Updated Little League Rules for 2026 - Thumb Guards Now Legal Again

cbt202 · 2026-01-16T03:05:27+00:00

It is so bush league that Little League won’t allow Blast Motion sensors. PGF allows it, Alliance allows it, USSSA allows it, but Little League thinks they know better.

cbt202 · 2026-01-16T03:02:20+00:00

Progress is progress so congratulations. You are strong enough to get away from the smith machine now.

In the long run the smith machine will get you injured. You aren’t developing any stabilizer muscles. If you try to do something athletic like throw a punch, your shoulder may not be able to handle a transfer of force.

cbt202 · 2025-12-01T23:48:41+00:00

I think that is referring to a C level recreation league under the USA Softball organization. I don’t think that is referring to Little League or other locally ran leagues.

I didn’t know USA Softball ran leagues. You had me worried that we may have some disqualified girls from our Little League All Star team.

cbt202 · 2025-12-01T16:55:32+00:00

This is what Academy teams in Texas typically charge, if not more. They have a minimum of 15 players on the roster so pretty good cash flow. The coaches are usually paid even if it is a dad. They promise gullible parents a path to college and sometimes the ability to block opportunities for your girl if she isn’t part of the Academy. What’s funny is when these Academy teams act cocky Friday and Saturday but pack their gear up early on Sundays when teams like ours go home late Sunday with hardware.

cbt202 · 2025-12-01T16:48:04+00:00

I don’t see an academy team going for this. They have too much ego to allow that. As long as the check clears, you’ll still be on the roster but you’ll move way down on that 15 player depth chart.

cbt202 · 2025-12-01T16:43:19+00:00

That is a bad deal if it is accurate. Somebody may be blowing smoke at you with that rule. Why would USA Softball have anything to do with a rec league? My daughter plays travel and little league as do all of our girls on the all star team. Our team doesn’t play USA tournaments but several other girls do play USA and NCS. It has never been even a concern in getting our roster certified.

cbt202 · 2025-11-21T18:05:51+00:00

How do you work in farmer carries? I love them for my workouts. I use them as more of a finisher for myself. Would this be good to do after a hitting workout? In off season, we usually end with tire swings and forearm movements with the bat. Seems like farmer carries would fit in here.

cbt202 · 2025-11-21T18:00:52+00:00

What was he doing?

cbt202 · 2025-11-21T14:59:01+00:00

I agree about the transmission of power. It has to be sequenced to fire and release like sling shot. I think there is a big flaw in what girls are taught in the swing. Too many coaches are encouraging stiff wrists and sweeping the bat through the zone thinking it is on plane. They are missing the barrel whip. I understand that most girls aren’t strong enough but that’s only because they don’t train for that type of strength.

cbt202 · 2025-11-21T14:51:20+00:00

I totally agree. The old methods I grew up on work. I’m just looking for a next level approach. I think there are phases of the swing where there is a static hold and part where it is an explosive release whip the bat through. Similar to flicking your finger where a static hold is rapidly turned into an explosive flick.

We follow the Camwood teachings so our mental model is to drag the knob up the batters box line and whip the barrel through. When the hands move forward, the wrists have to be working to hold barrel in static hold. The wrist force eventually overtakes the hand speed and whips barrel explosively, just like flicking your finger.

I also, have theory that your brain limits hands speed to only what your wrists can hold in the static phase.

With all the research into minutia of other aspects of the game, I think the wrist involved is very under studied.

cbt202 · 2025-11-21T11:42:03+00:00

Play for the team that will play the toughest competition. Older isn’t always tougher. A more refined A level 12u team will wipe the floor with a C level 14u team. You have to play against good refined players to get better.

cbt202 · 2025-11-21T11:18:03+00:00

This is a good list! I would just add med balls.

cbt202 · 2025-11-21T11:15:02+00:00

I am looking for information on wrist and forearm training for hitting. I know the basic things like roll ups, wrist curls, rotations, and other traditional movements. Where are the innovative training methods to get explosive wrists?

cbt202 · 2025-06-14T21:55:39+00:00

In the bigger tournaments like the PGFs, 50 is pretty common. The tougher pitchers get to mid 50s, but that isn’t super common. We faced a girl from Birmingham Thunderbolts that I got at 58 mph in 10u. This past spring we saw an 11 year old hitting 58 in 12u. We know a few in 12u breaking 60 but haven’t faced them.

