u/BerryRoyal

Assume the following rules:

• Rec-level division
• Coed (max 3 male batters in a row)
• (EDIT) Lineups are typically 10-12 players (sometimes 9 players if short-handed)
• 5 run limit per inning max until last inning
• If male batter walks in front of a female batter, male batter gets an automatic double. Some leagues use optional female at bat (can bat or take intentional walk) while others use mandatory at bat. I'll go with mandatory at bat.

A lot of teams tend to build hitting lineups differently. Some like to stack their best hitters on the top (ie best 3 male hitters + best female hitter followed by next best 3 + next best female and so on). While some other teams like to spread the lineup (ie something like dividing the lineup by 3 tiers of A/B/C and spread them).

This gets debated all the time. On one hand, stacking the best hitters on top means you start with a ton of momentum but you'll have likely an inning where your worst hitters are clustered. On the other hand, a balanced lineup will ensure that there is a good hitter almost every inning but you'll have rally killers.

In your opinion, which one is better overall? Let's say for if you're trying to win games (ie playoffs or tournaments)

Is it more difficult to catch a baseball hit in the air? Or a softball? Assume you're both playing the outfield positions.

On one hand, rec softball bats are metal so balls leave the bat hotter. And it's coming at like ~250 feet away. Not to mention softballs are lighter so the wind can play a factor too.

On the other hand, baseballs tend to travel further distances so you need a bigger catch radius. Not to mention the larger field needs longer throws.

Which is harder to play in the outfield in your opinion?

Ever since moving to softball, I've changed my baserunning habits, particularly at 3rd base (or 2nd base if possibly tagging). In other words, if the ball is in the air, I would keep my foot on the base (with a mostly crouch-start position) until I am 100% certain it would drop or be caught. Sometimes I would even wait until it fully touches grass (even at a 1% catch probability) before taking off.

One of my free agent tournament runs I joined, they thought I was a complete idiot at baserunning because I didn't move until the ball was dropped. I think that ball had like a ~30% chance of being caught. I made it home relatively easily anyways and I'm generally fast enough to just sprint from this position. Thankfully, they understood after I explained to them about my habit.

I know some players tend to take a few steps off the bag first and wait then re-touch the bag (if tagging).

Which is better for baserunning? Stay on the bag until 100% certainty? Or take a few steps so you get a bit of a headstart going home should it be dropped?

NOTE: The Leagues I play in use a dead home plate with a commit line so it's not like making it to home requires sliding.

Around the area where I live, there are multiple local small tournaments that happen every few weeks. Each game has a 1 hour time slot with 7 innings max. There's also 5 runs per inning with last being unlimited. Despite starting 1-1 pitch count (also fouled balls on 2 strikes is a K), rarely does a game actually get to the 7th inning. I don't think I've seen a single game play all 7 innings and end on time. Often times, games will end on the 5th or 6th inning, and that's for non-mercied (+10 after 5) scores.

Now scoring could play a huge factor but it's not like every game has combined scores of 20+. Even in games that end in like 8-6 somehow can't play all 7 innings. Maybe walks? But it's not like walks happen that often because more half of the time, at bats end in 1 pitch. Also, another league uses weekly double-headers of 1h 15 min time slots per game, although it does 0-0 count. Yet it rarely reaches the 7th inning.

What do you think in general makes games unnecessarily long? Besides changing rules, what can be done to make it so games can actually play all of its innings within a time? Do we need to extend the max time allowed? Because that's not always possible due to city permits. Not to mention some umps don't like working extra.

Another men's league plays similar rules except 6th and 7th inning are unlimited innings and we get 1h, 15 min time slots. Oh and it's 0-0 count to start. Yet somehow these games always play 7 innings with even some extra time for subsequent games to warm up. How can that finish so quickly even though some games end in like 24-22?

When a hitter adds oppo hitting to their bag, it makes it hard to defend. Now obviously, not all oppo hitters are created equally. But let's look at handiness. You have two hitters with a similar skillset: Hitter A is a lefty batter. Hitter B is a righty batter.

