re: Youth Coaches - Cutting a Player

Why do such a high percentage of kids play baseball and soccer around ebr? Why are there 1000 baseball teams? Is baseball more fun than other sports?

Probably a pointless question.

Things were much better (in my opinion) when I was a kid. Everyone went to their local playground league. Everyone got divided up into teams. League play was held. Towards the middle/end of league play, all-star team tryouts were held, the team was chosen, and at the end of the league, the all-star team did their thing the rest of the summer.

Everyone got to play, and the best kids got to play a second season.

To the OP... you never really said why you think a few kids will be cut. Does the next level have a smaller roster size? Are you planning on replacing those kids with other kids?

I would tell all the parents now that you are going to hold an open tryout in a month or so, and you will take the best 13 kids (or whatever the number is) and since it's an open tryout, there will be kids who try out who are not on the current team. As such, you will take the best 13 kids, which means it is possible that one or more current kids won't make the team.

I would make sure that you have a completely objective tryout system - where things are clearly measured and tracked.

And for the kids that don't make the team, I would offer to help find them another league to play in.

This is much easier to accomplish when the kids are going to be 13, as opposed to 9.

I also think you need to make very clear that you will hold an open tryout each summer and that the kids who are cut are welcome to try out again next year. If you are going to hire mercenaries, might as well hire mercenaries each year.

Nothing beats daddy ball. Your kid can make 10 errors and still play shortstop but I be damned if that outfielder or 3rd baseman lets one ball past them. They will sit the bench for the rest of the game.

We lived in Mandeville/Covington back in the late 90s and I was selected to coach the "B" all star team. As I recall they were about 9-10 yo. I wanted my asst coach and his son on my team, but the commish wouldn't allow it. Anyway, my assistant's son went on to pitch at St Paul. We scrimmaged the "A" team and beat the shite out of them. They refused to play us any more.

We moved back to Ms to a small town south of Jackson and didn't know anyone so my )younger son was stuck in right field for about 3 yrs. The coaches' son played 2nd base and would make 3-4 errors a game and never got the hook. Most of the kids whose parents thought they were good quit and never played high School ball. My younger son attended the public high school and played from the 8th to the 12th grade, (OF, 1st, 2nd, pitcher and 3rd). He struck out 14 in 1 game his Sr yr and batted over .350 the last 3 yrs.

All that being said, when my younger son would complain about being stuck in RF, I told him to hustle on and off the field and knock the shite out of the ball every chance he got and the rest will work itself out, and it did.

You can only have so many on the roster, make the right decision and stick with it and the rest will work itself out.

Good luck.

some parentts are freakin idiots-had one parent cuss me out at the dugout saying F-Bombs and this was 7-8 yr old girls. Freakin pathetic

You and your fellow coaches got kids on this team?

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You and your fellow coaches got kids on this team?

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gracias, I wasn't about to read through this, but that was going to be my question, odds are, there's about 9 coaches on that team, and each one's kid gets rotated through the mound, plays SS, etc., and is probably not as good of an athlete, nor is as interested as the inferior scum that's about to be cut(and the scums' moms probably have nicer bewbs!)

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some parentts are freakin idiots-had one parent cuss me out

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I had the same thing happen to me because I pulled their special 9-year-old off the field after 2 innings in order to make sure everyone got a little playing time.

I'm amazed at the effort and energy put into some of these responses. There is no such thing as competitive youth baseball and if you think there is, you're ignorant. Kids like to play and like to win sure, but do you really think they give a shite 20 min later if the result is a loss? Give them Dairy Queen and an Xbox and they are over it. It's not like Derek Jeter who uses the ALCS loss as motivation for the next year.

I get top tier kids need to play at a top level, I was one of them, but suggesting it must be done anytime before high school is comical. There were kids who didn't belong on my travel team in hs just as much as those who didn't belong on my city team as a kid. Regardless if you keep them on the team or cut them, don't be the guy who is talking about a 6inning district thriller when your son is 25.