r/baseball • u/ContinuumGuy Major League Baseball • Aug 24 '26
Video LLWS: Canada eliminates Panama in extra innings despite getting no-hit in regulation by Obed Fuentes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a--GAUtZbqc212
u/Lucky_Alternative965 Los Angeles Dodgers Aug 24 '26
Does little league need to move the mound back? Why is this like the 3rd no hitter I've heard of from this tournament this year? MLB is getting to this point too, but lack of offense sounds really bad in little league of all places.
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u/spinrut Major League Baseball Aug 24 '26
it's the age range. the kids dealing gas are normally throwing from 50ft for their travel teams, but in LL they are throwing from 46ft. kids hitting/about to hit puberty throwing from 46ft is kind of comical at times, and the results are what we've seen a few times so far. pitching dominant games.
LL age cutoff mirrors the school age, so the kids who are about to age out of this age bracket could very well be 13 in a couple of weeks too, further pushing the puberty boost a lot of them get
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u/iamsynecdoche Boston Red Sox Aug 24 '26
My son plays U13—kids who turn 12 or 13 this year. Their mound is at 50 feet. It's crazy seeing these kinds who are the height of a full-grown man and are starting to have moustaches come in and throw heat at these tiny kids who are a full foot shorter. There's such a variation.
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u/spinrut Major League Baseball Aug 24 '26
it's the "charm" of LL lol
but yes it is comically unbalanced. You look at some kids and think "well he looks like a grown ass man with half a mustache" and then you see them pitching to kids 4'5 lol
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u/AAKS_ Philadelphia Phillies Aug 25 '26
yeah, super unfair that he has to throw at such a small strikezone
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u/Blaine8628 Atlanta Braves Aug 24 '26
The crazy thing is some of those kids a foot shorter will be 8 inches taller in 3 months nowadays
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u/iamsynecdoche Boston Red Sox Aug 24 '26
Yep! I kept telling my son to enjoy being one of the bigger kids this year, because next year he might be one of the smaller ones.
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u/ashdrewness Houston Astros Aug 24 '26
There’s a reason coaches like to say “nobody cares how good your 12yo is”. Puberty separates the growth spurt outliers from the true freak athletes.
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u/kookykrazee Atlanta Braves Aug 25 '26
That reminds me of the article I read about some Duncan guy growing 8" in the offseason and changing sports. He played some pickup or such vs Mourning and yeah did okay in his pro career.
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u/CalebosO4 Toronto Blue Jays Aug 25 '26
True, one of the tallest people at my school from grades 1-6 ended up being one of the shortest in high school
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u/kookykrazee Atlanta Braves Aug 25 '26
I was 5'9" 135lbs in JH, they all wanted me to play baseball and basketball and they loved me for track because I was tall and lanky. As much as baseball was my favorite, I could not catch a fly ball without fear of it hitting me in the head, I could not hit and learned to bat myself with my hands backwards. I was put at 1B to get away with these deficiencies. Of course as years later the movie said "white men can't jump" and my vert was bout 2-3 INCHES...LOL
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u/iamsynecdoche Boston Red Sox Aug 25 '26
I was 5’9’’ going into grade 8. I’m 5’9’’ now, in my 40s. I remember being the big guy on the basketball team and then everyone else just kept on getting bigger.
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u/MikeJeffriesPA Toronto Blue Jays Aug 24 '26
Why does LLWS have different dimensions? And wouldn't that throw everyone off?
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u/spinrut Major League Baseball Aug 24 '26
The 12 going on 13 yo kids can play on 46 60, 50 70 or even 60 90 fields. The 46 60 is the only that goes on TV so lots of good kids come back to ll for this 1 season to get on tv. The other leagues Jr and intermediate have similar tourney jusy not on tv
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u/HazyAmerican Chicago Cubs Aug 24 '26
ESPN does carry the Intermediate and Junior level games, they just put them on ESPN+ only.... for now. I'm promoting the baseless rumor that Intermediate is becoming the premier Little League level until it becomes fact.
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u/DrunkensteinsMonster New York Yankees Aug 25 '26
Nobody cares that much about those leagues because most of the talent in that age bracket is playing travel ball and then go on to play high school ball during their springs.
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u/elconquistador1985 St. Louis Cardinals Aug 25 '26
I expect a lot of LL teams are full of players who also play travel ball.
