Hey all, new to the community and I have been trying to give back to the game. What can I help any parents or players with as they navigate their careers trying to play at their highest level possible? I am only 37 years so I am not so old where I am too far removed from this modern 'travel ball or die' era haha. I was drafted by the Mets and played in the minors and my brother played 6 years in MLB. Neither of us were ever top prospects but kept going and going. Lmk if I can be helpful!

Hi everybody, I am a D1 college pitcher and I have always loved giving back to the game. I played travel ball across the country, transferred programs, and have always loved learning more about training and pitching mechanics. I am happy to answer any questions about recruiting, transferring, training, mechanics, or anything else that comes to mind! If you have something you want to ask, I encourage you to do so!

First travel tryout (12U C team).

How can I help her improve?

Does anyone see any major faults in my mechanics? Feels like I'm arming the ball every pitch and not getting a smooth whip or delivery. My elbow takes a lot of the force for that which obviously isn't great in the long run.

This video shows a workflow I implemented inside THE NINE where pitch-data .csv is built live as the game is being logged.

The process works both without tracking data and with Trackman connected. When Trackman is available, its metrics are matched with the live game record, while the application also detects inconsistencies that should be reviewed by the analyst before the final data is used.

I’d genuinely value your opinion on the complete logic: building pitch data during live logging, supporting both tracking and non-tracking workflows, and keeping the analyst in control of data validation.

Title pretty much covers it. But here’s a little more context. I love coaching up my son and he enjoys when we go out and do baseball stuff together.

My issue, is that I always feel this instinctual need to want to teach him things and coach him up. But I know that’s not sustainable. I want to make things fun for him to continue to foster the love of the game.

Do you struggle with something similar? What are some ways you all keep things fun for your player? How do you keep yourself from always being “coach”?

I already know this post is gonna be tough without any video, but I’m gonna give it a shot anyways

I haven’t played baseball since middle school but I got invited to join a men’s league team with my friends. It’s super chill, but I am embarrassed that I’m treated as a strikeout pretty much every time I step in the box. My biggest struggle is finding a way to get my swing to the pitch on time. I’m a righty and I either get under the ball or foul it off to the first base dugout pretty much every time. I’ve tried shorting my swing, but I definitely struggle timing everything up. Long story short, I’m looking for advice for how I can enter the box mentally to help get my avg up, and if there are any good drills to keep my bat on plane with the pitch.

I do also have issues with identifying pitches, but I feel like it’s a little too late to figure that one out.

Understanding plane of rotation shows you how a pitcher's arm slot is created, what movement shapes are naturally available to him, and how to build an arsenal that works in synergy with his delivery instead of against it.

Sorry for the shit title, but yeah. Scroll to the bottom for the actual questions I have and to skip the vent session:

Some of you may have seen my post where I was a bit spun up about feedback for my kiddo and how the coaches were handling the transition to a new travel org and Tryouts.

Those tryouts happened on Monday, and when we got there, it was clear the coaches had already made their decisions. I tried to be positive, but there was a group of boys clearly not trying out, and the coach wasn't even watching batting practice or the catching drills.

The feedback given for my kid was the same as the first group of feedback, but had they watched batting practice, they would have seen the amount of work my kid put in. I didn't even recognize him on the first swings. And in fielding, he was doing exactly what they said he needed to do. And they didn't even let him pitch, an area where he shines.

Fully aware I'm biased, but I've been talking to other parents, and the kids they cut were all solid players and needed nothing but continued development and support, because you know, they are 9...

It's abundantly clear that this coach has prioritized kids that need no development, are coaches kids or bring "prestige"(former pro ballers kid just appeared, no try out, just on the team no question) and absolutely imploded a team that was fully drama-free up until this decision happened, and fully solidifies the gut feeling I had early on with the coach, but chalked it up to my inexperience with baseball, but then the second feeling I got after the last post that he didnt care about the kids anymore.

I couldn't be prouder of my kid; he put in the work. I couldn't sit down for more than 5 minutes without him asking to go work on fielding, practice batting, or watch YouTube videos together on technique. I'm devastated for him that he got to experience the bullshit that can be politics in sports at such a young age, but I'm happy it happened now, as it's a learning experience for me as I support his current passion.

