OFF Topic Dangerous Rec Baseball

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Jun 14, 2019
80
8
I thought I would ask here since you all are so helpful. If it is too off topic please feel free to delete.

Last night my son played in an 8u baseball rec game. Our league has always had 8u as coach pitch. This year a team from our league petitioned for it to be switched to modified kid pitch. Everyone was okay with it. The thinking was sure, it might be fun to let them try kid pitch to get them ready for the next level. After last nights game I now know why this team wanted this. They have 2 travel ball pitchers that could easily have been moved to even 12u rec ball. They were pitching so hard that I didn't even want my son to bat in fear for his safety. He was in tball last year. One of our kids was hit in the head so hard it took him to the ground. If his face had been turned I don't even want to think about what would have happened. They were hitting line drives at our fielders and our poor second baseman was hit twice and had to go to the dugout the second time. All the while their coach is yelling at them to plow it and pitch harder. My son was literally shaking having to go up to bat and he is a pretty good player for his age. We had parents on our team telling their kids to step out of the box so they would be safe. Finally in the last inning, after the 14 year old umpire talked to them, they switched to another pitcher who was still very good, but was appropriate for this age/skill level. I really want to make some kind of a complaint about this but am unsure how to even go about it. We won't play them again this season, but there are still 4 more teams who will. It is unsafe and just bad sportsmanship in my opinion. These kids could have been moved up to 10u at least. Any advice would be much appreciated.
 
Dec 15, 2018
809
93
CT
Talent disparity in rec will be a thing for as long as your kid plays, especially in sanctions where participation in rec is a mandatory pre-requisite for being on travel / all-stars roster (LL, babe ruth). Ideally if possible, the kids would play to their level of competition, and coaches would use their players who are advanced in safe/smart ways – but you can’t really stop them from being “too good”.

I still remember being in LL as a tiny 9 year old facing huge all-star 12 year old pitchers and being happy to hit a foul ball or a flair to right field (back when separating by birth year wasn't really a thing).
 
Jun 14, 2019
80
8
Talent disparity in rec will be a thing for as long as your kid plays, especially in sanctions where participation in rec is a mandatory pre-requisite for being on travel / all-stars roster (LL, babe ruth). Ideally if possible, the kids would play to their level of competition, and coaches would use their players who are advanced in safe/smart ways – but you can’t really stop them from being “too good”.

I still remember being in LL as a tiny 9 year old facing huge all-star 12 year old pitchers and being happy to hit a foul ball or a flair to right field (back when separating by birth year wasn't really a thing).
I get that, and totally applaud these kids skills, I just wish these parents and coaches had moved them up. We are in a small town where our rec league is the same teams as our high school league, so the competition is way over the top as it is. Some of the bigger cities near us have an evaluation day and I am wondering if that would help correct this issue in our area at all.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
I get that, and totally applaud these kids skills, I just wish these parents and coaches had moved them up. We are in a small town where our rec league is the same teams as our high school league, so the competition is way over the top as it is. Some of the bigger cities near us have an evaluation day and I am wondering if that would help correct this issue in our area at all.
You cannot force somebody to play to their talent level unfortunately. We had a team in our 7U coach pitch baseball who moved themselves up to 8U this year but nobody forced them to do it.
 

radness

Possibilities & Opportunities!
Dec 13, 2019
7,270
113
This year a team from our league petitioned for it to be switched to modified kid pitch. Everyone was okay with it.







The thinking was sure, it might be fun to let them try kid pitch to get them ready for the next level. After last nights game I now know why this team wanted this. They have 2 travel ball pitchers that could easily have been moved to even 12u rec ball. They were pitching so hard that I didn't even want my son to bat in fear for his safety. He was in tball last year. One of our kids was hit in the head so hard it took him to the ground. If his face had been turned I don't even want to think about what would have happened. They were hitting line drives at our fielders and our poor second baseman was hit twice and had to go to the dugout the second time. All the while their coach is yelling at them to plow it and pitch harder. My son was literally shaking having to go up to bat and he is a pretty good player for his age. We had parents on our team telling their kids to step out of the box so they would be safe. Finally in the last inning, after the 14 year old umpire talked to them, they switched to another pitcher who was still very good, but was appropriate for this age/skill level. I really want to make some kind of a complaint about this but am unsure how to even go about it. We won't play them again this season, but there are still 4 more teams who will. It is unsafe and just bad sportsmanship in my opinion. These kids could have been moved up to 10u at least. Any advice would be much appreciated.
Who is everyone?
Everyone will need to re-evaluate if or not this was a good decision.

Often things change only to need adjustments later.
Like cell phones and driving.
And cars with no seatbelts.

As to bad sportsmanship, unfortunetly that happens.
Use this as a learning experience to be better people!
 
Mar 20, 2019
115
28
The problem sounds like league structure, our teams are put together by the comissioner so there is no brining your team and getting a guarantee they'll be on the same team. We will also strongly "suggest" that a player should move up or down based on skill level. Once you hit 10U all teams are drafted by manager based off of last year's standings. Babe Ruth also dropped the having to play in the league to be an all star this year. It's become a travel team tournament anyway over the last 10 years.

Sounds like you have more of an association of rec leagues rather than a league where kids sign up and are placed on teams. By the way who thinks it's actually a good idea to let 8 and under pitch in baseball anyway. Those kids will need Tommy John surgery by the time they are 12. (I guess some don't see that as Abad thing these days though)

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk
 
Jun 14, 2019
80
8
Who is everyone?
Everyone will need to re-evaluate if or not this was a good decision.

Often things change only to need adjustments later.
Like cell phones and driving.
And cars with no seatbelts.

As to bad sportsmanship unfortunetly that happens.
Use this as a learning experience to be a better people!
All the coaches agreed I guess. We thought it was still coach pitch until we showed up at our first game. We have a two year system so we have kids with summer birthdays that are still 6yrs old getting absolutely terrified. I highly doubt some of these kids will ever want to play again after this experience.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
Those kids will need Tommy John surgery by the time they are 12. (I guess some don't see that as Abad thing these days though)

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk
I don't think pitching at that age is too bad. We had half coach pitch/half kid pitch at that age 35+ years ago. As long as you are not overusing the kid. The whole Tommy John surgery epidemic thing is a complicated matter imo. I think part of it has to do with kids being able to throw so hard at such a young age now (due to a number of things) but their still maturing bodies (e.g. ligaments) not being able to withstand the forces that are incurred by throwing so hard. Roger Clemens barely touched 90 when he got out of HS..
 
Jun 14, 2019
80
8
The problem sounds like league structure, our teams are put together by the comissioner so there is no brining your team and getting a guarantee they'll be on the same team. We will also strongly "suggest" that a player should move up or down based on skill level. Once you hit 10U all teams are drafted by manager based off of last year's standings. Babe Ruth also dropped the having to play in the league to be an all star this year. It's become a travel team tournament anyway over the last 10 years.

Sounds like you have more of an association of rec leagues rather than a league where kids sign up and are placed on teams. By the way who thinks it's actually a good idea to let 8 and under pitch in baseball anyway. Those kids will need Tommy John surgery by the time they are 12. (I guess some don't see that as Abad thing these days though)

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk
The small town rivalry has been going strong forever. I think that adds to them really not caring what is best for the kids as long as they can win.
 
Jul 5, 2016
652
63
The small town rivalry has been going strong forever. I think that adds to them really not caring what is best for the kids as long as they can win.

I think a lot of parents - fathers in particular - tend to forget what it was like to be a little kid. It is really important to have the right group of people making the decisions. Sometimes you need somebody to say to you - is that really a good idea?
 

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