The hardest positions to fill are the hardest positions to play.
I'd kill a drifter for a bona fide shortstop. I've had girls who can play short. But I've only had one actual shortstop (and only for a year because Covid came her sophomore year and she moved during her junior year) since 2017.
This year, because of a transfer, I have a hole at 3B for the first time ever (In 2017 we had a Freshman who played third, then in 2021 we got another Freshman who was a mediocre SS who I taught to play third; that girl is the one who transferred). One of my meh shortstops does pretty well there, but she hates it. Filling 3B is my primary concern as we approach the season.
I rarely have an issue with OF, but that's because I start developing them in middle school. Barring that, I find girls who have an aptitude for judging a ball in the air and actually spend a lot of time working with them on it. I do have a couple holes this year -- we had 3 varsity seniors graduate, 6 transfers from our two levels, and 1 senior (last year's CF) who looks to be opting to work instead of playing. I'm not concerned though. I don't have a lot of OF depth today, but by our first game I'm confident I'll have a decent enough starting OF.
tl;dr version: If you want your DD to go to high school on the Southwest Side instead of in the burbs, you could very well save a drifter's life.
I'd kill a drifter for a bona fide shortstop. I've had girls who can play short. But I've only had one actual shortstop (and only for a year because Covid came her sophomore year and she moved during her junior year) since 2017.
This year, because of a transfer, I have a hole at 3B for the first time ever (In 2017 we had a Freshman who played third, then in 2021 we got another Freshman who was a mediocre SS who I taught to play third; that girl is the one who transferred). One of my meh shortstops does pretty well there, but she hates it. Filling 3B is my primary concern as we approach the season.
I rarely have an issue with OF, but that's because I start developing them in middle school. Barring that, I find girls who have an aptitude for judging a ball in the air and actually spend a lot of time working with them on it. I do have a couple holes this year -- we had 3 varsity seniors graduate, 6 transfers from our two levels, and 1 senior (last year's CF) who looks to be opting to work instead of playing. I'm not concerned though. I don't have a lot of OF depth today, but by our first game I'm confident I'll have a decent enough starting OF.
tl;dr version: If you want your DD to go to high school on the Southwest Side instead of in the burbs, you could very well save a drifter's life.