My DS pitches but also plays left field. He's 6'2".

It's hard to be a very good middle infielder at that height.

Most third basemen start as middle infielders.

The tall outfielders might have grown out of being good infielders or they were always tall and always played outfield.

Also, if left handed thrower, they can only play 1B or OF defensively (and pitch).

But baseball isn't football or basketball -- good ballplayers come in all different sizes. The strike zone adjusts to the height of the hitter, everyone gets a turn at bat in a batting order. Ground balls are ground balls. Fly balls come all the way down, not just to tall players.

It’s easier for coaches to bet on size than actually developing players.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here- I know it's a really random question. For some reason, we have some very tall kids on the team and almost all seem to play OF. I know some very solid kids who got cut and they're on the shorter side- 5'6"ish - so I wondered if all things equal, the coach went for height as the tiebreaker.

(My son is corner IF and P and he is 6'- the OF makes him look small.)

Heights factors more into thoughts on hitting and pitching vs playing in the OF.

Do they hit very well?

+1

On most high school varsity teams, well over half the team is very capable of playing corner OF. Everyone except the very slow kids (and usually there aren’t many of those) or kids with weaker arms (and usually there aren’t many of those on an HS varsity team either). They’ll plug in the best two hitters who meet the criteria, pretty much always.

CF is a different story.

Height isn’t all that relevant at the high school level from what I have seen, at any position. Some exceptions.

Size can be a factor if a kid is “on the bubble” of making the team at all…but most likely, kids in that category are not going to see much playing time regardless.

Anonymous wrote:OP here- I know it's a really random question. For some reason, we have some very tall kids on the team and almost all seem to play OF. I know some very solid kids who got cut and they're on the shorter side- 5'6"ish - so I wondered if all things equal, the coach went for height as the tiebreaker.

(My son is corner IF and P and he is 6'- the OF makes him look small.)

Heights factors more into thoughts on hitting and pitching vs playing in the OF.

Do they hit very well?

Anonymous wrote:OP here- I know it's a really random question. For some reason, we have some very tall kids on the team and almost all seem to play OF. I know some very solid kids who got cut and they're on the shorter side- 5'6"ish - so I wondered if all things equal, the coach went for height as the tiebreaker.

(My son is corner IF and P and he is 6'- the OF makes him look small.)

Are they fast? It’s possible their long legs make them very fast (like a James Wood)…but I don’t see how height is a huge benefit for the OF.

The average MLB outfielder is 6’1.5” vs 6’2.6” for MLB overall.

Anonymous wrote:OP here- I know it's a really random question. For some reason, we have some very tall kids on the team and almost all seem to play OF. I know some very solid kids who got cut and they're on the shorter side- 5'6"ish - so I wondered if all things equal, the coach went for height as the tiebreaker.

(My son is corner IF and P and he is 6'- the OF makes him look small.)

It is undeniable that physical size plays a role, sure. If 2 players are actually equal in skill. But that isn’t always the case, and (most likely) wasn’t the case with the kids who were cut, either.

Were the 5’6” kids physically mature? Because that can definitely play a role more than height itself. Some kids that height in high school are just late maturers and haven’t developed strength yet…which can itself be the problem.

I know a 5’5” kid who started on varsity this year as a freshman, at a large classification high school with multiple D1 commits on the team. We’ve know him since he was a little kid. and he can just flat out play. He is long past physical maturity however- super strong and fast, big arm, weighs 160ish pounds if I had to guess. The family is just very short and is of an ethnic background where that is not uncommon. Tons of 6 footer kids on the JV team, and on the JV bench at that. If you can play, you can play…

I would think it would make more sense to tall pitcher/catcher/1st base than outfielders. In the outfield speed would seem to matter more.

OP here- I know it's a really random question. For some reason, we have some very tall kids on the team and almost all seem to play OF. I know some very solid kids who got cut and they're on the shorter side- 5'6"ish - so I wondered if all things equal, the coach went for height as the tiebreaker.

(My son is corner IF and P and he is 6'- the OF makes him look small.)

My middle kid played baseball. In his 4 years there was no one on the team 6'3" or taller.

The best outfielder my son ever played with in Travel and HS was maybe 5 ft 7. Kid was fast as all get out and I never saw him miss a catch once in 5 years.

Our HS varsity team only has one kid who is 6’3” and he pitches and plays 1B.

The starting OFers are 5’11”ish to 6’2”.

I doubt height has much to do with it. More to do with speed, arm strength, bat.

Kind of a random question, especially if your high school can't recruit.

Only 3.9% of all men are 6'2" or taller, so you of course need to be lucky enough to even have 3 players that are that height.

Our team only has one player that is 6'3" and plays 1B because that reach comes in handy at 1B far more than height matters much for OF.

We have three of our fastest fielders in OF...all under 6'.

Just curious if your team went for height in the OF. Our OF has an average height of 6'2"-6'3".