Lots of softball players, I'm coach Dan Blewett.
On today's video, Let's talk about the qualities of a shortstop
and what a shortstop is, what a shortstop is not, and why
you might not be getting the playing time that you want there and for you parents.
You know why maybe your kid isn't good enough to play there
and whether she's going to be the stick at that position later.
I know this can be a source of contention between coaches and parents
and players who think that their daughter is good enough to play short.
You know, this is a baseball and softball problem, but in most cases,
you know, coaches are typically right and recruiters and scouts and coaches
for college will tell you pretty much how good you are and where you should be.
So let's go over a couple of questions
that will help you answer whether or not you're going to be good enough
to stick at shortstop. All right.
Question one So is your daughter the most athletic player on the team?
If she's not, it's going to be really hard for her to stay at shortstop
because it requires so much first step quickness, jumping
range, speed, footwork, all that stuff, arm strength.
It's a really dynamic position.
Center fielders and shortstops are typically the most athletic player
players on the team.
So if your daughter's not in the top three most athletic players on the team,
it's just probably not going to happen. It's just probably not.
She's going to be in in a spot
where it requires less foot speed, less arm strength, all those different things.
But in general, the best athletes play shortstop and they play center.
And of course, obviously, they could be a pitcher, too.
But on the field, as far as position players, if your kid's not the
most athletic player on the team and it's probably not even close,
then shortstop is probably not going to be right for her long term. Number two.
Does your daughter have one of the strongest arms on the team?
Shortstops have to make a lot of plays where they're charging them,
they're throwing from the run, they're throwing from deep in the hole.
It requires a strong arm to get players out as they get really, really fast.
It's a long throw.
And they're going to have they're not going to be the balls
like I mean, their glove as fast as a third baseman.
Typically the third baseman, shortstop, a right fielder,
all the best three arms on the team because they've long throws.
But the shortstop is not going to get a ball in her glove
quite as fast on average as a third baseman would.
So a third baseman and softball, because the field is so small,
can almost get away with not having a great time.
I've seen him at the division one level actually pour arms,
but at shortstop, that's not the case.
So if she doesn't have one the strongest arm arms on the team,
they're probably going to have to find someone who does have that arm
so they can make some of those plays as the level playing increases.
Question three Is your daughter extremely dependable in her fielding?
This is one of the most critical, obviously.
You don't have to make all the flashy highlight real plays,
but you do have to field everything you're supposed to field.
And that I mean, obviously, no one is 100 percent fielding percentage,
but you need to have a pretty good range where you're getting the balls
where other players wouldn't.
And most things that come your way are an out.
If you consistently make errors where it just feels like your coach
and your team can't depend on you, then you're not going to be a play shortstop.
That's just that's just the bottom line.
Coaches need to feel very comfortable with the most important player
in their infield, which is the shortstop
that they're going to make most plays , that they're dependable and dependable
can mean different things to different people.
But you know it when you see it and you know it when you don't see it,
when a player is just always seems to be making an error in a critical time,
or there's just there's another double play that she botched
or we could have got a double play, but she didn't feel too cleanly again.
I've had this on my baseball teams were just like I'm rotating kids
through trying to find one player who's going to be dependable.
It's hard question for to see if the best range on the team.
It's not enough just to feel the ground balls that she can field.
The better shortstops are fielding ground balls that other players don't.
So the reason you get to play shortstop is because you have another couple steps
of first pitch, a first step quickness, where, again, you just can get to a ball
two steps deeper in the hole
that anyone else in your team can get to and you can feel
the end of the arm strength to make that play.
So if your daughter doesn't have a great range,
if she just kind of slow foot speed, she'll field everything.
But she's not going to go deep in the hole and not going to get a charge balls
and still get those outs.
Then third base or first base is probably going to fit her better
where those positions don't have to move as much.
Last question, does she have great instincts and field vision?
This is important because the shortstop is a leadership position.
You're going to have to communicate
with other fielders, with cuts, with relay's, all that stuff.
There's a lot of duties as a shortstop, and it's a fast position
and a lot going on.
So if a player doesn't have that instinct where they're just they
they can't think on their feet fast enough,
they can't make split second decisions about where the ball needs to go.
It's going to be tough for them to stick there because, again,
it comes down to that dependability.
So here's the thing with these five questions.
Are there any no's?
If you're asking yourself these questions about your own kid
or if you're a player and you're asking yourself about your own ability?
Are there no's here?
If they are, you're probably not going to be good enough
to play shortstop long term.
Now, that's not to say that you can't get better.
You can't practice, you can develop because you surely can.
But if you're like third string on a 14 you team today, what are the odds?
You're going to be able to get recruited by a college when you're
not even the best player on your own team.
It really becomes hard to do that because these skills don't get
you know, the game keeps getting faster and these skills here having the best
range glove arm, very dependable in it, being an infield leader.
Those skills, they become harder.
You have to have an even stronger arm at 16
you to get girls out who are faster than you.
At 14, you yet have even better range at that level, too,
because they hit the ball harder.
So you've got to get deeper into the hole in a short amount of time
so it doesn't get better.
It gets harder as you go up.
So if you don't have these skills
today, sure, you can always develop them, get better.
I'm not saying you're you're
you're dead to the world in the future, but you have to be honest with yourself.
Some players like I might just not have the foot speed to play at the varsity
level, whereas I might be OK
here, the junior varsity level, or I might be OK here at 15.
You but I'm probably not going to get
to play centerfield as a in college because I'm just not fast enough.
