Does a Good Manager Play all of his Players?

    One day, as I was losing my fantasy baseball matchup, I decided to put all my backup players into the game. This action brought a question into my head: does a good manager play every one of his players? The question took a little bit of thought, but I eventually arrived at my answer.

    Certainly in Little League, a manager should play all of his players, no matter how talented they are. Of course, in most Little Leagues, you have to at least bat the whole team, and very often every player has to get into the field at some point during each game. Since Little League is not all about winning, but primarily about development, this is most definitely the way it should be. 

    Some higher Little League divisions (such as 14U and higher) could potentially have a different ruling for playing time. But seeing as how it's still Little League, the rules should probably remain as they are. I don't think many managers would have the prudence to manage the proper way under this circumstance.

    As one gets older, he may play high school baseball. While playing junior varsity, managers should get the backups of the team into a game at least every once in a while. While winning is a big part of high school ball, it still isn't everything. This doesn't mean you would put your worst players into a nail-biter game. But if you're crushing a team, you might as well play some of your weaker players. After all, JV ball has free substitutions, so a manager can put players in the field and take them out as he pleases. The batting order, however, cannot have free substitutions. The reason for this is so you can't pull your best hitters in a close game and place them all into the lineup whenever you want, at whatever order you want.

    Things get a little different as you move up the ranks to varsity. If you make a varsity team, there's never a promise that you'll get playing time. Of course, if you were good enough to make the team, you should be good enough to get playing time. Managers are still going to be letting the worst players have at least a minimal amount of playing time, and this is completely fair. If you make the varsity team, you're good enough to play at least a little bit.

    Once you graduate high school, the next step (if you continue to play) is college baseball.  Once you hit college ball, it's on you to be the best talent you can be. If you get into games, great. If you're not good enough to get the playing time you want, that isn't on the manager.

    The same goes for Minor League baseball and MLB. There are some players at this level who can make a team but still not play. Once you get to a level this high, the manager puts his best lineup out for every game (unless a minor league manager is told by a higher source to play a certain player). The manager is professional, so you can rely on him to play a game the way it was meant to be. These teams typically play to win, so if you can't play because you're simply not good enough, then you may not remain on the team for long.

    Well, there you have it. From Little League through JV ball, and even mostly in varsity ball, a good manager will play all of his players, even if not a lot (in regards to JV and varsity). But once you hit college and up, it's on you to earn your playing time. If you stink, you don't play. That's just business.