| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| DAWGBALL |
Posted - 10/04/2012 : 13:37:16
Youth Travel Baseball--our team is 10U
Coaches--How many kids do you have on your travel baseball teams. Last season our team had 11 players. That seemed to work out fine. Rotating a couple in and out or when one could not be at game, etc. This season we are looking at possible a 12th, but want to make sure kids are not getting cut of playing time, etc. |
| 9 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| nastycurve |
Posted - 10/05/2012 : 17:53:56
At your age you can bat 9, 10 or the whole roster. I have always batted 10, because it was the easiest to do in regard to defensive transitioning(with the EH in the lineup, he can go play defense and someone else becomes the EH, so in essence if you want to have one kid play 1b the first 3 innings, and another kid play 1st the rest of the game you can do that and both can still hit.
Also, with 12 kids, you just need to plan your game out a little bit. Put 10 in that will give you the best offense and defense possible. The two kids that you hold out, have a plan for. I used to hold out a pitcher and catcher and then bring them in the third/4th inning. Or you can have a pitcher sitting with a defensive replacement who has wheels and you use him to run for your pitcher or catcher. You bring him into the game as you see fit. |
| Jack-of-Diamonds |
Posted - 10/05/2012 : 16:48:51
quote:
Originally posted by larryjr
I think at 15 you can bat 9 with an EH. You'll see some 14's moving to bat 9 because they need to best offense they can get in the lineup. The rest of the years depends on you, your players and your parents. :-)
Depends on the tournament. Some will still allow batting the roster @ 15u. That's fine if you don't have too many present, but still creates a risk in itself. If a player gets injured and leaves the game you're usually looking at an automatic out when their place in the B/O comes up.
Dare I say, playing with a bench is "real" baseball? It's part of the thinking man's game... and baseball presents plenty of opportunities to out-manage your opponent in addition to out-playing them.
And, at a certain point winning does often come down to good game management, something that becomes more and more important as teams get bigger (age & # of players). You still need good coaching. But, not all good coaches are also good managers... and vice versa.
A good manager utilizes his bench. And, with HS rules managing the bench is different than in the pros. You've got substitute runners coming off the bench for catchers & pitchers. You've got DH's for pitchers, as well as EH's. You've got the ability to sub for a starter and then bring the starter back in (one time); so you can put a stronger bat in for a critical RBI op, or a better defensive player in to hold a lead. And the fun thing is, you can start playing like the big boys at younger ages too! |
| larryjr |
Posted - 10/05/2012 : 07:02:33
I think at 15 you can bat 9 with an EH. You'll see some 14's moving to bat 9 because they need to best offense they can get in the lineup. The rest of the years depends on you, your players and your parents. :-) |
| BatterUp10 |
Posted - 10/04/2012 : 22:39:44
So what age do you exclusively bat just 9 or 10? If you have 12 on the roster you will never ever get the batting order turned over. |
| Dr. Old School |
Posted - 10/04/2012 : 21:51:08
The best rule of thumb is to carry the same number of players as the age group (for 10U and less, carry 10).
Under 13 you really don't need many on the bench. They need to be playing.
13-15 you start adding a few extra to cover the pitching for the transition to the big field.
16-18 you start to get players that are pitchers only, players that play other sports, player injuries, etc, that require you to carry those extra players. |
| larryjr |
Posted - 10/04/2012 : 18:33:42
The general rule of thumb is to carry 11 until you reach 12. Then you carry the same number as your age...12 at 12U, 13 at 13U, etc... If you have a committed team with no issues of players coming and going, you have enough pitching and don't need the extra money, we have always carried 1 less than our age... ie..13 at 14U. Just trying to give the most time to the most kids. |
| DAWGBALL |
Posted - 10/04/2012 : 15:42:11
Thanks for the input. We are going to play some more fall ball and go from there. |
| Mad1 |
Posted - 10/04/2012 : 14:57:45
Depends on how you want to play it. We are carrying 12 this fall and playing them all. None of ours are sitting more than 1 inning in a row and all are batting. We too have carried 10 or 11 in the past, and are playing 11u this year. We are seeing how it works in the fall to decide how many we carry into the spring.
That one player makes a big difference in your subs during a game if you intend to give more or less equal playing time. Of course this is fall now and different from spring. In the spring it will turn to bat 9, play 9 on bracket days for the most part for most. Just depends on what your trying to achieve, but for us the added 11th and 12th were both a pitcher/catcher. Never have enough of either. |
| JDP12 |
Posted - 10/04/2012 : 14:40:58
Each extra player at that age makes a huge difference. We sit out everybody at some time or another but definitely not equally. I know a lot of teams only sit out 4-6 of their players on a rotation.
If you sit out 6 players on a rotation with only 11 then they only sit every 3 innings or twice a game.
If you sit out 6 players on a rotation with 12 players they sit out every other inning or three times a game (based on 6 innings).
You essentially cut playing time by 25% for those kids. A big deal to me at 10 when it should be about reps and having fun. |