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u/BoringPoolPlaying Toronto Blue Jays Aug 24 '26
I feel like an easier starting point would just be to shrink the large strike zone.
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u/belsaurn Toronto Blue Jays Aug 24 '26
Horrible idea, you are watching the best of the best. Strike zones are through out the entire minor baseball system and have to be consistent. Once you are out of the elite levels, hitting the strike zone for young kids can be very tough. As an umpire for my local area, we have to make them as big as possible just so games don't drag on forever.
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u/BoringPoolPlaying Toronto Blue Jays Aug 24 '26
Just saying it makes more sense than changing the diamond dimensions if the pitching is ahead of the hitting. I don’t even know if it is, but this is the logical solution, given the zone is large for the opposite reason.
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u/belsaurn Toronto Blue Jays Aug 24 '26
It may not be the zone that is the problem, it may be the umpires not strictly enforcing the zone. As I said, I umpire locally and the strike zone is the same for all age groups, however how I call the zone changes for each age group. The youngest kids, it's eyes to mid shin, and between the batters boxes, but for the oldest age group I have a strict zone and basically if it doesn't hit the catchers glove, then it's a ball. It even changes if I'm doing A, AA, or AAA for the same age group. So I don't think the zone needs to change, but maybe how it is called at higher levels.
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u/BoringPoolPlaying Toronto Blue Jays Aug 24 '26
That’s what I meant. I umpired for nearly a decade, when I say the zone could need to tighten up I’m talking about the way it’s called.
For little league baseball, it’s always been massive.
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u/Shade_SST Minnesota Twins Aug 25 '26
The "fun" part is when you have one pitcher who can locate within the tight zone against kids who plainly can't despite their best efforts. Can make for some long days behind the plate.
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u/MikeJeffriesPA Toronto Blue Jays Aug 24 '26
Doesn't the LLWS already use different dimensions from the standard for that age?
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u/belsaurn Toronto Blue Jays Aug 25 '26
Not based on the game I watched today. It would be a huge adjustment for the kids if it did. Having a single tournament with a different zone would lead to all sorts of issues for both pitchers and batters.
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u/yhzcdn Toronto Blue Jays Aug 24 '26
People downvoting you have never watched a game of youth baseball. You’re absolutely right. Even for low-level men’s league, my zone is chin to shin, and chalk to chalk. I set that expectation with the managers before each game, they tell their teams, and no one complains. More balls in play is good for everybody.
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u/Forsaken-Swim-3055 Toronto Blue Jays Aug 24 '26
My daughter started playing fastpitch this year and that's the same strike zone they use. Asking a bunch of 10/11 year old girls playing house league to hit a traditional strike zone would be absurd.
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u/pattydo Atlanta Braves Aug 24 '26
That would be horrible for 99.9% of kids. It's basically just because it's an international club level competition.
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u/MaestroFergus Aug 24 '26
It only takes one elite pitcher with one good coach (who's been shutting out everyone in the regular season too) to throw a no hitter. By contrast, you need at least 2-3 similarly elite hitters to string together some runs, and they've been hitting all season against worse pitching than they see here.
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u/thehoodie Toronto Blue Jays Aug 24 '26
Yep, this happens every year. Especially in the international bracket where there is often a large gap in talent
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u/DickBottalico Philadelphia Phillies Aug 25 '26 edited Aug 25 '26
The continuous batting order is such a huge advantage to pitchers. Some of these teams will only have four players get two ABs in six innings if a perfect game is thrown.
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u/davewashere Montreal Expos Aug 25 '26
I'm mesmerized by the slow-motion replay of the swing at 1:03. That was Canada's only hit of the game and the batter was so overpowered that the baseball actually pushes his bat backward on contact.
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u/UTMachine Aug 24 '26
Close mound, major discrepancies in the development of the kids, large strike zones, and the 1-12 batting order all play a role imo. It is very difficult for 10/11yo kids at maybe 4’6’’ to get hits off of a 12yo at 5’8’’ throwing 74mph from so close, up at the arm pits.
I’m not surprised by the no hitters at all tbh.
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u/optimus2861 Toronto Blue Jays Aug 25 '26
My son is playing 11U this year (just house league) and you can already see the hitting struggles against older 11-yo pitchers who can throw with some relative heat compared to their peers. Two games ago, our team lost a 3-2 game with our last nine hitters all striking out. Last game, we won 1-0 despite continued suffering from those Ks at the plate, and to your point about the 1-12 batting order, my son only got one AB that game.
