Moving son up to Minor League

Question
We recently had baseball sign-ups in our town.  My son is 8 and played tee ball at 6 and coach pitch at 7.  He can hit very well but needs some work on fielding and knowledge of the game.  I had planned on putting him in coach pitch again but the President of the League is trying to talk me into moving him into minor which is coach and player pitch.  The age group is suppose to be 9-10 year olds however when he showed me all the kids who were moving up including 7-8 year olds I got confused.  Many of the those are above my son, and many are the same (playing level).  But the thing that struck me we was the kids who I knew were not ready to move up did so.  They told me that by moving him up would only make him better because he would play against better kids.  My concern is that he will be intimidated (he is shy) and my thought was this year in coach pitch could be confidence booster for him. They said that the younger kids would play the outfield for a little while until they got comfortable and each kid would sit 1 inning. I just don't know what to do, I don't understand what the hurry is for them to move up.  Any advice would be great.  Thank you!

Answer
Barbara:  Great question and one which sparks much current interest.

There does seem to be a rush to push kids ahead of their age group, usually with the reasoning being they will get better by playing against better kids.

While I agree with the concept, I feel that comes at a later stage in a players development.  Some maturity is required to handle the physical struggles that are bound to occur.  You will see a vast difference between coach pitch and player pitch.  That segment alone becomes a separator for many kids.  It is natural for kids in baseball to dislike the thought of being hit by a pitched ball, or a batted or thrown ball in the field.  It hurts, and age is one factor which allows players to handle this inevitable situation.  If you are playing baseball, you are going to get hit with the ball.  If an 8 year old gets hit by a ball hit by another 8 year old, maybe not so bad.  Hit by a 9 or 10 year old, quite possibly a lot harder.  Nine and 10 year olds will throw harder and less accurate than coaches pitching.  A factor to consider.

Learning to play the game as a natural progression is also important.  Younger kids "playing up" will get relegated to the outfield, a position grouping at the youth baseball level that gets little or no instruction.  Kids stand around, bored, hoping a ball will come their way.  As kids move through the system, the outfield becomes more interesting as they learn that there is somewhere an outfielder should be moving to on each play.  That doesn't occur for a number of years.  In their age group, they should have the opportunity to play and learn all positions, which is a true plus in their development.

Learning to play the total games and more than one position is a valuable asset.  Most high schools have a multiple middle school feeder system.  That correlates to, say a player has been a shortstop everywhere until he gets to high school, he might be looking at numerous shortstops from other feeder schools.  Someone is going to need to move positions.  Just a good thing to plan ahead.  The more versatility a player has, the better their opportunities within the game, at all levels.

I get quite a few questions at All Experts, as well as on my site at www.theoleballgame.com, from parents who have a player that was hit by a pitch and is now afraid to stand in the batter's box.  Most always comes in that transition from coach pitch to player pitch.  If a player is of comparable age, they have a little better ability to handle the inevitable.

There is a baseball social working website that I belong to at www.checkswing.com.  They currently have a discussion going about this very topic, "Playing Up".  While much of it relates to older players, you may be able to get a variety of opinions on this subject, to help sort it out.  The link is in the left column of their home page, entitled Playing Up.

As you can tell, I personally lean towards letting them develop at their level, there is certainly no rush.  There is a lot of baseball ahead.

Good luck with your upcoming season.  Have fun with it.  There are a lifetime of great memories ahead.

If you have additional questions, you can contact me here at all experts, or on the baseball questions or contact page on my site.  I would like to know how this develops for you and your son.

Yours in baseball,

Rick