Youth Baseball

[DIIdude]

Does anyone here have kids playing youth baseball? The reason I ask is that at a game the other night I saw an 8 yr old hit a ball well over a 200 ft fence. Some of the people around me stated that there isn?t another kid that age that could do it. I find that hard to believe, I?m of the mindset that no matter how good one is there is someone out there better.

So am I wrong or what?

 

[Matt Kendrick]

that's pretty damn far for a 3rd grader. i'm sure there are some kids that can, but we're talking about a select few. i coach little league and this last season on my oldest son's team we had a boy named zach, our first baseman, this kid could swing. he was only 6 1/2 and was hitting 100+.

i've noticed 2 very common denominators with kids like this:

1. older brothers
2. at least one summer at baseball camp

we had a boy who had never picked up a bat before we started pre-season practice and by our 5th or 6th game was hitting better than half our league. that was just pure natural god given talent. well, that and my coaching skills....

also, the pitching plays a huge part. in younger pony leagues pitching plays a much larger role in the outcome. so many kids just haven't developed the ability to hit locations with speed, which is what's typically needed to hit a ball as far as you witnessed. we coach pitched to most of our kids, which for obvious reasons is a completely different dynamic. i know what pitch each kid likes and can hit well, duh, opposite of how it's supposed to work.

 

[rovercanus]

He was a midget. Watch The Learning Channel at any time to learn about the fascinating lives of little people. They sure can play ball!

 

[bovw]

that's pretty damn far for a 3rd grader. i'm sure there are some kids that can, but we're talking about a select few. i coach little league and this last season on my oldest son's team we had a boy named zach, our first baseman, this kid could swing. he was only 6 1/2 and was hitting 100+.

i've noticed 2 very common denominators with kids like this:

1. older brothers
2. at least one summer at baseball camp

we had a boy who had never picked up a bat before we started pre-season practice and by our 5th or 6th game was hitting better than half our league. that was just pure natural god given talent. well, that and my coaching skills....

also, the pitching plays a huge part. in younger pony leagues pitching plays a much larger role in the outcome. so many kids just haven't developed the ability to hit locations with speed, which is what's typically needed to hit a ball as far as you witnessed. we coach pitched to most of our kids, which for obvious reasons is a completely different dynamic. i know what pitch each kid likes and can hit well, duh, opposite of how it's supposed to work.

Or a father pushing them to be what he wasn't, possibly. A few cases of that here.

 

[Drillbit]

Was there a big jump in his power between 2nd and 3rd grade? Is his voice suddenly deeper? Has he grown a goatee? Sounds like time for a steriods test.

 

[CoyGlasscock]

Steroids!!!
you can check this by watching. Sometimes they will get really mad while riding thier "Big Wheel" for no reason at all.

 

[Roverlady]

LOL!

I'm sure there is a kid out there somewhere who can hit just as hard or harder. I've seen some pretty big kids that age. We've been involved with youth baseball (not our kids) from T-ball on up to the high school/american legion level. In fact, that's really my husband's SECOND full-time job.