Pinata

By far and away the BEST method and FAIREST method is what our neighboring league does that is called a "BLIND COACHES DRAFT".  Here how it works.

1.) You re-draft every year.  This way brothers moving up, kids leaving the league etc.  don't mess up the competitive balance.

2.) All coaches watch tryouts and rank the players.

3.) During the draft, all coaches work together building balanced teams (labeling them 1 thru 6 or whatever)...say you have 6 teams.  Take the top 6 and put one on each team, etc. (In kid pitch leagues, make sure each team has at least one pitcher and catcher).

4.) After the teams are made the coaches draw numbers and match up with that number team.  If coach "Bob" get team #2 and his son is on Team #3 then you switch the same ranked player and continue until all coaches have thier sons.

This method prevents "stacking" because no coach wants to hurt a team that he may get.

I've tried to get our league to go this route and I'm making headway but need a few more votes.  One thing it does is build very balanced leagues.

Actually, I quite like this idea, and feel it is actually quite fair and balanced.  I might suggest it to my league, and see if I can get it to work there, because the current setup usually ends up with very unbalanced teams.

Until he gets past his opening kid-pitch league, you might just not have him throw to second.  Not only is it the case that most catcher's can't throw hard enough out there, but most fielders at the entry-level league (C-Ball in my case), have issues recieving a ball out there.

Just let his arm develop, and realize that his power to bases will grow as he grows, and it will be taking a big jump in the next few years.  My brother could hit runners going to second at 8, but he has a very strong arm for his age, and the fielders usually had issues with a hard throw even if it was perfectly on target.

I know how you feel. My brother plays in an 8-12 summer league right now. Originally, there were two teams, with his team being the younger of the two. Then, after a game, they finally had reached enough players to break his team in half, as well as convincing another nearby team to join the league. So, we now have four teams. Unfortunately for my brother who ended up on the newer of the two teams from his city, he ended up on the team that didn't go to the head coach.

The head coach decided on the split, and ended up with a solid team consisting of three twelve-year olds, a small number of eleven year olds, and the rest mostly nine and ten. Our coach who was given no input in the split, was given a single twelve year-old who has no real good aspect other than his ability to put out about one deep drive a game, which means a double because he is slow. Unfortunately, he also hits for a low average, and is a slow fielder. We got a single eleven year-old, who although he is labeled an "All Star", is very lacking in the field and the mound, and his bat is slow. This is mostly the result of repeatedly stacked All Star teams, which have repeatedly been double-eliminated every year. 10/12 kids were off the coachs' teams. Then we got my nine year-old brother who by performance is the best on his team, another nine year-old who is close behind, and a couple more weak nine year-olds. The rest were eight year-olds. Probably 1/4 of the team has never even played baseball before this point, and it has been incredibly frustrating for the better players who can't win because of all the dead weight.

We took a one-run loss to the stacked team, and if it weren't for either a bad call on a steal by the other team, although I don't blame the ump on this, because the twelve year old has a habit of kicking up excessive dirt while running, and actually created a cloud of dust thick enough that I could hardly see the play, although in retrospect he didn't make it in. Close play though, and because you can't see it, you sort of had to give it to the runner. Either way, this is the sort of kid who is in an "Instructional League", where the rule states that once the ball goes back to the pitcher you have to return to your base. He runs a good part off of the bag, and is dancing out there, kicking up dirt, until the catcher finally has to toss it to the pitcher. As soon as he goes into his toss to the pitcher, the runner takes off, and being a twelve year-old, usually makes it. Really sick of his pushing the definition of a rule though, and of abusing the fact that there are only three solid fielders on the team.

Just smile and try to teach the kids. You got shafted, and its lousy. If it repeatedly happens to you, try contacting the division, and see if they can look into it.

My general warm up for my 9 year-old brother who plays SS/P/C is to have him throw until he is comfortably into his pitching velocity. After that, I give him a number of pitches until he gets his accuracy down, usually in area of ten after he has reached his velocity, and then we send him out to his doom... err strikeouts usually. Almost no fielding support, so he basically has to strike everybody out if he wants to keep the score down.

At 9-10, and even beyond there, you're testing the luck of Umpires as well as your son's own accuracy if you try to throw at corners.  My brother has the same issue, in that his velocity is good enough that he can blow it past most batters with good accuracy, but he has an issue that there is very little competent fielding behind him, and soft grounders usually end up in the grass, going right through the wickets of some poor fielder.  Sort of got the shaft when the teams were decided on earlier in the year, and his coach didn't get any votes.

Either way, rather than having him pick corners, which at your age really tests the ability of the catcher, umpire, and pitcher, teach your kid a couple more basic pitches.  I'm assuming he's throwing a nice four-seam fastball?  Now, teach him a two-seam fastball.  The two-seam will get a little more movement, at the expense of a little speed.  At this age, neither is really that noticeable, but it can get batters to miss or hit grounders.  Finally, for those batters who look like they honestly could let out a good hit on one of those down-the-pipe fastballs, teach your kid a changeup.  The motion should be the same as the fastball, and he should not be slowing down his arm to throw it.  The only difference is the grip, and the changeup grip gives the ball a bit of movement, as well as making it drag through the air.  Never throw a changeup to a bad batter, as this might be the only pitch they can hit.  But for good batters who might have timed you, a changeup can really burn them because it comes at the plate so much slower.

4-Seam
2-Seam
Changeup