2022 Little League Thread of Dominance

[BrazilHorn 6576]

It's LL time again ladies and gents! Let's use this thread for posts and updates about our various and sundry 2022 Little League experiences.

WHLL just finished tryouts today (yesterday was fucking miserably cold) and the draft is coming up.

Mix of 11 and 12 year olds in the Majors brackets (my youngest is 12 so this is his (and mine) last year of LL).

Let's get to it! Good luck to all the coaches, parents and players.

 

[F250 28658]

[txhorns 2407]

I’m in charge of my town’s little league, not actually associated with the Little League organization.  Had a big jump in sign ups this season, 260 kids up from 201 last year.

Our fields were horrendous when I took over and I’ve improved them as much as I can from simple hard work.  I started two fundraisers this year to help repair the facilities.  I’m also working on putting together a capital campaign for the league to completely overhaul the entire complex.  Looks like that is going to be between $500-750k.

So busy times in my league.  Games start March 21!

[Murfdogg21 4412]

When I was little (30 years ago) everyone played t-ball the year they were in kindergarten. What happened to LL age rules? I thought I was ahead of the game by enrolling my 4 year old, only to discover I missed his K-ball and fall t-ball seasons and this is his final opportunity to play t-ball, moving up to coach pitch a month after he turns 5. Holy smokes I’m still trying to teach him which direction to run the bases! Oak Ridge/Woodlands had a real shortage of coaches this year too (or every year?) so I got upgraded to head coach as well.  The most difficult part so far is explaining the tight short shorts to my wife. 

[F250 28658]

50 minutes ago, Murfdogg21 said:

When I was little (30 years ago) everyone played t-ball the year they were in kindergarten. What happened to LL age rules? I thought I was ahead of the game by enrolling my 4 year old, only to discover I missed his K-ball and fall t-ball seasons and this is his final opportunity to play t-ball, moving up to coach pitch a month after he turns 5. Holy smokes I’m still trying to teach him which direction to run the bases! Oak Ridge/Woodlands had a real shortage of coaches this year too (or every year?) so I got upgraded to head coach as well.  The most difficult part so far is explaining the tight short shorts to my wife. 

Machine pitch is 7/8 with a handful of 6 year olds in LL. A 5 year old should still be in tee ball unless they are capable of defending themselves with their glove when a big 8 year old drills a ball at them.

 

 

[Murfdogg21 4412]

9 hours ago, F250 said:

Machine pitch is 7/8 with a handful of 6 year olds in LL. A 5 year old should still be in tee ball unless they are capable of defending themselves with their glove when a big 8 year old drills a ball at them.

In our league they do the age cut off on July 1 or Aug 1, so both of my June boys play T-ball at 3 (!) and 4, coach pitch at 5, machine pitch at 6!

[texashorne 1177]

Coach pitch where I live.. its our last season and I am coaching Premier, which is elevated rec.. these little 8 year old dudes can hit pretty hard...any recs on body armor?

[Texas St. Armadillos 1373]

Just now, texashorne said:

Coach pitch where I live.. its our last season and I am coaching Premier, which is elevated rec.. these little 8 year old dudes can hit pretty hard...any recs on body armor?

Start beaning a couple of the repeat offenders.  They'll adjust.

[F250 28658]

2 hours ago, Murfdogg21 said:

In our league they do the age cut off on July 1 or Aug 1, so both of my June boys play T-ball at 3 (!) and 4, coach pitch at 5, machine pitch at 6!

This not LL? Little League age would be however old they are or will be on August 31.

https://www.littleleague.org/play-little-league/determine-league-age/

 

If you are not in Little League you might want to double check the age rules with whatever org you are in. That sounds really odd.

 

[Helobious 9476]

1 hour ago, texashorne said:

Coach pitch where I live.. its our last season and I am coaching Premier, which is elevated rec.. these little 8 year old dudes can hit pretty hard...any recs on body armor?

Quick reactions are the best body armor. 

[F250 28658]

1 hour ago, Helobious said:

Quick reactions are the best body armor. 