So I'll probably have to play right or left, maybe at varsity ball or at 17
you when there's just too many players
faster than me because there's a lot of players out there who are good.
And if you don't have those skills today, those players are developing,
you're developing, they're still going to probably stay a little bit above you.
So it's hard to to a, be a college shortstop in general.
It's really hard.
That's why there's only one per division one team. Right.
Everyone else is playing a different infield position and there's a backup.
And typically, if someone's
going to back up the shortstop, if they get hurt,
it's going to be the second the starting second baseman.
So there just aren't that many positions,
obviously, like there's only one shortstop for team.
And when you're young, you know, it's
you mix positions around, coaches get players rotated
and they all get playing time at different positions.
But shortstop is so important
that if you don't do well there, you're not super dependable.
It gets tough for them to be able to give some of that playing time away
when the team needs to win and everyone wants to go home happy.
So you have to understand
that it is really rare to play shortstop at the collegiate level.
It is not easy to play at the collegiate level.
So and that's the reason I'm doing this video, is shortstop
has the most fun in the infield.
They get the most ground balls
because 80 percent of hitters are right handed in softball.
That's definitely a lower number because more players
will become slappers and then does hit from the left side.
But there's still a lot of ground balls come to short, right?
That's how it is.
And even slappers are trying to slap the ball
to the left side of the infield a lot.
Right, just to try to beat something else.
So you have to have a really great shortstop
and it's hard to have all those skills.
How many players that, you know, had a cannon for an arm?
Have an amazing glove or have great range and are super dependable.
Don't make a lot of errors.
There's not a lot of them out there.
It's a hard thing to do.
It's a really high it's a really high bar to cross.
So if now, again, this is this is more for parents, if your kid's
not good enough to start at short on a 12 you team or 14 your team, sure.
They're going to develop. Their body is going to change.
They'll get some more skills.
So it's not to say it'll never happen, but you just need to understand that
if your kid's not the most athletic player on your team now,
it's pretty unlikely that they're going to suddenly become blossom
into this division one player later on, because really the best players young
are the best players, a little bit older,
and then they're the best players, a little bit older for the most part.
And of course, there's always exceptions.
So don't say that's a blanket statement cause it's not.
But when players are getting signed and committed at 15, 16
a year, they're typically the best players at 14, 13,
you know, and when you're ahead physically and you're faster
and you have a stronger arm,
you're going to get more playing time and more reps. So it's tough.
It's a sort of a catch 22
where if you're not getting playing time
now, you're probably going to get less playing time in the future.
So it's just hard.
And that's part of the reason I did this
video is because I don't think parents realize it.
I don't think they understand or like Mike, my kids just as good
should play short.
While if she doesn't have the range, then that's why she's not playing shorter.
She doesn't have the arm. That's why she's not playing short.
So will your kid be good enough playing college?
Will you be good enough to play in college as a shortstop?
Probably not. It's a hard position.
You've got to be the best infielder, essentially in your whole county.
That's a good way to think about it.
If you know there's 10, 10 high schools in your county
or five high schools in your county,
are you the best shortstop in that whole county?
If so, then colleges are going to want to pick you.
But a lot and a lot of high schools, the best player on that team doesn't
play college softball or plays junior college or Division three or division two.
You know, it's it's not that easy to play college sports.
And so you've got to be really, really good.
And it takes a lot of those high level skills.
And if you're not there today,
you know, it's not that you shouldn't be complaining about it.
What you should be doing is going out and practicing
because if you don't have good enough range. Go take more ground balls.
If your hands aren't good enough, you make too many errors.
Go take more ground balls if you need to get your arm strength up.
I have a lot of resources on my YouTube channel here and my online courses
to help you do that.
And Gauthreaux, go put in the work, go do your arm care exercises,
go get get back in the weight room.
All those skills can be developed.
But if you're wondering today why you're 14, you dog.
Or your your your daughter isn't starting at short.
It's probably because she's a deficiency
in one of those big skills, arm range glove work,
field vision and dependability, if she doesn't have all five of those.
It's hard to put a player short.
All right. So hopefully today's video helps.
I think having these ominous conversations is important,
especially for parents who didn't play themselves,
who might just be watching the game and not really understanding
how playing is playing. Time is is meted out,
because for me, as someone who played professional baseball,
who has a good idea, I mean, once when scouts are asking me
about baseball players or if I'm watching a softball game,
you can tell who's going to go on to the next level and who's not.
You just can. It's
much harder at the youth level when kids are still developing.
They have a long way to go developmentally.
But you know, a scout could, I could be watching a Division
one baseball game, for example, and the scout got a scout buddy of mine
could call me like, hey, dude, did you see the third baseman of that
that, you know, University of whatever game I could be like, yeah, like
you think he's got the tools to play for a while?
I was like, nope. Like, I could I could tell you right away.
Or you could see a kid who plays varsity shortstop
and you watch their game and a college scholarship like, hey , can
you give me an honest opinion because I can't play short the next level.
Nope. Doesnt have the arm strength for it.
Nope. Doesn't have the glove word for it?
Nope. His actions, the way he the way he moves or the way she moves
aren't aren't there's not there?
It's a it's a it's a pretty like, you know, when you see it kind of thing,
because again, once you've seen it at the highest levels,
you know what's required, the arm strength,
all those things that I mentioned.
So, again, hopefully today's video is helpful
if you have any questions or you want to argue with me about it.
Leave me a comment below and I'll see you in the next video.