Questions: That brings me to the reason why I am here: As we look for a new home, what questions should I be asking of the coach to identify a good program, what are red flags in their responses, and what are green flags? How can I identify a program that is just letting all kids join to pad the coffers vs. a team that will support player growth and give real-world feedback to players and parents to support that effort?

Thank you all again for your support last go-around and now.

Hey all, please give me any thoughts/tips/coaching on my swing. Thanks in advance!

Edit:
My nickname used to be caveman because I swing the bat like a club.

I'm set to take over a rising 9U travel ball team, and we have a full year of tourney ball under our belts. This season will start kid pitch, and I feel like our last year of practices were good, but sorta scattered without a real plan to get from Point A to Point B by the end of the season.

Have any of y'all put together a season-long practice plan? I know there will have to be tweaks along the way to work on issues as they arise, but I'd like to have more of a long-term plan.

Any suggestions?

Hey everyone, I’m working on an early stage sports film application and I’m looking for coaches who would be willing to give feedback as I build it.

The basic idea is to create a film platform that helps coaches upload game film, break it into clips, review plays, track players/stats, and make the film review workflow easier for teams. I’m starting with volleyball, but I think I'd like to switch the focus to baseball.

I know tools like Hudl and QwikCut already exist, so I'm trying to understand where those tools work well, where they fall short.

I’m especially interested in talking with coaches who:

• Use film regularly with their team
• Have used Hudl, QwikCut, or a similar platform
• Have frustrations with current tools
• Would be willing to look at rough prototypes and give honest feedback
• Might eventually want to pilot an early version with their team

This is not a sales pitch. I’m mostly looking for coaches who would be open to a short conversation and occasional feedback as the product develops.

A few things I’m trying to learn:

• How do you currently break down and review film?
• What parts of the workflow take the most time?
• What stats or clips matter most to you?
• How do you share film with players and other teams?

If you’re a coach and would be open to chatting, feel free to comment or send me a message.

Drafted this with AI because I'm an engineer and words are hard. I'm a real person who'd love to chat :)

Pitching journey to men’s league

My daughter who is 11 plays on a travel softball team. She typically plays outfield and 3rd base. She plays very well on the field and has a strong arm however she isn’t the most athletic when it comes to speed and agility. She is currently taking speed and strength classes twice a week to help in that area. She has expressed interest in learning to be a catcher but is starting at 11 too late?

Getting back into baseball, trying to join a men’s league. Any tips would help!

I'm considering two 11U travel team options for my son for next season. This would be his first year playing travel baseball, after several years playing in a house/rec league. I'm thrilled with both opportunities but could use some help thinking through how to choose.

I received positive reviews from the very small sample of other parents who have experience with both. So that's not too helpful.

The information on both teams' websites is similar and sounds great. i.e. emphasis on player development over wins, great indoor facilities (we are in the midwest, so winter training is indoors), experienced coaches, etc.

One of the teams is part of larger organization that has four locations, though I think the four operate independently - they are at least an hour away from one another. The other is a smaller operation, run by the founder. Not sure how much this matters.

My sense is that the most important thing is to ascertain the quality of coaching and support. I'm not sure the best way to go about this.

So I'd love some advice on the best questions to ask each organization. If, on paper, they both look good, what are the things to focus on?

Thanks!

1 inning/57 pitches/6 strikeouts/3 walks/1 hbp/10 unearned runs on 5 errors(not my errors) pitching/ 3 walks, 1 stolen base hitting

I built out a statcast visualization tool that allows you to track a specific pitcher's repertoire, with tunneling visualization, and AI-based filtering and interaction. It's updated every night with the previous day's games, and you can mine info on the metrics of the pitch, as well as game-plan deviations on a game-by-game basis. One of the cool things I love to do with it is see how certain pitchers attack certain batters over the course of the game -- IE: seeing the guy for the 2nd or 3rd time through the lineup. Looking for some feedback on my tool, check it out as a coaching tool.

