Volunteers | The Minnesota Millers

Minnesota Millers 2021 Team Photo

Volunteers of the Minnesota Millers

Volunteers are the lifeblood of a beep baseball team. Many volunteer positions require some athletic ability and a moderate time commitment in the summer months, but there are ways for anyone to help out when and where ever they can.

Pitchers

The pitcher, as the name suggests, pitches the ball to the batter. In beep ball, the pitcher’s job is to insure that the batter hits, so a good pitcher has good throwing accuracy, a good sense of timing, and quick reaction time to get out of the way of a hit ball. Pitchers also act as batting coaches, encouraging the batter and assisting with timing to improve the chance of contact between bat and ball. The best pitchers in the NBBA have also learned techniques to aim a hit ball toward defensive weaknesses by positioning the batter, adjusting timing, and pitching to different parts of the batt.

Catchers

The catcher works with the pitcher and batter to insure a good clean hit. The catcher presents his or her glove to the pitcher, providing a target in the batter’s strike zone for the pitcher to throw to. Since the target must be in the proper location to guide the ball through the spot that the batter’s bat will be passing through at about the midpoint of the swing, catchers must have a good eye for detail. Catchers must also use coaching skills to help both the pitcher and batter. This coaching usually comes in the form of hand signals to the pitcher, letting him or her know whether the last pitch was high or low. Because the relationship between the pitcher and catcher is so important, the NBBA issues awards for particularly effective pitcher/catcher pairs.

Field Spotters

Field spotters assist fielders to locate the ball. When a ball is hit, a field spotter must quickly decide which section of the field a ball is passing through. Spotters must then call exactly one number, indicating to the players approximately where the ball is. The players then use their hearing to track the location of the ball so they can field it before the runner reaches the base. After calling a number, field spotters must be able to quickly get out of the way of a speeding ball or fielder. Spotters must not interfere with a play unless a player’s safety is immediately at risk. If two players are about to collide, for example, a spotter is allowed to yell “STOP”, but this may result in a penalty so it is discouraged unless it is absolutely necessary.

Bench Assistants

Bench assistants assist the players and coaches with anything they need throughout the game. For example, players who need to leave the bench may ask for guidance from a bench assistant to safely navigate to where ever they need to go. Players may also ask a bench assistant to help them locate water, first aid supplies, or equipment such as bats, gloves, or pads.
Bench assistants also assist coaches and spotters by keeping track of the batting order, maintaining score sheets, keeping track of important statistics about the other team’s players, such as hitting strength and direction, running speed, and fielding ability. Coaches and spotters use this information to position fielders so that they’re more likely to be in a position to quickly field a hit ball. Pitchers and catchers use this information to locate defensive weaknesses to improve a batter’s chances of scoring.

Boosters

Boosters promote beep baseball and help to drive players and supporters to the team. This can be done through attending games to cheer the team on, or through activities off the field like speaking, writing letters, and posting to social media. Here is a list of our needs in rough order of importance:

New players and volunteers.
Funding to travel to tournaments and to the World Series.
Media coverage to increase awareness about beep baseball and to attract new fans, players, volunteers, and donors.

If you are interested in volunteering with the Millers, please complete the following contact form and someone will contact you to make arrangements.