Our 12u team split up at the end of this year and we will be doing tryouts for 2009 in another week or two. I've got a usual routine for tryouts but I'm looking for some fresh thoughts from the group of coaches here. I'd love to get some outlines of your tryout process. What are your points of emphasis? We're looking at doing it over 2 days, probably 3 hrs each day.
If you have ideas just for specific groups/skills that's fine too...e.g. pitchers and catchers, baserunning, etc.
One thing I'm thinking of is ideally I'd like to put the kids more in 'game situations' whether they're batting or fielding, as opposed to lining them all up at shortstop and drilling grounders at them, then throwing BP to each of them. Not sure how to accomplish that though.
Take half of the first day and do a typical pro tryout / showcase work out. This way you can get a baseline of their skill sets. The second half of the first day should be some sort of BP to find out who the hitters are. During the BP session have the pitchers throw 10 - 15 pitches in the bullpen.
From all that data take the second day and put pitchers on the mound (the ones you liked from the day before) and do a controlled scrimmage. Put fielders out there and run bases. Keep pitchers limited to about 20 pitches total so you can see more.
That is just a few thoughts and hope they help.
When life hands you gators - make Gatorade
Posts: 1224 | Location: Kentucky but soon to be North Carolina | Registered: May 12, 2006
