Coach you make a lot of great points, but I think as a coach you probably have to first be willing to sacrifice the regular season because you might lose a lot of games in favor of development and you’re probably gonna wanna play a lot of games. You make a great point about pitching depth because the team that my son is on, he’s a pitcher and the team does really Well, in the regular seasons, but when the playoffs and tournaments come along, they have been unsuccessful and it’s mainly because they Have three good pitchers and they are heavily reliant on my son and two other guys to pitch complete games.
Great video Coach Dan! What are your thoughts on who to pitch when in tournaments? Do you always throw your best pitcher available even in pool games? Or do you try to save your better pitchers for the later games? Tanks Dan, from me, Prison Mike!
I agree completely regarding 9, 10,11 u. Have all the kids learn to pitch and try it out. Good experience for them and necessary for the team. But it changes over time, especially as kids specialize, particularly as some become PO’s. Because they’ll be a trade-off between giving good pitchers sufficient innings for development opportunity and team performance. Most teams are out of Tournaments after three or four games. 18 to 26 innings of pitching. Not enough to develop 10 pitchers well. Enough to develop say six well and let 4-5 more get some experience. Of course if a team goes deep it needs to have 10 kids willing and able to pitch, some of them will be marginal. prioritize development, protecting arms by pitching marginal pictures when you go deep, and accept that you’ll lose some tournaments.
my sentiment wasn't to develop 10 pitches - the develop 6 well and have 4-5 more get innings was what I was getting at. 10 kids on any team wont all identify as legitimate pitchers.
Yes, but this is why limiting your team to tournament play is not best. Give the team some rest after a long weekend and play one or two games leading to the next weekend. Divide innings up among pitchers who may not have pitched that weekend or you are trying to develop in those games. Tournament baseball is a below HS phenomenon. When they get to MS and definitely HS they will be playing a league schedule and a less stressful state tournament. I don’t understand this tournament only mentality. Baseball is a grind sport, not a sprint sport and it is healthier for players to play it as a grind game that allows them more time to rest.
Coach, you are missing the point…the answer is not “get more arms”. We have to start with the question of…why are we scheduling youth baseball tournaments as 2 on Friday, 2 on Saturday and 3 on Sunday? I umpire 200 youth games a year. I encounter maybe 10-12 games a year that are played between 2 teams that can handle the physical demands of a double header. Why does travel baseball insist on playing multiple double headers each week, whether locally or at regional or national tournaments when the only time HS baseball plays double headers is to reschedule from a weather situation? Hey, as an umpire, it makes no difference to me. More games means more work means more cash. But, we are not doing right by our kids most of whom will not make a life in baseball after they are 17.
One thing I can say about Coach Blewett, he will tell you in a minute that playing too many games is not recommended. If people are gonna shell out the cash to do it anyways then these videos should be taken as informative aides to help navigate the system.
No doubt that 10 pitchers is the bare minimum for a successful season. But it also raises the question as to when to specialize a youth pitcher as a starter vs reliever vs closer. I believe that every e pitcher should get exposed to each role, the same way each position should be experienced at the younger ages. Once its clear that a player is an outfielder or corner infielder etc, the specialization begins. The same should hold true for pitching roles, no?
Kids will separate themselves on their own and some will request to start or relieve, but it should only be done with a discussion with them. Any single Coach should not just unilaterally decide anything about their longterm future.
This is a professional baseball thing in modern baseball. Not that long ago a teams best pitcher in pro baseball was a starter and in their rotation. On occasion, even if they had pitched 7 or 9 innings with only one or two days rest, they would be called into relief. Look at Bob Gibsons stats and his outings game by game. He would go 9 innings, maybe pitch two days later, then make his normal start. But if you notice those starts on his rotation day on a week where he also relieved was shorter and often not very successful. Teams identify starters and relievers as they come up through the system. Most will spend time as starters and at times relieve in the minor leagues. So identifying starters and relievers in HS and below is not needed. No matter how much you deem winning important at the youth level, in the end protecting young arms and letting these players find their game is more important. Even in MLB there are times teams have tired staffs and know they are just going to have to take a beating in order to rest guys. No player should ever be encouraged to specialize in anything until they get to college, and their arms should be protected at all cost to the team.
UVA starting left fielder, Adam Haseley, started on the mound in game 2 of the 2015 CWS final and threw 5 scoreless innings against Vanderbilt. If you want to play ball after highschool, learn how to pitch...
Coach you make a lot of great points, but I think as a coach you probably have to first be willing to sacrifice the regular season because you might lose a lot of games in favor of development and you’re probably gonna wanna play a lot of games.
