Any kid with a strong arm can find a spot on a travel team

[bbrages]

Nope. had a kid with a real gun for the past 4 seasons. From 11u-13u, best bet was to have him at first and hope he didn't throw the ball to anyone -it was generally about 10 ft off -either high, low, or to the side -basically unpredictable. He was touching 70 at an early age but could never dial it in, and worse, would never work on it. A very frustrating situation. We occasionally pitched him just to scare the other teams sometimes. Decent hitter though. By 14u, he got a bit better, but not accurate enough to pitch. So I'd take accuracy any day over velo (assuming accuracy with decent speed).

A big arm with poor accuracy might do OK in the outfield...?

[JoeG]

A big arm with poor accuracy might do OK in the outfield...?

Even with an outfielder accuracy matters. What's the point of throwing hard if you can't throw the guy out at home or 3rd base from right field? The only type of far, inaccurate throw that could be helpful is a ball fielded off the fence and thrown in - which is something that doesn't come up often.

As kids get older, and outfielding matters (in my experience, around the age of 12 is when outfielders begin to become quite important to team success), you realize that the position of right field is one of the most demanding positions on the field - I could make an argument that it requires more fielding skill than any position but catcher. A bit of it has to do with baseball IQ but it's no coincidence that in the major leagues, the guys with the best arms who aren't pitching or catching are playing right field. There are a lot of possible things to do with the ball when you get it and if you can throw out runners advancing to third or home, that can be a real asset. Throwing hard isn't good enough - you have to throw accurately and know what to do with the ball even before you begin to field it.

[Coach T13]

I guess moral of the thread is
"if you can hit, you don't sit"
"if you can only throw, then hmmmmm we don't know"
LOL :-)

FWIW... I take a whooooooooole team of sluggers with weak or wild arms, it's easier to teach throwing, and control, than hitting ;-)
I ran my youth teams that way too, pre-14u tryouts you look for hitting tools. Now past that you start focus on at least 2 tools for a recruit. Still usually speed and bat though. JMO

[JoeG]

I guess moral of the thread is
"if you can hit, you don't sit"
"if you can only throw, then hmmmmm we don't know"
LOL :-)

FWIW... I take a whooooooooole team of sluggers with weak or wild arms, it's easier to teach throwing, and control, than hitting ;-)
I ran my youth teams that way too, pre-14u tryouts you look for hitting tools. Now past that you start focus on at least 2 tools for a recruit. Still usually speed and bat though. JMO

Yes - for pre-high school age.

With HS comes specialization, so if you can pitch, there will be a place for you on the HS team. Though I would imagine that if you are the only pitcher out of the staff who can't hit very well, you'll probably get less playing time than the other pitchers unless your pitching is very far ahead of the others.

[pthawaii]

I'll take a kid that can throw hard and somewhat accurately, and teach him to hit, vs a kid who can hit, and teach him to throw hard and accurately. I think the former is easier than the latter.

[fly996]

I'll take a kid that can throw hard and somewhat accurately, and teach him to hit, vs a kid who can hit, and teach him to throw hard and accurately. I think the former is easier than the latter.

I'd disagree with this. You can play a kid with a good bat and average arm at 1st base, 2nd base or Left Field. That would not hurt you much defensively.

[pthawaii]

I'd disagree with this. You can play a kid with a good bat and average arm at 1st base, 2nd base or Left Field. That would not hurt you much defensively.

I guess I wasn't thinking about take as is and play, if that was the case I agree with you. I was just saying ill take the awesome arm and teach to hit over awesome hitter that I need to teach to throw. I can teach someone to hit easier than to throw..

[bluedawg]

A big arm with poor accuracy might do OK in the outfield...?

had the same thought. lots of overthrows and couldn't hit the cut man. 1B was the best bet.

[bbrages]

had the same thought. lots of overthrows and couldn't hit the cut man. 1B was the best bet.

Let the big dog eat, don't relay that power arm. lol

[bluedawg]

I'll take a kid that can throw hard and somewhat accurately, and teach him to hit, vs a kid who can hit, and teach him to throw hard and accurately. I think the former is easier than the latter.

Really just depends on the team. If I need an ace, then by all means. If not, I'd rather have average velo who can hit. Even through HS, accuracy on the mound is worth more than velocity (assuming average). At higher levels, teams have more options to get whatever tools they want, but on a local team (travel or school), you'll likely have to compromise on a few kids. But I see your point, you can't really teach velo, it's either there or it isn't. An athletic kid can put the bat on the ball even with an ugly swing. Of course over time, this kid will be relegated to the mound.

[bluedawg]

Let the big dog eat, don't relay that power arm. lol

when you overthrow the catcher from RF, we have problems....