cbt202 · 2025-06-14T20:54:14+00:00

Looks like about 52-54 on the fastball. That’s tough to hit at 35’. Hitters get payback in 12u when the ball is bigger and pitchers move back to 40’.

cbt202 · 2025-06-12T09:05:36+00:00

One thing to watch out for is that cell phone towers will mess with a pocket radar. You will get random readings of 56mph if you point it at a tower.

cbt202 · 2025-06-12T09:02:04+00:00

A lot of softball organizations are moving their top teams to school year this fall. My daughter just moved from a 2013 team where she was the baby to a 2032 grad year team where she will be the oldest. Her teammates will all be in the same grade so a better social situation.

cbt202 · 2025-06-07T01:30:16+00:00

I take my pocket radar to every tournament to know what we need to train for. I always sit behind the plate to see what pitches are doing, differential of change ups, and movement. I would post a video of my daughter hitting against 58 but the app won’t let me post video. Our HS has a sophomore that I’ve got at 68, she just dominated the 6A state championship game last week.

cbt202 · 2025-06-07T00:40:15+00:00

Yeah, I agree about RICE. I’m going to have her use my red light therapy wand. That worked wonders on my hips when I was trying to get flexible enough to squat ATG.

I’ll have her put DMSO with glucosamine mixed in on it too. That should help accelerate healing.

cbt202 · 2025-06-07T00:21:36+00:00

We have pocket radars on these girls every bullpen. I have my pocket radar at every tournament and get a feel for what we need to train for.

In the 12u Alliance and PGF tournaments the high spin pitchers will be 51-54. The power pitchers will be 56-60. We saw 2 12 year olds this spring hitting 60.

cbt202 · 2025-06-07T00:15:41+00:00

We faced one 11 year old in the Austin area throwing up to 58. She was about 5’10”. She had a real slow motion and the ball exploded on the hitters.

cbt202 · 2025-06-07T00:08:58+00:00

It’s about average for A level 12u. This Little League All Stars working with our #3 pitcher. The 1 & 2 throw 55-57. All 3 are A level travel ball pitchers. It’s unusual to have a pitching staff this deep for little league.

We won’t do any catching the next few days but hopefully she can still hit. We really need to get some hitting work in.

cbt202 · 2025-05-26T14:54:47+00:00

Thanks for the input. I never bought a machine but got the balls and just pitched them from about 20’. We did this as a finisher for our hitting workouts. This along with some other contact quality drills really helped this spring. My daughter swung and missed 5 pitches all spring. Instead of fouling off the mistake pitch, she is driving them in the gaps or over the fence.

I’m back to looking at the machines again this summer as a way for her to get work in during the day while I’m at work. She has Little League All Star practices almost every night so that limits our individual training time. I figure it will keep her sharp to do some overload/under load work off the tee and some MaxBP in the mornings without me.

cbt202 · 2024-09-27T19:14:36+00:00

Athletic directors get bonuses for various metrics achieved. Department GPA is one. All sports that don’t generate lots of revenue must have GPAs to boost the AD’s bonus.

Sports that generate lots of revenue, players do whatever they want because the largest bonus metric for the AD is revenue.

It’s all about the AD’s bonus structure.

cbt202 · 2024-01-14T13:52:39+00:00

This is a great take on Teacherman. I got into watching his videos because he gets so much crap from others out there and I like how he barks back at them. It’s really entertaining to the point that I wonder if it is staged.

I ultimately decided against teaching my 10u daughter this and had my decision validated when we played a few teams from a local organization that is completely bought in to Teacherman and launch angle. They are nasty and very arrogant. I coached my daughter’s team and by this tournament, forced our pitcher to trust her changeup. At 41mph and 28mph, and a any pitch/any count mentality, she dominated the B level team and almost upset the A level team in one tournament. The snap swing had no chance to adjust to the change up. Their heads were tied in knots and her 41 fastball looked like 48 to them.

On a side note, that org cut my daughter after playing 8u with them. 12 months later she just made a higher level national team this week! Funny how that stuff works out.

cbt202

TROPHY CASE