I finally see why kids don't like playing baseball

[Why Not?]

His coaches, and the coaches from the rest of the league apparently don't have that "acquired skill" to make the machine regularly throw strikes. I think there's also an issue that it will throw strikes for some kids, but if you're 3' tall it'll throw pitches at shoulder/head height. There probably is a big advantage to being reasonably confident you're not going to be beaned. I can see my kid stepping in the bucket when I pitch to him, for fear of being beaned by Dad.

The smallest kids are always a problem. But I think some would be a problem for human pitchers as well because the strike zone is the size of your wallet.

We try to use just about 10-15 balls on the machine. If we can throw a certain ball for a strike, we'll use that ball again, making sure to place it in the machine the same way every time. We'll also move kids up or back in the box so the ball comes in at a reasonable height. It's far from a perfect system, but it doesn't sound as bad as your son's league.

When my oldest son moved up from machine to kid pitch, he got beaned on the very first pitch he saw. It was a glancing blow to the helmet and he got over it pretty quickly. The two kids have joked about it ever since. But I've seen other guys spend an entire season fighting the urge to jump out of the box.

[Why Not?]

Having coached 9-10 for a while now, I'd say we usually have 3-5 kids that can throw strikes. One year I had 8 players that could throw strikes - and two were 8 year olds playing up.

Catching is the bigger problem; sacrificing one of your better kids to catch is tough. In White Marsh, dropped strike 3's are a dead ball at 9-10; but live at 11-12. So jumping that level, you really need a good catcher.

I think where you live, and the quality of the program, is obviously key. I've seen plenty of good ball out 9-10 year olds.

And this machine pitch stuff is stupid. We do coach-pitch at 7-8. With coach-pitch, they learn how to time the ball. And a good coach can serve it up just as good as a T.

My kids have only played machine-pitch at 7-8, so it's all I know. Coach-pitch might indeed be better. I don't know.

Our Ripken league is similar with catching. There are not many kids who embrace getting behind the plate (my son included).

Does your 11-12 league play on a full-sized field? My oldest moved to 11-12 last Spring and played on a 50-70 field. I thought it was a good transition step to the full field.

[DrungoHazewood]

Our Ripken league is similar with catching. There are not many kids who embrace getting behind the plate (my son included).

This is probably going to cross over into sounding like whining or piling on, but catching is an issue, too. It takes so long for kids to get on the catching gear that it's normal for an inning start with no catcher. The pitch just goes to the backstop until the catcher finally gets suited up and waddles out behind the plate. Truthfully, it doesn't matter much because most pitches end up at the backstop with or without the catcher. My kid refuses to catch because the smallest cup (no comments wiseguys!!) still doesn't fit well and is very uncomfortable. The one practice I made him wear it he looked like a stereotypical ballplayer constantly adjusting himself.

[backwardsk]

This is probably going to cross over into sounding like whining or piling on, but catching is an issue, too. It takes so long for kids to get on the catching gear that it's normal for an inning start with no catcher. The pitch just goes to the backstop until the catcher finally gets suited up and waddles out behind the plate. Truthfully, it doesn't matter much because most pitches end up at the backstop with or without the catcher. My kid refuses to catch because the smallest cup (no comments wiseguys!!) still doesn't fit well and is very uncomfortable. The one practice I made him wear it he looked like a stereotypical ballplayer constantly adjusting himself.

I'd recommend your son where a cup whether he's catching or not. It only takes one shot to be a believer.

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[Stotle]

People who say that are typically people who never played the game, but only watched on TV. You need to play it, especially as a kid, to get the fun in it. It's a shame that the U.S. has such a resistance to soccer. It would make a great addition to the major sports, AND the U.S. would certainly dominate the international stage.

I played it. I've watched it. It's alright, but hasn't motivated me to take any further steps towards following it regularly.

[Redskins Rick]

I'd recommend your son where a cup whether he's catching or not. It only takes one shot to be a believer.

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What my son use to do, wear a cup that has a remove cup, and that way, if he needed to catch, he could just slip the thing in place, since he was already wearing the rest of the thing.

[McLovin]

Our Ripken league is similar with catching. There are not many kids who embrace getting behind the plate (my son included).

You do have to pick your poison with a rec team. Your best catcher is usually your best SS! Last year we had a girl on 11-12 - the only girl in the league - and she played catcher a good bit. She was a top 5 player in the league - it was a hoot to see her striking out boys and throwing them out on the basepaths.

