saw something scary

[carolinablue]

As advertised I had the plate yesterday for a 12yo LL tournament game. It was 103 degrees but we got through it OK. It ended in 5 innings but lasted 21/2 hours because the final score was 26-13 in favor of visitors. It was a ten homerun slug fest. One kid for the visitors hit one that would have went at least 350ft if not more. It went over some pine trees just outside the fence.

In about the second inning, the kid mentioned above who is bigger than me, hit an absolute lazer towards the F5. It passed just left of his ear and he never even reacted until the ball was well into left field. Scary, just a little more right and it could have been really bad. I know this could happen to any player on any field but LL really needs to look at putting the 12yo players on a 50-70 field with no option. These kids are just too big and strong anymore.

[JaxRolo]

Agreed!

[Umpire in Chief]

That is scary. I've had a few instances when my heart has skipped a beat.

[JHSump]

LL was instituted with 60 foot basepaths generations ago, literally. Since then nutrition has improved greatly, so kids are bigger and stronger in general, and mature earlier. Many kids at 12 are on the cusp of young adult maturity. On top of that, *bats* have improved tremendously. The bats I used in LL (1960s) were small barrel wood bats --- pretty pathetic toothpicks compared to the technological weapons of today.

Sometimes It is very scary.

[Richvee]

Agree 100%. I think one the biggest stumbling blocks is the inability of many programs to either convert of find 70 foot fields.

[SoCal Lurker]

Agree 100%. I think one the biggest stumbling blocks is the inability of many programs to either convert of find 70 foot fields.

I think LL has even said that about the fields as they continue to experiment with optional 50-70 programs. (I've always suspected that part of the reason for picking 60' was so they could use softball fields, but that's speculation on my part.)

One of the reasons that my son moved from LL to PONY was the 70' open bases and slightly longer pitching distance, which I think is better for moving on to full-size fields. (The one thing I do think LL does better than PONY is shifting from innings to pitch count for pitching limits.

[mstaylor]

Agree 100%. I think one the biggest stumbling blocks is the inability of many programs to either convert of find 70 foot fields.

I think LL has even said that about the fields as they continue to experiment with optional 50-70 programs. (I've always suspected that part of the reason for picking 60' was so they could use softball fields, but that's speculation on my part.)

One of the reasons that my son moved from LL to PONY was the 70' open bases and slightly longer pitching distance, which I think is better for moving on to full-size fields. (The one thing I do think LL does better than PONY is shifting from innings to pitch count for pitching limits.

Agreed the pitch counts are better than innings, however I think the 10ft increments in Pony is better. I have always thought going from 60 to 90 is too much.

[mjr_2013]

That is the one thing I really hate about Little League. There is no in between. You go from "Kid" as a 12 year old with 46/60 to "Man" as a 13 year old with 60/90... These kids usually aren't ready for that much of a leap. It should be made more gradually.

[Dannytheman]

We've had a couple of 3rd base coaches nailed attempting to avoid a bullet pulled down the foul ball line. One did all he could and got smashed on upper thigh, inches from his playland.

I sure would like to see some more breathing room at the Majors level! I do understand the expense of restructuring all those field though. Sitting on the local LL board allows you to understand how tight finances are.

[mstaylor]

Quit allowing -11 bats and you don;t have to change a thing. But if cost is a concern then get temp mounds, put in double pins so you can do 60 and 70 ft on the same field and cut a little of grass of the outfield lip to make playing infield work with the 70ft bases. The big expense is moving the fence back

[Rich Ives]

Quit allowing -11 bats and you don;t have to change a thing. But if cost is a concern then get temp mounds, put in double pins so you can do 60 and 70 ft on the same field and cut a little of grass of the outfield lip to make playing infield work with the 70ft bases. The big expense is moving the fence back

The big problem is not having the real estate to move the fence back.

[carolinablue]

Saftey first. Move the bases and mound and leave the fence where it's at if you need to. Let the kids hit the homeruns why they can because next season in the Juniors most of them will be fly outs to LF. LOL

[Umpy]

If they're not hitting it over the fence now, changing the distance of the bases isn't going to make it easier for them to hit it over the fence.

