Lead Offs For 9 Year Olds Are Insane and I Will Die on This Hill - Academy Youth Baseball Podcast EP 112 | Driveline Baseball

About this episode

In this episode, Deven Morgan discusses the complexities of coaching young baseball players and the importance of proper development techniques.

Lead Offs For 9 Year Olds Are Insane and I Will Die on This Hill In this episode of "the world's most dangerous youth baseball podcast," host Deven Morgan takes listener questions and goes deep on the nuts and bolts of coaching young players — how to develop first-year kid pitch arms without overusing your two best strike-throwers, why ranking 7-year-olds is absurd, when leadoffs and holding runners should actually be introduced (not before 12), how to use Blast sensor metrics like bat speed and attack angle with youth hitters, and how to structure an 8–12 week competition on-ramp for a national team. The throughline: simple external cues, ball-flight-driven intentions, and equitable opportunity beat the professionalized, performance-first approach that's driving kids out of the game by ten. The episode closes with an emotional reflection on coaching Max Rojas for 11 years — from a seven-year-old to an 18-year-old signing with Tacoma CC — and an amazing Senior night experience. Timestamps: 00:00 Intro & Academy Tryouts Pitch05:50 Listener Feedback: More Nuts & Bolts, Less Doom & Gloom09:00 First-Year Kid Pitch: Why Tommy & Timmy Get Overused13:00 Step…

People in this episode

Host: Deven Morgan

Topics covered

• youth baseball coaching
• leadoffs
• pitching development
• player rankings
• metrics in baseball
• competition structure

Keywords

• youth baseball
• coaching
• first-year kid pitch
• Blast sensor metrics
• leadoffs
• player development
• competition on-ramp

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Tacoma CC, Driveline Academy

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