Is "small ball" dead?

[SBFAMILY]

Candrea idea is to ban all composite bats one year! We are getting the same issues in high school with 180 fences with pitchers now pitching from 43 feet. I for one would rather watch a 3-2 game then a 14-9 game. Our first travel tournament was at 43 feet this year and 15 runs were scored. DD is a very good slapper, but thanks to Hitter /Howard he teaches girls to hit first than learn to slap. So the good players can do it all now. Wasn't many Whatley's now there are plenty of them.

 

[obbay]

One thin I noticed was in addition to the reduced frequency of slapping, the slaps I saw weren't that good.
I did see one player slap a HR in the regionals (LSU?) but I wasn't seeing the textbook slap off the ground and float in the air or punched into the gaps.

 

[SnocatzDad]

I think hitting developement has just outpaced pitching development in the last 5 years. When you see Lawrie getting pounded and WCWS games that are 15-9 it isn't about dominant pitching anymore. IMO Teams used to look at their opponent and sometimes concede that they weren't going to beat the pitcher swinging away and wanted to take their chances putting lots of balls in play and making the defense beat them. Now there aren't pitchers so dominant that teams bunt/slap/drag 20 times hoping to manufacture one run, they sit back wait on a specific pitch and try to hit it out. The bunters and slappers are reduced to being people you try to get on base for your clean up hitters to drive in. I don't see the 0.51 and 0.25 ERA pitchers out there in DI anymore, hitters just flat out shot past them in skill level. Next time Team USA makes the college showcase circuit they better be prepared to put up some big offensive numbers, because I don't see them shutting out this generation of college hitter like they used to.

 

[WinThemAll]

I think hitting developement has just outpaced pitching development in the last 5 years. When you see Lawrie getting pounded and WCWS games that are 15-9 it isn't about dominant pitching anymore. IMO Teams used to look at their opponent and sometimes concede that they weren't going to beat the pitcher swinging away and wanted to take their chances putting lots of balls in play and making the defense beat them. Now there aren't pitchers so dominant that teams bunt/slap/drag 20 times hoping to manufacture one run, they sit back wait on a specific pitch and try to hit it out. The bunters and slappers are reduced to being people you try to get on base for your clean up hitters to drive in. I don't see the 0.51 and 0.25 ERA pitchers out there in DI anymore, hitters just flat out shot past them in skill level. Next time Team USA makes the college showcase circuit they better be prepared to put up some big offensive numbers, because I don't see them shutting out this generation of college hitter like they used to.

Good Post!!!

 

[druer]

I think there are a number of factors at play here.

1. Colleges were using nearly the same bats last year and playing on the same fields and the number of homeruns was nothing near this. Small ball was still alive last year and althought TN didn't make it to the finals they have slappers out the ying-yang this year.

2. The change in the composites as they age certainly seems to have played a huge role. I think they may make adjustments to the legality of those as they are now really powerful weapons after they've been aged.

3. I think the NCAA is looking for more excitement to try and boost ratings now that so many games are televised with ESPN. They are crippling the pitchers in every way that they can. Not saying that things haven't always been illegal, but there has been so much emphasis on what they can no longer do, while allowing so much more from batters. Where is the letter of the law as girls erase the batters box lines? Where is the letter of the law when the batters step out and take 30-40 seconds to get back in? Why haven't they enforced testing of older composites and outlawed them if they exceed specifications as the bats used obviously seemed to do.

4. In my opinion this years teams just flat out made better adjustments than I've seen in years past. Very well disciplined. If an entire team of girls (like UCLA) is going to make adjustments, keep head down entire swing it's going to be hard to stop them unless the pitching coach and pitcher make adjustments. Not rocket science that if a player has seen the same series of pitches and has killed them, she's going to kill them the next time she sees them.

While (just in my opinion) the slappers this year were awful. I saw so many of them stepping so far from the plate that their second step was on the first base line while they were slapping the bat. Nothing good can come from that, so while there were a lot of slappers, they just flat out didn't produce and other than drawing some walks here and there it didn't seem that they were as effective as they have been in years past. Those that did put it in play were so focused on running and not positioning the ball that they became easy outs. One game I wanted to scream when U of A slapper with no outs actually hit right in front of lead runner instead of intentionally fouling off outside pitches and adjusting and waiting for a more inside pitch she could turn. I saw a lot of line drive type slaps that one hopped into girls gloves that were playing back, and very few hard slaps into the ground to try and get 2-3 hops before they could be fielded. Off the slapping bandwagon.

5. Extra outs - I saw so many errors/miscues/surreal approaches this year that just kept giving teams extra at bats. The number of illegal pitch walks ended up enabling teams to go through their lineup an extra time or two. You just can't expect to give good hitters that are really focused and adjusting the chance for extra at bats every single inning, and more importantly extra chances during the game/series.

 

[joebrock]

We use a combination of both slappers and power in our line-up. Set the table and then drive them in. I am all for making the bats less hot. Everything in the sport has been added to help the offense and to take away from the pitching and defense. Hotter bats, harder balls, and moving the pitcher back to 43 feet a few years ago. Look at how many pitchers got hit by line drives this year in the WCWS...too many!

 

[SBDadSanDiego]

No, small ball isnt dead. It just isnt popular in college ball at the top level. But with the best hitters in the country, some teams dont need to do anything else but play long ball, just like MLB.

Its always been my opinion that 18s and college should be on a 220-240 ft field. It is ridiculous for them to play on the same field that a lot of 12 yr olds, and most 14s can hit it out on. By that level only the best are still playing, and the fence is way too close for them with todays balls. Or make them use a softer ball, etc, or wood bat.

I agree, At states a few weeks ago in Hemet, two 10 year olds went yard.
Time for a ball overhaul imo.

If they change the bats, bat manufacturers would be thrilled.
But you can bet there would be thousands of angry parents threatening ASA with bodily harm.

 

[Bishop]

Bottom of 7th inning tied 1 - 1. Lead off batter 2 strike bunt to get on. Steal second. Second batter Sac Bunt to F3 to advance the runner. 3rd batter draws a walk. Steals second, no throw. 4th batter 2 strike suicide squeeze bunt to end the game. Small ball lives in our house. Speed kills.

Could some of the reason for homerun derby style of play be caused by how some coaches build thier teams? Youth teams are getting HUGE, or our kids are malnourished and small for thier age. Last night our biggest kid wouldn't have been in the top half of the other team size wise. Are smaller, speedy athletes getting passed over for 'power' players in youth ball? It looks that way to me at times. I'd love to play a game where it doesn't look like my team is playing up an age group. Then again, perhaps the size and the speed of the teams we play against is why small ball is so effective against them...and why it's not effective against us.

 

[jazz10NE]

I know I'm only a 10U coach but 2 times in our last game:

Leadoff hitter draws walk.
2nd hitter bunts (safe at first) Leadoff all the way to 3rd
3rd hitter puts ball on the ground to right side - run scores.

The best small ball we have done all year.

 

[Coach JV]

Small ball is not dead if you have the right lineup to execute