You might want to read the coach vs machine pages before this 'compromise'.

To wrap up the debate, a very interesting response from someone who voted 'either' but actually suggested a very different alternative...

I am  president of a youth baseball league who has struggled with this question. This is what we did. In our rookie league (ages 7,8 only) we are currently trying player pitched games. Yes that's right. We have made some modifications to our local rules which are:

    We made a 50ft diamond with 37ft pitcher's plate to home plate distance. This shrinking of the diamond results in a smaller playing field so our players can actually make the throws from third and short as well as give the pitcher a shorter distance to throw more accuratly over the plate.

    There are no walks allowed. when ball 4 crosses the plate the tee comes out for the batter to put the ball in play. This accomplishes taking pressure off the pitchers, gives the hitter practice on their hitting mechanics and gives the defense a chance to field the ball and make the play.

At the begining of the season we held a clinic for all our players and when the 7-8 year olds had their turn we evaluated the players at the pitching station so we could fairly distribute the talent among the teams. We are having some problems but we are trying to stick with this. Thanks for the forum.

For those interested in other novel approaches to giving young kids a better opportunity to play baseball, check out the article called 'Cooking the Game'.