grateful,
Who's knocking the kids? It isn't their fault that the smokethrowing pitchers are almost always bigger and more mature than most of the rest of the kids. How big was that kid throwing mid 70s? BTW, mid 70s at 12yo is pretty amazing and the fact that some of the kids were able to get around on him was even more amazing. How big, and more importantly how mature is the kid who is supposed to be able to throw 80 but didn't pitch in the West Region championship game? He's the one with the beginnings of a beard.
The reality is that the kids playing all-stars with the current bats have gotten too large for the field dimensions.
On the other hand, I've watched several of the games and enjoyed them so there's certainly some entertainment value there. I'm just worried that with the age rule change that was pushed by LL the potential for having kids that are even more separated from the rest due to early physical maturity will determine who wins and loses more so than skill.
Even in our district where we had known who the best team was for a few years we didn't really know they were a Williamsport team until we saw that several of their players matured early. It is hard to beat 8" of growth between 11 and 12 along with a mustache. The kid who is 5'10", 160 lbs and whose voice has changed is a lot more likely to be throwing low 70s than the kid who is 5'3" and 115 lbs whose voice will change in a couple years (I will say it takes a talented kid to throw low 70s at 12yo regardless). Some of their kids grew about an inch between 12 and 13 while ours have grown 3 or 4 inches. It'll be interesting to see how they match up in HS, although I think that overall their kids will be stronger even after our kids have had a chance to catch up as far as physical maturity.