Great Baseball Day

[HeinekenMan]

I woke up this morning and prepared for my first real day as a coach in a new baseball league. If you haven't kept up, there's a thread around here titled "Little League Nightmare". Consider this an update. I went to the field for the new league for tryouts today, and the league has its stuff together. The tryout went very smoothly. It was well-organized, and the people were very friendly.

I had only one difficult moment. One of my kids was running late, and they have a rule that kids who miss the tryout are randomly selected out of a hat. The kid is cousins with one of my protected players, and his grandma was going to be POed if he wasn't on my team with his cousin. So I tried to see if there was a way we could have a gentleman's agreement on the kid, who isn't really very good at all. They wouldn't budge. I kind of liked that because it means they have rules that they abide by. The old Little League would bend the rules according to the influence of the person asking for the bending. Fortunately, the kid showed up just in time.

These coaches seemed like a nice group. And many of the parents seem to be a little more classy than the average family at the other field. The kids were better developed, and I chalk that up to the knowledge and dedication of the league's coaches and the fact that so many kids have two-parent homes with parents who work with them away from the ballfield. Each team could protect four kids. So I didn't see those kids at the tryout. But I could have taken 10 kids from the tryout group and could have formed a team that would have stomped the Little League's all star team for that division. And that's without the 20 kids who weren't protected.

I have heard rumors that our Little League is in a world of trouble right now with numbers. This is a city of 80,000 with one Little League. In the spring, they had one senior team, one junior team, four major teams and three minor teams. I'm talking baseball only here. From what I can tell, they may only have one team this fall in my division, which is the minors.

Today, I heard a lot of bad remarks about that league. Apparently, there are some folks who spent time there before my coaching tenure in that Little League. Some folks think the league is going under. I sure hope that's not the case. While the conversation and facts reinforce my position that it was a terrible, poorly-run league with some butthead coaches, I don't really take pleasure in knowing that a league that has been part of the community since 1966 is on its last legs.

I also talked to some people who have had involvement with the travel team that cut my son and claimed that I was trying to take players. One guy is an assistant coach for one of that organization's teams. He said that he and the head coach, along with many parents, are fed up with the academy and its owner. He said the families have considered parting ways with the academy to form an independent travel team. So that was some interesting conversation, and it made me feel much better about what transpired with that academy.

Before I made it to the field this morning, I received an email. A guy with experience in travel ball has decided to move his son from an 11U to a 10U team, and he's bringing his boy and another kid to our practice on Sunday. He talked like both kids are very talented. If they join the team, it will complete our roster. We should have our uniforms ordered in another week, and we're playing a tournament before fall rec season. Plus, I have set up a series of Sunday DHs with other local travel teams. And the father of one of our players is a VP for a local Little League, and he says we can use the league's field at no charge on Sundays. So we have a home field. Another parent who umpire experience and gear, and he's agreed to umpire the DHs. This means that our visitors can play at no cost. Of course, I'm willing to use a paid ump if they object to a daddy ump. This daddy happens to be one of few I would trust to be impartial.

Oh, and the Dixie league let me pick out an MLB uniform for the team. I chose my beloved St. Louis Cardinals. So we'll be styling in red, baby! Plus, we had a choice between white and gray pants, and I went with the gray since they can double as a spare pair for our travel team.

I'm sure that's tons more info than you ever cared for. But I wanted to share after giving the sordid details of my tumultuous departure from our local Little League.

[tg643]

they have a rule that kids who miss the tryout are randomly selected out of a hat.

There's a flaw in this. If a kid knows he's the best player he knows he'll be the first or second pick in the draft. If he doesn't like the coach or the returning players on the team he can skip tryouts and try pot luck. He may be drawn from the hat by the strongest team, making them even stronger.

[raptor]

they have a rule that kids who miss the tryout are randomly selected out of a hat.

There's a flaw in this. If a kid knows he's the best player he knows he'll be the first or second pick in the draft. If he doesn't like the coach or the returning players on the team he can skip tryouts and try pot luck. He may be drawn from the hat by the strongest team, making them even stronger.

Not understanding that logic. If a kid is that good he would already be protected according to what HM said in this league? Or unless there is some sort of arrangement between coaches why would they take the chance if showing up late? If the kid is the best player chances are he has found a team already..no?

[raptor]

Duplicate post

[rodnok1]

Agree it is flawed. I know of dozens of players who avoid the drafts so certain coaches(can you say last years last place team) cannot pick them first. So it's dumb luck if they get picked blind by that team.
The only way I see a fair and even league is a true blind draft every year, no tryouts. No names just numbers on a sheet. Of course our league if you complain loud enough they switch your kid to whoever you want.

[Baseball gLove]

One way we would draft is have a serpentine and then the coaches would drop the team numbers into a hat and then draw their team. They then traded for their kid if neccessary. Only problem was that sometimes coaches' kids were overrated.

[HeinekenMan]

Here's how it works. Each manager can protect up to four kids. It can be any four within the division. Last year's team rosters have absolutely no bearing on the new team rosters. The kid and parent must sign a form in order for a coach to protect a player. There is no trading of players.

If players are unprotected, parents can make two possible requests. Both have to be in writing. The first request is for their kids to be selected to play on a relative's team. This is a brother-brother, cousin-cousin kind of thing. It does not apply to the coach; only the players. The second request you can make is that your child NOT play for a certain team. You can make one of those per season. These requests do not receive any sort of guarantee.

