Can you throw harder than Mo'ne Davis?

[San Juan Sun]

Watching South Korea vs Puerto Rico in the LLWS. PR pitcher hit a kid the inning before. SK beans the PR pitcher when he comes up to bat. What kind of psycho manager is playing bean ball with 12-13 year old kids?

[Donuthole]

Can you throw harder than Mo'ne Davis?

The Nevada team is from my last neighborhood. They are currently destroying the Chicago team which, thus far, has been the media darling of the LLWS.

[Surfah]

I honestly have no idea. Maybe I'll have to go to Lagoon and find out.

[San Juan Sun]

The Nevada team is from my last neighborhood. They are currently destroying the Chicago team which, thus far, has been the media darling of the LLWS.

I watched that Nevada team in their regional final. They are legit. A lot of those LL teams are not exactly the best teams around, as a lot of kids prefer to play real baseball. That Nevada team is really good, and I would bet they play well in whichever organization they play in.

[Donuthole]

I watched that Nevada team in their regional final. They are legit. A lot of those LL teams are not exactly the best teams around, as a lot of kids prefer to play real baseball. That Nevada team is really good, and I would bet they play well in whichever organization they play in.

They really are good. They have destroyed pretty much every team they've played. So far in the LLWS: 2 games and 2 10RR victims.

[Clark Addison]

Little Leaguers are 12-13 year olds who throw from 46 feet. Most kids that age are playing on diamonds from 50 or 54 feet.

Same for the field size, LL fields are 225 feet to the fence. That isn't a big deal for a beefy 13 year old. In fact, most of those kids play in competitive baseball leagues where the HRs you see at Williamsport are routine outs in their normal leagues/tournaments.

I was just watching the intro to the Japan-Mexico game and they said the same thing; that the field is smaller than what they usually play on. Why is this? Why don't they play on a larger field at Williamsport?

I watched that Nevada team in their regional final. They are legit. A lot of those LL teams are not exactly the best teams around, as a lot of kids prefer to play real baseball. That Nevada team is really good, and I would bet they play well in whichever organization they play in.

What kind of leagues play "real" baseball, and what is it that makes is real? I'm not real familiar with any of this.

[Pelado]

I watched that Nevada team in their regional final. They are legit. A lot of those LL teams are not exactly the best teams around, as a lot of kids prefer to play real baseball. That Nevada team is really good, and I would bet they play well in whichever organization they play in.

I didn't realize there was a youth baseball hierarchy, much less that LL is at the bottom of the hierarchy.

[BigFatMeanie]

Off the top of my head I know about:

Babe Ruth/Cal Ripken league
Little League
American legion
PONY league
Various travel leagues

Cal Ripken fields are bigger than LL fields. American Legion leagues go all the way up to high-school aged kids so they're full-blown baseball fields.

[San Juan Sun]

Babe Ruth/Cal Ripken league
Little League
American legion
PONY league
.

USSSA
Triple Crown
Blue Chip

A lot of communities have their own youth baseball programs unaffiliated with a national program.

I don't live in Utah, but there's supposedly a good league called Super League, with travel teams from all along the Wasatch Front playing each other. Those teams are 100% select teams.

[San Juan Sun]

I was just watching the intro to the Japan-Mexico game and they said the same thing; that the field is smaller than what they usually play on. Why is this? Why don't they play on a larger field at Williamsport?



What kind of leagues play "real" baseball, and what is it that makes is real? I'm not real familiar with any of this.

In regards to field size, LL recently introduced an option for local leagues to play on slightly bigger (appropriate) fields for that age group. 50 foot minds and 70 foot basepaths. Williamsport is 46 foot mounds and 60 foot basebaths. This is why you see kids beating out routine ground balls to first. Kind of hard for them to change the size of the stadiums in Williamsport though.
A lot of youth leagues play by National Federation rules (NFHS) which are basically MLB-style rules little League does not allow leading off and stealing (as traditionally known) for example.

[Pelado]

I'd heard of American Legion. I'm also aware of a local league that I never really thought about being separate from LL. What ages does American Legion cover?

[falafel]

Maybe I could do it today. Back in the day I was clocked at 77 at one of those lagoon games.

Regardless, that's impressive by her

I hit 46 at lagoon as a teenager. :sad:

[hostile]

USSSA
Triple Crown
Blue Chip

A lot of communities have their own youth baseball programs unaffiliated with a national program.

I don't live in Utah, but there's supposedly a good league called Super League, with travel teams from all along the Wasatch Front playing each other. Those teams are 100% select teams.

My son (13) plays on a Super League team here in SLC. The league name is Rocky Mountain School of Baseball. His team is OK - mostly kids that want to play some baseball but aren't interested in year - round ball. There are some really good teams that play all year. We played a team one year in April, at the beginning of the season. It was our second or third game. After getting 10 RR we were talking with their coaches. They said it was their 64th game so far that year.

[MarkGrace]

My son (13) plays on a Super League team here in SLC. The league name is Rocky Mountain School of Baseball. His team is OK - mostly kids that want to play some baseball but aren't interested in year - round ball. There are some really good teams that play all year. We played a team one year in April, at the beginning of the season. It was our second or third game. After getting 10 RR we were talking with their coaches. They said it was their 64th game so far that year.

I played with them when I was in HS. Once the HS season ended, I spent the rest of my junior and senior years playing there. At the time RMSB was a pretty small operation and not nearly the size it is now. The other main league was the Utah Baseball Academy -- it was much bigger than RMSB at the time, though I don't think that is the case anymore. UBA was mostly Salt Lake Valley kids, and then RMSB was basically everything north of Salt Lake up to Southern Idaho.

The league was run by a local bird dog (and still is, though I think his boys runs it a lot more these days), and at the end of the season he would pick a select team from all the teams competing in the league. It was a lot of fun. After the fall ball season, we spent weekends playing local JC's around the area, then went to a big invitational in Phoenix and played area teams, scout teams, teams from Mexico, etc. Then there was one or two early spring tournaments before kids went back to getting ready for their HS teams. Played with some pretty good players on those teams. Nate Weese, who was first team all conference at Utah, and Chris Shelton, who won MWC offensive player of the year at Utah and I believe was a 2nd team all-american. He also played a couple seasons in the bigs.

My old man was in town this weekend and he told me he was talking with a local scout recently who thinks these super league teams are diluting the talent pool. Interesting take, though scouts just seem to rant about a lot of things.

[Pheidippides]

I don't think I could today. I hit the high 70s/low 80s at 18. Zero control, though.