While assigned positions and defined roles become important to winning at the higher levels of baseball, coaches of younger teams should allow players to develop and try all positions to become more well-rounded.

“The more positions they know, the more it just helps their baseball IQ,” said coach Steve Rippee of Tivy High School in Texas. “Kids should be able to work together and know what the other is doing. It also helps at the later levels, when a kid might be forced into playing another position that they aren't usually penciled into.”