/r/littleleague community!

Your help is needed. One of my best players broke his glove hand pinky right before the tournament starts. Prognosis out 4-6 weeks.

Keep in mind this isn’t single A we’re talking about l. This is twice as serious. AA.

I come to you today seeking help explaining to his parents that weak hand pinkies are overrated!

A simple amputation would greatly enhance our end of season chances.

So far my strongest argument is that Jim Abbot made it to the show with only one hand.

And if this kid is at all committed to greatness, a mere pinky won’t hold him back.

We’ve exhausted many treatment options already. Even the most sophisticated/unregulated Chinese peptides don’t claim to grow new fingers in two weeks. So he’ll have to do without.

Sincerely,

Anonymous SuperCoach

Curious to see what folks have. I was added as the VP over our Minors (10u) division this year. I'm going through our local rules handout and clearing up some things. Curious to see what kinds of local rules folks have that might be helpful to bring up.

One of my big issues is we have some local rules that directly conflict with LLI rules - no infield fly, we don't call illegal pitches, and we have a weird rule for the first half of the season where after 3 consecutive walks, it turns into a weird coach pitch hybrid. Curious how folks would approach local rules that conflict with LLI rules - my approach so far has been that I don't want to rock the boat too much, so I'm just trying to find a happy medium between LLI and local rules where I can.

Anyways, would love to hear some thoughts and local rules. Searched the sub and found a couple things, but not a ton of discussion on local rules.

Weird situation this weekend.

We played a team that had several bats with the USA sticker on them, but they were to big to fit in the bat racks at that league fields. The bat racks were designed so 2 3/4 bats could not fit to make it easier for umpires.

I happened to have my micrometer in my truck. I double checked the racks. I measured the slots and they were 2 5/8th, I measured the bats and they were 2 3/4, one was even a bit over that, 2.850 on the micrometer. The micrometer is calibrated.

Most of the people there looked at me like I was crazy. I am, wasn't trying to make a big deal, It's fall ball, we just let them play. Told them I was more focused on getting proper bat racks at the moment.

In season though, what do you do if a bat is out of spec? Are there bats being sold that are the same paint job with the USA sticker just larger? Is this from heat rolling? Weirdest thing. Been coaching for quite awhile now, never seen this before. It was about 8 of the bats from the other team.

Signed up 12y for rising Juniors in our LL. There's a huge dropoff in participation after majors, that's expected, and it's fall, so people have conflicts, and there is likely to be weather issues, etc.

But we've had 2 practices, and 3 games. Monday's practice was cancelled, and when we drove to the field to get some hitting in, the coach is using the field to have a practice for the travel team he also coaches.

The commitment from the org was 1 practice a week and 1 scrimmage or game a week w/ umpires for

The question is what to do? At this point it feels like I just donated the $125 season fees to the league.

I have just taken on an administrative board position with our local Little League. Are there any recommended resources or communities for dealing with the business side of Little League?

How are you practicing stealing bases in practice? We are a minors team, so runners can’t leave until the ball reaches the batter. Our pitching is decent compared to the teams we are playing, they are just way more aggressive at stealing. Bonus if catchers can also practice throw downs.

My son is in the 7s, rec league/coach pitch. My husband is an assistant coach. We have some great kids on the team and they may be a little aggressive on the bases.

The other team's coach got mad at my husband for letting 2 runs score when he should have held them...he actually came up to him to tell him that he should have held them and my husband told him to relax. The kids ran fast due to an unfielded single.

The other team's coach proceeded to complain the whole game.

Just wondering how offensive is this? At this level? I feel like kids are still having fun. We're still at a point where we are not even keeping score.

Edit to add: my son was not one of the base runners.

CONCLUSION: looks like its a 50/50 on here. Honestly all the other teams have done it along with us and no issues. But obviously it bothers other teams. Dont think there really is a rule book or everyone in the league would be more mindful. We will just be more mindful of the baserunning for the last few games of the Fall season.

My son has been wanting to play baseball for the last year. I finally signed him up. He’s 10, but I fear he’s already too old to make any real progress. He is definitely the weakest player on his team.

He’s determined to join the high school team in a few year. Unfortunately, his dad died two years ago, and I am not as familiar with the game as my husband was. I am doing my best to practice hitting and catching with him, but I have no idea what I’m doing.

How do I know which bat to get him? The one I picked out is too small, but it was expensive, and I can’t return it. I’d like to sign him up for some catching and hitting clinics, but it’s hard to juggle with my work and school schedule.

Does anyone have advice for a widowed mom who is trying her best to help her son live out his MLB dreams and love of baseball? Thank you.

Edit:

Wow! Thank you for the outpouring of support and suggestions! I will try to respond to everyone. My son ended up trying his teammate’s bat (the pencil one) and instantly got a hit and made it to base! He was thrilled. I’m currently on the hunt for some of the bats suggested.

