When do you know it's time to switch teams?

[Anonymous]

Looking for advice about switching teams. DS plays mid-level travel baseball (13u) and we are thinking about moving him. I know that no club is perfect and he likes his team, but he is interested in playing in HS and we are not confident that the current team is the place to help him grow in the areas where he needs work. That said, we also know that there will always be issues with other clubs/teams/coaches and we could end up trading fine for worse. DS wants to stay on good days, wants to move on on bad days.

I am primarily interested in hearing from baseball people about the factors that they weighed before switching and what people feel is most important for HS prep, but also open to hearing from people who have been in a similar situation in another sport. FWIW HS will be in MoCo, but still TBD public vs private.

[Anonymous]

My experience is in another sport, but I recommend talking with the coach about the position and playing time before accepting an invite for a new, already established team. I didn't do this when we switched, and my kid had minimal playing time the first year because they viewed him as someone they wanted to "develop." My kid wasn't any worse than the other kids, but this is how they viewed the new kid. If we knew this going in we would have declined because at that age, more than anything, my kid wanted to play as much as possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looking for advice about switching teams. DS plays mid-level travel baseball (13u) and we are thinking about moving him. I know that no club is perfect and he likes his team, but he is interested in playing in HS and we are not confident that the current team is the place to help him grow in the areas where he needs work. That said, we also know that there will always be issues with other clubs/teams/coaches and we could end up trading fine for worse. DS wants to stay on good days, wants to move on on bad days.

I am primarily interested in hearing from baseball people about the factors that they weighed before switching and what people feel is most important for HS prep, but also open to hearing from people who have been in a similar situation in another sport. FWIW HS will be in MoCo, but still TBD public vs private.

For baseball, there are two aspects to consider:
1) Skills coaching: How good is the current coach at coaching skills vs. the potential new coach. Improvement in baseball at MS ages is directly tied to your coaches ability to improve the fundamentals and teach advanced skills properly. For example, if you are a hitter -- what part of your swing makes you able to hit a 65 MPH fastball with no problem, but struggle to hit a 85 MPH fastball? Does the coach know how to adjust your swing to make hitting that faster pitch possible? Its never as simple as "swing faster".

2) Playing time: Does the playing time challenge your player to put into practice the skill they work so hard on. Using the hitter example, playing on a team where the competition can't locate pitches effectively/throw hard, etc. will probably not be valuable even if you are in the starting lineup of every game. The opposite is also true -- getting a lot of playing time on a team where pitchers can routinely (8-9/10 times) beat you as a hitter isn't going to help either.

Ask your player what they think. Are you learning anything new? Are you learning as fast as you can be? Do you feel challenged in the games? If the answer to these questions is no, its probably time to switch.

Your question about making the HS team is very context dependent. Some HS teams are good, others aren't. For private school you may be able to talk to the coach ahead of time and get a good idea of your chances to make a team. Public HS usually won't do that. If you can't talk to the coach, go to some of the games for the schools you are looking at. Don't just watch the varsity team, watch the lower levels teams as well.

[Anonymous]

Where does your kid need work? If it is baseball IQ, game reps are critical. It is is actually fundamental skills, you can get that from private coaching and practice (which will also lead to more game reps).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looking for advice about switching teams. DS plays mid-level travel baseball (13u) and we are thinking about moving him. I know that no club is perfect and he likes his team, but he is interested in playing in HS and we are not confident that the current team is the place to help him grow in the areas where he needs work. That said, we also know that there will always be issues with other clubs/teams/coaches and we could end up trading fine for worse. DS wants to stay on good days, wants to move on on bad days.

I am primarily interested in hearing from baseball people about the factors that they weighed before switching and what people feel is most important for HS prep, but also open to hearing from people who have been in a similar situation in another sport. FWIW HS will be in MoCo, but still TBD public vs private.

Going through this in another sport right now in basketball. The coach might make the decision for you. My current situation it appears that the coach is mostly concerned with developing his kid even in ways that are detrimental to others on the team, eg he is underperforming the team on purpose. It's almost laughable because his kid is so far from being ready, has issues with passing/catching shooting anything but a layup, can't even run a play. I mean he has found ways for her to be leading scorer by slashing and hacking and getting easy breakaway layups, but some days our team scored no points literally zero. My kiddo isn't dumb, she knows what is going on. Just there aren't all that many options out there for girls' basketball in her age group and in our area. In this case the coach got tired of being second guessed and found somewhere else for us to go. I hope it works out.