• Both are average in terms of ability to hit for power.
• Both are average in terms of running speed.
• Both hit opposite field at the same frequencies.

Who is on average harder to defend? On one hand, a righty oppo hitter tends to have the advantage of hitting into weaker defenders. On the other hand, a lefty oppo hitter tends to have bigger gaps due to overshifts, not to mention most teams think they can't go oppo.

Let's suppose we have two extreme examples of what makes a team great. Assume it's both for co-ed.

Team A - Fundamentals Team: This team has elite defense from top to bottom. Everyone can make throws on a line and catch even tough throws. Arguably the most elite footwork you'll see. Almost all the time they'll attempt to turn a double play. They also cover a ton of ground. They're also not afraid to throw out aggressive baserunners, sometimes successfully picking them off after an aggressive turn. However, they struggle to string together hits without the assistance of errors as they rarely hit the ball hard past an outfielder's head. Despite this, this team has extremely high baserunning IQ and will take advantage of any overthrow or missed play.

Team B - Power Hitting Team: This team can hit balls hard from top to bottom. However, it's a team mostly comprised with older players. Even in their primes, they were never elite at defense. Expect lots of wild inaccurate throws. Sometimes they let shallow fly balls drop in front of them. They are not aggressive at baserunning. They understand the game well enough to not make boneheaded mistakes. They'll have no trouble converting on low-difficulty defensive plays but occasionally struggle with medium difficulty plays. Rarely will they make high difficulty defensive plays.

Which team is a tougher opponent to play against? Team A or Team B?

Assume the following rules:

• No throwing either gender out directly from outfield to 1B. Can force play to other bags.
• Home run limit is +3 (can only out homer your team by 3) with an automatic out over the limit.
• Fences are ~275-300 feet.
• Home plate uses a commitment line dead play.

One of the teams I play on keeps track of stats, mainly for optimizing lineups come playoffs time. Luckily, we only have to keep track of batting average and not have to go through the headache of RBIs, runs, or slugging percentage, or even walks (counted as batting average). It might as simple as entering each player on the scoresheet reaching base safely (on a non-force out).

However, manually entering this for every single event takes a lot of time, especially if batting orders differ game by game. What is an efficient way of entering stats? Is there a specific app that lets you import scorecards and convert them into stats?

We hear this all the time. Your co-ed team is only as good as the girls. What exactly does this mean and why is that true?

What happens if the women play better than the men? Does the narrative to improving a team change?

And what about a men's league? What would the men's league-equivalent be for this statement?

In many people's opinions, the skill level of the ladies are what make the difference between a good and bad co-ed team. Which is true in many ways.

Yet when I look at ranked co-ed tournaments, where in Canada you're allowed 1 player 2 ranks above or 2 players 1 rank above, almost all the time teams recruit these slots for men instead of women. So much so that there are some D-ranked women that struggle to find teams because almost all teams will prioritize a D-rank male over a D-rank female. I've heard this a few times from the stud girls I've played with in league play jokingly said that as soon as they bump their rank from E to D, the number of possible tournaments they get to play decrease significantly.

And then I saw a social media post on Facebook debating whether women are allowed to drop 1 letter rank if they're playing co-ed, which implies that they are getting picked up less often than men of the same rank letter.

So this got me thinking, if the girls generally impact what make co-ed teams great, then how come more teams don't use their over-rank slots for over-ranked girls?

https://preview.redd.it/5pt08uf5pmjh1.png?width=1203&format=png&auto=webp&s=1cd52b292b5a1d3c02ac7722a513b8a0851e9a49

Let's suppose you have two teams, using a score from 0-100 in terms of overall defensive ability. Both teams have a combined score of 500.

Team A: Everyone has a score of 50. Team B: Complete mixed bag of skills.

Note: This is just a hypothetical and I'm sure some teams like to assign stronger defensive players to other positions. For pitchers, this is only based on their ability to field rather than pitching ability.

I believe in Canada we use a ranking system where it goes from A (best) to E/Rec (worst).

In general, which skill level has the biggest gap between the best and worst teams of that same particular division?

