Since pitchers and catchers are vital positions . . .

I had a conversation about this with a U10 coach the other day. You have to realize that up until the age of 12 the kids that pitch are usually one of your best athletes. But it is rare to find a college pitcher who has been pitching since they were that young. After kids hit puberty true pitchers tend to blossom. Most of them (prior to puberty) were the goofy, uncoordinated kid on your team that you didnt know what to do with. Look at Cat, she didnt start pitching till she was 13-14.

As a funny side point to this post.... One of my good friends is the head coach at FIU and when she first came into the program she called me frantic cause her pitching staff was non existent. So she sat down everyone on the team, set up 8 pitching mounds and told them that everyone was going to be a pitcher until she said otherwise. I was like what is this rec ball? Her and her assistant said it was pure comedy for most of them but come to find out one of the kids who wasnt suppose to be a pitcher became one of the starters by the time season started. I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks.....

As for catching I am a strong believer that everyone should have to spend some time behind the plate. Whether or not they will ever suit up in a game I think that it is good for them as developing hitters to see the ball from a different perspective. Plus, in college we would all be assigned a bullpen day where we would have to come early and catch the pitchers during their pitching workout.

 

I like the way you think!! I believe it would give us a better supply of both pitchers and catchers. And the idea of everyone having to catch some is an awesome idea for hitting practice.

I try to learn something new every day; today is one of those days. Thanks!

 

no problem.... People always laugh at me but my best hitting coach was a pitcher who never hit. She taught me how to pick up the little things that I would have normally missed and how to think about things from a different point of view.

 

Good comments

Pitchers are a different breed and not just anyone can do it. I remember days of 12U and 14U when fastpitch was just kicking off in this area, we struggled with pitcher and as stated, we began with the better athletes and later we developed a few kids that all they could do was pitch. As the game evolved the pitchers were able to contribute with bat and in another position but all had same make-up, nothing bothered them and they worked much harder than others.
Year after year we all think that the best is gone and no one will take their place, new stars rise to surface. Pitching will as well if kids want it bad enough.

 

daughter attended a michele smith camp and...

if i remember correctly, smith did not start pitching until she was like in the 9th or 10th grade or something weird like that.

 

I love this question . . .

but certainly don't have the answer. I've only help develop one pitcher and, even today, am not sure why she became so accomplished. What is clear is that the game needs more accomplished pitchers. One thing that has not been mentioned is implementing rules limiting pitching innings. This would really motivate coaches at all levels to work with more kids. As it is now a C Leonard or M Peeler or M Childers comes along and the HS school is set for almost half a decade. I've advocated a rule in both HS and college that no pitcher could pitch in consecutive games. Simple to enforce (no innings to count). This would, of course, dramatically change the game at all levels. In short run the high school would become a batter's paradise but, over time, more emphasis would be placed on developing more pitching. At the college level the game would become less about who could recruit the next M Abbott or A Tincher and more about overall team development. Team defense, in particular would become more important. The other positive impact would be fewer over use injuries in pitchers.

This rule change will not happen though. In HS the coaches would scream "I can't find one good pitcher, much less two or three". In college the mid-major D1's (of which there are far more than the elite teams) would veto this because it would mean pitchers like Childers would be at UT or UNC rather than Upstate as these top level schools would be doling out full schollies to 3 or 4 pitchers instead of one or two. The effect would be the gap between the elite programs and every one else would widen until the number of skilled pitchers increased (if it ever did).