Adam Sanders

Dear parents and young ball players: When you’re bailing in the box because you don’t want to get hit with the pitch, or your command is so far off your catcher is having to reach for every pitch, and you don’t do anything outside of team practice to get better, you’re barking up the wrong tree when you want to complain, blame, and shame umpires calls. There are WAY bigger things that need your attention.

The way bases are ran in the youth game isn’t even close to “real baseball” but as long as the adults are entertained 🤷‍♂️.

We preach “play fearless” and “move on” yet yank players off the field in the middle of an inning because we are tired of watching them make mistakes. We say “put in work on your own time” but get bitter when we learn they are working with outside instructors. We want them to “play aggressive” but lay into them when their aggressiveness leads to an out or free base. We demand they be “coachable” and listen to what we say but would get downright bitter and angry when someone says we could or should be doing something different. We tell them they “gotta believe in themselves” but our actions, body language, words and decisions show we don’t believe in them. We coaches tend to be walking, talking, breathing contradictions of what we speak. Believe it or not, we can break them down without even saying a word yet can be the difference maker in their life just by giving them opportunity, knowing they will fail, and giving them more opportunity. There are many layers to the weeding out process (reasons players stop playing the game). Stop being someone who takes the love away and start being someone who helps grow their passion.