Nine-year-old baseball player told he's too good

[MDM4AU 337]

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) -- Nine-year-old Jericho Scott is a good baseball player -- too good, it turns out.

The right-hander has a fastball that tops out at about 40 mph. He throws so hard that the Youth Baseball League of New Haven told his coach that the boy could not pitch any more. When Jericho took the mound anyway last week, the opposing team forfeited the game, packed its gear and left, his coach said.

Full Story at sportsillustrated.cnn.com

[Ranger12 46]

Yeah, my dad just called me about that and had me check it out. How ridiculous of a story is that? What I don't understand is why they are making such a big deal about the kid's speed? In the Dixie Youth league that I umpire and my son plays in, we set the pitching machine for the 7 & 8 year olds at 40 mph. So, what is the big deal about this 9 year old throwing that same speed? What kind of weenie league is this? What kind of puds are these parent's trying to raise out in Connecticut?

Even if the kid threw 55 mph, so what? Any of us that played baseball has probably had to hit against a pitcher that was extremely faster then most kids in our age group. Did we quit playing just because of that? Heck no we didn't!

I remember being in the 10th grade, playing in the second round of state playoffs hitting against a guy, Brandon Davis, that had already signed with Jacksonville State and who threw in the mid 90s. We had only lost 3 games that year and nobody had shut us out in those 3 losses. Though he shut us down that day, we didn't pack it up and go home because we already knew he was that good or because we so him throwing some major heat when he was warming up. We sucked it up and got our butts kicked by him the right way, we made him earn it. I remember our coach asking our leading hitter, Marty, why he was not making hitting the guy and Marty replied, "You can't hit what you can't see!".

[CCTAU 3,369]

Perfect opportunity to practice bunting.....

[AUBURNJAC 53]

Yeah, no doubt this is RIDICULOUS! Too good? I'd be ashamed to be a parent of one of the other kids teams (and especially a coach). I remember in the 12 year old league there was a guy that threw in the 70's, and NO ONE could hit him (occasionally an almost accident hit). Just like ranger said, we took our butt whooping and moved on to the next team. I hope that mom DOES get that panzie league shut down!

[HuntsvilleTiger 0]

Completely ridiculous! There was some show on the radio talking about it this morning. Supposedly it was for the safety of the other kids. When asked how many people he had hit this year the answer was ZERO. What a bunch of puds. The parents ought to be ashamed of themselves. Hope they don't play peewee football up there because little Jimmy might just might get hit by a linebacker that outweighs him by 15 pounds.....

[Tigermike 3,426]

Completely ridiculous! There was some show on the radio talking about it this morning. Supposedly it was for the safety of the other kids. When asked how many people he had hit this year the answer was ZERO. What a bunch of puds. The parents ought to be ashamed of themselves. Hope they don't play peewee football up there because little Jimmy might just might get hit by a linebacker that outweighs him by 15 pounds.....

Well it is Connecticut.

[CircleDrill 178]

Instead of not letting the kid play, why don't they just take all the points earned by both teams and re-distribute the points equally at the end of the game? That way, if you are earning more points than other teams, the game is still "fair."

[kwagoner 214]

and the NCAA tried to keep Bo Jackson from playing college FB b/c he was too good. He should have just went straight to pro.