Baseball Development AMA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m wondering if you have any general advice for the “small, going to be late to puberty” kid moving up to 13U in the fall? My DS (turns 13 in Jan) is currently 5’0” 85lbs soaking wet. Has played both LL and club the last 2 years but his current team is disbanding. The team was loosely affiliated with LL as an AS prep team and the kids are all moving to separate club teams in the fall (many of which are loosely feeder programs for their eventual high schools).

DS tried out for a great club team and made the team for fall. He is one of a few new kids for next year. DS got a few practices in this spring with the new team along with one tournament and a scrimmage before the team took June off. Practices will resume in July.

The team practices on a 60/90 field and often combines some of their practices with the next level up’s team (so next years 13U and 14U practice together at times and scrimmage each other). DS did much better than he expected with fielding and defense- has a very strong arm and after a bit of adjustment can make the throws on the 60/90 (they will play 54/80 tourneys this fall from what I understand) so he is fine there. Has one of the best arms on his new team despite his size (fastball about 70- they have 2 who throw mid 70s) so may pitch some as well, at least on Saturdays. Also is a great outfielder and 2B or 3B (probably not a shortstop). Also a good catcher but rarely caught the last season because he pitched more.

But the hitting...oh my. DS can barely get the ball out of the 60-90 infield (they seem to Barely hit the OF grass), and that is with his bat from this year! The other boys are all so much bigger and hit the ball waaaay farther. DS isn’t the shortest kid, but the next lightest kid is probably 20+ lbs bigger than he is. I don’t think DS is a bad hitter overall but it was a big wake up call for him.

I told DS he will eventually grow (DH is 6’2”, I’m 5’7”) so he would be average size Or better I imagine, but it may be awhile yet...

My question: any tips for how he can get playing time as one of the (likely) weaker hitters on the team, and also improve his hitting and adjust to BBCOR next year? Anything he should be doing? I think he is trying to figure out what his role might be on this team, and he seems to understand he may be seeing some bench time until he grows more. Trying to figure out how to guide him in the meantime. It is a big change for him.

FWIW this new team is particularly huge (even bigger kids than you see on a typical club team) and that may be what is giving us pause and making DS feel so nervous. . DS looks so out of place. They are big hitting team, riding a few big kids pitching on Sundays (fine), and have a lot of fielding holes from what we can tell. I think DS made the team due to his good arm and fielding (and can pitch and catch) because his hitting is quite mediocre compared to the rest.

Any general words of advice or wisdom? I know there are still a lot of small players at this age, but not on this team, it appears!

OP here

So if he has a 70+ fastball at 13 that’s crazy good. Now a 70+ fastball for a kid less that 100 pounds is exceptional.
I do coach at the 13u level and I’ll say this....the size disparity I see on a weekly basis is almost comical. I have kids on my teams that are 100 pounds apart.
Let him enjoy the process and keep putting the big in his ear that pretty soon he too will have the growth spurt he’s waiting for.

Now as far as hitting. Power comes from the legs and if he’s lacking the ability to hit the ball deep that’s generally the root cause. Kids tend to overcompensate and swing harder using their arms which becomes counter productive. I would have him get with a hitting instructor who can show him proper sequencing. I’d also recommend some leg exercises he can do at home like basic squats. Once he understands how to use his body more efficiently he’ll hit balls further than he ever has.

[Anonymous]

How good does a kid need to be to make a local Moco high school team? I'm hearing it's very competitive and you typically need to be in the travel team circuit to be considered? What experiences/training would you look to have an 11 year old do to work towards this goal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How good does a kid need to be to make a local Moco high school team? I'm hearing it's very competitive and you typically need to be in the travel team circuit to be considered? What experiences/training would you look to have an 11 year old do to work towards this goal

Not OP, so please weigh in, OP!

