This will be a departure from my usual talk about baseball aerodynamics.
I am not rare person who thinks baseball is good for kids. I heard the president of the Lobo Little League talk about what baseball teaches us on opening day in March, 2013, and I bought it hook, line, and sinker. I left Albuquerque after that season, returned to Utah, and started the work of trying to find my son a place in this wonderful game.

This proved to be much harder than I’d hoped. Northern Utah has two terrible baseball options: 1) The local rec league, which offers about 6 weeks of games and, if you’re lucky, one practice per week led by a dad that got strong-armed into coaching or is just hungry for their son to “get more reps”, or 2) The Rocky Mountain School of Baseball. RMSB is an unusual league that, in my opinion, exists simply because other leagues aren’t willing to forgo playing on Sundays. In this league, a coach puts their money down and forms a team. The league arranges schedules, fields, and umpires. It’s similar to travel ball in that a kid must tryout and prove they are better than the 11th kid on the team to get a spot.

Kids don’t get better at baseball in the rec league. In general, the coaches don’t know how to teach them (see left for an excellent example), and in many cases, they aren’t even interested in doing so. Most kids show up not knowing how to catch or throw, and they are tossed into a team with kids that play 50 games a year. It’s not a good environment for learning.
Back in RMBS, each year, that 11th kid is looking over their shoulder. Or their parents are. It’s a terrible system as many kids are that 12th best and leave baseball, having no opportunity to play. All this happens long before we know if they have potential in the game. Anyone that judges the potential of a 12-year-old is just stupid, in my opinion.
New League Proposal:
- The major feature of this league will be the lack of dad-coaches. Will be recruit and train volunteer coaches who, in general, will remain with the same age group each year.
- A kid in this league cannot be cut due to their current ability.
- A kid can only loose their place in this league due to attendance of games and practices or bad behavior.
- Each team will hold 2-3 practices per week pre-season and 2 during the season, which will consist of a single game per week.
- The trained coaches will focus on making practices fun and teaching baseball.
I plan to form a non-profit and start an RMSB fall team based on these principles. If I can get others on board, we will expand to more teams. With enough by-in, I will approach the city about replacing their rec program.
I’d love to hear your thoughts. You can find me at @themagnuspi.bsky.social.