Posted by: Dennis W. () on Fri Mar 7 12:24:49 2008

My opinion on this is to play tee-ball (at pee-wee level) only to introduce the kids to the game.
Anything that resembles 'real baseball' situations should be started at as much an early age as possible. Kids learn faulty mechanics at this impreesionable age that is very hard to get rid of. As a batting coach I am de-programming exactly these kinds of mechanics.
To make it safer, why not use a safer ball than a hardball, etc.????
I coach in a 18-25 year old league in Europe (im american) and I have banished the use of a tee even in practice simply because tee work developes a different batting mechanic than in a 'live-pitch' situation. If you think about it, the tee at it's highest adjustment only resembles a low to medium strike for Senior ball.......?????