9 year old kid and his team kicked out of youth baseball for being “too good”

A Connecticut 9 year old, Jericho Scott, was told last week he could not pitch in his youth baseball league because he threw “to hard” topping out around 40 MPH (with enough control that he hasn’t hit anyone this year). The league felt that facing this kind of speed was “frightening” for youth league players. “There are a lot of beginners. This is not a high-powered league. This is a developmental league whose main purpose is to promote the sport,” said league attorney Peter Noble.

When Scott took the mound last week anyway, the opposing team was “forced” to forfeit the game. Then, league officials say, Scott’s mother began threatening the league, vowing to get it shut down, and eventually called the police. Scott’s team was then disbanded and the players were placed on other rosters.

Scott’s parents believe the boy is being targeted because he turned down an invitation to join the league administrator’s team. “The whole objective in life is to find something you’re good at and stick with it. I’d rather he spend all his time on the baseball field than idolizing someone standing on the street corner,” said Jericho’s mother Nicole Scott.

The fact is Scott should have pitched in another league, something the developmental league says they suggested to his parents. “I have never seen behavior of a parent like the behavior Jericho’s mother exhibited Wednesday night,” said Peter Noble.

While this does not appear to have any fantasy baseball relevance I find the story interesting and a potentially helpful bit of information in developing major league equivalent statistics for younger and younger levels of play. Keep this guy on the radar in your deeper keeper leagues.

(All quotes from the Associated Press, New Haven, CT)