Mark Kotsay’s 5 Rules of Youth Baseball

Alex Flanagan

8 years ago

Mark Kotsay’s 5 Rules of Youth Baseball

The most important thing any parent or coach can do for our kids is to instill in them a love of the sport. It’s a lesson I learned from the Oakland Athletics Manager, Mark Kotsay. Kotsay played 17 years in the Major Leagues and had over 1700 hits. He was the MVP of the College World Series, won an Olympic Medal, worked in the Padre’s front office after he retired, and has been with the A’s since 2015. He’s also a dad and was one of my son’s first Little League coaches. I hope he doesn’t get mad at me for writing that we weren’t very good that year. But the six and 7-year-old boys on that team learned the fundamentals of baseball, formed an incredible bond, and loved every second of that season. As a parent, I couldn’t have asked for more. I asked Mark to share some of his thoughts on youth baseball with us. Here are his five rules.

Mark Kotsay’s 5 Rules of Youth Baseball

First and foremost, baseball is the most difficult game in the world. The best Major League players fail 70% of the time and are in the Hall of Fame. Understand that in life, if you fail at anything 70% of the time, you are not very good, but in baseball, you’re one of the best.

Positive reinforcement is better than negative. In a game of failure, the last thing a child needs is more negative feedback, especially from the people who love them the most.

While the game is playing, avoid telling kids what to do and how to do it. Development happens when children are allowed to make mistakes, and the coach or you can explain to them what they did wrong and how to correct it after the game.

Two things we can control in baseball as coaches are a team’s attitude and effort.

LET THEM HAVE FUN!