Youth Baseball Comes To Crossroads
ALSO: ANNOUNCING THE DEBUT OF PRIZED PIRATES ROOKIE PAUL SKENES
Pregame Pepper
Journeyman infielder Luis Guillorme played in just 10 games for the Braves before his trade to the Angels but one of them was in a mop-up relief role . . .
Now that Shohei Ohtani doesn’t have to worry about pitching anymore, he’s blossomed into a Triple Crown contender . . .
Max Fried will always be the answer to a trivia question: who was the last National League pitcher to win a Silver Slugger? . . .
Zack Greinke came thisclose to joining the 3000 Strikeout Club but nobody wanted him after his 2-15 disaster with Kansas City last year . . .
Wanna bet the first manager fired this season is Pedro Grifol of the White Sox? The Marlins might give him a run for his money with Skip Schumaker, whose club option clause has already been cancelled.
Leading Off
‘Not Good Enough’
By Ray Kuhn
This not something that should be said. Or is it? Youth sports, but more specifically baseball, is at a real crossroads.
It goes deeper than that, though. This is truly a cultural problem that is impacting our country as a whole. The problem, though, is that I’m not sure there is a true solution.
Ultimately, we are walking a fine line here with youth sports, and I’m not sure that it is something we can truly fix. Instead, the goal should be understanding the problem and working to make the best of it.
You play to win the game. It really is that simple. But at what cost? And when does that really become important?
For the most part, there are no gray areas in life. Either you win or you lose. Of course, things do go much deeper than that and we can’t look at life as a zero-sum game, but children do need to learn the difference between a win and a loss. Not learning that is ultimately a set-up for failure.
It has to be a gradual progression, though. And it must be done with care. At any level, even when we get to the major leagues, we are dealing with people. Living, breathing humans. With feelings, thoughts, cares, concerns, and emotions.
Baseball is not an easy game to play. Even when everything goes right, it can still go wrong. You can be a great, Hall of Fame hitter, but failing 70 per cent of the time is still expected — and welcomed. In fact, it is the targeted outcome. Hit .300 and you are good. Whether or not it is a well-struck ball doesn’t even batter. To make matters worse, you can have a perfectly hit ball end up in the opposing team’s glove, and in the box score, it’s simply an out.
So how do you reconcile that in your mind?
To say that it’s not easy would be an understatement. As little league and youth baseball coaches, we have a duty to train our players to deal with this. But there is a balancing act that needs to be done.
Little League baseball is about the kids. It has to be. This is not negotiable. We are doing it for the children so they develop skills, learn to play as a team, and most importantly have fun. If they are not having fun, then they won’t be back. And that is the most important thing here.
Without the players, there is no game. If the kids aren’t having fun, they won’t be back. That is selfish, though. Our job needs to be focused on the children. We need to develop them more as individuals than as players. However, do they need to be mutually exclusive?
Youth baseball has developed into a highly-competitive and expensive endeavor with the increase of travel ball. Especially in those circumstances, it becomes all about winning. And while we want to win, we need to be aware of what it does to the very people we are in this to supposedly be helping: the children.
They are the ones out there on the field. Not only are they dealing with driving in the winning run, but also with whatever else is happening in their lives. Baseball is supposed to be an escape from the pressure, not the cause of the pressure.
Now, especially once we get closer to age 10, and then obviously through high school, it has to be about winning the game. But there is still a way to manage that need without making things worse. This is especially true in travel ball as things become really competitive. It needs to be all about winning, but the physical and mental health is more important.
The fact that MLB Network is producing a show, airing on Saturday, entitled Not Good Enough means that we have a serious problem. Children shouldn’t be feeling any emotional pressures when between those white lines. It should be their sanctuary. And as the adults in the room, we need to make sure that is the case.
Ray Kuhn can be found covering Fantasy Sports on Fantrax and Fantasy Alarm after previously covering the Houston Astros as part of the FanSided network at Climbing Tal’s Hill. Reach him on X/Twitter at @ray_kuhn_28 or raykuhn57@gmail.com as he is always interested in talking or writing about our great game.
Cleaning Up
Pittsburgh’s Prized Prospect Will Take The Mound Tomorrow
By Dan Schlossberg
Finally! After six weeks of procrastination designed to squeeze another year of team control out of him, prized prospect Paul Skenes is about to make his major-league debut.
