My son's first ever official at bat in a kid pitch game ended with a pitch that hit him right in the mouth. Knocked out a baby tooth and half a permenant front tooth. He is almost 9 yrs old.

Maybe in a couple weeks we'll be to the point of laughing about it but right now don't suggest "getting out of the way" for practical advice. I played through college and 7 years of adult league and I have never been hit in the face, so I don't really know what to tell the little guy.

Getting hit anywhere hurts and usually takes an AB to get it out of your head, but man, the first ever AB in kid pitch!!! I am really struggling with what I can possibly say to try and restore his confidence. The only thing I came up with after the blood quit flowing following the emergency dental visit was to suggest the old getting on the horse that bucked you off analogy.

Other than that, I am going to get a helmet with a facemask to try and help ease him back into the box when He is ready!

If anyone has coached a kid or has had a son that has been plunked in the mouth, I would appreciate your insight to what was said or how it was handled. The kid has been pretty resiliant with everything else and I think he'll come back OK but I don't want to do anything stupid or push him back to soon.

The young man will let you know when he wants to return---some do it the next day and others days/weeks later

I would not use the facemask thing--I do not believe in them---JMO

Many LL use the helments with the cage. I think its a good idea for him to use while he gets his confidence back. Getting hit in the mouth is a very scary thing.
Maybe you could have some batting practice at home using tennis balls.

For a 9-year old kid I would definitely consider a facemask (how could you not?), just to get him back in there and have him gain some confidence... start with the facemask, then later after he gets some confidence, get him a new helmet with a bolt-on c-flap...

Maybe say to him that him getting hit in the face was such a freak accident, that the likelihood of it happening again is remote... ask him "how many other kids did he see get hit in the face...? No one else, right...? See, it doesn't happen often..."

Or something like that...

Maybe take him to see another league game to watch other kids bat and not get hit will help too... hopefully, right!?!

Good luck... On the bright side, he's got and ice-breaker with the chicks now...!

In our area- LL demands that all players under the age of 13 wear a cage while batting.

Our son got hit in the jaw with the ball while playing first. While he was very proud of the "seam" mark that it left, he was a bit ball shy for a while. We still practiced at home and he was fine shortly after.

I hit my kid in the face (nose) with a ball when he was 9 and it set him back a few weeks for sure. He started jumping out of box and turning his head in the field all the time. Like others suggested, I waited a few weeks and we did a lot of fishing instead of baseball. When we were fishing we talked about every thing but baseball. I then went to to the local sports store and bought about 30 tennis balls. When he was ready to hit again I soft tossed the tennis balls and he hit some "tennis ball bombs" I made a real big deal about how far they went and after a few BP sessions with the TB he was ready to hit the real thing again.

I agree with TR in letting him tell you when he's ready. I had a similar exp but from the other side. My son hit a kid in the mouth 2 yrs ago. My son who throws pretty hard for his age was facing a kid who was small. The pitch was high and inside and the kid went down. Cracked 4 bottom teeth (fracturng the roots in the middle 2). The family spent 6 hrs in the ER. The team we were facing did not have any cages on, obviously. As a result of what happened that league instituted any player in the minors must wear a cage. The issue is in the minors the talent can very so much from kid to kid, and if coaches don't teach how to avoid or prepare to get hit by a pitch, it can make for a dangerous situation.

The first pitch my son saw in 9/10 kid pitch, the hardest throwing ten year old hit him in the rear on a night where the wind chill was about 30 degrees. I could see his eyes welling up. I waited and then stood up. He looked at me and said, "Don't come out here." He hobbled off to first. It never had a negative effect. But it's not in the mouth.

In 7/8's machine pitch he took a bad hop up the middle right between the eyes. The lights went out for about ten seconds. Since he stopped seeing stars soon after regaining consciousness and his eyes weren't glazed over he returned to the field two innings later. Even though it wasn't his turn I sent him back to short to make sure he got over it.

At twelve in all-stars, there was the full force shot to the head with a bat, off balance back swing when he was catching. I wasn't in the dugout for that one. He looked slow at the plate the next two at-bats and K'ed. After he walked after a wild pitch, I got as close as I could to the dugout (it's hard in all-stars) and asked if he was OK. I was told he was fine. Later, I was told by a teammate he puked in the corner of the dugout. He was glassy eyed after the game. I was rather ticked at the coaches for letting him play in that condition. It turns out the coaching staff let him play the entire game with a concussion. The next day he didn't remember anything about the game other than who they played and they lost. He's caught since, but never on a regular basis since he's mostly a middle infielder now. He alternated between short and catcher in LL and caught in all-stars.