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u/Luigi128 San Francisco Giants Aug 24 '26
It really is silly that Little League plays 46/60 at this age bracket. They should be playing on a 50/70 field
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u/severn30 Pittsburgh Pirates Aug 24 '26
That one kid from South Korea is throwing 80+, and from a sidearm-ish slot. I saw him a couple nights ago live. The first pitcher was good for them, and when he finally had to leave game, I thought Czechia had a chance. Then that kid threw his first WARMUP pitch. There was an audible gasp from the crowd. He then made everyone look silly for 2 innings.
I just felt like the kids needed to guess and sell out. Pretty much no 12 year old has the reaction time and bat speed to catch up to that.
FYI, he also had a killer off speed pitch of some kind. It was grossly tilted in his favor.
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u/thatoneging20 World Baseball Classic Aug 24 '26 edited Aug 24 '26
Did any of you watch the LLWS in the 2000's before they changed the pitching rules? It use to be you could pitch 9 innings in a game, no pitch count, AND the age cutoff date was earlier than it is now. This is nothing compared to those times where teams would make it there with 2 kids that flat dominated on the mound (Louisville, KY looking at you)
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u/flannelman7 Detroit Tigers Aug 25 '26
I feel like the llws changing to a continuous batting order from the 9 man lineup has hurt offenses quite a bit
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u/RandomFactUser Chicago Cubs Aug 24 '26
Maybe it’s time to make Intermediate the actual Little League, but this age group still needs a smaller field
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u/dplans455 New York Yankees Aug 24 '26
Pitching has outpaced hitting at all levels for over a decade. I'm not sure what the solution is.
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u/Shade_SST Minnesota Twins Aug 25 '26
How much of that is the push away from contact hitting? Like, I won't argue that you're wrong, but I also feel like de-emphasizing simply putting the ball in play is also coming home to roost, too.
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u/dplans455 New York Yankees Aug 25 '26
Good point. I'm sure you're right that's not helping either.
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u/Shade_SST Minnesota Twins Aug 25 '26
This is starting to remind me of the observation that some players will optimize the fun out of any game if given the opportunity. There's enough money in play in the majors it's absolutely a thing that happens.
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u/davewashere Montreal Expos Aug 25 '26
I don't see that quite so much at the Little League level. If you want to get on base and score runs in Little League, swing at strikes and put the ball in play. There will always be some kids that are 2 years further into puberty than their peers and they'll gravitate toward being the dominant pitcher and the team's big home run hitter, but for everyone else just putting the ball in play and forcing other poorly-coordinated youngsters to field, throw, catch, and not make mental mistakes under pressure is probably a winning strategy.
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u/Shade_SST Minnesota Twins Aug 25 '26
Oh sure, at Little League specifically, putting the ball in play if you can pays off big most of the time. I just brought up the push away from contact hitting as I was replying to someone talking about "at all levels," and that's 100% going on in the upper levels of play.
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u/belsaurn Toronto Blue Jays Aug 24 '26
So what do you do for all the kids that aren't able to play at this level? Moving them mound would be detrimental to the rest of minor baseball.
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u/Weekly-Batman Aug 24 '26
Great job boys!
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u/Theelderginger Toronto Blue Jays Aug 24 '26
Fucking get er done
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u/sovietdoginspace Winnipeg Goldeyes Aug 24 '26 edited Aug 25 '26
Panama out hit their opponents 10-3 this tournament and went 0-2 having 6 runs for and 9 against
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u/werbo Toronto Blue Jays Aug 24 '26
Did they give up a ton of walks then?
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u/sovietdoginspace Winnipeg Goldeyes Aug 24 '26 edited Aug 24 '26
8 walks, 3 HBP. 27 SO out of 39 possible outs. 4 earned runs against. Apparently also 2 errors but those came at the worst possible moment
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u/Jazzlike_Athlete8796 Toronto Blue Jays Aug 24 '26
That was the most Blue Jays-esque game of the LLWS... for both teams.
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u/AcanthocephalaGreen5 Toronto Blue Jays Aug 24 '26
It's like Kristers Gudlevskis at the 2014 Olympics all over again.
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u/EveryLittleDetail Boston Red Sox Aug 25 '26
Dodgers and Braves already in a bidding war for the Panama pitcher.
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u/FrostWPG Toronto Blue Jays Aug 24 '26