Does your 11-12 league play on a full-sized field? My oldest moved to 11-12 last Spring and played on a 50-70 field. I thought it was a good transition step to the full field.

I think they play on 55-70 fields - same field as 9-10, but there are two rubbers for the pitcher, and the older kids pitch 5 feet behind. It's neat seeing the older kids on that field; with the maturity/speed of the hitters/baserunners, you see some really great bang-bang plays.

[McLovin]

This is probably going to cross over into sounding like whining or piling on, but catching is an issue, too. It takes so long for kids to get on the catching gear that it's normal for an inning start with no catcher.

Yeah, I think your league isn't run very well. It's SOP to get the catcher ready early. And if he's running the bases, he gets subbed with a runner so he can get the gear on. That should not be an issue.

[DrungoHazewood]

I'm going to zombie-fy this thread instead of making a new one. Nate successfully tried out for kid pitch this spring and made the jump up from machine pitch. I'll comment in bullet points:

- He's on the Red Sox. This has been a challenge. No, I won't wear Red Sox stuff.

- These are 8-10 year olds, and unlike last season they mostly appear to understand, enjoy, and are at least minimally competent at baseball.

- This is a three true outcomes league, with those being walks, Ks, and passed balls/wild pitches. I'd guess 80% of runs are mostly due to those three things.

- The strike zone appears to be knees-to-whatever-you-can-reach.

- By my count Nate's last game saw six hits, maybe 8 or 10 balls in play, and about 17 walks and 14 Ks between the two teams.

- Most common way to score: BB, WP, WP, WP.

- It's pretty trivial to steal even on non-WPs, and no leads, as most of the catchers struggle to throw the ball accurately to the bases.

- 3-4 balls a game are caught on the fly, compared to ~0 in machine pitch.

- A long flyball makes it to the outfield grass.

- Nate has two assists, a 4-3, and a 6-4 as a lefty infielder.

- The coaches are engaged and positive and seem to know what they're doing.

So despite the Sox being 0-2 (first time those words were ever typed by these hands) it's been a vastly better experience than last fall.

[glenn__davis]

Not sure how I missed this thread the first time around.

I'm glad your experience is a little better this year. I have one in 8-10 (kid pitch, score kept), one in 6-8 (coach pitch, no score kept) and one in 4-5 (T-ball).

I agree that formal games are quite boring up until the 8-10 league. As Stotle mentioned, the fun at that age really should come from the drills you do in practice. I coach and I try as much as possible to keep the kids engaged and keep them from standing around doing nothing. Not that I"m an expert coach, but it kills me to see practices at that age where one kid is just batting and the rest are standing around waiting for the ball to come to them. Learning baseball is all about repetition and they don't learn it that way.

My middle son made the 6-8 all-star team last year and they had an actual AS game, and i have to say I was pretty impressed. I distinctly remember looking over at a coach and saying this almost resembles real baseball. Most of them could hit, throw and catch.

At 8-10 obviously it's all about the pitching. If you have a kid that can throw strikes and someone who can catch you're ahead of the game.

But baseball can and should be a fun sport even at younger ages. There's not a ton you can do about games, but practices should be fun. I remember as a kid I couldn't wait for baseball practice bc I was blessed with a good coach. A bad coach can make baseball awful.

[DrungoHazewood]

After I typed the three true outcomes bullet it occurred to me that it didn't make much sense - nobody is scoring on Ks. Especially since they don't use or enforce the rule about catching strike three. That would be a debacle, as most strikeouts would result in a guy on second after the dropped third strike and then a throw into RF.

Also, I should note that the Yanks scored 3-4 runs last Thursday on the Sox' inability to successfully return the ball from catcher to pitcher. In the Majors this is known an Mackey Sasser syndrome, but here it's just a fact of life. If you're on third base you're on hairtrigger alert for the catcher to wing one out towards second in the attempt to throw it to the pitcher.

Baseball is pretty radically different with .600 fielding percentages. I can't help but to think I'm getting a glimpse into 1870s baseball here.

[weams]

I'm going to zombie-fy this thread instead of making a new one. Nate successfully tried out for kid pitch this spring and made the jump up from machine pitch. I'll comment in bullet points:

- He's on the Red Sox. This has been a challenge. No, I won't wear Red Sox stuff.

- These are 8-10 year olds, and unlike last season they mostly appear to understand, enjoy, and are at least minimally competent at baseball.

- This is a three true outcomes league, with those being walks, Ks, and passed balls/wild pitches. I'd guess 80% of runs are mostly due to those three things.