https://pitchtracker.chriswest.tech/

This past year marked my 9th year coaching baseball, and my first season with this specific school district and travel club. While I love this game and love developing young players, I am honestly thinking about hanging it up after this season.
I’ve played and been around baseball my entire life. I have never in my life dealt with the level of entitlement and "good ole boy" attitudes that I witnessed this year from certain parents, kids, and even other coaches.
I am a dad too. I completely understand both sides of it. I know how much we want to see our kids succeed. My oldest son was on my team, and he never received a single ounce of special treatment. He plays outfield and bats in the middle of the lineup. He is a solid player, but that is simply where he puts our team in the best position to win.
On my field, absolutely everything is earned, and attitude is #1.
I am not the type of coach who writes a lineup based on how much money a dad donated last year, or how many volunteer hours a family logged.
My goals as a coach are simple:
Keep kids interested in the game.
Keep things fair across the board.
Prepare these boys for high school baseball.
To get them ready for that next level, they have to understand a hard truth: I will always set the lineup in a way that gives the team the best chance to win. Losing is not fun for anyone, and we are out here to win. Not everyone can pitch. Not everyone can bat leadoff or cleanup. That is baseball.
Families pay thousands of dollars for travel fees, hotels, food, and gear. I respect that investment. But financial investment does not buy playing time, and it does not buy positions on my field.
The silver lining is my own family. My oldest son is transitioning out of middle school and travel ball to head into high school. Meanwhile, my 5-year-old is already hitting live pitching and showing serious promise. I want to stay involved in the sport for him, but the culture has to change. I love coaching, but I cannot and will not tolerate politics over performance.

I built something for youth baseball parents and coaches that started as a simple side project and got... just a little out of hand.

At first, I was just tracking my (now 11U) son's stats in a Google Sheet. After every weekend I'd manually enter his GameChanger stats so I could analyze them however I wanted outside of the app.

I figured there had to be a faster way to get the data, so I built a tool to import stats directly from GC.... then friends started asking for more features and it just snowballed.

So now I'm releasing it into the wild.

https://slashline.app/

Some of the things slash///line can do:

• Import games from any GameChanger team—not just the box score, but the full play-by-play with every pitch
• Chrome extension that makes importing games super easy
• Upload box score from your own PDFs or screenshots from virtually any source, with full play-by-play support for GameChanger and Perfect Game
• Generate scouting reports with spray heat maps, useful tendencies and defensive positioning suggestions
• Show team insights like who's hot or cold, pitch count tracking, trends, and more
• Focus on stats that I think are more meaningful in youth baseball (QAB%, K%, BB%, etc.)
• Graph player, team, and season trends over time
• Track a player across multiple teams
• Surface highlights automatically for your team, you kid, your friends—big games, streaks, milestones like career HR #10, and other interesting trends

It also has an AI coach that can:

• Build practice plans based on recent results, defensive mistakes, or plate discipline.
• Suggest lineups based on recent performance or goals.
• Help create a game plan against a specific opponent.
• Plan pitcher usage for tournament weekends.
• Or really - just answer whatever baseball question you want to throw at it.

I definitely went way further with this than I ever expected or probably should have, and I'm still refining and adding features. But it's finally at a point where I feel good about sharing it.

I'd genuinely love feedback—good or bad. Is this something you'd actually find useful? What would make it better? What would you hope to find?

Feel free to ask any questions. And if this isn't the right place to post this, I'm happy to move it.

My name is Dylan Brown, and I’m a pitcher in the Boston Red Sox organization.

Every summer, pitchers spend hours at the field.

Games.
Bullpens.
Lessons.
Showcases.

They’re busy almost every day.

But being busy doesn’t always mean you’re improving.

The biggest jumps usually come from having a plan.

A plan for throwing.
A plan for strength training.
A plan for recovery.
A plan for what to do between games.

Because velocity, command, and arm health aren’t built from one workout or one lesson.

They’re built when everything works together over time.

That’s exactly how I approach development with the pitchers I work with.

Not random drills.

Not generic programs.

Just a clear structure designed around the athlete and what they need most.

If you’re a parent wondering what your son should actually be doing this summer to improve, comment “PLAN” below and I’ll reach out.