Quick reactions with the glove yes, quickly moving out of the path of the ball like a frightened child not so much. lol

Things don't get scary until they are teenagers. Once they hit 16 make sure your L screen is in good condition and you know how to properly use it. A friend left just a bit of his side exposed behind the screen and ended up with cracked ribs.

 

[Murfdogg21 4412]

2 hours ago, F250 said:

This not LL? Little League age would be however old they are or will be on August 31.

https://www.littleleague.org/play-little-league/determine-league-age/

 

If you are not in Little League you might want to double check the age rules with whatever org you are in. That sounds really odd.

 

Yeah. We are LL, and per the age chart kids born in summer 2017 are considered “5”. Half our t-ball team will still be 4 though when the season ends in May. In two years, my boy will be in first grade, 6 years old, but considered “7” and in machine pitch. I could’ve sworn I didn’t play machine pitch until 2nd and 3rd grade, and I was an older kid for my grade. 

[Guest Lobo]

For those of you in Austin, what's a good league to get my daughter involved in this year?  She's in 1st grade.  didn't play organized t-ball due to Covid-19.  I want her to play until "the system" moves her over to softball.  I don't care about competitiveness, just some measure of skill development around non-psychotic parents with some fun peppered in.  

[BrazilHorn 6576]

1 hour ago, Lobo said:

For those of you in Austin, what's a good league to get my daughter involved in this year?  She's in 1st grade.  didn't play organized t-ball due to Covid-19.  I want her to play until "the system" moves her over to softball.  I don't care about competitiveness, just some measure of skill development around non-psychotic parents with some fun peppered in.  

It depends on where you live as you need to be zoned to your LL. My kids have played (youngest is in last year) at Western Hills which services Westlake & Central Austin (Pemberton/Tarrytown) area.

Then you have Northwest LL which covers like the Far West down to 38th Street area (Think Murcheson Middle School zoning type deal)

There is South Austin LL which is south of the river down lamar to Congress area (I am unsure how far South)

If you are in Oak Hill area they have a LL that isn't part of the LL Western Hills and NW are in but it is a really good facility/setup.

Bear in mind this is for baseball. I know Western Hills had a softball league but no clue how it is set up etc.

Western Hills just had tryouts this weekend so you may have missed our window but I am sure you could email the commissioner of the age group your daughter would be a part of and get an exception.

All LL parents carry some level of psychosis. It normally manifests itself in the older kids parents vs younger though and more so for those playing select baseball. I had a dad at our tryouts yesterday that was in the dugout with his son talking to him, went over to the coaches that were in shallow RF watching tryouts while his son batted etc.(That was one OBVIOUSLY nutso parent out of like 75 kids we tried out for Majors)

The hardest part about as kids get older for me is trying to balance the kids who play year round like my son with the kids that have never played or maybe played one season. The range of skill level is significant. We had three 12 yo at tryouts yesterday that have never played baseball. It is a hell of a sport to come into cold at 12. It's fun to coach them up and see the improvement, I just worry they are going to get drilled in the face.

[Mez2 4020]

Coaches pitch here, last season before moving up to kid pitch. Based out of Oaks Dads Club,  looking forward to another season, practices start this week.

 

/bartscott

[F250 28658]

2 hours ago, Murfdogg21 said:

Yeah. We are LL, and per the age chart kids born in summer 2017 are considered “5”. Half our t-ball team will still be 4 though when the season ends in May. In two years, my boy will be in first grade, 6 years old, but considered “7” and in machine pitch. I could’ve sworn I didn’t play machine pitch until 2nd and 3rd grade, and I was an older kid for my grade. 

 

I get it now. Previously your son would have been an "old" 6 year old but the age change wiped out those late birthdays. Those used to be ideal birthdays for Little League that would fill up All Star teams with 13 year olds born in May/June.

Machine pitch should still be predominantly filled with 2nd graders with some outliers in 1st/3rd grade. Now that I think about it, my daughter played machine in 1st grade but turned 7 right before the season started a few years ago.

 

[F250 28658]

3 hours ago, Lobo said:

For those of you in Austin, what's a good league to get my daughter involved in this year?  She's in 1st grade.  didn't play organized t-ball due to Covid-19.  I want her to play until "the system" moves her over to softball.  I don't care about competitiveness, just some measure of skill development around non-psychotic parents with some fun peppered in.  

