This picture says everything about youth baseball today. Families are lined up around the block for travel ball registration. The skill development and weight training line is empty. Everybody is running towards teams that play tournaments instead of teams that have a track record of development programs that focus on the process. People think that signing up for teams that play a heavy dose of tournament games will develop their players. The truth is that development is expedited when kids get hundreds of thousands of ground balls, not a few hit to them over the course of a weekend of games. If you want them to get better at hitting they do not need five to ten at bats. They need hundreds of swings in the cage. Of course they need game reps, but you do not need to spend thousands of dollars and travel across the country to get them. Playing games is important, but like everything else, it should be in moderation. We have completely overdosed our kids with games. There is no chance that playing five games in a weekend, which is commonplace across the country, is in the best interest of our kids’ mental, emotional, and physical development. We have gotten away from the most important thing which is getting kids to love the game and enjoy it. When that happens they commit themselves and they develop the real skills. Nobody is getting recruited at age 13 or 14. College coaches cannot even talk to you until your junior year. Fewer colleges are looking at high school players because of the transfer portal. The goal of playing college baseball is not served by just playing more games. The goal is to do what is necessary to become the best and most talented 20 year old possible. That is who you are competing against when you are in high school. That JUCO player has been in the weight room for the last three years around the clock. Games do not replace development. Development makes the games matter.