If I’ve heard this conversation among fathers once I’ve heard it 100 times before:
Bob: Hey Jim, how was your team’s game this morning?
Jim: Yeah, just got back, took our eighth victory in a row. Don’t see anyone touching us this year, we should run the table.
Bob: Wow – what was the score?
Jim: 22-18, we’re a powerful offensive squad.
Every time I hear a conversation similar to that I chuckle. The reality of the situation in most town little league programs is that not one earned run has been scored since the Eisenhower Administration. If you really want to put youth baseball into perspective go to a game where you know not one single player on either team, preferably in a town that is unfamiliar to you. Then come back and tell me that kids are ready to play this game at a level that resembles the adult version.
What Jim actually experienced that day with his baseball team is 6 horrifying innings that lasted an hour too long, with few strikes thrown, plenty of walks, wild pitches, passed balls, throwing errors, dozens of balls dropped & ground balls through the legs. Yet we as parents jump up and down and scream at the top of our lungs in glee every time their team scores. Giving kids the impression that they’re performing at a high level and as long as the final score reads in their favor it does not matter how it happens. That’s similar to being graded on a curve where you celebrate your son receiving an A for answering 4 out of 10 questions correctly out of a class of struggling students.
The means by which we’ve been conditioned to measure sport success has actually leads to poor coaching and athlete performance. When you coach to win at any expense, because you’re so focused on a final score, it creates a situation where you reward and celebrate the other teams’ mistakes, without little regard to how your team actually performed.
If we actually approached and scored games differently, and stayed away from the adult final result version of scoring, you might begin to witness better quality of play, with the focus placed on executing skills rather than manufacturing wins.
If an adult is not focused as a coach on developing every player on his or her team then they should immediately stop coaching. The youth coach when asked how his team did answers by saying:
We played well today.
I was pleased with everyone’s performance
Or
I saw some good things today but we need to improve upon X/Y/& Z
Is a coach that focuses on the details of where his team is developmentally, rather than who won or lost, and will ultimately produce better athletes, teams, and championships later in adolesance when victories and losses matter, and can be properly put into perspective.
This season I challenge youth baseball teams to use the following simple scoring system. The scores you record will become a blueprint of where you need to improve. That’s a much better final result of a youth game than a useless and sloppy win.
The following rewards contact made, the quality of the hit, the outcome of runner’s advancing, total bases, & driving in runs.
For every foul ball – 1 point (making contact)
For every infield fly ball out – 1 point
For every fly ball error – 1 point
For every ball ground ball out – 1 point
For every ground ball error – 1 point
For every line drive out – 4 points
For every ground ball hit – 4 points
For every fly ball hit – 4 points
For every line drive hit – 6 points
For every home run – 6 points + 4 total bases +( # of RBI’s x 4)
For every sacrifice = type of hit points + number of runners advanced + x 4 for each RBI
Add batters number of bases to points beyond first base (i.e. line drive double = 8 points, triple = 9 points)
Add number of runners x2 points for each base advanced into scoring position (i.e. ground ball single with runners on first and second that advance to second & third = 8 points)
Add number of RBI’s x 4 onto points (line drive 2-run double = 16 points)
Add 2 points for every run scored other than HR’s
On defense – 2 points for every ball played that results in an out
- (-2 points) for every ball played that results in a runner & -2 points for every base advanced (i.e. ground ball to third thrown over the 1st basemen’s head & runner advances to second = (-4 points)
- (-2 points for missing cut-off man)
- (-2 points for throwing to wrong base)
Pitching - + 2 points for every strike & ball in play
- (- 2 points for every ball)