YMCA isn't very competitive and low on the crazy parents scale. You might consider looking into that organization.

 

[txhorns 2407]

Well I lost an outfield to a fire today.  About 75% of the outfield on my biggest field burned.  It’s a high school size field.  Plus found out someone broke a window at the concession stand so have to replace that now.

Edited February 17, 2022 by txhorns

[BrazilHorn 6576]

13 hours ago, txhorns said:

Well I lost an outfield to a fire today.  About 75% of the outfield on my biggest field burned.  It’s a high school size field.  Plus found out someone broke a window at the concession stand so have to replace that now.

That sucks. 

[BrazilHorn 6576]

We had our draft this morning and our team looks to be pretty solid. Two teams had to go to 12 players but fortunately we dodged that bullet as that’s a pain (had that last year). 
 

[Huckleberry 32684]

On 2/14/2022 at 4:43 PM, F250 said:

 

I get it now. Previously your son would have been an "old" 6 year old but the age change wiped out those late birthdays. Those used to be ideal birthdays for Little League that would fill up All Star teams with 13 year olds born in May/June.

Machine pitch should still be predominantly filled with 2nd graders with some outliers in 1st/3rd grade. Now that I think about it, my daughter played machine in 1st grade but turned 7 right before the season started a few years ago.

 

Minor correction in that LL changed back to the way it was forever. Letting summer birthdays move back an age was the change and it was dumb. Basically the entire country determines school age around 8/31 and 9/1, so the LL change split up a bunch of classmates.

[F250 28658]

14 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

Minor correction in that LL changed back to the way it was forever. Letting summer birthdays move back an age was the change and it was dumb. Basically the entire country determines school age around 8/31 and 9/1, so the LL change split up a bunch of classmates.

Right. My eldest played one season of tee ball prior to the previous rule change. Then it changed again as my youngest son aged out.

 

[PappyVanVinceYoung 85]

From 1947 - 2005, the cut off was August 1st. From 2006 - 2017, the cut off was April 30th. Since 2018, the cut off has been August 31st. 

My son's birthday is end of August, so the change made a big difference for us. We've since moved on to select only. 

[Murfdogg21 4412]

On 2/17/2022 at 8:06 PM, Huckleberry said:

Minor correction in that LL changed back to the way it was forever. Letting summer birthdays move back an age was the change and it was dumb. Basically the entire country determines school age around 8/31 and 9/1, so the LL change split up a bunch of classmates.

That all makes sense about the date, I just thought kindergartners played t-ball, not coach pitch. Some kids that are barely 5 playing coach pitch is ambitious IMO. 

[Murfdogg21 4412]

Since I’ve been mostly complaining in this thread I’ll stick with it for at least one more post. My preK t-ball team got 3 kids with disabilities (autism, two are pretty bad and of those is non-verbal). I was told before the season how rare it is get 3 outs before the 5 run inning cap. My team got 3 out’d in two of our three at-bats today. Both times it was one “normal” out like an easy hit to the pitcher or 2nd, and the other two out were autistic kids not running to first base after they finally made contact. Almost every game is a 15-15 or 20-20 tie in this league, and we got beat 15-8. I’m a good sport and keep the kids positive, but this is going to get old if we go winless. It’s not fair to my other 9 players. 

[Surly Bevo 24692]

LOL. PreK T-Ball

[txhorns 2407]

We played modified coach pitch for 4 year olds to kindergarten kids.  They get 3 pitches from the coach and then hit off the tee if need be.  Everyone bats every inning and we don’t keep score.

[F250 28658]

2 hours ago, txhorns said:

We played modified coach pitch for 4 year olds to kindergarten kids.  They get 3 pitches from the coach and then hit off the tee if need be.  Everyone bats every inning and we don’t keep score.

We had a division like this for those not quite ready for machine pitch. It's a good hybrid.

 

[F250 28658]

On 2/19/2022 at 8:26 PM, Murfdogg21 said:

That all makes sense about the date, I just thought kindergartners played t-ball, not coach pitch. Some kids that are barely 5 playing coach pitch is ambitious IMO. 

