SMLLA Spring Training 2015

                   

San  Mateo  Little  League  American   Spring  Training  2015       8/26/2014 Board Meeting

Proposal  2015  Spring  Training   • “Standings  Schedule”  of  between  8  and  12  games  for  each  team  (depending  on  the  level)  that   would  count  towards  standings  that  determine  playoffs.  In  addition,  SMLLA  would  add  2  -­‐  4   games  that  we  would  call  “Spring  Training”.     • Spring  Training  will  start  in  Mid-­‐February  and  continue  through  Opening  Day.  The  “Regular   Season”  schedule  will  start  on  Opening  Day.  Post  Season  inter-­‐league  tournaments  and/or   inter-­‐city  tournaments  would  start  at  the  end  of  May.     • Opening  day  stays  on  the  first  week  of  March  as  it  has  historically.     • Umpire  evaluations.  Managers  evaluate  the  umpires  in  a  written  grading  system  to  give  the   Head  of  Umpires  additional  input  so  that  the  best  umpires  are  picked  for  the  Standings   Schedule.  Managers  would  not  have  to  evaluate  the  umpires  after  the  Spring  Training  period.     • No  use  of  the  player  pool  during  Spring  Training.     Positives   • Weather.  Spring  Training  games  would  be  at  the  beginning  of  the  season  and  there  would  be   no  rain  makeups  for  Spring  Training  games.  This  is  the  time  of  the  worst  rain  for  the  area  so   less  rainouts  will  limit  parent  conflicts  with  re-­‐scheduling,  Board  workload  in  finding  fields   and/or  put  kids  on  inferior  fields  like  Central  as  we  have  done  in  the  past.     • Real  Games.  Spring  Training  games  would  be  in  full  uniform  on  the  normal  fields.  The  kids,   especially  at  the  lower  levels,  get  the  opportunity  to  play  in  real  games  prior  to  the  pressure   of  games  that  decide  standings.       • More  pitchers  and  catchers  developed.  This  is  big  issue.  We  need  to  develop  more  kids  to   pitch  and  not  constantly  throw  the  same  (typically  travel  ball  kids)  out  at  every  game  who   12.23.14  

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are  also  pitching  on  other  teams.  Many  teams  do  not  use  enough  pitchers  and  therefore  the   remaining  kids  do  not  get  the  opportunity  to  learn  pitching  during  live  games.  Even  the  best   players  in  the  majors  should  play  some  outfield  and  this  would  be  a  perfect  time  to  do  so.  All   of  the  kids  are  still  learning  and  developing.  Less  innings  pitched  for  the  top  players  should   be  a  goal  of  the  league.     More  positions  played.  Especially  for  the  younger  levels,  rotating  the  kids  around  to  different   positions  gives  them  an  appreciation  for  the  game  and  teammates.  The  managers  will  be   more  likely  to  try  kids  out  in  those  early  2-­‐4  games  and  then  settle  into  their  stronger  lineup   by  the  time  the  Standings  Schedule  starts.  The  managers  might  even  move  the  players  with  a   deeper  learning  curve  up  in  the  order  to  give  them  more  at  bats  early  in  the  season  which   would  help  them  perform  later  in  the  season.  I  know  some  kids  do  not  really  start  hitting  at   the  next  level  up  until  the  last  game  or  two  so  this  might  help.  

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Reduces  umpire  costs.  The  Spring  Training  games  are  a  great  opportunity  to  test  out  new   umpires  and  have  them  develop.  Don’t  pay  anyone  for  those  games.  Save  the  adult  umpires   for  the  standings  games  as  well  as  the  best  kid  umpires  from  Spring  Training.  

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More  games  at  lower  cost.  This  proposal  would  reduce  the  cost  of  the  umpires  yet  provide   more  games  for  the  kids.  Field  expenses  and  the  cost  of  balls  would  still  be  in  place  but  brand   new  balls  for  the  Spring  games  may  not  be  necessary.  

 

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  Flexibility  in  scheduling.  As  we  discussed,  the  early  part  of  the  season  is  when  the  kids  have  football   and  basketball  playoffs  which  always  conflict  with  the  early  games.  By  having  some  flexibility,  the   managers  can  even  exchange  players  if  they  want  prior  to  the  Spring  Training  games  so  that  the   kids  that  show  up  play  more  innings  and  less  forfeits.     • Stats.  If  we  go  with  the  kindle/stats  program,  we  could  keep  them  only  for  the  fewer   Standings  games  and  focus  on  getting  at  least  every  game  into  the  system  for  the  levels  that   we  want  entered  to  help  the  coaches  as  they  go  into  the  playoffs.  Reliable,  third  party  stats,   would  also  help  legitimize  the  all-­‐star  selection  process  at  the  end  of  the  season.     Negatives   • The  “Standings  Schedule”  starts  during  the  Catholic  School's  Easter  Break  but  we  have   games  during  that  time  anyway  so  those  families  will  not  be  impacted  any  differently.  A   mitigating  factor  is  that  the  player  pool  can  be  used  during  those  games.      

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