You make a great point about pitching depth because the team that my son is on, he’s a pitcher and the team does really Well, in the regular seasons, but when the playoffs and tournaments come along, they have been unsuccessful and it’s mainly because they Have three good pitchers and they are heavily reliant on my son and two other guys to pitch complete games.
Good points. Similar to goalie in soccer. Hardly any kids can play the position, but it's good to have all the kids try it.
Great video Coach Dan! What are your thoughts on who to pitch when in tournaments? Do you always throw your best pitcher available even in pool games? Or do you try to save your better pitchers for the later games? Tanks Dan, from me, Prison Mike!
My coach always told us, the more pitchers we have, the better of a season we will have.
1000%
True. Better hitting and fielding helps too. One thing that really helps a team conserve its pitching is teaching really good fielding.
I agree completely regarding 9, 10,11 u. Have all the kids learn to pitch and try it out. Good experience for them and necessary for the team.
But it changes over time, especially as kids specialize, particularly as some become PO’s. Because they’ll be a trade-off between giving good pitchers sufficient innings for development opportunity and team performance.
Most teams are out of Tournaments after three or four games. 18 to 26 innings of pitching. Not enough to develop 10 pitchers well. Enough to develop say six well and let 4-5 more get some experience.
Of course if a team goes deep it needs to have 10 kids willing and able to pitch, some of them will be marginal. prioritize development, protecting arms by pitching marginal pictures when you go deep, and accept that you’ll lose some tournaments.
my sentiment wasn't to develop 10 pitches - the develop 6 well and have 4-5 more get innings was what I was getting at. 10 kids on any team wont all identify as legitimate pitchers.
Yes, but this is why limiting your team to tournament play is not best. Give the team some rest after a long weekend and play one or two games leading to the next weekend. Divide innings up among pitchers who may not have pitched that weekend or you are trying to develop in those games. Tournament baseball is a below HS phenomenon. When they get to MS and definitely HS they will be playing a league schedule and a less stressful state tournament. I don’t understand this tournament only mentality. Baseball is a grind sport, not a sprint sport and it is healthier for players to play it as a grind game that allows them more time to rest.
Hai coach dan
I want to learn how to throw straight 😅
Coach, you are missing the point…the answer is not “get more arms”. We have to start with the question of…why are we scheduling youth baseball tournaments as 2 on Friday, 2 on Saturday and 3 on Sunday? I umpire 200 youth games a year. I encounter maybe 10-12 games a year that are played between 2 teams that can handle the physical demands of a double header. Why does travel baseball insist on playing multiple double headers each week, whether locally or at regional or national tournaments when the only time HS baseball plays double headers is to reschedule from a weather situation? Hey, as an umpire, it makes no difference to me. More games means more work means more cash. But, we are not doing right by our kids most of whom will not make a life in baseball after they are 17.
I’m not missing the point. I’m giving advice for dealing with the system as it exists today.
One thing I can say about Coach Blewett, he will tell you in a minute that playing too many games is not recommended. If people are gonna shell out the cash to do it anyways then these videos should be taken as informative aides to help navigate the system.
No doubt that 10 pitchers is the bare minimum for a successful season. But it also raises the question as to when to specialize a youth pitcher as a starter vs reliever vs closer. I believe that every e pitcher should get exposed to each role, the same way each position should be experienced at the younger ages. Once its clear that a player is an outfielder or corner infielder etc, the specialization begins. The same should hold true for pitching roles, no?
Kids will separate themselves on their own and some will request to start or relieve, but it should only be done with a discussion with them. Any single Coach should not just unilaterally decide anything about their longterm future.
This is a professional baseball thing in modern baseball. Not that long ago a teams best pitcher in pro baseball was a starter and in their rotation. On occasion, even if they had pitched 7 or 9 innings with only one or two days rest, they would be called into relief. Look at Bob Gibsons stats and his outings game by game. He would go 9 innings, maybe pitch two days later, then make his normal start. But if you notice those starts on his rotation day on a week where he also relieved was shorter and often not very successful. Teams identify starters and relievers as they come up through the system. Most will spend time as starters and at times relieve in the minor leagues. So identifying starters and relievers in HS and below is not needed. No matter how much you deem winning important at the youth level, in the end protecting young arms and letting these players find their game is more important. Even in MLB there are times teams have tired staffs and know they are just going to have to take a beating in order to rest guys. No player should ever be encouraged to specialize in anything until they get to college, and their arms should be protected at all cost to the team.
UVA starting left fielder, Adam Haseley, started on the mound in game 2 of the 2015 CWS final and threw 5 scoreless innings against Vanderbilt.
If you want to play ball after highschool, learn how to pitch...