This is somewhat league dependent based on if they have enough players to field certain divisions. Our machine pitch had a draft so undrafted players under 7 would fall back to tee ball except the times when we had a tee/coach pitch division but that depends on how many kids sign up that season.

The same thing occurred with kid pitch. Some 8 year olds would try out but most went undrafted and fell back to machine pitch.

I imagine small leagues have no choice but to combine wider age ranges.

 

[Mez2 4020]

On 2/19/2022 at 8:34 PM, Murfdogg21 said:

Since I’ve been mostly complaining in this thread I’ll stick with it for at least one more post. My preK t-ball team got 3 kids with disabilities (autism, two are pretty bad and of those is non-verbal). I was told before the season how rare it is get 3 outs before the 5 run inning cap. My team got 3 out’d in two of our three at-bats today. Both times it was one “normal” out like an easy hit to the pitcher or 2nd, and the other two out were autistic kids not running to first base after they finally made contact. Almost every game is a 15-15 or 20-20 tie in this league, and we got beat 15-8. I’m a good sport and keep the kids positive, but this is going to get old if we go winless. It’s not fair to my other 9 players. 

You want Kiké to on your team? Hes a free agent

[Murfdogg21 4412]

10 hours ago, Mez2 said:

You want Kiké to on your team? Hes a free agent

Come North, young man! I’ve seen the swing in the genes!

[BrazilHorn 6576]

On 2/19/2022 at 8:34 PM, Murfdogg21 said:

Since I’ve been mostly complaining in this thread I’ll stick with it for at least one more post. My preK t-ball team got 3 kids with disabilities (autism, two are pretty bad and of those is non-verbal). I was told before the season how rare it is get 3 outs before the 5 run inning cap. My team got 3 out’d in two of our three at-bats today. Both times it was one “normal” out like an easy hit to the pitcher or 2nd, and the other two out were autistic kids not running to first base after they finally made contact. Almost every game is a 15-15 or 20-20 tie in this league, and we got beat 15-8. I’m a good sport and keep the kids positive, but this is going to get old if we go winless. It’s not fair to my other 9 players. 

In pre-k t ball I wouldn’t even keep score as i can remember games parents in the outfield would knock balls down/help the kids. 
Just have fun with it as at that age it’s a shitshow in terms of kid mgmt. 

Gets so much better as they get older

 

[txhorns 2407]

8 minutes ago, BrazilHorn said:

In pre-k t ball I wouldn’t even keep score as i can remember games parents in the outfield would knock balls down/help the kids. 
Just have fun with it as at that age it’s a shitshow in terms of kid mgmt. 

Gets so much better as they get older

 

There is zero reason to keep score or record outs at that level.

[Dennis Taylor 18679]

On 2/14/2022 at 4:43 PM, F250 said:

 

I get it now. Previously your son would have been an "old" 6 year old but the age change wiped out those late birthdays. Those used to be ideal birthdays for Little League that would fill up All Star teams with 13 year olds born in May/June.

Machine pitch should still be predominantly filled with 2nd graders with some outliers in 1st/3rd grade. Now that I think about it, my daughter played machine in 1st grade but turned 7 right before the season started a few years ago.

 

When my youngest was playing coach pitch his coach put them in a couple machine pitch tournaments and it was terrible for the kids' ball tracking.  In coach pitch it was our point of emphasis to find the ball (and the pitcher's hand obviously) and machine pitch kills that. I really don't see any benefits of machine pitch 

[BrazilHorn 6576]

1 hour ago, txhorns said:

There is zero reason to keep score or record outs at that level.

Agree. When i coached at second baptist league in Houston at that age we just bat the whole lineup through. Believe games were time based (don’t really remember as its been like 8 years)  but we never kept score/outs. 

[F250 28658]

39 minutes ago, Dennis Taylor said:

When my youngest was playing coach pitch his coach put them in a couple machine pitch tournaments and it was terrible for the kids' ball tracking.  In coach pitch it was our point of emphasis to find the ball (and the pitcher's hand obviously) and machine pitch kills that. I really don't see any benefits of machine pitch 

The benefits of machine pitch is that it provides a consistent pitch for all players, assuming the league has good pitching machines. But yeah there is a lack of a visual cue but a coach should be able to a signal to at least indicate the ball is about to be released.

