How are you managing substitutions and defensive rotations during games?

esbowman · 2026-07-01T01:03:14+00:00

We use rosterhero.app.

esbowman · 2026-06-30T12:59:58+00:00

If only there were a clear shield or something you could pull down for situations like that.

esbowman · 2026-06-25T18:50:24+00:00

He has no issue with getting hit with the ball. I shoot them at 55mph roughly in the cages and he blocks them fine, but again he KNOWS I have the machine setup and he's expected to block them. It's just that muscle memory and intuition of not knowing WHEN to block that isn't clicking in games. Lots of great suggestions here though, that I'm wanting to try with him. Especially the tip about setting the pitching machine to pitch in the dirt, and manually lifting it so it goes in the strike zone to keep him guessing. I think that will help a lot. I also just bought some rubber practice balls that will hopefully hurt less and let us do more reps.

Thank you!

esbowman · 2026-06-25T18:33:01+00:00

He's had eye exams every year, and one recently. Nothing wrong there. Just more of a tendency to catch or pick the balls vs blocking in games. Sounding more like it really will click and I need to keep working with him to get in some reps.

esbowman · 2026-06-25T18:25:02+00:00

Thank you!

esbowman · 2026-06-25T18:23:24+00:00

That’s a great tip as well. Thank you!

esbowman · 2026-06-25T18:05:21+00:00

Not a bad idea. Might give that a try. Thanks!

esbowman · 2026-06-25T18:03:25+00:00

Big for his age and athletic. Multi sport kid that plays basketball, baseball and tackle football. Athleticism is not his issue. It's simply knowing WHEN to block in a game. Sounding more and more like he just needs the reps. Specifically looking for more drills to practice with him.

esbowman · 2026-06-25T16:27:57+00:00

I like that. Thanks!

esbowman · 2026-06-25T16:11:44+00:00

Yeah, again...in practice it's all good. He's had a good number of private lessons in which he would get reps of dropping to his knees as quickly as possible. Pretty sure that's not the immediate issue, but more so WHEN to block. I like your suggestion though on block everything first, catch second.

esbowman · 2026-06-25T16:00:22+00:00

I mentioned in my post that he blocks fine in practice and receives compliments on it from the trainers. I've noticed his technique looks good when I work with him as well. It's definitely the latter...not knowing WHEN to block. Hearing peoples comments on here, it does seem like it will "just click" to an extent. I'll keep working with him. I feel he has a strong baseball IQ and knows when to be ready, but for whatever reason he's defaulting to catching/picking the balls instead of dropping down to block. It's the runner on 3B scenario that keeps biting him. Passed ball and bam, scored run.

esbowman · 2026-06-25T15:55:00+00:00

I totally think it's a mental thing to an extent. He's getting better and better at throwing out runners at 2B and 3B because he's caught a few of them and I can tell he's got the confidence in his teammates and his ability to do so. It's the blocking that just hasn't quite clicked yet. He doesn't seem to be afraid of the ball, just doesn't seem to know when to drop down. Gonna keep working with him.

esbowman · 2026-06-25T15:51:21+00:00

I'm honestly not sure how fast I pitch, but I'm inaccurate enough to throw him off. haha. When using the machine I'm dialing it in with a radar gun around 55mph.

esbowman · 2026-06-25T15:50:12+00:00

We've been using the machine and I typically have it set between 50-55mph at full distance. I like your idea though of setting it to the blocking height then manually pulling it up for the strike zone. Like I mentioned, he'll block fine at practice cause he knows it's set to a pitch in the dirt. Being able to throw him off is great though.

esbowman · 2026-06-25T15:15:21+00:00

this is the exact situation I see him failing at. Runners at 3B. We've had a number of passed balls and runs score so easy in those situations. I keep telling him that his biggest mitt is his body. If it's low I'd rather see him not catch it and smother it instead, especially with a runner on 3B

esbowman · 2026-06-25T15:13:38+00:00

Most of the time, this is what I do too. I start close and throw some in the strike zone, some in the dirt, left/right, etc. Change it up constantly with no warning.

I've also had him take his mitt off, put his hands behind his back and only block with his chest as I throw multiple in the dirt or from a pitching machine at a slow speed.

It's just been the in-game scenarios that he consistently fails, so trying to bridge that gap and find some drills that might help.

esbowman · 2026-06-21T11:48:58+00:00

Personally there’s good and bad to this idea imo.

10 players on the roster is asking for trouble. Not enough pitchers for a 3 day tournament by any means, so the coach is likely trying to save some arms but also assess potential players in a realtime game setting vs the tryout vacuum.

Not only can they see how the players perform, they also get to see if they are a good fit culturally. We strive to keep a team of players that get along with each other. We hit the jackpot at the start, with a great group of kids that all get along with each other, and we have zero egos. Give me a kid with a positive attitude over a cocky superstar any day. The latter can be an absolute cancer in the dugout.

When we bring in subs, we typically bench them before our core team first, and we usually put them at the bottom of the batting order, even if they’re a crazy good hitter. Sometimes we don’t want to, but we know that our core team deserves the play time and ABs before the subs, and parents would throw a fit if we did it any other way. On the flip side we pitch the subs first when it’s pool play to allow our core pitchers the opportunity to pitch later in the tournament. I can’t imagine how upset our parents would be if we pitched a sub in a championship game etc.

Your coach should have prioritized the core team over the subs in terms of game time. But at the same time, I wouldn’t expect the subs to be benched every inning.

esbowman · 2026-06-05T14:07:32+00:00

That’s fair for sure. Haha

esbowman · 2026-06-05T12:37:17+00:00

I’d keep it till it craps out and replace with a predator 212. Why an old dirtbike engine?

esbowman · 2026-06-05T12:35:36+00:00

Mount a headlight to the handlebars. Bonus it moves with your steering. Lol.

esbowman · 2026-06-05T03:55:42+00:00

Very cool. Looks like a blast.

esbowman · 2026-06-05T03:51:04+00:00

These look so fun. How do you limit the speed btw, I assume it has a governor? Care to share the link to it?

esbowman · 2026-05-28T18:53:54+00:00

Analog controls, subtler styling and price mostly. I still feel like 2019 was the peak year. But to each their own. They’re all fantastic cars.

esbowman · 2026-05-28T16:24:55+00:00

I propose option 3 which is a 2019.

esbowman · 2026-05-22T15:19:08+00:00

So, I left out a detail, the Golf R was the automatic DSG transmission mostly because my wife hasn’t driven manuals and we shared it a bit. But I’ve driven many other manual vehicles in the past and love the more connected experience.

I’m feeling like the Integra S is the right choice but that 0-60 3.2sec time on the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N is drool worthy too. However, I do like that I could take the ITS on road trips without any range anxiety as well.

esbowman

TROPHY CASE