My son is on a 14U B level travel team in MoCo and his teammates are all either rising 9th or 10th graders, so they are all in the thick of this. From what I understand it depends a lot on the school, because not all of them have really good baseball programs. But assuming you are in one of the big schools with good teams, its true that a res-level player probably isn't going to make it straight from rec. The travel kids have just been seeing better pitching, and in general playing at a higher level for a couple of years and so their skills are more advanced. That said, if your kid is strong and can hit, and is decently fast, they've got a shot. On my kid's team some kids have made their high school JV and some have not. So not even all travel team kids are going to make their high school team.

I assume you are planning for next spring, so there are a bunch of things your kid can do. There are all sorts of camps, clinics, and workouts your kid can join this summer, fall, and winter to be ready for next Spring's tryouts. He could try to get on a travel team for the fall. There are tryouts happening now through mid-August. My son took pitching lessons all winter at The Baseball Zone and it really helped him.

Oh, and I just saw your kid is 11. There is NOTHING you need to do now unless your kiddo wants to. My son played rec through 11, moved to travel at 12U and had a ball, and we expect he'll make his high school JV team. Just let him love baseball and play as much of it as he wants to. Oh, here is one thing - help him play every position. Try them all, enjoy them all, get pretty good at them all. At least catcher, pitcher, an infield position, and an outfield position. Don't let him specialize, or say "that isn't for me" yet.

[Anonymous]

Thanks PP for taking the time to respond!

[Anonymous]

OP here:

I’d say at 11 just develop good habits and let him enjoy. That said by 12 I’d recommend him stepping up to a travel team to prepare for playing on the big field at age 13.

The better caliber high school programs will be made mostly up of players that have played at this level. I think people underestimate just how hard the game is and to succeed you really need to have fundamentally sound hitting and throwing mechanics, which is honed over time thru thousands of reps. You simply can’t get enough even playing at the travel level. There’s so much more training that needs to be done at home away from team functions for a player to be an above average high school athlete.

[Anonymous]

DC is 9 and doesn't snap arm down when throwing (although can still throw far--easily reach target at 1st when playing 3rd) -- any suggestions on drills, or even reading materials (DC reads a lot of sports books) to help with this? Was hoping coaching staff this season would notice it and call it out but there was zero technical instruction from the coaches DC got assigned this season (AA).
Also, any recs for players in ANSLL area for fun off-season skills camps for this age level?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC is 9 and doesn't snap arm down when throwing (although can still throw far--easily reach target at 1st when playing 3rd) -- any suggestions on drills, or even reading materials (DC reads a lot of sports books) to help with this? Was hoping coaching staff this season would notice it and call it out but there was zero technical instruction from the coaches DC got assigned this season (AA).
Also, any recs for players in ANSLL area for fun off-season skills camps for this age level?

OP here:

Generally I would just instruct a player to warmup using a wrist flick drill where you support your elbow by propping it up with your glove underneath. Bicept parallel to the ground. The key is to keep your forearm verticle and flick your wrist at your target. Do this about 8ft away from your throwing partner.

Essentially to clean things up for your child just tell them to flick their fingers at release towards the intended target and hold for two seconds. Eventually they’ll see that where they flick their fingers towards is where the ball will go.

[Anonymous]

I didn’t read the entire thread so apologies if this has been asked. Maybe a silly question but can you recommend some good sunglasses for baseball? My son is 12 and has lately really been complaining about the sun bothering his eyes when he’s on the field. His vision is fine, so he would not need prescription lenses.

[Anonymous]

Any 30 drop 8 bat recs? For a small 13U kid. I don’t think he can handle a drop 5 this fall.

Going to look at bats tomorrow. Any particular ones you like?

Open minded on budget. Will resell or hand down to younger brother.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t read the entire thread so apologies if this has been asked. Maybe a silly question but can you recommend some good sunglasses for baseball? My son is 12 and has lately really been complaining about the sun bothering his eyes when he’s on the field. His vision is fine, so he would not need prescription lenses.

Not OP, but my kids wear Oakley quarter jackets with the Prizm field lenses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any 30 drop 8 bat recs? For a small 13U kid. I don’t think he can handle a drop 5 this fall.

Going to look at bats tomorrow. Any particular ones you like?

Open minded on budget. Will resell or hand down to younger brother.

