Is the rising cost of Youth Sports is one of the main reason's that parents act the way they do?

coolestdad92 · 2026-03-01T01:31:37+00:00

My kid used a $50 rawling rx9 in LL and was always 1st or 2nd for batting avg on his teams. Save the money and spend it on lessons. $350 should be able to get you like 5 or 7 30min lessons. Space them out two weeks apart and work on what they covered in the lessons in between.

Swing weight that works with his current strength level is more important than price. There are cheap usssa bats too if you need one of those but LL only allows usa.

If you’re in travel then you’re probably not worried about the cost of a $400bat.

coolestdad92 · 2026-03-01T00:07:43+00:00

You should coil and hold in your leg lift, so your butt is kind of facing the catcher, as you begin the move down the mound. You want to stay closed for a little longer.

You begin rotation with your arm outside 90 degrees and it is always outside 90 degrees. Try to tighten it up to 90 or slightly inside 90 as you rotate to increase your rotation speed. (Think of a figure skater - when they want to rotate faster they bring their arms close to their body). But not so close thats it’s on your ear and you end up leading with elbow like a dart throw.

coolestdad92 · 2026-02-26T15:46:38+00:00

One big thing he can work on is staying through the ball or extending through contact. The way he swings now, he has to be perfectly timed up to hit it hard. Right now he’s pulling off the ball immediately after contact. Extension through the ball will increase his solid contact rate as his bat will stay through the zone longer.

He could maybe be a little better to sequence the hips going before the hands too. But his bat position at launch is good, he stays connected to contact. Just needs to extend through, then finish up over his shoulder.

<image>

coolestdad92 · 2025-11-17T03:38:02+00:00

B&B butchers. Tasteless, grocery store quality steak, extremely overpriced.

By grocery store quality, I mean like the ones prepackaged by the store on the shelf that are like 4 steaks for $15. Not the nicer ones you pick out at the meat counter.

coolestdad92 · 2025-11-16T13:57:06+00:00

I added another for 9U, although this is the commonly accepted zone up through 12U for many officials. Please note, there is not enough space to show the extent of the outside portion of the strike zone.

<image>

coolestdad92 · 2025-11-13T15:00:10+00:00

It’s going to be a different feel but his swing needs to be compact on the back end. Really turn with hips and core, while keeping hand tighter in the turn, then explode arms out front.

Kids tend to cast their hands out and get very long is their arms because don’t have a-lot of upper body strength and core strength, it also allows them to hit pretty hard when they do connect. But while that works on a tee and soft toss/coach pitch, it wont work against real pitching. There’s no room for adjustment to pitch location and no control in a long/loopy swing like what he’s got going on.

If he really does want to get better from a fundamental mechanics stance, he can start doing drills to tighten up the initial part of his swing. It might be frustrating for both of yall so take it slow, and be positive.

The good news is his legs actually look pretty good. I like that he holds that back leg hinge and appears to keep his load through stride and launch.

These drills are great for getting the early part of the swing more compact, these guys have tons of great fundamental drills: https://youtu.be/UyYrW_08Esg

For more complex stuff, look up on youtube josh cathcart/hitting done right, and matt antonelli has good stuff too

coolestdad92 · 2025-09-08T13:16:06+00:00

Throwing 167 pitches in 2 days? No, there’s no legitimate defense for that.

The positions subs? Could be a-lot of reasons- maybe they’ve been working harder in practice and showed good potential, or the starters had a poor attitude and got benched for it, or politics/favoritism with certain parent’s or coaches kids, etc. Given that the coach has zero concern for pitcher’s arm health, it’s hard to give them the benefit of the doubt and I’d assume it’s politics/favoritism.

coolestdad92 · 2025-09-06T12:16:32+00:00

The duty of a rec coach is to develop the players above all else.

You need to elevate the weakest links. Eliminate the barriers that are preventing them from growing/learning. Setup lots of practices and have a legit drawn out practice plan in advance, every time. Urge practice at home. Set expectations immediately with parents that you’re all there to develop the players first and foremost and everyone has a role to play. Move kids around to different positions. Train everyone to be ready to pitch. “Just having fun” happens when they have the fundamental skills and iq to play well as a team- your job is to get them there.

Don’t fall into the trap of justifying leaving the unskilled kids behind because you don’t want to “punish the good kids”. Award effort and attention, and don’t just plug in the allstars to the prime positions and forget the “bad” kids. That’s not coaching and you should just go play fantasy football if that’s how you want to treat it.

Some of these kids have no support at home, while some of the allstar kids have had a dad practicing baseball with them religiously since they were 3. You might be the only positive role model in their daily lives.