I believe coach pitch is better if the coach knows how to pitch. At the rec level I've seen a lot of inconsistency with the coach pitching. Like really really bad pitching.

[F250 28658]

1 hour ago, txhorns said:

There is zero reason to keep score or record outs at that level.

lulz I coached tee ball one season and there was a mom that not only kept score she was tracking stats. She would sometimes get carried away and yell "we only need two more runs to win this. Timmy is batting .300 he can do this."

 

 

[Murfdogg21 4412]

Lolz the Woodlands league takes this shit seriously. They have us all on this “GameChanger” app to track games (runs, hits, outs, defensive playing time) and home team must keep and submit an official scorebook starting in this preK t-ball. (The 3-4 year olds league called “k-ball” does not keep score or outs). I think they put the t-ball, coach pitch, and machine pitch maybe a year earlier than most to get their kids an extra season of kid pitch before they are playing for Williamsport maybe?

I didn’t expect to have a winning record, but after our first game I think 0-12 is a reality. I feel bad for the 9 other non-special needs kids if they never get to experience a win in their first season of sports in life.  

[txhorns 2407]

1 hour ago, Dennis Taylor said:

When my youngest was playing coach pitch his coach put them in a couple machine pitch tournaments and it was terrible for the kids' ball tracking.  In coach pitch it was our point of emphasis to find the ball (and the pitcher's hand obviously) and machine pitch kills that. I really don't see any benefits of machine pitch 

 

59 minutes ago, F250 said:

The benefits of machine pitch is that it provides a consistent pitch for all players, assuming the league has good pitching machines. But yeah there is a lack of a visual cue but a coach should be able to a signal to at least indicate the ball is about to be released.

I believe coach pitch is better if the coach knows how to pitch. At the rec level I've seen a lot of inconsistency with the coach pitching. Like really really bad pitching.

Right now I have 7 and 8 year olds playing coach pitch.  I’m weighing my options on switching that league to machine pitch or not.  There are pros and cons to both.  Coaches lobbing the ball at basically soft toss levels is the biggest con for coach pitch.  That makes a vast difference in competitive advantages and does nothing for the kids to prepare them for kid pitch.  The pitching machine would at least make the pitching equal across the league.  It also lets me set the speed at a proper level for those kids and speeds up the game because of no bad pitches.

[Dennis Taylor 18679]

2 minutes ago, txhorns said:

 

Right now I have 7 and 8 year olds playing coach pitch.  I’m weighing my options on switching that league to machine pitch or not.  There are pros and cons to both.  Coaches lobbing the ball at basically soft toss levels is the biggest con for coach pitch.  That makes a vast difference in competitive advantages and does nothing for the kids to prepare them for kid pitch.  The pitching machine would at least make the pitching equal across the league.  It also lets me set the speed at a proper level for those kids and speeds up the game because of no bad pitches.

We didn't have the problem with coaches that did that so I guess that's the answer. Velocity would be whatever the kid could handle,  and learning to track the ball is very important for kid pitch.  

[F250 28658]

6 minutes ago, txhorns said:

 

Right now I have 7 and 8 year olds playing coach pitch.  I’m weighing my options on switching that league to machine pitch or not.  There are pros and cons to both.  Coaches lobbing the ball at basically soft toss levels is the biggest con for coach pitch.  That makes a vast difference in competitive advantages and does nothing for the kids to prepare them for kid pitch.  The pitching machine would at least make the pitching equal across the league.  It also lets me set the speed at a proper level for those kids and speeds up the game because of no bad pitches.

I lean towards machine pitch because of consistency. It's been awhile since I was involved at that level but I believe it was 46 feet set to 42 MPH. The pitches have a slight arc and the distance is far enough for the batter to track the ball.

I also suspect that kids fear a machine less than a grown man pitching the ball.

Personally, I don't think it matters either way when it comes to transitioning to kid pitch. There is a big time gap and a lot growth by the time they are 9 years old playing kid pitch the next Spring season.

