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Former Colorado Rockies Pitcher Jason Hirsh, radio personality Andy Lindahl on youth baseball coaching, sport specialization

By Daniel Wettstein II

A coach speaks with a boy as he practices baseball skills at the Nationals Youth Baseball Academy in Washington, DC, on May 7, 2018. - On a searing hot summer's day in Washington, a group of children are playing baseball in a pristine park that stands at odds with its surroundings in the city's rough-and-tumble southeast.Parents and grandparents shout encouragement from the stands as they chow down on hot dogs, some seeking shelter under the shade of a blue tent. This quintessential scene is taking place in little leagues across the United States -- and would be unremarkable if it weren't for the stark color divide in the stands: one section is entirely white and the other all black, reflected in the players on the field.Currently batting are an African American youth team of 12-year-olds representing the Mamie Johnson league of southeast DC. (Photo by Issam AHMED / AFP) (Photo credit should read ISSAM AHMED/AFP via Getty Images)
A coach speaks with a boy as he practices baseball skills at the Nationals Youth Baseball Academy in Washington, DC, on May 7, 2018. - On a searing hot summer's day in Washington, a group of children are playing baseball in a pristine park that stands at odds with its surroundings in the city's rough-and-tumble southeast.Parents and grandparents shout encouragement from the stands as they chow down on hot dogs, some seeking shelter under the shade of a blue tent. This quintessential scene is taking place in little leagues across the United States -- and would be unremarkable if it weren't for the stark color divide in the stands: one section is entirely white and the other all black, reflected in the players on the field.Currently batting are an African American youth team of 12-year-olds representing the Mamie Johnson league of southeast DC. (Photo by Issam AHMED / AFP) (Photo credit should read ISSAM AHMED/AFP via Getty Images) /
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Major League Baseball’s San Diego Padres pitcher Colin Rea (C, top) coaches with a Japanese Little League baseball player during a youth baseball clinic in Tokyo on November 18, 2015. AFP PHOTO / KAZUHIRO NOGI (Photo credit  KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP via Getty Images)
Major League Baseball’s San Diego Padres pitcher Colin Rea (C, top) coaches with a Japanese Little League baseball player during a youth baseball clinic in Tokyo on November 18, 2015. AFP PHOTO / KAZUHIRO NOGI (Photo credit  KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP via Getty Images) /

Sports have long been used and touted as a universal unifier. We can all find a common thread with a stranger through some nuance in one of the many leisure sports we enjoy today. It has also been touted that sports have a major impact on academic success.

It is hard to believe that in a time of analytics, one in which so many “coaching savants” tout they are the master of, we can’t compute that funneling these kids down the assembly line like cattle with no regard for their enjoyment and sometimes safety, leads to the 70% drop-out rate I touched on in this article.

That means we only get to see what 30% of our possible next great athletes actually reach their peak for our enjoyment.

The reason, as you can see all signs leading to, is again, the coaching.

As stated in practically every study I cited, they all concur bad/ill-informed coaching is at the nucleus of all things wrong in youth sports when you separate money. That truly stings me, personally, as a volunteer coach for my son’s teams since he became old enough to play. I know it settled just as poorly with Jason and Andy for the same reason.

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