FilterJoe

Every year or two there comes along a new bat that quickly takes the youth baseball world by storm. I call the latest of these the “Magic Bat.”

Making contact anywhere on the barrel sends the ball to the outfield, regardless of how hard you swing or which part of the bat hits the ball—or so reported my son the first time he saw this bat in action among 9- to 10-year-olds. Each month I see ever more players in travel ball and even recreation leagues with this $300 bat:

Is this the best bat for youth baseball? If you’d like to spend $300 to improve your player’s hitting, is this the best way to spend it?

Maybe. Maybe not.

Continue reading “Best Youth Baseball Bats: A Skeptic’s Guide”

My son fell in love with baseball at the age of 20 months. Since then I’ve read over 100 baseball books for bedtime reading and attended over 150 youth baseball games.

For those with similarly baseball-obsessed kids, I’ve put together a guide to describe our favorite baseball books, ordered by age range.

Continue reading “Great Baseball Books for Kids”

Baseball scoring has been done by hand for over a century. Now that most people own smartphones and tablets, many people are motivated to keep score electronically. Why?

• Live broadcasts
• Pitch count tracking
• Single game boxscores, stats, and recaps
• Season stats and spray charts

Among the many scorekeeping apps attempting to accomplish all four of these objectives, Gamechanger and iScore stand out for their comprehensive suite of features and polished user interfaces.

Continue reading “Review: Gamechanger Scorekeeping App for Youth 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”