u/ir637113

Context: losers bracket, potential championship game (we have to win to force the "if needed" the next day) and my coaches are hemming and hawing about how to manage pitchers with pitch counts and rest days. Our biggest strength compared to the other team is depth of pitchers - our #4 pitcher is probably just ahead of their #2.

Offensive strategy is to keep it close against their #1 pitcher (kid is a stud), and pour it on late game.

Currently running with two ideas: either a) run our #1 and #2 guys for the bulk of the game. Then run #3 and #4 game 2 against their weaker pitchers. Or b) run #1 and #3 or #4, save #2 for game 2.

Caveat here is that with 20 pitches, there are zero days of rest. So if someone seems way off game 1, we pull them before that and bring them the next day.

We've all managed pitchers before, just not quite this exact scenario. Curious what folks think. MY thought (manager) is balls to the wall game 1 and throw EVERYTHING against them. Gotta win that first one and don't want to second guess saving someone

Taking on a new project for my local little league (because coaching 2 teams isn't enough for me obv 🤣). We've been slowly building a really solid softball program in our little suburban little lwague (4 8u coach pitch, 2 10u kid pitch teams). One thing I noticed this season is that none of the catchers use an actual catchers mitt.

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I asked one of the coaches about it, and found out that while the lwague provides all the baseball teams 2 catchers mitts, it provides none to softball teams. So I offered to fix that 😅

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Looking to grab like 6-15 youth softball catchers mitts over the next 6 or or 8 months, get them patched up and donate to my local league. Looking to pay about $30 or less apiece hopefully and I'll cover shipping. Don't care if it needs a minor repair or new laces, I'll deal with that.

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Im already on the lookout in my usual places, but I figured I'd try here. If you've got an old mitt you need to get rid of, reach out! Age ranges from 7-10 years old

Finally time to replace my kid's CM. He's been using a Prospect/Power Close the last couple years (LL Minors, 10u). But he'll be moving to Majors (12u) next year, and I'm thinking with the kids there easily tossing around 50, it's time to step up lol.

Mostly just looking for some recommendations. My brain at that age goes to A1000, R9, GGE, Mizuno Samurai, R2Gs, or DPCMs. Maybe an older used A2000 or HOH. Just trying to make sure I'm not missing anything obvious lol. I tend to buy used and then refurb, so he tends to end up with some unique equipment lol (like he's got an A2000 with a DFS for his regular gamer)

So, what other gloves am I missing in my search? I've got about 6 months to find something, so no huge rush if it ends up being a "look for this, but they're hard to come across."

Trying to work through my AS roster, my VP and I are in a bit of a conundrum. Tournament is 6/28-7/6. I have 12 that are available, but 2 are unavailable after 7/1 due to previously scheduled vacations

The way I'm reading is that anyone on the affidavit must bat, but doesn't have to play defense. So my thought is to put the max of 14 on the affidavit, then remove the two who can't play after 7/1 if we're still in the tournament at that point (assuming "previously scheduled vacation" falls into the "other justifiable reasons" ?)

It *sounds* like the way my VP is reading it, we just put 12 names on the affidavit and amend it if someone can't be there and we need to swap someone into the lineup.

UPDATE: Got the gig 😎 thanks for the advice everyone! Apparently I have until thursday evening to set my roster and coaches so I better get on that 🤣

Context: LL Minors/10u team. The way we select AS coaches is ask for volunteers. If more than one volunteer, the board interviews the candidates and selects who they want.

Been trying to "prep" for my interview as much as possible, its just hard to figure out what kinda stuff they'll ask. Realized last minute (it's in 2 hours 😅) I could ask here.

So, for those in similar positions or who have interviewed, what kinds of questions do/did you ask or were asked of you? I'm expecting the classic "why do you want to coach AS?" Or "Walk us through your coaching philosophy," but not really sure what all they could hit me with and if nothing else I'd like to avoid a deer in the headlights look 😅😅😅

Context: Little League Minors (10u), and our Little League is run more like a rec league (mix of talent from "I'm brand new to baseball" to "I'm going to end up on a travel/select team if my parents can afford it"). [EDIT: Please stop harping on this. I'm aware that's how it is supposed to be. I'm also aware not every league runs that way, so that sentence is just there for context] It is also my first year coaching (I was an assistant last year, no other coaching experience)

My team is A LOT of 8 and 9 year olds in their first year of kid pitch, with a couple of "brand new to baseball" kids. Skills taught to this point are.... eh? 😅 so I made a call early in the season that this was going to be development - teach them how to do basic things, teach them some baseball IQ, etc.

I am having a perfect storm of kids who WANT to hit (last year was a ton of walks, this year it's a ton of Ks), and weird strike zone at this legel against teams who don't want to hit (like, it's an inch off the plate, so its a ball. LOTS of walks), and the intersection of knowledge and skill levels being mismatched. I keep telling myself trust the process, but I'm not sure that I do 🤣

In general, they *kind of* take it seriously, but its obvious it's mostly just for fun for most of them.

What's honestly killing me is that in almost every scenario, each player makes the exact right decision. They read a fly ball perfectly, they throw to the right base, the right player goes for a cutoff, etc. And then they flub the easy thing - the ball bounces out of the glove, they sail the throw over someone's head, they miss the grounder, etc.

We're sitting at 1-4 and some of the kids are getting disheartened by constant strikeouts and getting run ruled. Hell, *I* am feeling disheartened by it 😅

Do I just trust the process and believe that with reps, the skills will follow the knowledge? Do I trash the plan, start over, and get hard about executing? Something else?

Kind of a bit of drama from our game last night. Minors baseball (8-11 year olds) Second vame of the season, everyone is still working out the kinks. The other team has a parent who is kind of a rule freak (I coached with him last year - SUUUPER knowledgeable, but takes 8 and 9 year olds playing baseball a little too seriously). His son was put in to pitch and he made a comment to me that he wasn't able to pitch that day due to rest days.

Their last game (Saturday), he had pitched 52. Manager called last batter at 47 or 48 pitches, which would've put him at 2 days rest. When manager filled out the paperwork, he put down 52 pitches, which put him on 3 days rest, and unable to pitch last night (Tuesday). He had already started pitching before time was called so we could sort it out.

What I was told *after* the game is that I was within my rights to push for a forfeit or play under protest (I wouldn't tbh, *MAYBE* if it was AS or tournament play, but not 2nd game of the season) because the paperwork was all that mattered.

I guess my question is - if a coach called last batter at <50 pitches but put >50 on the paperwork, which are we bound to? Follow up to that is - how would I even know? The only folks who see the paperwork are the managers from each game and the umpire (who submits it to the board). Basically I don't think I would know without someone telling me. They could've pitched him 75 on Saturday and I never would've known without someone telling me 🤷‍♂️