All players who are not protected must attend the tryout. Players who do not attend go into the hat.

I like this approach. We didn't have any kids go into the hat, by the way. Everyone knows of a league where a coach tells kids to skip the tryout. That happened in our Little League last year. We had two teams of travel ball kids join the league along with two managers. A lot of those kids skipped the tryouts. And some of the managers didn't know a thing about them. The teams were lopsided, and the two new managers 10-ruled the other two teams all season. If they had the hat rule, it wouldn't have happened.

By allowing teams to protect only four, you ensure that teams will be more balanced. The only catch is that a new coach who doesn't know any kids or a coach who isn't well-liked may not have four protects. That was the case with one other new coach. He didn't bring any kids with him, I guess. So he got an extra draft pick in the first two rounds.

I also like that kids can avoid a certain coach. That alleviates a lot of headaches. Who wants a player that doesn't want to be on the team? I sure don't.

We had our draft today. I probably did poorly in the draft. I only know many of the kids from their brief tryouts. It was three fly balls, three groundballs and three swings and a trip around the bases. And the pitches were underhand tosses. I have no idea who can hit a fastball, who is scared of the ball, who can pitch, who can catch, etc. I probably scored one kid way too high. He's a little on the thin side, and I was looking for a power hitter. I also took a hit and picked two kids who have never played before. Their mother is probably going to be a handful, too. They are my boy's buddies at school. So I wanted him to be happy.

Fortunately, my four protects are probably better than what the other guys have. It seems like there is one other very good coach. i think he's already expecting a good challenge. But I'm not really getting too caught up in fall ball competition.

A few of the coaches seem a little goofy. But these guys are loads more friendly than the coaches at the other place. I mean loads and loads more friendly. It's like a 180. Of course, I only have a first impression right now. But I like what I see. I don't think these guys are going to be losing their tempers. It's nice that there are none of the tough guys that I dealt with in the other league. Some of those guys were 6-3 and 240 and tried to intimidate opposing coaches, umpires, etc. There's nothing with beng a big, strong guy. But it's really not pleasant to play against a coach whose strategy for winning is to scare the rookie umpire.

[Ursa Major]

HM, I'm glad that things are looking up. Without knowing more, the best advice I can give is to put all the past nonsense behind you and don't second-guess your picks, and just have a good time with the kids and coaches you've got. The most important rule? "Everyone here has a good experience." That doesn't mean excrutiatingly equal playing time or results, but that every kid feels appreciated and gets his moment to shine. The almost-as-important-rule: "It's about the kids and not about the coaches." Any time you find yourself making a decision or taking an action to defend or build up your ego, you'll regret it.

One tip: the moments that you and each kid will remember forever will be when a kid somehow "gets it" and accomplishes something that you or he didn't expect. To this day, I remember the moment in 2004 10u ball when we went into extra innings and the manager - who'd run out of pitchers - handed the ball with a one-run lead to the super-quiet kid who'd never pitched in a game. The kid shut down the opponent and found himself as a ballplayer that day. He's worked his @$$ off since then and is now a pitcher for a top JC program and will probably pitch in D1 ball in two years.

And you - yourself - should enjoy each and every moment you spend with the kids. Your joy will be infectious. I just got back yesterday from taking my ballplayer off to his freshman year in college. Those coaching days will go by so fast.

[kimbercarry]

We had a situation in our 9-10 year old league 2 years a ago. Top kid coming up purposely didn't show up for the tryouts (or should I say they parents didn't bring him on purpose) because of a certain coach who had the first pick. They figured they'd take the chance on the blind draft. It was obvious what they were doing and all the coaches where more than familiar with the kid and his talent so to be fair the player agent kept the kid in the draft instead of putting him in the blind. All the coaches agreed with the move and it worked out for the best. Obviously the kids parents weren't happy.

[johnlanza]

We had a situation in our 9-10 year old league 2 years a ago. Top kid coming up purposely didn't show up for the tryouts (or should I say they parents didn't bring him on purpose) because of a certain coach who had the first pick. They figured they'd take the chance on the blind draft. It was obvious what they were doing and all the coaches where more than familiar with the kid and his talent so to be fair the player agent kept the kid in the draft instead of putting him in the blind. All the coaches agreed with the move and it worked out for the best. Obviously the kids parents weren't happy.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the story...
Was this to try to teach the parents a lesson? If yes, then poo on the decision-makers. You say it "worked out for the best". For whom? The coach? (who now gets a player whose family didn't want to get on that team). The player? Doubtful, unless it became a life lesson on working through (apparent) adversity.
IMO, the parents made the right decision to go blind draft. Now if the coach you mentioned happened to get that player in the blind draft, well, that was a result that the parents couldn't have complained about.

[HeinekenMan]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the story...
Was this to try to teach the parents a lesson? If yes, then poo on the decision-makers. You say it "worked out for the best". For whom? The coach? (who now gets a player whose family didn't want to get on that team). The player? Doubtful, unless it became a life lesson on working through (apparent) adversity.
IMO, the parents made the right decision to go blind draft. Now if the coach you mentioned happened to get that player in the blind draft, well, that was a result that the parents couldn't have complained about.

I somewhat agree with you. I don't like it when parents start toying with the system. As I might have noted, our league allows each player/parent to name one coach for whom their kid will/should not play. But what happens if nobody wants to play for a certain coach? Somebody has to be on his team.