The Problem With Jericho Scott

In case you missed it, Jericho Scott is a 9 year old with a 40mph fastball.

There has been some controversy this week about him being “banned” from pitching in a local independent youth baseball league (not Little League nor Ripken).

The problem I have isn’t that he throws fast – we all faced that kid that threw “hard” or the scary lefty or “the big kid” – that’s all part of being a kid.  My problem was with his usage.

August 9th he pitched 5 innings.  The next day he pitched 3 more.  On the 13th five more.

That’s a lot.   That’s more than Joba could pitch and more than the Mets want Pelfrey to pitch.   I know that when we were kids you’d go out and throw a wiffle ball 300 times every single day all summer – but it’s different when you are in a game setting.  Too many coaches try to relive their World Seies fantasies (oh say even having a youth tournament televised on ESPN) through kids.   They are kids.