OT: Kid punished for being too good??

[kudu]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/n...odtopitch.html

[camarokids]

That is total crap! Same age as his peers.....

[mvandor]

Look, kid is too good for a lousy developmental league, what's the big deal, he should be playing in a higher level league. If I'm his parent, I want him challenged, not throwing no hitters every game against inferior hitters.

[TNTtoys]

Look, kid is too good for a lousy developmental league, what's the big deal, he should be playing in a higher level league. If I'm his parent, I want him challenged, not throwing no hitters every game against inferior hitters.

This is how it is being presented by the overzealous parents who have forfeited the game when their team was to play against him.

However, what is missing here is the fact that the kid nearly played for their team before deciding to play for his current.

I take it that it would have been ok for these parents if he played for them but it's not ok now?

The whole thing stinks.

One good thing is coming of it... the kid is becoming a celebrity out of it. Good for him.

A side note... the only thing I haven't understood through all of this -- is 40mph considered formidable for a 9-year-old? In my earliest memories, I threw 40+ at age 10. Granted I don't think I would have thrown that fast at age 9, but is the difference that substantial???

[bigtruck260]

I was the best pitcher in my Khoury League division for several years.

I threw 70mph from 45 feet (like the Little League WS) - and I had tons of strikeouts and several no hitters. By the time I was 14, I played HS ball, and left that league....

Every league has a kid that throws harder than the other pitchers. When we traveled one year, we saw a kid that threw harder than I did, and we were scared. His team smoked us (me) and we were beaten by 10 runs in 5 innings.

Sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose. Kids have to challenge themselves once in a while.

As hard as I threw, every now and then a kid would blast one on me...and when he reached home plate, the other team would go nuts. Imagine how that kid felt after he hit that bomb - he stood his ground, and took the best pitcher in the league deep...

That's a feeling that those kids in the above league will never experience now that the best kid in the league is being barred.

[allstarsplus]

We start our travel select teams at 9 years old here in the Washington DC area. We would welcome Jericho to our league as 40 MPH is not a problem in so much as it would be a great asset.

5 years ago we had a 9 year old kid who was throwing in the high 30's to the low 40's with accuracy. He dominated for several years locally as each year his velocity picked up, but when we got into Tournaments out of town we found that from each town there was a kid who could throw in the mid to high 30's.

If the 9 year old was throwing 50, I think we would all be amazed but I hear all this talk about the kid like this is a one-of-a-kind and can't see what the problem is.

I would be more worried that this young boy may do damage to his arm if he is over-throwing or throwing too many pitches.

[David]

First, I do think they kid should be kept in there even if he is really good. As a kid playing soccer and baseball, there often was a kid heads and shoulders above the rest, and no one thought of booting him out. If he was older than the rest of the kids, there would be a problem but being better itself wasn't an issue.

However, if there are other leagues around town of higher skill levels, I can reasonably see coaches saying this kid is too good-- he should be moved up to the next level. This might happen fairly often with kids of unusually high skill levels for the age. Kind like telling a HS freshman to play varsity with the juniors and seniors. Realize that this league may not be based just on an age legel, but a skill level. It sounds as if many of the kids are total beginners and sticking in Nolan Ryan Jr. may not be helpful for their begginer.

Personally, I don't know how a really, really good kid mowing down total beginners ever game is any good for the development of the really, really good player. Sounds like the recipe for producing a player who becomes cockey and sees no need to practice. If you want to develp the kid's potential, he should be pitching at a higher level.

[David]

When Hugh Green was a high school player of future NFL talent and size, the H.S. conference officials came to him and asked him not to tackle so hard.

[David]

One good point that was made, and one that I hadn't thought of, it that with little kids' safety it's not only the speed of the ball but the reaction times of the kids. At that age, it may be that kids don't have the physiological/mental capabilities to move and react like older kids, and it could be a danger when someone's throwing the ball too hard. A 25 mile an hour baseball might not seem outrageous, but it can be when you're throwing it to kindergartners who can't react act to it like you or I.