The Parent Your Player Needs

Two baseball dads. Two perspectives. One question every youth baseball parent has to answer: What does my kid need from me right now?

Published on The Intentional Baseball Family • Oct 4

September 2026

‘Tell Him It’s a Changeup’

What a baseball dad did to teach his son how to master the knuckleball, and how to handle skeptical coaches.

Sep 27 • Baseball Dad & PR Guy

5

4

5

The Coaching Superpower That Tops ‘Em All

My son just said goodbye to the coaches who shaped his last two baseball seasons. They knew the game well, but that’s not why he’ll remember them.

Sep 13 • Baseball Dad & PR Guy

6

10

4

Too Much Baseball

Why a former Major Leaguer told me my son needs to step off the mound.

Sep 7 • Baseball Dad & PR Guy

10

4

7

August 2026

My first ‘Tony Talk’ with a young ballplayer

I've coached parents, but this time I was on a Zoom with a young ballplayer working through nerves, letting go of errors, and pressure from an unusual…

Aug 30 • Baseball Dad & PR Guy

4

6

4

He Ran to Third Base

When baseball feels heavy, go back to why you started to play.

Aug 23 • Baseball Dad & PR Guy

3

2

3

Little League Shoulder

The MRI was supposed to come back clean. It didn't. What we've learned since and where we go from here.

Aug 16 • Baseball Dad & PR Guy

9

16

5

What Alex Read Me on the Way to Practice

A Tulsa Little League scandal, a 330-page court filing, and a system that admits, in its own words, nobody’s really watching.

Aug 13 • Baseball Dad & PR Guy

5

1

4

'You Gonna Put That in Your Substack?'

Kids want less coaching and more parenting from mom and dad. Even when we get there, most of us are still going to mess up sometimes and slap our knee.

Aug 9 • Baseball Dad & PR Guy

2

3

The Kid With the Mustache

More baseball parents are holding their kids back a grade for an edge. My son's take: 'I don't want to do that.'

Aug 2 • Baseball Dad & PR Guy

2

3

4

July 2026

Nobody Was Protecting the Kid

Cooperstown dispute highlights adults at their worst, and it's always the kids who pay the price.

Jul 26 • Baseball Dad & PR Guy

8

4

6

'It Doesn’t Feel Ready Yet'

He pulled himself out of a game and he's continued to learn about himself and what the game demands ever since.

Jul 19 • Baseball Dad & PR Guy

3

8

3