I have a 10 Year old, who has only played three seasons. He is in minors and is on a very good team for Minor LL. He has a great coach and the assistants are good also.
I work with him in the yard and we go to the batting cage about once a week and to a batting session with a very good trainer almost once a week. He has improved tremendously and is now batting number 2 in the lineup. His on base average is very very good, even though he does not hit the ball far in the games as he does in practice.
I have noticed that the coach is now starting to play him less in the field and only in the outfield (there are 12 players on the team).
This has been a great disappointment to him. And he is getting a little dejected. He works very hard always hustles, he has a great attitude, but I will admit he is not the best player on the team, more like in the middle. And more importantly he does not look like a ball player, poor eye contact when talking, throwing style is a little akward, but he can throw (he has hit a target at up to 84' away) in the field, very very shy. But he does make good plays most of the time, and he always backs up his teammates.
I told him to keep working hard and to show the coach you are working hard and you are serious, and don't complain. Can you think of anything else I should be doing? I am concerned that if he does not get to play more he is not going to grow and improve. And isn't that what little league is for? I know this brings up another subject but is little league for learning or just winning games?
I told him to keep working hard and to show the coach you are working hard and you are serious, and don't complain.
This is really the best thing to tell him. Also I would keep telling him how good he is doing so he doesnt think that he isnt good just cause the coach isnt playing him more. The thing about little league is that they want everyone to get a chance to play instead of putting the best players out there. For all you know one of the dads could have told the coach that they wanted their kid to play more so in return your kid gets to play less just cause the coach wanted to satisfy a parent.
I have a 10 Year old, who has only played three seasons. He is in minors and is on a very good team for Minor LL. He has a great coach and the assistants are good also.
I work with him in the yard and we go to the batting cage about once a week and to a batting session with a very good trainer almost once a week. He has improved tremendously and is now batting number 2 in the lineup. His on base average is very very good, even though he does not hit the ball far in the games as he does in practice.
I have noticed that the coach is now starting to play him less in the field and only in the outfield (there are 12 players on the team).
This has been a great disappointment to him. And he is getting a little dejected. He works very hard always hustles, he has a great attitude, but I will admit he is not the best player on the team, more like in the middle. And more importantly he does not look like a ball player, poor eye contact when talking, throwing style is a little akward, but he can throw (he has hit a target at up to 84' away) in the field, very very shy. But he does make good plays most of the time, and he always backs up his teammates.
I told him to keep working hard and to show the coach you are working hard and you are serious, and don't complain. Can you think of anything else I should be doing? I am concerned that if he does not get to play more he is not going to grow and improve. And isn't that what little league is for? I know this brings up another subject but is little league for learning or just winning games?
Thanks,
Jerry
Unfortunately they are many teams that forget that little league is for learning and get caught up on wining as their prime goal. You state that the team has great coaches, well why not ask them? What is their feedback on your kids performance, what do they recommend improving?
You rate your kid in the “middle” when referring to ability, remember they are 10 players in the game (including DH) your team has 12 (2 bench players). The position is very important. What I mean by this is that if they are 6 players that play in the infield (including the pitcher) and a DH when on offence, that leaves 5 players to occupy the 3 outfield positions. Your kid plays the outfield, coaches substitute the outfielders the most, that = less playing time.
Opinion: After you get all the facts, you truly believe that your kid is being overlooked or not given the playing time deserved, search for a new team. Continue with the good work!
I assist with my son's team and I can see what you're talking about. It is super hard for a coach to give every player the same playing time. In our case we have about 19 players of all levels and we have to get everybody to play, so some players get just get one time at bat or at most two times. You have to consider that coaches are not getting payed to do this, so you can't force them to give all kids extensive training. My recommendation is get a lot more training on the private side. That's whay I do. I take my son with personal baseball trainers and I we practice a lot on our own because I know that during the game he's not going to get too much. On the motivation side you might want to let your son know not what he knows right now, but how much he has improved. Try to make him see where he started and where he is right now and that should give him a boos in confidence and the eagerness to keep workinig hard, that's the most important thing.
I am concerned that if he does not get to play more he is not going to grow and improve.
Playing in games doesn't make someone better, practice and drills do. Thinks about how many balls are hit to an each infielder during a game. 0-6? Did that make them better? NO. Games are where you show skills already learned.
My suggestion would be to continue practicing with your son yourself. A team coach can give only a little personalized attention at a team practice. If you switch the focus you put on improving his hitting to his fielding/throwing, I'm sure he'll do great. Tell the coach what you're doing to improve and ask for tips. Good luck!
I think one of the things that gets overlooked in little league play is the importance of outfield. I have some good players on my team that I put in the outfield, and the reason is simple. Bad outfielders lose you games.
If a ball goes through my shortstops legs that's a problem, but all the happened is the runner is standing on first base. If the ball rolls past my outfielder, now there is a runner on second or third base, and if the outfielders do a poor job of getting the ball back in, a single has suddenly turned into a home run.
I don't know the circumstances of your team, and the skill level of the players, but I love finding a kid who can play outfield. Sometimes I have to sell it to the players to get them to understand the value of what they are doing, and as a rule I try to make sure they play an infield position at least one inning per game, but I would present it to your son as an opportunity to really help the team.
The last thing I would do is tell him about all the great outfielders who play today, and who played in the past.
I play high school baseball now and your sons story reminded me of myself when I was younger. I used to play second base and hit third. I was good for my age but one of the other parents complained to the coach that their son wasn't playing so I was moved to the out field and started hitting 7th 8th or 9th and had playing time cut. Are coach later told me about this and it hurt. I just worked harder though and now I hit 2nd and play the entire game in left field for are school. The kid that took my spot when I was younger doesn't even play anymore. Just don't give up.
Son Not Getting To Play
Son Not Getting To Play
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