OP here:

Depends on how well your child takes care of his things. If he’s a little careless Rawlings makes plenty of $10-15 sunglasses that you won’t care too much if he throws them around the dugout. If he is careful I think a good idea is to buy an Oakley frame like the Radar EV XS on ebay and then aftermarket lenses on amazon. They’re like $15 for two and just replace them as they get scratched up or broken.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any 30 drop 8 bat recs? For a small 13U kid. I don’t think he can handle a drop 5 this fall.

Going to look at bats tomorrow. Any particular ones you like?

Open minded on budget. Will resell or hand down to younger brother.

OP here: So 30 drop 8 for a 13 year old - I would highly recommend a Drop -5 simply because he’ll have a difficult time transitioning to BBcor (-3) at 14.

I’d look for a balanced bat. Even smaller 13 year olds can adjust to -5.

The popular choice is the Demarini CF but they build them right to edge of performance where durability isn’t the best. The other option is the Marucci Cat 9 Composite. Those are the 2 most popular. If you’re more price conscious you can always go preowned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any 30 drop 8 bat recs? For a small 13U kid. I don’t think he can handle a drop 5 this fall.

Going to look at bats tomorrow. Any particular ones you like?

Open minded on budget. Will resell or hand down to younger brother.

OP here:

Depends on how well your child takes care of his things. If he’s a little careless Rawlings makes plenty of $10-15 sunglasses that you won’t care too much if he throws them around the dugout. If he is careful I think a good idea is to buy an Oakley frame like the Radar EV XS on ebay and then aftermarket lenses on amazon. They’re like $15 for two and just replace them as they get scratched up or broken.

Thank you, and also thank you to the person who suggested the Oakley quarter jackets. He is a responsible kid who does a good job taking care of his things and I don't expect he would be careless with sunglasses. I will check out both suggestions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any 30 drop 8 bat recs? For a small 13U kid. I don’t think he can handle a drop 5 this fall.

Going to look at bats tomorrow. Any particular ones you like?

Open minded on budget. Will resell or hand down to younger brother.

OP here: So 30 drop 8 for a 13 year old - I would highly recommend a Drop -5 simply because he’ll have a difficult time transitioning to BBcor (-3) at 14.

I’d look for a balanced bat. Even smaller 13 year olds can adjust to -5.

The popular choice is the Demarini CF but they build them right to edge of performance where durability isn’t the best. The other option is the Marucci Cat 9 Composite. Those are the 2 most popular. If you’re more price conscious you can always go preowned.

Thank you so much!! He is leaning toward the CF 30-25 and we will see how it goes! He has been swinging a wood bat at lessons all summer and my husband said he looked great yesterday. I think I worry more about his size than I should. He played in a 12U wood bat league last fall and did OK (though not as well as in tournaments) He used the CAT composite at tournaments all year (drop 10) so wants to switch it up and try the CF this time.

Thanks again!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any 30 drop 8 bat recs? For a small 13U kid. I don’t think he can handle a drop 5 this fall.

Going to look at bats tomorrow. Any particular ones you like?

Open minded on budget. Will resell or hand down to younger brother.

OP here: So 30 drop 8 for a 13 year old - I would highly recommend a Drop -5 simply because he’ll have a difficult time transitioning to BBcor (-3) at 14.

I’d look for a balanced bat. Even smaller 13 year olds can adjust to -5.

The popular choice is the Demarini CF but they build them right to edge of performance where durability isn’t the best. The other option is the Marucci Cat 9 Composite. Those are the 2 most popular. If you’re more price conscious you can always go preowned.

Thank you so much!! He is leaning toward the CF 30-25 and we will see how it goes! He has been swinging a wood bat at lessons all summer and my husband said he looked great yesterday. I think I worry more about his size than I should. He played in a 12U wood bat league last fall and did OK (though not as well as in tournaments) He used the CAT composite at tournaments all year (drop 10) so wants to switch it up and try the CF this time.

Thanks again!

+1 to getting used to a drop 5 before the drop 3 at 14u. He can always grab a drop 8 for a tournament that allows them than the other way around