[dumbdumb]

Once again, let's see what the wooden bats would do rather than those ego boosting $350 metal bats. Then lets see if the kids are stronger/bigger theory holds water. Of course some MLB 3B can almost get crushed by some of the bruisers up there with the wooden bats and them playing right at the bag.

[mstaylor]

If real estate is a problem then raise the fence. We did that on a couple of fields that couldn't go back, we went up. It can be done with netting and be cheaper than all that chain link.

[Rich Ives]

All well and good but just because 1 in 783 players is an overgrown giant and a threat do we alter the game field for the other 782 that aren't a problema and would find the larger field an issue?

[SoCal Lurker]

If they're not hitting it over the fence now, changing the distance of the bases isn't going to make it easier for them to hit it over the fence.

It also pushes back the pitcher's mound, which is an advantage for the hitters.

[SoCal Lurker]

Quit allowing -11 bats and you don;t have to change a thing. But if cost is a concern then get temp mounds, put in double pins so you can do 60 and 70 ft on the same field and cut a little of grass of the outfield lip to make playing infield work with the 70ft bases. The big expense is moving the fence back

Mercifully I haven't seen many of them, but the temp mounds that I've seen my son play on are awful to pitch from. Depending on stride length they can force a pitcher to change his motion because of a problem landing on an angle or where the mound meets the grounds.

[Dannytheman]

Quit allowing -11 bats and you don;t have to change a thing. But if cost is a concern then get temp mounds, put in double pins so you can do 60 and 70 ft on the same field and cut a little of grass of the outfield lip to make playing infield work with the 70ft bases. The big expense is moving the fence back

The big problem is not having the real estate to move the fence back.

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Parking lot relocation on 2 of our fields, building relocation on 3 others. A fence relocation is cheapest part.

[Dannytheman]

All well and good but just because 1 in 783 players is an overgrown giant and a threat do we alter the game field for the other 782 that aren't a problema and would find the larger field an issue?

It's more like 3 or 4 of 12 per team here. Lot's of McDonalds steroid burgers eaten here, is my guess.

My leagues Tournament team of 12 year olds. (9 teams) has 3 kids over 6'. 4 kids over 5'10" and the rest are at least 5'7" . I kid you not.

3 of the boys throw in the 70's. And we are not the biggest team in the area.

[SoCal Lurker]

All well and good but just because 1 in 783 players is an overgrown giant and a threat do we alter the game field for the other 782 that aren't a problema and would find the larger field an issue?

It's more like 3 or 4 of 12 per team here. Lot's of McDonalds steroid burgers eaten here, is my guess.

My leagues Tournament team of 12 year olds. (9 teams) has 3 kids over 6'. 4 kids over 5'10" and the rest are at least 5'7" . I kid you not.

3 of the boys throw in the 70's. And we are not the biggest team in the area.

!?! Time to field a basketball team! . . . at age 12, the 97th percentile for boys is below 5'5" . . .

[Dannytheman]

All well and good but just because 1 in 783 players is an overgrown giant and a threat do we alter the game field for the other 782 that aren't a problema and would find the larger field an issue?

It's more like 3 or 4 of 12 per team here. Lot's of McDonalds steroid burgers eaten here, is my guess.

My leagues Tournament team of 12 year olds. (9 teams) has 3 kids over 6'. 4 kids over 5'10" and the rest are at least 5'7" . I kid you not.

3 of the boys throw in the 70's. And we are not the biggest team in the area.

!?! Time to field a basketball team! . . . at age 12, the 97th percentile for boys is below 5'5" . . .

Most of them do play basketaball. But most of them are also closer to 13 now. Like some already in June, others in July and August. The one boy grew 5 inches since March.

[mstaylor]

We use a lot of temp mounds and the ones we use aren't bad. I have seen some like what you are talking about

[azump]

I agree as stated above they are getting bigger and stronger as well as little league is going to at 70ft bases 48ft mound pilot program next year, however the problem around here is field dimensions cant push thee fences back. I dont know if up is a answer, but i agree something does need to change

[mstaylor]

Up is not a problem. You take the trajectory that takes to clear a fence at the new distance, figure how high the ball has to be to make that distance and raise the fence to that height. We had SP fields that had portions of the fence couldn't go back so they doubled the height. It doesn't have to be exact, say it had to be raised to eight feet, ten is fine if that is easier.