Top travel baseball teams?

[Anonymous]

What are the top travel teams in the area? We’ve been with a DC team since the beginning but think we need to find a more elite team as he’s nearing HS since he hopes to play in college. Prefer to consider the ones most convenient to NW DC. Location is one thing, good people and coaching is also high on the list.

TIA!

[Anonymous]

The top baseball players in the DC area tend to play for the Stars - especially baseball players who live in Virginia. Their top team does have impressive commitments every year plus draft picks. However, they have several teams at every level and unless you are on the "A" team, you don't get the same exposure.

The Richmond Braves are the same with more than one team per age group but I'm pretty sure most of their players are coming from the I-95 corridor in Virginia (think Prince William County and further south.)

Bradley Baseball Academia is an excellent option IF your player is looking to go to a high academic school (mostly D3.) Andy Bradley runs a top notch program with exposure to numerous coaches. He only has one team per age group so if you're on his 15U team, its only one and not 3 or more teams like the Stars. He routinely places players in the NESCAC schools and the Centennial Conference schools - Haverford, Swarthmore, Hamilton. But he also gets a handful of players that go D1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are the top travel teams in the area? We’ve been with a DC team since the beginning but think we need to find a more elite team as he’s nearing HS since he hopes to play in college. Prefer to consider the ones most convenient to NW DC. Location is one thing, good people and coaching is also high on the list.

TIA!

That’s great that he wants to play in college, but what are his qualifications to play for a “top level” travel team? Age? Playing experience? Training schedule?

[Anonymous]

OP here. 13U. Been playing at the top of his non-elite travel team since 10U and in LL All Stars. We've chosen his current team based on convenience but think it's time to reassess.

[Anonymous]

Several of the large national organizations have established regional teams in this area. For example, the Canes and USA Prime. Most of the regional teams were smaller local programs looking for a bigger brand, along with support with the operations side.

Note, the national organizations also have elite level national teams, which are basically run separately from the regional teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The top baseball players in the DC area tend to play for the Stars - especially baseball players who live in Virginia. Their top team does have impressive commitments every year plus draft picks. However, they have several teams at every level and unless you are on the "A" team, you don't get the same exposure.

The Richmond Braves are the same with more than one team per age group but I'm pretty sure most of their players are coming from the I-95 corridor in Virginia (think Prince William County and further south.)

Bradley Baseball Academia is an excellent option IF your player is looking to go to a high academic school (mostly D3.) Andy Bradley runs a top notch program with exposure to numerous coaches. He only has one team per age group so if you're on his 15U team, its only one and not 3 or more teams like the Stars. He routinely places players in the NESCAC schools and the Centennial Conference schools - Haverford, Swarthmore, Hamilton. But he also gets a handful of players that go D1.

Stars has like 8-12 teams for each age level up to U14--how does that work and what league(s) do these teams play in? Is Stars spread out across the state of Virginia or only Norther Virginia?
Our kids has been invited a couple times to try out for one of the teams but had no idea there are so many at each age group.
thanks

[Anonymous]

Go to the national event invite-only tournament websites and see which local teams are playing there. Yes, there are the Stars, Canes, and Richmond Braves, but there are many other DMV teams competing and helping kids with college recruiting (Prime Time, MVP, XPress, US Elite, Mid Atlantic Red Sox, G's Lions all good teams with excellent players).

You're looking for teams competing in the national WWBA events in the fall in Jupiter and Ft Myers, not winning 6-team tournaments in Fredericksburg.

Also, some showcase teams don't have many team practices - so location may be less of a factor because he may do a lot of training on his own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Go to the national event invite-only tournament websites and see which local teams are playing there. Yes, there are the Stars, Canes, and Richmond Braves, but there are many other DMV teams competing and helping kids with college recruiting (Prime Time, MVP, XPress, US Elite, Mid Atlantic Red Sox, G's Lions all good teams with excellent players).

You're looking for teams competing in the national WWBA events in the fall in Jupiter and Ft Myers, not winning 6-team tournaments in Fredericksburg.

Also, some showcase teams don't have many team practices - so location may be less of a factor because he may do a lot of training on his own.

Agree with this. The top travel teams that have good college connections are all showcase teams that attract kids from a wide area and don't practice. For a team like the Richmond Braves, you need to play on their Platinum team (or sometimes they call it the National team at other organizations). Same with the Canes.

These teams are all very transactional and it really is the Summer of 16u and the 17u seasons that matter for college recruiting. I am aware of many teams that have basically the same players for 14u - 16u...but then get rid of 50% of the kids and get new kids at 17u because that team is the most important for college recruiting. They also treat their 17u team very differently than the years prior to 17u. If you look at the stats, nearly 70% of college commitments happen between the Summer before your senior year of HS and Spring of senior year of HS.

