Is It OK for a Youth Baseball Coach to Steal Signs?

America's pastime has gray areas that leave volunteers uncertain at times

While driving to gas up the ride, an interesting topic popped up on the radio. 

The host, a dad who coaches youth baseball like so many parents who sacrifice valuable personal time to make sure young men and women get a chance to play in youth sports, was telling a story about a situation that happened at his son's baseball game. 

The man was coaching first base during a game made up of seventh and eighth graders. At a certain point, he noticed he could easily see the signs from the catcher. 

After seeing one of his players strike out from a solid curve ball, he walked over to his designated hitter and explained he could see the signs and would call out his name on a curve ball and say his number if it was a change-up. 

After a brief pause, the young man said "I would rather you not tell me. I don't want to be like the Houston Astros." The host tried to explain that the situation wasn't like the Astros situation because they weren't using cameras and lights to see where they wouldn't normally be able to see and signal to the batter. 

Even still, the hitter declined. After seeing a few more guys strike out, he approached another hitter in a later inning with the same proposal to which the hitter agreed. 

Upon seeing a curveball called with two strikes, the host called the player's name, signaling the pitch. 

The low pitch spun down and hit the ground in front of the plate. Despite this, the hitter still swung. 

Perplexed, the host wracked his brain on what went wrong, finally arriving on the hitter thinking that since he knew the pitch he was obligated to swing.

What this man described is a situation many youth coaches face at some point if they stick around long enough. There isn't a book out there explaining to youth league coaches how to handle the gray areas of sports. 

It would be great if there were, as many of these giving people sometimes find themselves in over their heads, but there's not. 

So where does the line belong here? 

These are players, at least the eighth graders, who are about to enter the world of high school baseball. The lessons of the game need to be learned. 

If we were talking Little League, stealing signs not only would probably cross the lines, especially by a coach, but someone would need to talk with the coach who is allowing breaking balls to be thrown by a kid 12 and under if those signs were for anything other than change-ups.

However, in a game where rosters are largely filled with 14-year olds, the nuances of stealing signs is something the players need to learn. The catcher needs to learn to not only hide the signs better, but to put down multiple signs to help avoid tipping off pitches. 

Base runners need to learn how to pick up on signs, not only because they can tip off their team's hitter, but because certain pitches are better for running than others.

 Curveballs are not only slower getting to the plate, but they usually prevent the catcher from partially standing up on a pitch in anticipation of a stolen base. They also result in past balls more often as catchers and pitchers adjust to how to handle the pitch early in development.

These are all natural aspects of the games that players should learn. It's part of their growth as they mature into the game.

Where the line should probably be drawn is the coach stealing the signs. 

It feels too much like an adult trying to take advantage of a young kid who is trying to learn the game. It has all the feel of blocking a 7-year-old's shot back into his face. 

Youth coaches are there to teach the game. After that, you leave it to the players to succeed or fail and then reteach what's necessary, but at no point should the adult become a direct part of the game's outcome by doing what the players should be doing.

That being said, it's certainly an interesting topic into one of youth baseball's many gray areas, and for that, there is no definitive book.

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