 

[Murfdogg21 4412]

22 hours ago, Mez2 said:

You want Kiké to on your team? Hes a free agent

Holy shit we tied 15-15 tonight! With Mez3.b we’d be lighting stogies. 

[Mez2 4020]

Fuck yes! 

 

[Huckleberry 32684]

My kid never played machine pitch, but during his coach pitch seasons (which were in a previous league) I caused a bit of a kerfuffle in the league because I pitched from a knee. Apparently that was against the stupid league rules even though it helps the ball come in on a more realistic arc. Long story short, I dared them to call every little kid on my team out because their coach refused to follow that absurd and counterproductive rule and the next season the rule was changed and everyone pitched from a knee. 

[Surly Bevo 24692]

Coach pitch, machine pitch at 7 or 8. Who gives a shit.

When they reach kid pitch but on rare occasions they are going to sit there and watch balls that don’t have a prayer of finding the strike zone 3 times.

Actually probably gives advantage to a live coach pitching as recognizing pitches that suck and are not strikes is a part of the game that lives on (though obviously the older they get those “suck” pitches have a lot more intent behind them)

[BrazilHorn 6576]

52 minutes ago, Surly Bevo said:

Coach pitch, machine pitch at 7 or 8. Who gives a shit.

When they reach kid pitch but on rare occasions they are going to sit there and watch balls that don’t have a prayer of finding the strike zone 3 times.

Actually probably gives advantage to a live coach pitching as recognizing pitches that suck and are not strikes is a part of the game that lives on (though obviously the older they get those “suck” pitches have a lot more intent behind them)

Challenge in going from machine to kid pitch is how boring the game becomes that first kid pitch season. 
Go from exciting, high scoring machine pitch to walk, walk, HBP slowdown. 

[Jshep34 2303]

We are 6 months into kid pitch. Game is alot slower. Kids get really bored quickly on defense. Teams that succeed have versatile players. Lilshep has thrown 200 pitches since we started 130 for strikes. He also has only struck out once in 30 plate appearances. Hitting .450 with obp of .680 , fielding percent 92%.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[Huckleberry 32684]

On 2/21/2022 at 1:25 PM, Murfdogg21 said:

Lolz the Woodlands league takes this shit seriously. They have us all on this “GameChanger” app to track games (runs, hits, outs, defensive playing time) and home team must keep and submit an official scorebook starting in this preK t-ball. (The 3-4 year olds league called “k-ball” does not keep score or outs). I think they put the t-ball, coach pitch, and machine pitch maybe a year earlier than most to get their kids an extra season of kid pitch before they are playing for Williamsport maybe?

I didn’t expect to have a winning record, but after our first game I think 0-12 is a reality. I feel bad for the 9 other non-special needs kids if they never get to experience a win in their first season of sports in life.  

GameChanger app is awesome for coaches once we can convince players/parents to RSVP for everything. I coach older kids so it helps me put practice plans together and they've been warned that failing to RSVP will get them moved to the bottom of the batting order for games. Suddenly RSVP rate went way up for our first scrimmage. 

[BrazilHorn 6576]

Had first select tourney this weekend (only Sunday due to weather). Team went 1-1. I think had a shot at winning second game, just gave other team extra outs a couple of times and it bit them on the scoreboard.

First LL practice coming up Friday and another select tourney this weekend, followed by 1st LL game Monday. Baseball is on blouses.

[Hornin04 260]

Any good resources for me the assistant manager? Helping a friend coach a Minors team consisting of mostly 8-10 yr olds. I helped out in fall ball and was frustrated with the lack of productive practices and felt like the boys weren't learning enough of the fundamentals. Looking for ideas on how to run practices and what skills drills are best.

I played LL and head coach played at collegiate level but he's not the most organized guy.

I'll have 2 boys on the team, one 10 who's a big guy who throws hard but lacks a great powerful swing. He pitched in fall ball and did pretty well. Any good resources on pitching tips for him to improve? And my 8 year old who's a pretty small kid but more athletically gifted than his older brother. First time my 8 year old will be in kid pitch.