I also agree that you want to look at the winners of the WWBA events (sponsored by Perfect Game) in late September or early October. Those teams have to win from a field of as many as 250 teams nationwide. That said, those teams will often have several players that are drafted straight into the MLB. FYI...nearly 50% of the 1st round MLB draft picks came straight from HS. You will see those teams aggregating kids from CA, TX, GA, etc. who all just get together on weekends to play in these tournaments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Go to the national event invite-only tournament websites and see which local teams are playing there. Yes, there are the Stars, Canes, and Richmond Braves, but there are many other DMV teams competing and helping kids with college recruiting (Prime Time, MVP, XPress, US Elite, Mid Atlantic Red Sox, G's Lions all good teams with excellent players).

You're looking for teams competing in the national WWBA events in the fall in Jupiter and Ft Myers, not winning 6-team tournaments in Fredericksburg.

Also, some showcase teams don't have many team practices - so location may be less of a factor because he may do a lot of training on his own.

Just FYI...MVP is really just Madison HS players. Maybe they also have non-Madison players, but that is effectively their travel organization.

Madison is a top baseball HS. One of their players was drafted by the SF Giants in the 1st round in the latest MLB draft.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. 13U. Been playing at the top of his non-elite travel team since 10U and in LL All Stars. We've chosen his current team based on convenience but think it's time to reassess.

Invest in an EZ Pass flex today. You’re going to need it. NOVA rush hour traffic three nights a week is a killer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go to the national event invite-only tournament websites and see which local teams are playing there. Yes, there are the Stars, Canes, and Richmond Braves, but there are many other DMV teams competing and helping kids with college recruiting (Prime Time, MVP, XPress, US Elite, Mid Atlantic Red Sox, G's Lions all good teams with excellent players).

You're looking for teams competing in the national WWBA events in the fall in Jupiter and Ft Myers, not winning 6-team tournaments in Fredericksburg.

Also, some showcase teams don't have many team practices - so location may be less of a factor because he may do a lot of training on his own.

Just FYI...MVP is really just Madison HS players. Maybe they also have non-Madison players, but that is effectively their travel organization.

Madison is a top baseball HS. One of their players was drafted by the SF Giants in the 1st round in the latest MLB draft.

Yes, there are many Madison or future Madison players in the MVP organization. There are non Madison players on that team as well, especially at the 13/14u ages. But there are HS kids who don’t play for pudge on the older ages too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go to the national event invite-only tournament websites and see which local teams are playing there. Yes, there are the Stars, Canes, and Richmond Braves, but there are many other DMV teams competing and helping kids with college recruiting (Prime Time, MVP, XPress, US Elite, Mid Atlantic Red Sox, G's Lions all good teams with excellent players).

You're looking for teams competing in the national WWBA events in the fall in Jupiter and Ft Myers, not winning 6-team tournaments in Fredericksburg.

Also, some showcase teams don't have many team practices - so location may be less of a factor because he may do a lot of training on his own.

Agree with this. The top travel teams that have good college connections are all showcase teams that attract kids from a wide area and don't practice. For a team like the Richmond Braves, you need to play on their Platinum team (or sometimes they call it the National team at other organizations). Same with the Canes.

These teams are all very transactional and it really is the Summer of 16u and the 17u seasons that matter for college recruiting. I am aware of many teams that have basically the same players for 14u - 16u...but then get rid of 50% of the kids and get new kids at 17u because that team is the most important for college recruiting. They also treat their 17u team very differently than the years prior to 17u. If you look at the stats, nearly 70% of college commitments happen between the Summer before your senior year of HS and Spring of senior year of HS.

I also agree that you want to look at the winners of the WWBA events (sponsored by Perfect Game) in late September or early October. Those teams have to win from a field of as many as 250 teams nationwide. That said, those teams will often have several players that are drafted straight into the MLB. FYI...nearly 50% of the 1st round MLB draft picks came straight from HS. You will see those teams aggregating kids from CA, TX, GA, etc. who all just get together on weekends to play in these tournaments.

Yes agree. Pp says goal is to play in college - While the winning teams at these events will have the tippy top players, the teams just competing decently well also have tons of players going to play in college. Just qualifying is a sign that the kids are good, and the coach knows that tons of recruiting happens at those events

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. 13U. Been playing at the top of his non-elite travel team since 10U and in LL All Stars. We've chosen his current team based on convenience but think it's time to reassess.

Is he physically big for age and/or well into puberty? Be aware that the elite teams really look for size at this particular age (IME).

[Anonymous]

OP here. Yes, he's tall and well into puberty. Physical size aside, when would be a good time to switch teams? We've been with his current one since its beginning and he loves his team. Would it hurt his odds by staying put longer? When is it "too late"? The logistics around a new team are definitely daunting.

[Anonymous]

13u is a time lots of kids switch. Some programs start at that age and some end.

But kids are switching travel teams all the time, every year, every season, guest playing, playing with multiple teams at once. There is no right or wrong time so when you find one that feels right and where your son is happy, go for it!