9-year-old barred for pitching too well

http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/8488564/9-year-old-barred-for-pitching-too-well?MSNHPHMA

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) - Nine-year-old Jericho Scott is a good baseball player - too good, it turns out.

The right-hander has a fastball that tops out at about 40 mph. He throws so hard that the Youth Baseball League of New Haven told his coach that the boy could not pitch any more. When Jericho took the mound anyway last week, the opposing team forfeited the game, packed its gear and left, his coach said.

Officials for the three-year-old league, which has eight teams and about 100 players, said they will disband Jericho's team, redistributing its players among other squads, and offered to refund $50 sign-up fees to anyone who asks for it. They say Jericho's coach, Wilfred Vidro, has resigned.

Jericho's coach and parents say the boy is being unfairly targeted because he turned down an invitation to join the defending league champion, which is sponsored by an employer of one of the league's administrators.

Jericho instead joined a team sponsored by Will Power Fitness. The team was 8-0 and on its way to the playoffs when Jericho was banned from pitching.



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alright, this is fucking insane. How in the hell do you punish someone for being TOO good? I'm heartened by the fact that so many people want him and the coach to fight this bullshit.

Way to set an example for the kids. Hell, way to ruin the kids' fun while they're at it.

Imagine the confidence boost a kid would get if he were actually able to get a hit off of Jericho. Instead, we'll never know because god forbid poor little johnny have to practice.

:banghead:

I'm actually reminded a bit of this article.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-brooks15-2008may15,0,3678233.column

there probably would have been a better way to resolve this, though.


I only know that the rules for Little League pitchers are different for pitchers - they don't want kids to get hurt and in a game that is mostly kids without that high level of skill, it probably wouldn't be fair to everyone else.


I'm betting there are kids in the LIttle League World Series who can throw that hard, though.

What? My precious snowflake can't strike out to this guy! It'll hurt his feelings!


/take off and nuke the site from orbit

if a kid is pitching way too fast for a developmental league then find him some new challenges. I'd hate to have this kid's baseball career derailed because some idiot told him to not pitch so good.

they could be detonating a potential college scholarship or hell, a minor league contract then who knows.

It's a good thing no one told Michael Phelps or Joe Montana they were TOO good at what they did.

Idiots!

but his parents said no.

That's what I think I overheard on the teevee this morning.

in your post 15 you mentioned he may be bigger than the other kids. That being said, if his skill level in other areas (hitting, fielding) are that much better then he would be better served at the next level up.

Unfortunately the article didn't mention anything else besides his pitching ability. That alone I don't think warrants him moving up to a level where he would ultimately be in the same position as the other players he's currently playing with.

Has nothing to do with the kids and everything to do with the parents' ego.

I am very serious when I say that kids' sports exposes one of the ugliest aspects of human behavior that I have ever seen. Adults will lie cheat and screw anybody just to boost little Johnnie/Joanie's win/loss record or playing time.

My 11 year old has pretty much decided to head off to a park district rec league just to get away from the bullshit parents in our local club sports.



Laura

It's all about THEM. THEM. THEM.

I was conflicted. One the one hand, I can certainly side with the boy and his family. Barred for being too good? That just seems wrong. We want our children to excel and no one should stand in the way of excellence.

But on the other hand, this is just a developmental league. What developmental benefit will the other teams' players receive by just being constantly struck out by this prodigy? And I'm not talking about their "damaged psyches or self-esteem." I'm talking about learning the fundamentals of playing the game (at least from an offensive stand-point). Boys at this age are still learning how to play the game, how to swing the bat, how to run the bases. And I do agree with the one official who said that kids that age are going to be afraid of seeing a 40-mph pitch coming at them (even though this kid apparently has never hit a batter). If the other children develop a fear of seeing a fast pitch early on, they may never be able to develop as players as they ordinarily might.

Maybe Jericho could be used as a teaching tool for the other coaches, you know, teaching them the idea that there will be people in this world who are better than you and learn to accept that fact. Maybe set a goal like a pizza party or something if one of the players actually gets a hit off this kid.

As I said, I'm conflicted.

All that notwithstanding, I think the grown-ups (as grown-ups are wont to do) are handling this very badly.

(edited to correct typo and add a thought)

However, if instead of sheltering their kids, they worked with them to be better, everyone wins. Little Johnnie learns to hit off of Jericho, his confidence skyrockets and he gets better. Meanwhile, Jericho now has kids hitting his pitches, so he learns to improve.

I was thinking more in terms of allowing the other boys to develop at the more normal pace.

As a mother of a boy who has played baseball, I know a little bit of how the devlopment works. It may be difficult for boys at that age to go from timing their swings for more normal pitches and then readjusting them for Jericho's pitches. I would be concerned that that would throw their timing off altogether.

And a fear instilled at a young age (i.e. fear of a fast pitch beyond normal expections) is awfully hard to shake as one grows older.

They won't be struck out at every game.

This is ridiculous.

They need to let the kid pitch.

I don't know what I think about this story. The two big strikes against this kid are 1) A 9 year old (probably) doesn't have the control to handle a 40 mph fastball. I know he hasn't hit any batters, but it's just a matter of time. 2) There's no way his arm will last much longer throwing that fast. His bones haven't finished growing yet.

I really don't know if I would want my kid pitching that hard at 9 years old.

:shrug:

And I would seriously question whether he's getting proper pitching coaching in little league.

baseball player. But size can be a factor.

The kid's being punished for being better than everyone else.

Mike and Mike were discussing this on their show today.

I wonder about what the league rules are for pitch counts? Kids his age should only throw 50 - 60 pitches per outing and not more than 3 innings without at least 2 days in between. Also, at this age I doubt very seriously that his control is very good. I bet he walks almost as many as he strikes out and more than likely hits 3-4 during a game. Maybe in addition to the kids being afraid of striking out, they're afraid of being hit by the pitch? At this age, they have to stand too close to the plate in order to be able to hit any pitches on the outer half of the plate.

For whatever reason, the league is over the top on this.

But then every pitcher will hit someone eventually. I've heard the stories of Randy Johnson's minor league team putting a dummy in the batters box and Johnson knocking it's head off. If you ban any pitcher, especially the young ones, who have control issues, the MLB suddenly finds itself with a non-existant farm system. Having pitch count limits would make sense, the article doesn't mention that.

although I doubt it. Kids jumping away from every pitch certainly increases the chance of not getting hit.

As for the Randy Johnson thing, I've done something similar with my 14 y/o step son a couple of years ago when he was 12. Somewhat similar in that he threw very hard and was easily the hardest thrower in his little league but at times couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. He actually had kids backing away when he started his wind up. What I ended up doing was put a trash can in the batters box and had him pitch to me. What he learned was to not throw as hard in order to get better control. Hasn't been 100% effective, but he is becoming a very good pitcher.

This does not bode well for the spirit of competition

Frankly, this is unAmerican, and I rarely use that word to describe ANYTHING

They get bone spurs when they are teens, from overuse of the arm.

...that he wouldn't have been banned if he'd joined the proper team (the defending champs.)

This ain't got nothin' to do with the kids or their welfare.

Uh... What?!? They wouldn't let her kid play, so she called the cops? That sounds a lot like the asshole-son-of-an-attorney who threatens to sue when his pizza arrives with insufficient pepperoni.

And she vowed to get the league shut down? Let me get this straight: her kid can't play because of a dubious decision by the league, so she has taken it upon herself to make sure that no one's kid gets to play?


This is one fucked up story.