats some other girls a lot better. I want to know how to be on a coach's favorite list. Also, how girls deal with changing teams? How do they corporate with it in terms of being friendly with old teammates? Or not be bothered by mean old teammates?

Why travel ball has to be this hard?

 

[Itsabouttime]

For us, we signed a contract that parents can't discuss playing time with coaches for our prior team. Most of the time, I felt coaches cared about being right more than winning. You can hit if they say you can hit. You can not hit if they say you can not hit. You pitch slow if they say you are slow. Stats, radar guns,... do not matter.

There are way too many teams to put up with this particularly at 10U. It's astonishing...

 

[_MIA_]

There are way too many teams to put up with this particularly at 10U. It's astonishing...

Well it is 12U but still..I don't necessarily have an issue not batting the roster in 12 for bracket play at the end of the season in "big" (sort of an oxymoron at 12U I guess) tournaments. Certainly not in friendlies..

 

[JayW]

Because it's not. Any coach worth a darn looks at the Offensive stats and moves his players around the batting order accordingly. The higher in the batting order a player bats, the more at bats the player gets usually. There's also a pretty standardized "requirement" of each spot. As an example, 1st at bat you want your player with the highest on base percentage because you need baserunners. Batting 2nd you want a combination of speed, bunting capability and 2nd/3rd best batting average (or lefty slapper) to advance the #1 baserunner if they got on or to get on base themselves. Batting 3rd I want my player with the best batting average on the team to hit in the other baserunners. #4 is the biggest hitter on the team (highest slugging percentage). #5 is the second biggest hitter on the team to protect #4 from a walk. Etc., Etc. Hitting bombs her 1 or 2 at bats would be nice but unrealistic IMO. As you can see from the above batting order I like to use, the first 3 out of 5 spots are based on batting average or on base percentage. Thus, the best thing she can do for herself is reach base safely as many times as possible to improve both statistics. Then the coach should move her up the batting order accordingly. If not, move on.

why not just have the best batter bat 1st so they get the most AB’s? the order will only matter the first time your team comes to bat.

 

[GunnerShotgun]

why not just have the best batter bat 1st so they get the most AB’s? the order will only matter the first time your team comes to bat.

It matters in that not everyone will have the same number of AB's.

It does matter, but not buy a lot (with regards to winning and losing). I like to use the lineup as a carrot for the hitters....get on base and you move up the lineup each game (that weekend).

 

[Shiloh]

That is also puzzled me and I also want to know how other parents handled the situation with some kind of success.

For us, we signed a contract that parents can't discuss playing time with coaches for our prior team. Most of the time, I felt coaches cared about being right more than winning. You can hit if they say you can hit. You can not hit if they say you can not hit. You pitch slow if they say you are slow. Stats, radar guns,... do not matter.

Last weekend tournament our prior team coach came over to talk to me while DD's new team was playing. He made a comment that DD was playing 2nd and SS. I explained to him that this new team rotates players' positions on Saturday. I knew that he implied that I pulled DD off his team because I wanted DD to be the best player on a team. But the truth is I just didn't want to be the least favorite on his team and not to get play. I was so mad at the guy. It was so hard for DD to leave the team. Even 10U girls can be so mean. I monitor DD's email and saw some conversations. Why they were so mean to DD? Couldn't they see that we left the team only because DD didn't get to play? DD played with some of girls over 3 yrs. Her old team won the championship while her new team was in the bottom two. I know DD was sad. But does anyone want to be in the dugout all day Sunday in order to be on a winning team?

Till this day, I still could not ask the guy why he treated DD so badly because I just don't think I will get an honest answer. I try to think that maybe as an experienced coach, he could see something in players that normal people could not see. He certainly treats some other girls a lot better. I want to know how to be on a coach's favorite list. Also, how girls deal with changing teams? How do they corporate with it in terms of being friendly with old teammates? Or not be bothered by mean old teammates?

Why travel ball has to be this hard?

Sorry you had to go through this.

It's worth it to talk to the coach if they're open to it. But don't expect a good answer because most coaches have no idea what the player needs to do. All they know is that they want to win games, so you're likely to get platitudes like "swing down on the ball more" "stay back" "flatten out your swing" "do more sprints to get faster" "be smarter" "decrease your pop time" "practice changing speeds more"

Yeah - they have no idea.

But really, when you see that the coach isn't giving your DD a fair shot despite strong evidence to the contrary, look for other options. Most coaches will not admit they're wrong about a player once they've made their mind up - it's called confirmation bias and it is near impossible to overcome.

So don't stay in a bad situation. Take away whatever lessons and find somewhere you can play, where the coaches believe in you.

Teens are more adaptable than you think. They can stay in touch on social media, in school, and of course they will wind up playing against their old teams at some point.

And remember, everything changes at 14U....softball becomes a business. Loyalty and friendship become secondary to development, playing time, and reps.

Good luck.

 

[YOCOACH]

Unfortunately, they don't bat the lineup in friendlies. Sometimes they bat just 9, sometimes 10 or 11. It makes no sense. They will usually flex my DD in friendlies.

Pretty effing stupid. There's zero reason for that. Hell, even at second year 14U I bat my line-up all weekend long including Sundays if allowed.

 

[JayW]

Just curious, we always hear people advise “talk to the coach.” Has that ever worked? Anyone ever seen a bench player (or their parent) explain all the work they’re putting in and then find themselves in the starting nine?

DD was in the same position as the OP as a first-year 12. She had been an every-inning player the year before, but the coach got starry-eyed about some new players and put DD on the shelf.

Every weekend other parents kept telling me: “you need to talk to the coach!” My reaction was, why? He knows what he’s doing, he’s in the dugout with my daughter every inning, watching the other 10 kids play. What am I going to say to change that?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

DD (14U) wasn’t getting many reps as a pitcher this past season. I told her that if she wanted to get more pitching time, she needed to talk to the coach herself to see what she could do to get more innings. She gathered up her courage and talked to the coach after practice one day. For the rest of the season, she got a lot more innings and pitched well.

 

[Lightning]

But really, when you see that the coach isn't giving your DD a fair shot despite strong evidence to the contrary, look for other options. Most coaches will not admit they're wrong about a player once they've made their mind up - it's called confirmation bias and it is near impossible to overcome.

So don't stay in a bad situation. Take away whatever lessons and find somewhere you can play, where the coaches believe in you.

When DD was in a similar situation a year ago, this is the kind of advice I wish I followed. Instead, my husband and I listened to those who told us that DD would learn through adversity and that she needed to finish the season. We wasted a lot of time and money on extra lessons and extra work and none of that resulted in more playing time until she switched teams.