Question for Little League Coaches

[torre]

For the LL coaches here, I really enjoyed watching the LLWS. Great baseball. Even though the team from SA came up short, they were super. Coach Shull is an outstanding coach and person.

- How would you have approached playing a team like Chula Vista with the power hitters? The Taipei coach walked Ramirez with runners on base. I am not a coach, but I would probably have tried my pitcher who throws "junk." Pollard, the left-hander for SA may have been successful. I know it must be challenging to ask a Little Leaguer to "pitch on the black" and hit the spots.

- Drew Brooks was actually SA's best pitcher but had an arm injury in one of the earlier playoff games. Is there a limit on how many games a 12 year old can play in a year? Playing LL and Select may contribute to injuries even with the restricted pitch counts.

Thanks for the job you do!


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[leftyrulz300]

I coach a team here in Midland. Last year we had a 12 year old in our league that was twice the size of anyone else. Hit lots of homeruns against everyone else except my team. Being the free swinger he was i had pitchers aim for his shoes. Whatever they could do to keep the ball as low as possible. You just kind of hold your breath that bases are empty when big guys come up. Chula Vista though had several like that though.

We won first place in our league so something must have worked.We worked on defensive drills a lot more than we did offensive drills. Also had a lot of kids on my team i could throw on the mound.

 

[Wild Bill]

I agree with lefty. Defensive baseball cannot be overemphasisized. Also, keep the pitches low. If you walk the big hitter, you walk him, but do NOT put the ball up there where he can knock it out of the park.

 

[Unques prist]

Coached in Little League. I definately would have thrown an off-speed/junk pitcher against the CA team. Throws off timing which is really important when the mound is only 45'.

Last season, my sons team (all 13 year olds) played in a 14-15 year old tournament. One team had some big kids (one 6'6") and the first game we played them we had a kid pitching pretty hard and mostly fast balls. We got lit up. The next day we had to play them again, and we started a kid whose fastball was around 58mph and he had a nice curve and change. He gave up 2 runs and we lost 2-0. Of course their pitcher was 6'3" and throwing 80+.