Posted by: Cage (cage@anechoicmedia.com) on Tue Jun 9 16:48:29 2009

I started out seeming like a two-way player when I was younger. The better the pitcher, the harder I would hit him. I hit for a very high average, and I had some pop when the pitcher would make a mistake. I was also a feared power pitcher too. A year and half ago when I tried out for the HS team as a freshman, the JV coach took one look at my arm during tryouts(didn't even bother to see me hit)and decided I was a starting pitcher. During fall ball I worked out with the Varsity coach and he saw me have one bad session in BP. He asked "are you a pitcher or a ball player?", and I stupidly replied I was a pitcher, and I now realized this was really bad, because it could have been brushed off as a bad round of BP if I had said I was a ball player. I am now expected to be the best pitcher in the league with an upper-80s fastball, which will happen, but I want to hit. I am a D1 pitching prospect, and have been looked at. However, my questions are this:

What can I do to change my coaches' mind? I hit well in BP consistently but I still don't get a chance. What kind of workouts can I do to consistently hit the ball out? I honestly think hitting it over the fence is the only way to grab my coach's attention. I am big enough to do so. How can I convince my coach that I am a hitter when I have no real defensive position anymore? I do not see myself being the DH; we have bigger power-hitting meatheads on the team who can't field.

Thanks.