Category: Baseball

The stats that matter most for youth baseball change dramatically as kids get older. The biggest change is the transition from coach pitch to kid pitch, which in our league happens at the age of 9.

This post is part of a series that started with Youth Baseball Stats Part 1: It’s Hard on how to gather, interpret and apply baseball data to improve youth baseball play.

Part 2 discusses stats appropriate for coach pitch.

This post discusses the stats that matter when kid pitch begins.

Continue reading “Youth Baseball Stats Part 3: Mustang Kid Pitch Begins”

The stats that matter most for youth baseball are different than the stats that matter for the major leagues. This is especially true at the ages of 7 and 8 for coach pitch or machine pitch baseball.

This post continues where Youth Baseball Stats Part 1: It’s Hard left off, as I explore how to gather, interpret and apply baseball data to improve youth baseball play.

Continue reading “Youth Baseball Stats Part 2: Pinto Coach Pitch”

Do Moneyball principles apply in little league?

Youth baseball stats are hard to track and even harder to use effectively, but it can be done. Stats can help create strong lineups in critical games, of course. Stats can help reduce bias and blind spots from relying entirely on visual observation. Most importantly, stats can help guide youth baseball coaches to drill on issues most in need of improvement.

Continue reading “Youth Baseball Stats Part 1: It’s Hard”

There are four keys to successful drafting in youth baseball:

• Establish clear goals
• Gather the player data you need
• Organize your data for rapid access
• Work the system to your advantage

You can get what you want on draft night with minimal fuss if you concentrate on the first three.

Continue reading “How to Draft in Youth Baseball”

As I enter into my sixth year as a youth baseball dad (and sometimes manager or coach), I have noticed a few patterns for players struggling to catch a baseball or field a grounder:

• Fielding skills need many repetitions in order to fully develop.
• Field bumpiness can make grounders hard to field.
• Lapses of attention can be a factor, especially at ages 8 and below.

But some fielding difficulty has to do with not having the right glove. So here’s a short guide for how to get the right glove, for players aged 12 or younger.

Continue reading “Get the Best Youth Baseball Glove, not the Most Expensive”

I recently completed my first year as a youth baseball manager while my 9-year old son completed his fifth year of PONY league baseball. It was a fun year, much better than I expected.

The dynamic I found most interesting was the arms race between pitcher and hitter. It started at a very low level with most hitters striking out when pitchers actually managed to throw a few strikes. More often, hitters walked. But the hitters and pitchers kept leapfrogging over each other to get better . . .

Here’s how it went:

Continue reading “9-year old Baseball Arms Race: Pitcher vs. Hitter”

I researched and collated much information on pitcher arm care into a parent advice guide for my spring PONY team in April 2014. Here I present the same information, expanded and reworked into a more blog-appropriate format, and updated gradually over time as I learn more.

Continue reading “How to Prevent Youth Pitcher Arm Injuries”