[Anonymous]

I would be interested in the similar answers, DS current team should be at a much higher level than they are, but it is a good mix for our active life/other commitments. Coach is good, but must spend time teaching basics to kids who should know these things before they are on a travel team. in NOVA, not ready to commit to one sport 365

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking for advice about switching teams. DS plays mid-level travel baseball (13u) and we are thinking about moving him. I know that no club is perfect and he likes his team, but he is interested in playing in HS and we are not confident that the current team is the place to help him grow in the areas where he needs work. That said, we also know that there will always be issues with other clubs/teams/coaches and we could end up trading fine for worse. DS wants to stay on good days, wants to move on on bad days.

I am primarily interested in hearing from baseball people about the factors that they weighed before switching and what people feel is most important for HS prep, but also open to hearing from people who have been in a similar situation in another sport. FWIW HS will be in MoCo, but still TBD public vs private.

For baseball, there are two aspects to consider:
1) Skills coaching: How good is the current coach at coaching skills vs. the potential new coach. Improvement in baseball at MS ages is directly tied to your coaches ability to improve the fundamentals and teach advanced skills properly. For example, if you are a hitter -- what part of your swing makes you able to hit a 65 MPH fastball with no problem, but struggle to hit a 85 MPH fastball? Does the coach know how to adjust your swing to make hitting that faster pitch possible? Its never as simple as "swing faster".

2) Playing time: Does the playing time challenge your player to put into practice the skill they work so hard on. Using the hitter example, playing on a team where the competition can't locate pitches effectively/throw hard, etc. will probably not be valuable even if you are in the starting lineup of every game. The opposite is also true -- getting a lot of playing time on a team where pitchers can routinely (8-9/10 times) beat you as a hitter isn't going to help either.

Ask your player what they think. Are you learning anything new? Are you learning as fast as you can be? Do you feel challenged in the games? If the answer to these questions is no, its probably time to switch.

Your question about making the HS team is very context dependent. Some HS teams are good, others aren't. For private school you may be able to talk to the coach ahead of time and get a good idea of your chances to make a team. Public HS usually won't do that. If you can't talk to the coach, go to some of the games for the schools you are looking at. Don't just watch the varsity team, watch the lower levels teams as well.

This is good advice, thank you. DS is definitely learning and improving. We are competitive with teams we play so yes to the feeling challenged question. DS also works with an outside trainer for additional throwing/hitting/weights because team coach is focused on situational team skills and not able to instruct on things like swing mechanics etc. DS is at the top of the team in terms of some skills and at the bottom in terms of others so one of the reasons we are considering a move is to find a team where he's more in the middle. Not sure if that makes any sense.

[Anonymous]

13U for baseball is a bit of a disaster, in my opinion. Moving up to the larger field is rough for most kids. Even your best fielders may now have trouble making the throw from deep SS to 1st base.

In our experience, no travel coach is going to be able to work with your kid individually on improving their swing or improving their velocity if they're a pitcher. You need private coaching to do that, which it sounds like you're already doing.

I think if your kid is happy and getting playing time, there is no downside to sticking with this team and getting outside coaching with hitting/pitching.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking for advice about switching teams. DS plays mid-level travel baseball (13u) and we are thinking about moving him. I know that no club is perfect and he likes his team, but he is interested in playing in HS and we are not confident that the current team is the place to help him grow in the areas where he needs work. That said, we also know that there will always be issues with other clubs/teams/coaches and we could end up trading fine for worse. DS wants to stay on good days, wants to move on on bad days.

I am primarily interested in hearing from baseball people about the factors that they weighed before switching and what people feel is most important for HS prep, but also open to hearing from people who have been in a similar situation in another sport. FWIW HS will be in MoCo, but still TBD public vs private.

For baseball, there are two aspects to consider:
1) Skills coaching: How good is the current coach at coaching skills vs. the potential new coach. Improvement in baseball at MS ages is directly tied to your coaches ability to improve the fundamentals and teach advanced skills properly. For example, if you are a hitter -- what part of your swing makes you able to hit a 65 MPH fastball with no problem, but struggle to hit a 85 MPH fastball? Does the coach know how to adjust your swing to make hitting that faster pitch possible? Its never as simple as "swing faster".

2) Playing time: Does the playing time challenge your player to put into practice the skill they work so hard on. Using the hitter example, playing on a team where the competition can't locate pitches effectively/throw hard, etc. will probably not be valuable even if you are in the starting lineup of every game. The opposite is also true -- getting a lot of playing time on a team where pitchers can routinely (8-9/10 times) beat you as a hitter isn't going to help either.

