u/dugoutmaster

I’ve coached youth baseball for a while now, and one thing that always surprised me was how much mental juggling happens during a game.

Trying to keep track of:

• Who sits this inning.
• Who’s playing where next inning.
• Who’s on deck and in the hole.
• Making sure everyone gets equal playing time.
• Avoiding batting order mistakes while also coaching the kids.

After one too many chaotic games, I built an app for myself because I couldn’t find anything that fit the way I wanted to coach. I’ve been using it every game this season.

I’m genuinely curious…

How are you all managing games today?

• Paper lineup cards?
• Whiteboard?
• GameChanger?
• Excel?
• Something else?

What’s the one thing you wish was easier during games?

>Disclosure: I’m the developer of Dugout Master, so I know I’m biased. I’m not trying to disguise that, I’m genuinely interested in learning how other coaches manage their games and what challenges they’re still running into. If anyone wants to see what I’ve built, I’m happy to share it in the comments.

After coaching youth baseball for several years, I realized that a surprising amount of game management still happens with paper lineup cards, screenshots, group texts, and whatever notes happen to be sitting in the dugout.

One challenge I always ran into was keeping defensive rotations fair while also making sure kids got experience at multiple positions throughout the season.

Over the last year, I’ve been building a solution for my own teams and a few other coaches, and their feedback has been interesting because everyone seems to struggle with different parts of team management.

Some coaches care most about lineups. Some care about defensive rotations. Others struggle with attendance, practices, or simply keeping everything organized throughout the season.

So I’m curious:

What is the most frustrating part of managing a youth baseball team today?

I’d love to hear how other coaches are handling it.