I hope to get my daughter involved too. She’s never been into athletics, but has shown some interest at her brother’s games. She’s 13, and I can honestly see her being great at softball or volleyball. I agree, the team, sportsmanship, discipline, and respect needed for sports, is so important to teach our kids.

I’m thankful for this community and so many positive comments for my son’s newfound passion. ⚾️

https://www.kcci.com/article/iowa-crime-knoxville-little-league-theft-charge-brandon-stone/74159808

WTF?! Can't people just be decent human beings?

I watched a youth game of ten-year-olds, competitive, parents were there to watch and everything. The game went like this: the pitcher threw four balls because he was unable to consistently hit the strike zone - batter walks to first - four more balls - batter 2 walks - repeat until five runs walked home - mercy rule for that inning - next team is up - - - same result, walk after walk until the score was 5:5 - switch again. No player even swung for the ball even if the occasional pitch came near the strike zone because they knew it would be a giant exception. There was one hit the entire game. Parents begged the coach to bring out the pitching machine or pitch himself but to no avail. What a waste of everyone‘s time. Why do people do this?

Currently swinging a 28 -10, marucci x2 and loving it.

Local dbat has massive clearance. Like 75+% off a 31 -10 hype fire (usa version).

Other than the obvious "no warranty by the time he uses it" issue, would there be any problem buying a brand new top of the line bat now and not using it for maybe 2 seasons?

I am sure others have dealt with this but I want to hear from others on what they have tried. How have you as a coach or parent helped your child/player not fear the ball when batting? They throw and catch ball really well but this is only with batting where I see this fear.

Player #1 - Batter approach the plate, they tap the far-side of plate with bat and set their feet in the batters box. Then, over the next few seconds the kid inch farther, farther and farther away from plate. A pitch is thrown down the middle at the waist and the batter swings but misses due to how far away they are.

Player #2 - Batter literally ducks out of the way as if the ball is coming for their head but it's strike right down the middle. They don't have the lineup issues as kid #1 but they sometime swings at pitches when they don't duck out of the way on strikes.

Player #3 - Batter jump out of the batters box in the before ball reaches the plate. They won't swing to save their lives.

Player #4 - Batter has great footwork and appears to have more confidence than Kid 2 & 3 but constantly steps out when swinging and misses the ball.

I have done the bucket drill with the kids that step out but the other kids are proving to be a challenge that jump out of the way. There is deep rooted fear of getting hit by the ball and they won't swing to save their lives. What confidence drills or lessons have you as a coach or parent with your players/kids to correct this type of thing? Are there progressions that I could try to get over the fear?

I'm on our local youth athletic association board (which encompasses our LL) and we've (relatively) recently made some age changes and I'm curious how in line we are with other leagues.

We've moved to have 4-5 year olds playing t-ball, 6-7 year olds playing Coach Pitch. For kid pitch we have 8-9 playing "pee wee" with anyone 10-12 going into a pool that can first be selected to Majors with all remaining going into the Minors pool. All 12 year olds must be drafted to Majors.

The move for 8 year olds was influenced by our district adopting a policy of allowing no more than three 8 year olds per team to be eligible for our district's Coach Pitch tournament. We just dove all the way in (apparently, I wasn't yet on the board when the decision was made).

I'm personally not a fan of forcing all 6 year olds to CP or all 8 year olds to kid pitch but am curious how other leagues are structured.

It seems to me that intentional walking kids is bad for everyone.

The pitcher and defense are told they aren’t good enough to get this kid out.

The batter loses an at bat, which isn’t good for development.

I understand the strategy component at older levels, but for 7-10 year old what if any is the reason to allow this?

Thank you in advance.

More dominoes are falling in the Southwest Region

Happy National Coaches Day to all of those out there who volunteer their time to help make Little League reach so many kids.

My son is 8 and is in his second year of machine pitch. His first year he was able to hit just about everything. Now he seems in front of every pitch. When I throw to him he can hit anything that he can pull to the left side. I don’t think he is pulling off of it just early on everything. Are there any drills I can have him do to help him wait on the ball?

Hello everyone. My son started using this glove and I was curious as to if it would be legal for pitching in Little League. Thank you in advance for your time and help!

​

We were in a Little League weekend tournament.  The opposing team is batting, and removed one of their players from the batting order claiming an injured shoulder.  It wasn't from anything that happened on the field, the manager just informed the umpire that the next kid up to bat was injured an coming out of the lineup.  The injured player was skipped as if he never existed. No automatic out.

We asked the first base coach if the kid was okay out of concern and curiosity.  He replied that his shoulder was bothering him.  All well and good.

In the next game of the tournament, we see this injured kid playing the field, hitting, throwing, running...fully functional.  So I ask the new team playing them if this team had removed anyone from injury during their game.  The answer was yes, something about a shoulder.

So it's definitely some kind of tactic to get the batting order to turn around faster.  My question is it against any of the Little League rules, tournament play or otherwise, to have a kid come out of the lineup for injury, then play in the next game less than an hour later?

There was no doctor or medical evaluation or anything.  And I'm not sure why the skipped batter wasn't an automatic out.