You know how people say "baseball is random" all the time? It means that in a typical game, the better team wins like maybe ~60% or the time or something rather than in basketball where it's closer to ~90%. This is largely because there's a ton of variance in plays but especially because mishitting a ball that travels faster than a blink of an eye can be the difference between a weak foul ball to the catcher and a 450 foot dong. I guess this is why a random pitcher you've never heard of can throw no hitters against a stacked lineup.

What about for slowpitch? Is this sport also random too? Because pitches travel like ~20 MPH, does that greatly reduce the variance in outcomes? Does the better team win the vast majority of the time?

I know it's really trivial of a question but at the tournament levels, it kind of lets you know how good your competition is.

I stopped playing hardball a year ago but I moved over to slowpitch. Throw are a lot shorter but having an arm definitely helps a ton. I play in a men's league and it seems like almost all balls hit to me in the outfield, runners are taking 2nd base, even though I'm getting the ball as quickly as possible. That's because I can't hit 2nd base on a line. And if there's any instance where I need to throw directly home, my throw will at best go to the pitcher's line.

I tried long toss and while that's helped, I still can't make a super long throw.

I don't see myself pitching in hardball anytime soon. Do pitching coaches help with general throwing mechanics both from a standstill position and throwing on the run? I may get called into sub in for a hardball team once in a while and they'll likely only let me play RF/LF.

There are many threads discussing about what is the most to least important positions. What about from a difficulty skill level? How would you rank each position? Which one is the easiest to learn and/or master? And which one is the hardest?

Oh and this is for fielding positions only. So for pitching, we'll put this as fielding-based rather than purely ability to hit the board or strike batters out.

Unlike youth baseball, a lot of rec softball players are afraid of the ball (to varying extents). I get it. It hurts when you're hit by a softball, especially thrown at rapid speeds. I've taken one to the shin where I'd feel it the next day and we're adults so medical bills aren't cheap. Many fields have unforgiving and unpredictable hops. Not to mention some ground balls are hit at like MLB-level speeds at times with significantly smaller fields. I don't blame some people for being afraid of it. I know a lot of baseball coaches would be saying "it's not the right sport if you're afraid of the ball" but at the same time, not everyone wants to try other sports. A lot of the defense drills are unfortunately designed around putting your body in front of the ball.

I'll admit to some extent I am afraid of the ball on some throws below my waist on a line or if it's thrown with a ton of tailspin. I'll either get out of the way (low throws only), move my feet so my glove is on a backhand, or field this in ground-ball position. For normal or good throws, I can catch it cleanly.

However, being extremely afraid of the ball not only creates bad habits but also decreases confidence. Some signs I've noticed with experienced players that are noticeably afraid of the ball:

• Turning your body away when you're catching a ball (thrown or batted). The catching arm's elbow is almost fully straight. Some even turn their face away.
• On ground balls, rarely getting your body out in front. Instead trying to use an outstretched backhand or forehand.
• On fly balls, trying to jab at the ball rather than let it fall into your glove. The catching arm's elbow once again is almost fully straight. Or sometimes would only catch the ball with their arms rather than be directly underneath the ball.
• On hard throws or batted balls at them, they'd flinch entirely and you have to pray they'll catch it.

Now obviously this is a rec-league and nobody should be expected to put their entire body on the line for each play. But that doesn't mean we can't set baseline expectations. Being less afraid of the ball is ironically safer because successfully getting your glove on the ball is physically your best defense.

What are some drills I can teach to increase confidence and make players less afraid of the ball? And it's not like the lack of protective gear is the problem. I've seen players wear masks and shins yet still flinch. I don't need people to put their body on the line every time or to pick errant short-hop throws. But at least have the confidence to catch a good hot throw.

There will always be new and inexperienced players on teams, some that want to improve their game. Oftentimes, the most common pieces of advice given to players is hitting. Things like how I can grip the bat better, bat path, swing decisions, etc.

Yet I rarely see a defense-focused player development. I understand it's a rec league but as I said, there are people that want to improve. So I'm thinking of working on catching/throwing + fielding mechanics/drills rather than just have 1 player take turns to hit like ~20 times with the rest of the team fielding balls for the sole purpose of retrieving it (instead of actually trying to make a play).

