So my son who is 8 was told last fall that he would need to do one more season of coach-pitch baseball before he could move up to the Minor League (kid-pitch). He did one full season last spring and then did a shorter "fall-ball" season and was really getting into it and enjoying it and showing some ability.

So when we showed up for our new Spring 2023 Coach-pitch team meet recently, I know right off the bat this was NOT going to work. All the other kids are first and second graders (he's in third grade) and most have not even done T-Ball! He's physically a head taller than all of them and I'm thinking he's going to be bored and frustrated playing with brand new players. 10 minutes into the first practice I told my wife "this ain't happening and I'm going to talk to the coaches". This kids are ducking thrown balls, half of them are goofing off in the outfield, one kid was actually wandering around swatting at something invisible, SMDH.

I approached the coaches afterward and asked if they thought this was a good fit and they admitted that it was in fact not and to speak to our local baseball league commissioner and his deputy.

They had him come to a Minors tryout a few days later where for 3 hours, he played with kids more his age and size and was LOVING it. They put him on a Minors kid-pitch team and he's doing very well, he's actually a little younger at 8.5 years (most of them are 9-10) but he's physically their size and can keep up and is doing really well.

First game tonight and looking forward to him pitching!

Good for him. Let us know how he does.

Good for him. As long as he is having fun, and generally keeping up, it sounds like the right choice.

I miss those days, enjoy every minute of it dad.

Good for him, and good for you for speaking up on his behalf! Can’t wait to hear how his season goes.

He did pretty well and pitched a bit, striking two opposing players out.

The other team was clearly hand picked by their head coach they all seemed to know from before and were all bigger, one kid was as we joked "the oldest 10 year old we ever saw", he looked more like 15.

They were better at fielding and aggressively stole bases to the point where it was starting to get ridiculous but our catchers need to do better at catching and not dropping/bobbling the ball giving them multiple opportunities to do so.

It was interesting to see the different dynamic between their team which was "crush them at all costs and win" and our team which was "lets play and have fun and learn". I'll take our team's vibe any day over that BS

As the father of a 15yo ball player, let me share some advice:

Don't get caught up in it all. Let the boy have fun.

Find the coaches/organizations that want to teach your son, not use your son. This is important if he is good enough to go the travel ball route. Don't be afraid to try different organizations if you're not happy with where you're at.

As he progresses, find a team/organization that will give him reps. Playing first team is great but it's not so great if your a depth player. Go where he can get reps, that's what's important.

No college coach will ever ask about his 8u-14u stats. Work on fundamentals.

Here in the south, travel-ball has more weight than HS ball. Plenty of reasons for this but scouts can go to a travel-ball tourny and see a lot of teams/boys at once. Get into a good travel ball org if you can.

Be involved. Help Dad-coach. Learn what coaches are teaching and take your boy to the field for batting & fielding.

Find the youtube channels that teach solid fundamentals for both offense and defense. Learn it yourself and use that knowledge when you take your son to the field for extra practice.

Don't get frustrated. He's 8. Teach him to love the game and love spending the time with you on the field.

Don't be "that Dad". There are enough guys out there who think their son is the 2nd coming of Derek Jeter. They aren't. Let him progress at his pace. At least not until they're 13 or 14.

Most of all, and this was hard for me to do. Don't break-down his play immediately after the game. Congratulate him on a good game and love on him. Use the extra time on the field to coach.

As anyone might tell you. The days are long and the years are short. It'll be over before you know it. Enjoy the ride.

My son is now 13 and stepping back from ball, my daughter is a freshman and made her varsity HS team. I played a little in college and coached baseball and softball for about 5 straight years. For sure, dont get baked into wins and losses. Get a cam wood bat and a tee and have fun sitting on the bucket!

Sportsmanship...Be humble in victory, and gracious in defeat!

Learn the game, AND learn from mistakes...Have Fun!

The Little League Pledge: I trust in God. I love my country and will respect its laws. I will play fair and strive to win. But win or lose I will always do my best.

Enjoy these times. They are in the rear-view mirror all too fast. It's supposed to be fun, but also character-developing.

My son played baseball pretty much year-round from 1st grade through into Freshman year of college.

As far as travel ball, your experience will likely vary widely team-by-team and even in the same team over the course of a season. In general, I'd say it is best for your kid to be a solid starter and contributor on a travel team than to be an overacheving standout. And far better than being buried on the bench with no quality playing time. It can be tough to balance. Good luck!

We looked at the whole travel ball thing, and I don’t think it’s something we are really willing to get into given the amount of time and dedication that it seems to require plus we are regular weekly church-goers and Sunday morning games are simply a non-starter here. We aren’t giving up church for baseball.

With that being said, my son (Blue Team) is absolutely loving what he is doing with this team and he is doing really well. They had a scrimmage game against the Gray Team I had mentioned previously and were beaten pretty soundly, but we just beat the Gray Team yesterday 5-3 in our second official game. 2 wins so far, as we won against the Red Team last week 7-6.

It’s funny, but I think these kids learned by watching this Gray Team and how they aggressively stole bases and started using their own tactics against them, LOL

I’m so glad we decided to speak up and not allow our son to be stuck on a team of brand new kids with coach pitch, he’s fitting right in with these other kids now and really starting to do well hitting pitches coming at him much faster than coach pitch.