[quote]Kuz wrote:
KBCThird wrote:
dollarbill44 wrote:
I played hockey when I was little in upstate NY. When I was 9, we moved to Virginia. They put me in a hockey league with 13-15 year olds because of my ability compared to the rest of the kids down there.
Talk about an awakening! The funny thing was, once I learned to avoid the charging kids (after my first boarding), I was fine. I wasn’t the fastest skater out there, but I was probably the best all around skater.
My point is, the leagues should be based on ability. If he’s too good for the 9-10 year olds, put him in with the 11-12 year olds. It’s not like they don’t have an alternative, like if he was 10 and too good for the 11-12 year olds. What do they do then? He can’t go up to Babe Ruth.
DB
I am heartened by the fact that the person on this thread whose opinion I care about the most (not saying that I dont at all care about the rest of your opinions) agrees with me. Clearly I’m in good company.
I see your collective point, but the problem is that you are taking it from the standpoint of let’s look at these kids as athletes alone and not as what they actually are: 9 and 10 year old kids.
[/quote]
Thats interesting, because i view it as his coach who views him solely as an athlete. If that were really the issue - the best interest of the kid - why the heck cant he play one of the field positions? I’m skeptical as to jsut how much the kid really cares. Of course he wants to pitch. Every little kid wants to be the pitcher, and the quarterback, and any other position where they’re the “leader” in that sport. If he were told he’d be playing third he might pout for 5 minutes and then he’d have a great time with his friends anyway.
[quote]Aggro wrote:
Only time I’ve seen a DH in little league is when you decide you want to bat 10 instead of 9. That 10th is in addition to the pitcher, not a replacement for him.
Throw in the fact that most leagues have pitch counts so he wouldn’t be pitching every game anyway, what would he get to do? Sit on the bench until it’s his turn in the rotation to pitch, go out there and throw then sit back down?
Not really my idea of fun, yes the pros do it, but the pros also get paid more than the average little league player.[/quote]
They also have minimum play rules in Little League, where every kid has to play at least 3 innings per game (at least that’s what it used to be - it may be 2 innings now). So no, he wouldn’t just go out and pitch and then sit down until his next turn.
[quote]Aggro wrote:
You guys saying to move him up, that’s assuming that the rest of his game is at the level to be moved up as well.
Just because the kid can throw fast doesn’t mean he’s able to hit like a 13 year old. Baseball is a tad more than just pitching. Shouldn’t he be allowed to progress his other aspects of the game at his speed?[/quote]
I’m not arguing this point because none of us knows the answer, however, the article alluded to the fact that he is a good all-around player (at least I think I remember that). Anyway, a full skill set at multiple tasks is required for pretty much any sport. I played many, many years of baseball and I don’t recall ever seeing a great pitcher, particularly at that age, who wasn’t good at the other areas of the game, save running. But hey, there’s always a first.
I suspect that there is much more to the story than what is in the article. Now that my kids are invovled, I am so disillusioned with youth sports and the way the “adults” act that it makes me sick. It was starting to creep in when I was a kid (late 70s-early 80s), but it is pervasive now. There are still numerous responsible adults involved who do the right thing by the kids, but there are too many bad apples who have to win no matter what to overcome their own lack of fulfillment in sports.
[quote]dollarbill44 wrote:
They also have minimum play rules in Little League, where every kid has to play at least 3 innings per game (at least that’s what it used to be - it may be 2 innings now). So no, he wouldn’t just go out and pitch and then sit down until his next turn.
DB[/quote]
2 in the field 1 at bat is most of the minimum play rules. Depending on the league, if the game is 10 runned (called early due to a huge score difference) then the rule is null.
I agree that there is plenty more to the story. I also agree how bad youth sports are. I moved back to my hometown, and saw it firsthand when I first started coaching my son. The thing is I decided to try and change it, so I got involved. We’ve got a great board now, and got rid of those that, cared only for their kid, tried reliving their glory days through their kid, didn’t want to have any sort of competition or scoring (the hardest battle so far) and those that just wanted to take a dump on everything. The kids play hard, and want to win but I think we’ve taught them the idea of being a good sport.
Hell if I had a kid on an opposing team of Jericho’s I’d want him in there. At 9 the speed isn’t the bigger issue, the control is. Getting kids to be able to identify and swing at quality pitches is first and foremost, after that it’s nothing more than a timing issue, and like anything else can be trained if a coach cares to work on it. If Jericho’s control is there as the article indicates then he’s a better pitcher to face than probably 75% of the other kids who pitch in the league, merely because of being able to see consistent quality pitches.