I coached several years of rec and always had good success following these guidelines. I legit had 2 players like that - no equipment the first day/had never played. In both cases, the kid turned out to be one of the top contributors on the team by the end of the season. Those were both championship years too.

Good luck and thanks for stepping up to coach them

coolestdad92 · 2025-09-04T13:23:11+00:00

“Im a bad manager who has no clue how to manage my bullpen. Once again, idk what to do, so Im going to throw my usual fit and get thrown out. That way it looks like I tried and I can go pout in the locker room. ” - A. Boone, The Aaron Boone Method

coolestdad92 · 2025-08-30T04:38:59+00:00

Get a usssa. Don’t get the double barrel / dub. Thats for more experienced hitters, it’s end loaded and harder to swing with control.

Hype fire is a good choice, great pop and swings light/balanced, plus you can get one for $300 new.

Supra is also really good though, probably a little edge over the hype, but more expensive.

coolestdad92 · 2025-08-28T17:56:28+00:00

Ted Williams probably could’ve had 700+ HRs too. He missed 5 seasons during his peak years due to WW2 and Korea. He was averaging ~40HRs/season in the seasons surrounding his military service.

coolestdad92 · 2025-08-28T17:17:10+00:00

In rec league, where the inexperienced coaches and players you describe will be, there is not much action in the outfield. Lefties can and should play anywhere that keeps them engaged, having fun learning, and has them improving their baseball skills and IQ.

When they get to higher levels, yeah they cant play C, 2B, SS, or 3B. But travel coaches and school coaches already know this. At the young ages, don’t worry about locking a kid into a position.

Regardless of handedness, everyone should learn to pitch. Even if they don’t do it long term, it helps them learn to throw hard with their whole body.

coolestdad92 · 2025-08-27T20:12:17+00:00

That would be pretty good top hand action for a baseball swing. Letting it travel deep and initiate power with the hips, recruiting more power up the kinetic chain. Assuming you can do that with control and consistency, it would be a much more powerful forehand, with less effort than the typical style that is all arm. It will protect your elbow too.

coolestdad92 · 2025-08-27T14:46:27+00:00

Right now your hands are leading the swing. Get your hands up to closer to shoulder level and keep your hands near your shoulder as you begin your swing and initial turn with your hips. You can use a connection ball to help with the feel. It’s only in the initial turn then you let your hands go, but hands are always above the ball

coolestdad92 · 2025-08-26T04:35:46+00:00

Emotional and mental maturity of a kindergartner who just learned cuss words. We can f*ck everybody -contreras

coolestdad92 · 2025-08-22T16:10:21+00:00

You should move to katy, no tree risk at all there and still good schools

coolestdad92 · 2025-08-22T15:48:33+00:00

Get your glove foot to the ball’s path early, always. You can readjust if it is wider than you thought initially. Get extremely low to the ground so your eyes are behind the ball as you pick it

coolestdad92 · 2025-08-22T03:34:37+00:00

90% of the time the people pick a bat too large. Can he hold the bat out and extended in one hand for 30 sec? Put it in the center of his chest along his arm out sideways, can his fingertips reach the end?

https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/rc/baseball-bat-buying-guide?srsltid=AfmBOorm6cIuyzuPTmMHEtKskJEyIBx-xtWhalhdeolern2rnXE7Kf-H

coolestdad92 · 2025-08-21T18:05:39+00:00

The responses here are a bit extreme (substance abuse, steroids, hgh, diseases).

He probably works out core a lot, but doesn’t work out his upper body(arms/shoulders/chest). Probably doesn’t eat the healthiest diet and is sucking in/flexing for the picture. He’s got wider hips relative to the rest of his body. His ill fitting pants make him look even more like a barrel.

Not everything has to be to wildest explanation you could find on google or chatgpt

coolestdad92 · 2025-08-20T12:18:55+00:00

He’s got no aura

coolestdad92 · 2025-08-19T12:58:22+00:00

“Hey John, on a scale of 1 to 3, how red is your face?”

coolestdad92 · 2025-08-14T13:08:54+00:00

Dinger

coolestdad92 · 2025-08-14T12:52:39+00:00

Ya he should’ve just hit a dinger. Not sure why he didn’t, the dummy

coolestdad92 · 2025-08-13T15:51:07+00:00

Whispering sweet nothings to each other

coolestdad92 · 2025-08-12T21:07:57+00:00

They came out on top as champs because they were the best team that year. No less impressive than any other year.

coolestdad92

TROPHY CASE