Fairness (or lack of) in Rec Baseball Playing Time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

and bat at least once

why is THAT acceptable? Once?
It's REC League!
Shame on them

She said Majors.

Majors is not a rec league.

Majors is placement by tryout only and is the level that eventually competes at state and maybe beyond to the LL World Series.

Not quite. Teams that compete in state and the LLWS are All-Star teams.

And even in the LLWS, all players on the roster must play. See the rules: http://www.littleleaguetoolkit.org/Assets/forms_pubs/tournaments/2015/baseball-rules.pdf

Yeah, but kids on those teams don't suck. In fact, they have usually managed to play travel and rec for that season, with the specific intent of being on that roster for the run at the LLWS. "Having" to play those kids isn't really a problem.

OK ... so then why is it a problem in Majors, whose teams are neither travel teams nor LLWS-eligible teams?

Look, Little League has an "everyone plays" tradition. If you don't like it, take your kid away from his friends and everything else the Little League experience has to offer, then herd him onto a travel team where he can go out of town all the time and maybe not play. Then kid yourself that this travel team is automatically light-years ahead of Little League just because people pay and travel extra. Just don't be shocked at high school tryouts when the kids from the "everybody plays" Little League team turn out not to have been irreparably harmed by the experience.[/quote]

That's stupid. The "everybody plays" kids don't face quality competition. They also don't get the face time and "street cred" that comes with attending high school coaches' baseball camps and playing on travel teams that use facilities such as VBC (which provide part-time jobs and one-off gigs to said coaches).

The travel kids have paid their dues, no matter how much they play in the actual games. They deserve the spots on the high school teams, and thank goodness coaches recognize that you can count on them.

[Anonymous]

If a kid isn't playing, you should leave the team. It's too frustrating, especially in baseball. The coach should be ashamed. I have three boys, all played multiple varsity sports and club teams. Yeah it sucks on Varsity or Club if you don't get playing time but that's the way it is at that level. At the instructional level - no. It's about exposure to the game. A kid deserves a chance to play.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS was on the bench for almost 2 hours the other night, played just half an inning in the outfield which lasted about 10 minutes, and he barely needed to move.

I think this is BS but maybe that's how they do it in baseball? He's done soccer and basketball and both had very fair minimum playtime rules/guidelines that ensure kids play at the minimum half of the game (not counting overtime).

baseball blows unless you're a star player...

Is your child new to baseball? At the majors level, the minimum playing time is 1 at bat and two innings in the field. This is well known amongst the parents and players. You can opt to have your 12 year old play AAA as long as he doesn't pitch. Players with low skill sets shouldn't be playing majors. You child is sitting on the bench, because the boy isn't very good. Majors is the most competitive level of play, and the players and coaches want to win. The skilled player, which sounds like your team's pitcher, will play the entire game. This is fielding the most competitve team.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like you have a bad coach. I've coached rec baseball & soccer and my kids are currently in soccer and travel baseball. I try to focus on four things when allocating playing time:

1. Kids want to play.
2. Kids want to win.
3. Kids want challenges and need them to develop. (This is #3 rather than #2 because given the choice, they would rather watch a teammate make the winning catch than be the one missing that catch that loses the game.)
4. Kids need incentives to stay focused.

So my basic principle is equal play time. If possible, nobody should sit more than one inning in a row, and everyone gets to bat.

But it's not usually possible to be completely equal, and there are different positions that get more or less action. I favor the better players in key positions (which positions are key depends on the age), but to encourage development, the less talented players also get regular infield play and opportunities at key positions.

All of the above gets adjusted to account for attitude, effort, showing up to practice, and sportsmanship. Kids who goof off at practice will be first in line to sit a second inning on the bench, no matter how talented. Kids who really put in effort and try to get better are rewarded with more opportunities.

As for my kid versus the rest - I try to emulate the best coach I've seen on any of my kids teams - we didn't even know which kid was his until 2/3 of the season was over. I'm not there but I'm working toward it.

[Anonymous]

I coach a rec team and am rather shocked about the asinine coach who posted earlier.

Our team has a number of kids who have been playing together for years and a few kids who don't even own gloves. Guess what, they are all getting equal playing time. So the new kids have never played, so they will learn on the job.

It's rec, who cares?

[Anonymous]

Ignore troll posts.

Your kid most play the minimum required by the league rules. That is a minimum though. The reality is that every coach sticks kids in as much as possible.

What can you do? First work with your kid. The only major leaguer I watched grow up - he and his dad, and often mom, did 100 ground balls finished with a throw to first, 100 fly balls, and 50 or so swings in a cage off a tee. Do that daily. Focus on good mechanics. If you don't have the experience, use an occasional visit to a good trainer to keep an eye on the mechanics. In pretty short order your kid will be competent. In a few months - he will be a good solid player.

[Anonymous]

Sorry. Meant to say every good coach sticks players in as much as possible. It's a team game. No kid is going to win or lose the game for the team.

Drop a fly ball and the winning run comes in? Why is that the winning run? Why didnt the team score another run earlier in the game? Baseball is a difficult game. You can be an all star if you are successful in getting a hit 30 percent of the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

and bat at least once

why is THAT acceptable? Once?
It's REC League!
Shame on them

If they play three innings they might only get to bat once - 9 players, 3 innings, 3 outs per inning, if they are getting a lot of hits that's it. The coach can't control everything.