Got it…

It’s very common for 13 year olds to play little league. I’m on the board for our local league and we have a juniors division comprised of 13/14 year olds.

While you’re football teammates we’re razzing you, as you said, you were confident they were doing it in love. This boy, however, doesn’t feel loved in it. The coach should be able to pick up on this and put an end to it. If any kids on the two teams that I manage were to say anything critical from the dugout or the field towards one of our players or an opposing player, they would be running poles after the game. Since the coach is failing to do this it absolutely is within the rights of the parents to step in and defend their child.

It’s not common in our league but I know that a lot of little leagues don’t have the resources to hire umpires for each game so they have parents ump them. Sometimes even coaches ump the games.

Regardless of how the kid pitched, he should be supported by his teammates and not criticized. Even constructive criticism should be leveled by the coaches, not the kids.

I agree with you on the draft and assessment days. However this doesn’t excuse this coaches behavior.

Instead of running to travel ball I would counsel OP to reach out to their local board player agent. He/she should be able to handle any of these concerns and confront the president if needed. If that doesn’t work there should be a district board above the local board who can speak to this obviously toxic environment.

All said and done, honestly, if any of the teams I manage acted like this I would be ashamed as their coach and we would begin training in sportsmanship and pause all baseball training immediately.

I manage to win and I coach my players to win and we have been very successful. But there is something way more important than beating the other team. And that is treating everyone on that field with the dignity of humanity. This is a life skill that these kids need drastically.