At what age must a baseball player decide that he is to be a pitcher?

I'd say not until college.

You'll still see a few that pull double duty occasionally.

I hate the fact that they take the bat out of a lot of these pitcher's hands because the ones who end up going somewhere are usually excellent hitters too. I'm not sure how many could succeed as hitters on the pro level but at least in high school and college I really wish coaches would let players go two ways again. Brian Johnson from Florida is a perfect example. In high school, Eades and Aaron Johnson were fricking mashers. Why must they exclusively be pitchers? Even in high school our coaches began making kids "POs" (pitcher only). I've always been against this idea.

I think it has a lot to do with as a pitcher at the college level and above so much time as a pitcher is spent on researching the upcoming team. Between innings pitchers need to be thinking about the lineup for the next inning.

Also, batting at this level and above involves a lot of time and work.

our baseball club keeps our teams lean (11 kids per squad), and on our teams it seems like as many as 9 of them pitch through high school. we'll have primarily 4 starters, though. of those 4 starting pitchers, they'll all be solid hitters, but by the time they get to college, they're just pitching.

i never understood why a college coach would scrap a good hitter for a good pitcher, but i suppose those pitchers could have several million reasons to focus on pitching.

i went to high school with a 1st round pick, 2nd round pick, and a 4th round pick. They were all standout pitchers in high school, and they all hit. The 1st and 2nd round picks were drafted into professional baseball as pitchers.

the only ones that dont hit are the ones that cant

Remember Brian Bogusevic and Micah Owings?

Typically college. But pitchers are converted all the time in AA and AAA ball. The Rangers flame thrower Alexi Ogando got brought to the bigs as an OF.

Played baseball with Ike Davis of the Mets from t-ball through high school. His dad (ex major league pitcher) was protective of his lefty arm when it came to pitching growing up through little league and travel ball. By his senior year, he pretty much just closed even though he was our best arm.

He went to ASU and was in the starting lineup but also pitched some before supposedly telling Murphy he wanted to focus solely on hitting wih the thinking he has his left handed arm to fall back on if it didn't work out as an every day player. I would think that would be easier than going the Rick Ankiel pitcher to hitting route where you would also have to have some defensive ability.

Eta: lsu480, I know you don't like RD

There are a number of POs (pitcher only) in high school, but that is because they just flat out can't hit.

Pitchers who can hit will stop hitting in college, if they are a better pitcher than hitter. Colleges will always find a position for you if you can hit.