Amount of Little League Games

[sup-rbeast]

Machine pitch takes at least one kid off the field per game who could be learning how to pitch. IMO t-ball taught the fundamentals well enough to be left alone...little league played enough games at 13 to make better players...why add all these pitching machines etc. etc. when the traditional way was enough to produce good players. Nowdays folks take kids sports like Little League way to seriously..without really understanding the damage that can be done to youngsters...It's not a job and anything over 15 games for these kids is overkill...I have 2 girls playing softball right now..and their schedule is ridiculous.

[73fan]

The kid is out there with the coach or the maching playing the position.in the second half of the season they teach the kids the pitching fundamentals.and let them live pitch.If you they the scheduale is to much your your girls take it up at the next meeting untill you say somthing you have no Say so .

[Golic]

When I played (WAY back in the day) we played t-ball at ages 5-6, played a handful of games. In minor league we faced live pitching, played each team twice. That added up to no more than 10 games. We learned the fundamentals of the game and had fun playing. Maybe played 1 or 2 games a week and practiced 1 or 2 days.

In little league, we would again practice a handful of times and play each team twice and then have all-stars. We never traveled around playing other towns or anything. There is such a thing as burning kids out. If you do things too much, you make it more of a job than a game, especially to young people. You have to give them just enough to teach them the game and have them wanting to play more.

Why not have them play less games, leave them wanting more, and having them working individually with their dads to learn the game!

[imported_Greeny]

I agree 100% with Golic. Leave them wanting more!!

Machine pitching is crazy!! It's not real baseball. Teach them how to play the game the right way. How can they learn to pitch in live game situations unless they pitch in live game situations?

Limit their games, leave them wanting more, but most importantly make baseball fun for them!!!!! I'm afraid the focus has shifted because of "coaches" wanting to relive some kinda glory day fantasy. I know a situation that happened the other night at Pound where a kid threw 150 pitches in ONE GAME! Why? It's pointless. What did the coach gain by allow the kid to do this? More importantly, what did the kid gain (except his arm about falling off)? It's not about W's and L's at this level. It's about teaching kids to play the right way.

That's why a lot of towns have a hard time fielding j.v. and varsity baseball teams in this area. Kids are playing too much, too young. They burn themselves out on it. If you don't believe that, go and talk to your local little leaguer and let them tell you personally.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Greeny</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I agree 100% with Golic. Leave them wanting more!!

Machine pitching is crazy!! It's not real baseball. Teach them how to play the game the right way. How can they learn to pitch in live game situations unless they pitch in live game situations?

Limit their games, leave them wanting more, but most importantly make baseball fun for them!!!!! I'm afraid the focus has shifted because of "coaches" wanting to relive some kinda glory day fantasy. I know a situation that happened the other night at Pound where a kid threw 150 pitches in ONE GAME! Why? It's pointless. What did the coach gain by allow the kid to do this? More importantly, what did the kid gain (except his arm about falling off)? It's not about W's and L's at this level. It's about teaching kids to play the right way.

That's why a lot of towns have a hard time fielding j.v. and varsity baseball teams in this area. Kids are playing too much, too young. They burn themselves out on it. If you don't believe that, go and talk to your local little leaguer and let them tell you personally. </div></div>


Respectgully I do not think machine pitching is crazy. It helps you keep your eye on the ball and practices are mor productable.. meaning a kid can no throw strikes all the time but the machine does 99% of the time... so it is good for offense. The pitcher should be throwing after practice.. around 30 to 40 pitches or sometimes less. The pitcherdoes not have to always throw to live batters during practice.

[imported_Greeny]

Sorry, I wasn't talking about using machines during practice. I'm cool with that. Live pitching should take place during game action though.

[73fan]

i can understand it both ways tho.You dont want to have one stud pitcher and him strike everone out and kill the kids attitude and he/she get down on themselves.By machince pitch theyh can hit the ball.But it also kills the hand eye cordnation because they know it is gonna be in the same place everytime.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Greeny</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Sorry, I wasn't talking about using machines during practice. I'm cool with that. Live pitching should take place during game action though. </div></div>

Oh yes I fully agree... I was not aware that they use machines during games. Does Big Stone do that also?

[imported_MoonlightGraham]

This is a catch 22 if there ever was one.

First off you have to keep the kids interested, which is really hard to do these days.

Plus you gotta keep kids coming out. Just because a kid doesnt make the all star team when he is 9 years old doesn't mean he potentially couldn't go on to be all state when he gets in high school.

Then you got the scenario of kids being overworked on the mound, which little league finally put in a rule on pitch count this year (86). Not to mention the IDIOT coaches who have kids throwing curve balls in little league. You might as well send your little leaguer across the middle against Brian Urlacher. STUPID STUPID STUPID. In the big picture it doesnt matter if your team goes undefeated if your pitcher won't be able to pick up a baseball by the time he 14.

but to get back to your question, there is no answer it depends on the kids and the league. If the kids are having fun and there is no risk of a young pitcher (or catcher) getting injuried from being overworked there is no set number of games that you should or should not play. That being said, as a kid begins to mature they should play in more and more games each year, something that really hurts highschool kids in the VH$L. We get in 26 games if you make it to the state tournament. Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, etc gets in atleast 35 before there conference tournament even begins. And I think this hurts kids the most trying to make the transition from highschool ball to college ball/pros in Va.

As far as pitching machines are concerned there great. We used them at Kelly (one for fastballs and one for breaking stuff) and we used them when I was playing college ball.

I see nothing wrong at all in having a few intersquads a month where all you see is the machine. This saves pitchers arms, you can play a 7 inning game in about an hour, and you can work on every aspect of the game (besides stealing).

In all honestly I have never hit off of a pitching machine that threw it the exact same spot every time, it really depends on the ball you stick in there. But as long as you are getting some cuts in, and surrounding yourself in a game-like atmosphere I think it can do nothing but help.

[theWanderer]

I think we should remember that LL is an all inclusive community program. The amount of games should be reasonable based on the age group. There are other leagues and travel teams for kids that are more into sports. I have an 8 year old boy and a 9 year old girl that both play LL and have no interest any doing anything more than being with their friends. I also have 2 older kids that play in USSSA and ASA travel baseball and softball teams that play 75-100 games a year. It's what they like doing and it is designed to be more serious than LL.