I'm instead thinking of like doing like double play drills, cutting runners to home (all leagues I play in use a commit/force play at home), hard hit fly balls to outfielders, long toss, etc.

Do you think it's better to work on defense over hitting for a new player? On one hand, this is a hitter's game. An auto-out will effectively cost a rally. On the other hand, hitting (even at a ~20 mph pitch) has a much steeper learning curve than fielding. Not to mention it costs more money (ie batting tee, net, extra balls, or even batting cages. And a team that can play solid defense at the rec level (since that's where you'll find someone who has never played before) can effectively steal games since it can convert the reach-on-error merchants into outs. It also slows down overly aggressive baserunning teams because that extra base means teams need more hits to score a run.

Has anyone experimented with defense-focused practices instead of just taking turns BP?

When pitching, is it better to pitch with your palm up (like traditional underhand at release point)? Or is it better to do a backhand underhand (palm down grip)? I've seen pitchers from both grips. But which one is generally better to use and why?

A lot of softball leagues ban leadoffs, which is completely understandable. However, some leagues allow what is called an 'anticipation' on the bases. It goes as something like you may take a step off the base if the ball is about to cross home or something. Rather than only move if you hear a ping on the bat. In other words, it would mean that if a batter swung and missed but the runner retreated to their base, they would not be called out.

How would you take advantage of this as a baserunner? Like how differently would you run the bases if anticpation was allowed?

In case you're wondering how I came up with this: I was recently invited to join a men's slowpitch softball league to fill in as a full-time sub. It's rec-tier. My manager also plays another co-ed league with his wife and she plays in a separate women's league. They also have a 12 year old son playing a low-tier Little League travel ball team. After seeing how my new men's team throws and catches the ball so perfectly, especially compared to co-ed, I praised everyone for this. Ended up winning the game by a baseball-esque score of only 7-5 instead of those 14-12 co-ed games (mostly from errors). My manager responded with "many co-ed and women's teams lack Little League Fundamentals". And then he jokingly said "even my son's team could beat my wife's women's team in softball because like 1/3 of women can't catch/throw properly".

So this got me thinking. Can a 12U Little League team actually beat a women's team at slowpitch? I use 12U because that's where basepath distances are approximately for slowpitch. Assume they are a low-tier travel ball team. Also, assume for the women's softball team they are recreational-level tier.

I do have to add a few rules to this hypothetical but it's mostly softball 101 rules:

• 7 innings. No run limits each inning. No mercy rule.
• Both teams get 10 fielders total. Cannot 5-man infield. 4 players must be 20+ feet on the outfield grass at all times if playing with 10 players.
• Pitchers throw on flat ground. Pitches must arc at 6-12 feet. A strike must hit a wooden home plate board.
• Fouled balls with 2 strikes are strikeouts.
• No throwing on a force from outfield to 1B (can force from outfield for other bases). Can throw 1B on an overrun. Using double-first base for 1B (runner gets orange, fielder gets white).
• Basepath distances are ~65 feet. Fences are ~250 feet to dead center.
• Leadoffs are not allowed. However, one may leave their base if the ball is about to cross the plate (in the event the batter swings and misses you may retreat).
• No limits on fence-clearing home runs (yes this is actually a thing in a lot of rec-level slowpitch leagues).
• Home plate uses a force play with a commitment line halfway between 3B and Home. If a runner crosses it, the force play is enabled. Runner cannot touch home board. Catcher has to catch the ball with foot on the board before runner crosses a line (no tagging allowed).
• Kids may use their metal baseball bats. Can't force them to swing adult softball bats.

On one hand, the 12U team has been taught all kinds of catching/throwing/baserunning fundamentals so that's a huge advantage. On the other hand, they lack in overall exposure to arced pitches and may not really understand how to run bases without leadoffs. Not to mention they're not fully grown bodies. So let's give them 7 days of practice to familiarize themselves with slowpitch to prepare for this match.

It's another way of saying, can Little League Fundamentals actually win you softball games if your team can't bomb it every time against a team that struggles with this?