Ask your player what they think. Are you learning anything new? Are you learning as fast as you can be? Do you feel challenged in the games? If the answer to these questions is no, its probably time to switch.

Your question about making the HS team is very context dependent. Some HS teams are good, others aren't. For private school you may be able to talk to the coach ahead of time and get a good idea of your chances to make a team. Public HS usually won't do that. If you can't talk to the coach, go to some of the games for the schools you are looking at. Don't just watch the varsity team, watch the lower levels teams as well.

Definitely agree with almost all of this. EXCEPT, if you are wondering why you can't hit 85 in 13u, it's because no one throws 85 in 13u.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking for advice about switching teams. DS plays mid-level travel baseball (13u) and we are thinking about moving him. I know that no club is perfect and he likes his team, but he is interested in playing in HS and we are not confident that the current team is the place to help him grow in the areas where he needs work. That said, we also know that there will always be issues with other clubs/teams/coaches and we could end up trading fine for worse. DS wants to stay on good days, wants to move on on bad days.

I am primarily interested in hearing from baseball people about the factors that they weighed before switching and what people feel is most important for HS prep, but also open to hearing from people who have been in a similar situation in another sport. FWIW HS will be in MoCo, but still TBD public vs private.

For baseball, there are two aspects to consider:
1) Skills coaching: How good is the current coach at coaching skills vs. the potential new coach. Improvement in baseball at MS ages is directly tied to your coaches ability to improve the fundamentals and teach advanced skills properly. For example, if you are a hitter -- what part of your swing makes you able to hit a 65 MPH fastball with no problem, but struggle to hit a 85 MPH fastball? Does the coach know how to adjust your swing to make hitting that faster pitch possible? Its never as simple as "swing faster".

2) Playing time: Does the playing time challenge your player to put into practice the skill they work so hard on. Using the hitter example, playing on a team where the competition can't locate pitches effectively/throw hard, etc. will probably not be valuable even if you are in the starting lineup of every game. The opposite is also true -- getting a lot of playing time on a team where pitchers can routinely (8-9/10 times) beat you as a hitter isn't going to help either.

Ask your player what they think. Are you learning anything new? Are you learning as fast as you can be? Do you feel challenged in the games? If the answer to these questions is no, its probably time to switch.

Your question about making the HS team is very context dependent. Some HS teams are good, others aren't. For private school you may be able to talk to the coach ahead of time and get a good idea of your chances to make a team. Public HS usually won't do that. If you can't talk to the coach, go to some of the games for the schools you are looking at. Don't just watch the varsity team, watch the lower levels teams as well.

Definitely agree with almost all of this. EXCEPT, if you are wondering why you can't hit 85 in 13u, it's because no one throws 85 in 13u.

PP here -- you are absolutely right about the speed in 13U. Should have added that the comment on pitch speed is relevant to the jump from MS to HS, especially if you think your player has a chance to play in a good school program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking for advice about switching teams. DS plays mid-level travel baseball (13u) and we are thinking about moving him. I know that no club is perfect and he likes his team, but he is interested in playing in HS and we are not confident that the current team is the place to help him grow in the areas where he needs work. That said, we also know that there will always be issues with other clubs/teams/coaches and we could end up trading fine for worse. DS wants to stay on good days, wants to move on on bad days.

I am primarily interested in hearing from baseball people about the factors that they weighed before switching and what people feel is most important for HS prep, but also open to hearing from people who have been in a similar situation in another sport. FWIW HS will be in MoCo, but still TBD public vs private.

For baseball, there are two aspects to consider:
1) Skills coaching: How good is the current coach at coaching skills vs. the potential new coach. Improvement in baseball at MS ages is directly tied to your coaches ability to improve the fundamentals and teach advanced skills properly. For example, if you are a hitter -- what part of your swing makes you able to hit a 65 MPH fastball with no problem, but struggle to hit a 85 MPH fastball? Does the coach know how to adjust your swing to make hitting that faster pitch possible? Its never as simple as "swing faster".

2) Playing time: Does the playing time challenge your player to put into practice the skill they work so hard on. Using the hitter example, playing on a team where the competition can't locate pitches effectively/throw hard, etc. will probably not be valuable even if you are in the starting lineup of every game. The opposite is also true -- getting a lot of playing time on a team where pitchers can routinely (8-9/10 times) beat you as a hitter isn't going to help either.