- The strike zone appears to be knees-to-whatever-you-can-reach.

- By my count Nate's last game saw six hits, maybe 8 or 10 balls in play, and about 17 walks and 14 Ks between the two teams.

- Most common way to score: BB, WP, WP, WP.

- It's pretty trivial to steal even on non-WPs, and no leads, as most of the catchers struggle to throw the ball accurately to the bases.

- 3-4 balls a game are caught on the fly, compared to ~0 in machine pitch.

- A long flyball makes it to the outfield grass.

- Nate has two assists, a 4-3, and a 6-4 as a lefty infielder.

- The coaches are engaged and positive and seem to know what they're doing.

So despite the Sox being 0-2 (first time those words were ever typed by these hands) it's been a vastly better experience than last fall.

Such fun. Thanks for sharing.

[weams]

After I typed the three true outcomes bullet it occurred to me that it didn't make much sense - nobody is scoring on Ks. Especially since they don't use or enforce the rule about catching strike three. That would be a debacle, as most strikeouts would result in a guy on second after the dropped third strike and then a throw into RF.

Also, I should note that the Yanks scored 3-4 runs last Thursday on the Sox' inability to successfully return the ball from catcher to pitcher. In the Majors this is known an Mackey Sasser syndrome, but here it's just a fact of life. If you're on third base you're on hairtrigger alert for the catcher to wing one out towards second in the attempt to throw it to the pitcher.

Baseball is pretty radically different with .600 fielding percentages. I can't help but to think I'm getting a glimpse into 1870s baseball here.

I think your Tardis is an excellent thread.

[SpinJr]

Good thread. I've read some snippets from beginning to end. I share similar concerns about youth baseball these days.

I live in Southern (as far as one can go) Maryland now and I've coached and currently am umpiring for little league baseball. I grew up in AA county and played for the Lake Shore organization and baseball took me all the way through college. My experiences growing up are FILLED with found memories of baseball. Not just playing games but studying the game, learning the game, having successes and failures, and developing life long friendships along the way.

However, I am concerned with what I've seen here at least locally. I'm not sure if it is a regional difference or generational reality? My biggest gripe is kids are not learning to play baseball. We place them on the field and they have no clue what they're doing. When I was coaching we had not time to practice. My main goal was to build a foundation like I was taught. I pulled out the tee, did form throwing, tried to teach proper base running, what is a crow hop, etc. We had 2 weeks of practice time minus any rainouts. My team was 8-10 years old and they weren't anywhere ready for games (as a team some individuals certainly were). I was left very deflated.

Of course we all romanticize our childhoods but even at my most objective I see why kids aren't playing baseball anymore like they used to. We don't teach them well enough to have more successes than failures. (Full disclosure I believe travel ball is most likely where the real players are these days)

Glad your experience is better this year as a parent. I hope my son (17 months old) has more to look forward to here then what I've seen thus far.

[DrungoHazewood]

Good thread. I've read some snippets from beginning to end. I share similar concerns about youth baseball these days.

I live in Southern (as far as one can go) Maryland now and I've coached and currently am umpiring for little league baseball. I grew up in AA county and played for the Lake Shore organization and baseball took me all the way through college. My experiences growing up are FILLED with found memories of baseball. Not just playing games but studying the game, learning the game, having successes and failures, and developing life long friendships along the way.

However, I am concerned with what I've seen here at least locally. I'm not sure if it is a regional difference or generational reality? My biggest gripe is kids are not learning to play baseball. We place them on the field and they have no clue what they're doing. When I was coaching we had not time to practice. My main goal was to build a foundation like I was taught. I pulled out the tee, did form throwing, tried to teach proper base running, what is a crow hop, etc. We had 2 weeks of practice time minus any rainouts. My team was 8-10 years old and they weren't anywhere ready for games (as a team some individuals certainly were). I was left very deflated.

Of course we all romanticize our childhoods but even at my most objective I see why kids aren't playing baseball anymore like they used to. We don't teach them well enough to have more successes than failures. (Full disclosure I believe travel ball is most likely where the real players are these days)

Glad your experience is better this year as a parent. I hope my son (17 months old) has more to look forward to here then what I've seen thus far.

So where in Southern Maryland? We're in St. Mary's County, so also as far south as you can go without getting wet.

I think in all sports there's a line between playing games and just practicing. I do find it unusual that here they practice for a few weeks, then nothing but games through the rest of the season. My other son plays soccer and I coach and they have practices all season in addition to games.