That will happen tomorrow when the top pick in last year’s amateur draft takes the mound at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park against the Chicago Cubs.
The 6-6, 235-pound righthander is the game’s top pitching prospect after a brilliant college career that included stops at the Air Force Academy and LSU. His earned run average for the national champion Tigers was — are you sitting down? — a microscopic 1.69.
Already compared to Stephen Strasburg, Gerrit Cole, and David Price as one of the best pitching prospects of the last 20 years, Skenes joins an up-and-coming Pirates team that seems to be slowly percolating as a contender in the weak National League Central.
St. Louis has dropped from worst to first following the retirements of Yadi Molina, Albert Pujols, and Adam Wainwright while Milwaukee is dealing with the departures of Corbin Burnes (traded) and Brandon Woodruff (injured).
The Chicago Cubs have a shot, thanks to Cody Bellinger, Shōta Imanaga, and new manager Craig Counsell, but they always find a way to lose.
That leaves the Pirates and Reds, both of whom are relying on rookies with potential.
None has more than Skenes, already projected as No. 1 pitcher, Cy Young Award contender, and All-Star regular. His fastball has been timed at 102 miles an hour — fast enough to shake the rafters at FanGraphs, MLB.com, and Baseball America. They like his slider too.
In Triple-A this year, Skenes made seven starts, showing scouts he has learned to insert off-speed pitches — a changeup and two-seamer — to fool hitters. Obviously, those additions helped: his AAA marks featured a 0.99 ERA, 42.9 per cent strikeout rate, and 7.6 per cent walk rate. When he’s not striking hitters out, he induces endless ground balls, rarely allowing home runs (just one in his brief AAA tenure).
Already set in the Pittsburgh rotation are fellow control artist Jared Jones, 22, veteran Mitch Keller, and lefties Martin Perez and Marco Gonzalez (out with a forearm strain).
If manager Derek Shelton wants to play mix-and-match, his other choices include Luis Ortiz, Bubba Chandler, Quinn Priester, and Tom Harrington.
Held back so that he wouldn’t break the 172-day minimum that equals a year of service time, Skenes could still overcome that by finishing first or second in voting for National League Rookie of the Year (an award pitchers rarely win). That means he can’t test free agency until the end of the 2029 campaign.
The Pirates started play Thursday third in their division at 17-21, five games behind the front-running Cubs and Brewers, the only NL Central teams that have won more than they lost.
Pittsburgh is in first place, however, when it comes to photogenic ballparks.
The Pirates are also at the top when it comes to frugality. Their payroll of $82,681,585 is the lowest in the National League and 29th among the 30 major-league teams. Teams that bank on rookies can do that — and sometimes win a few games along the way.
Adding Paul Skenes should be a giant step in that direction.
Former AP sportswriter Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ covers the game for forbes.com, Memories & Dreams, USA TODAY Sports Weekly, Sports Collectors Digest, MLB Report, Here’s The Pitch, and other outlets. His email is ballauthor@gmail.com.
Timeless Trivia
“He’s setting records. And who he is as a teammate. He’s got a like a magnetic field around him. You just want to be around him. He’s a fun guy to play with, he keeps the energy up in the clubhouse, dugout, on the bus, the plane, no matter where you’re at.”
— New Braves pitcher Chris Sale on Atlanta teammate Marcell Ozuna
Facing the Red Sox for the first time since his trade to Atlanta, veteran lefty Chris Sale racked up 10 strikeouts in six shutout innings . . .
A seven-time All-Star in the American League, Sale never won a Cy Young — but is emerging as a candidate for the award now that pre-season favorite Spencer Strider is out for the year while recovering from elbow ligament surgery . . .
After Marcell Ozuna's second multi-homer game of the season Wednesday, he led both leagues in homers (12) and RBIs (38) . . .
Ozuna also joined 1959 Hank Aaron (13 HR and 39 RBIs) as the only Braves to have 12+ HR and 38+ RBIs through the team's first 34 games.
Know Your Editors
HERE’S THE PITCH is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles Monday and Tuesday editions, Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] does Wednesday and Thursday, and Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com] edits the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HTP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.