Ask your player what they think. Are you learning anything new? Are you learning as fast as you can be? Do you feel challenged in the games? If the answer to these questions is no, its probably time to switch.

Your question about making the HS team is very context dependent. Some HS teams are good, others aren't. For private school you may be able to talk to the coach ahead of time and get a good idea of your chances to make a team. Public HS usually won't do that. If you can't talk to the coach, go to some of the games for the schools you are looking at. Don't just watch the varsity team, watch the lower levels teams as well.

This is good advice, thank you. DS is definitely learning and improving. We are competitive with teams we play so yes to the feeling challenged question. DS also works with an outside trainer for additional throwing/hitting/weights because team coach is focused on situational team skills and not able to instruct on things like swing mechanics etc. DS is at the top of the team in terms of some skills and at the bottom in terms of others so one of the reasons we are considering a move is to find a team where he's more in the middle. Not sure if that makes any sense.

Makes a lot of sense. There are some travel coaches that do know how to teach things like swing mechanics, etc. but they are rare and typically in high demand. Supplementing with outside work is a good idea, both for general strength and conditioning and specific mechanics. If your outside coaches are strong then you should probably focus most on the competitive level of the team.

Being the top in some skills and bottom in other skills could be a key decision point. For example, being top in hitting and bottom in fielding is very different than being top in fielding and bottom in hitting. In our experience, if you don't hit the minimum hitting requirement (either power or batting avg.) for a team, you aren't likely to see the starting lineup on good teams very often. If you are average or above, you probably play a lot. But if you are hitting way above your team average or power level you probably need to see better pitching -- so moving to a higher level team might be a good idea.

[Anonymous]

This is the age where most kids are moving to HS feeder teams…I would look into that a bit. Though it sounds like you aren’t quite sure about HS.

If he is seeing a lot of playing time and is generally happy with the team, I’d probably stay. What areas is he needing to work on? Generally I’d say to consider hitting first (unless he is an amazing pitcher). That said, you have to consider defensive innings too….my own 13U DS is a very strong hitter but “meh” fielder. On “elite” teams he’d struggle to get on the field defensively…and probably wouldn’t get any pitching reps. He stays on his solid high school feeder team where he bats at the top of the order, plays mostly middle infield, some outfield, pitches regularly.

Whatever you decide, keep up with the personal training. Good call on that. My older DS plays in high school and at frosh tryouts they really seemed to look at physicality/athleticism even in the freshmen- more than expected. Speed especially, but also strength etc. We were a little surprised as the middle school travel teams had not placed as much specific emphasis on those things.. Younger DS will be a lot better prepared for HS tryouts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:13U for baseball is a bit of a disaster, in my opinion. Moving up to the larger field is rough for most kids. Even your best fielders may now have trouble making the throw from deep SS to 1st base.

In our experience, no travel coach is going to be able to work with your kid individually on improving their swing or improving their velocity if they're a pitcher. You need private coaching to do that, which it sounds like you're already doing.

I think if your kid is happy and getting playing time, there is no downside to sticking with this team and getting outside coaching with hitting/pitching.

+1
This is a transition time from developmental baseball teams in youth baseball to developing during individual training in HS baseball.
Lots of people switch teams at 13u and at 15u so just keep your ear to the ground and maybe talk to the HS coach to see what he recommends

[Anonymous]

I also agree that fall of 13u is probably not the best time to evaluate teams given everyone is making the transition to the bigger field and it's ugly all around. Plus, if your team is like ours, you've also got the puberty factor where half the team looks like they are in HS and the other half looks like ES kids in comparison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looking for advice about switching teams. DS plays mid-level travel baseball (13u) and we are thinking about moving him. I know that no club is perfect and he likes his team, but he is interested in playing in HS and we are not confident that the current team is the place to help him grow in the areas where he needs work. That said, we also know that there will always be issues with other clubs/teams/coaches and we could end up trading fine for worse. DS wants to stay on good days, wants to move on on bad days.

I am primarily interested in hearing from baseball people about the factors that they weighed before switching and what people feel is most important for HS prep, but also open to hearing from people who have been in a similar situation in another sport. FWIW HS will be in MoCo, but still TBD public vs private.

The easiest and most obvious answer is to see if your feeder HS essentially runs their own travel teams. MVP for Madison, Five Star for Landon, etc. I bet if you look at the head coach of your high school and then google name + travel baseball, some program will come up.

You will likely have to make another decision if your kid is strong enough for college recruitment, at the 15u/16u level. It's rare for a local travel team to help as much as some of the national teams, if you are realistically a D1 athlete.