Kids have to fight through this stuff. For a kid taking a pitch in the face I'd go with the mask. I'd have an agreement it comes off as soon as he's comfortable at the plate before it becomes an fear blanket.

It is practical advice to teach him how to turn away from a pitch. He shouldn't be getting hit in the face. He should have taken that one in the earhole. Not great, but better than the face.

Why, you tell him the tooth fairy is coming, of course!

And then you tell him when the next practice/game is.

Gotta get back up on the horse. The less you say about it, the more likely it is he puts it behind him instead of obsessing about it.

Turns out I was a little more worried than he was. I walked in the door and he said "Dad, can we go to the cage?"

The parents overwhelmingly voted to get helmets with protective guards I don't have a problem with that.

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Turns out I was a little more worried than he was. I walked in the door and he said "Dad, can we go to the cage?"

Kids,...God love em'!
Sounds like you have a trooper there dad!

I still anticipate that he'll be somewhat hesitant when he faces another wild throwing 9 yr old, which most of them are, but I was definitely proud to see him jump back in a day later.

Thanks to all for the insight and advice.

I was pitching BP to my son in the back yard and hit him square in the eye. Dropped him like a rock. He was 9 then and after my intial panic of "I just killed my kid" subsided my next thought was to get him back in the box and throw more pitches before he had time to think about it. He shook it off and got right back in there. I threw maybe 5 or 10 more pitches. Just enough for him to see he was not going to get hit again. Then momma got him. It was never an issue afterwards.

Odd thing is, he went three years with never being hit in a game.

quote:

Originally posted by Metropop:
I still anticipate that he'll be somewhat hesitant when he faces another wild throwing 9 yr old, which most of them are, but I was definitely proud to see him jump back in a day later.

Thanks to all for the insight and advice.

This is excellent news! Facemask is a great idea. He is not experienced enough in evading pitches at this point in his baseball experience. And the pitchers are all over the place. Once you feel he can protect himself, remove the facemask and move on.

Good luck!

Tell the kids "Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive, Dodge!" the 5 Ds rule.

On the other hand, sorry to hear the sad story, accident happens!

FWIW in softball faceguards are required, doesn't matter if they are 8 or 18. So are chin straps.

I know Dixie League Baseball requires faceguards.

Never really worried about son getting hit in the face. We worked on it a bit every season when he was young so I think he knows what to do. We've all seen the ball do some crazy stuff, so there's always that risk.

Call it a double standard but I do worry about my daughter getting hit in the face, even though we work on it. She's 9 and plays baseball(another thread topic altogether) so I have her wear a guard since she'll have to do it later on down the road in softball (yeah, and it takes the worry away from ol' dad too.) She's been hit numerous times in the leg, arm, butt, etc (obviously not uncommon for 9 yr pitching) and come back with no problem.

She'll probably start wearing a fielder's faceguard this year too, they are fairly common for softball players at 3B, P and 1B. Of course your talking 60 ft base paths, even in high school.

If someone wants to wear a faceguard or other protective equipment more power to them. If they don't that's fine too.

Glad to see your guy bounced right back!

When one of mine was 9 or 10 he got hit in the face by a wild pitch. I borrowed something I heard from "The World According to Garp".

After the blood and tears stopped I told him he was pre-disastered. That this was a good thing because he only got hit by a little kid. The odds of this happening again are very slim and he had to be glad he probably wasn't going to be hit by one of those 12 year olds.

A few weeks later he was warming me up for my softball game and I turned my head for a second (might have been a tight sweater) and when I looked back the ball squared me in the mouth. His comments were, "what are the odds of that happening again".

My last post is a joke, what I really mean is that
the "head" need to turn when your eye saw the pitch coming toward your face, let the ball hit the helmet not your face. That's the basic rule for the kids playing little league baseball.

BTW, the "Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive, Dodge!" 5Ds rule is from movie "Dodgeball", have you ever watched that movie before, The line from the movie is "If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball."it's very funny.

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FWIW in softball faceguards are required, doesn't matter if they are 8 or 18. So are chin straps.

My daughter was playing ASA when the facemask rule was implemented. She nearly hurt herself badly at first, sliding head first and catching her facemask on the ground. It was like someone slamming on the brakes on her head and the rest of her body kept going. While she adapted, as soon as she got to college ball the mask came off. In terms of hitting, she said once she got over her negative attitude about the mask it wasn't an issue. It didn't affect her hitting.

coachbwww,
Knee jerk reaction, sorry my man. Seeing him dig back in the box after that made me a little too prideful. All is good.