travel baseball questions from a newbie

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If LL is your Rec option, I would consider a local travel team to get on the bigger 50-70 field with Major League Baseball rules. Longer throws, leads/pickoffs, 1st/3rd plays -- a lot more baseball. Especially beneficial if you have a knowledgeable coach.

People are focusing on Varsity, but you gotta make teams before that to get there. Coaches love smart ballplayers.

This there’s so much nuance to baseball and so many rules. By 11, kids are throwing 50+ MPH. By 13, some are close to 70. It gets much harder to hit, and even if you do get a hit, you need to be a smart base runner so you don’t get picked off or caught in a pickle. I don’t think kids can get the reps they need by just playing rec in my area. I can think of trades players who didn’t the JV this year. It is very hard to make JV at one of the 3 ApS high schools. They have so many kids who would easily make the weakest school’s team and maybe even the average school’s team.

The better 9U (and a couple of the best 8U) travel teams have kids throwing 50+ already… from 46 feet.

🤣🤣🤣🤣

I am so far removed from kiddie ball that I don’t even know if these speeds are plausible (or good for age)

But please get back to us when they are 12U, 14u, high school JV, & HS varsity. You won’t see much correlation with speeds in 9U kiddie ball (or heck, even 12U), one way or the other. That, I can promise.

LOL

DP

1. Daddy’s speed estimates are usually significantly higher than reality;
2. Throwing hard doesn’t mean pitching well;
3. Some of these kids reach their velocity ceiling early (puberty still matters);
But most importantly
4. Many of these poor kids are going to get injured and possibly require surgery by the time they’re in high school because Dad thinks he can train a future MLB player if he just starts early enough.

[Anonymous]

I am in the thick of kiddie ball. The speeds are accurate, but agree with # 1-4 above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If LL is your Rec option, I would consider a local travel team to get on the bigger 50-70 field with Major League Baseball rules. Longer throws, leads/pickoffs, 1st/3rd plays -- a lot more baseball. Especially beneficial if you have a knowledgeable coach.

People are focusing on Varsity, but you gotta make teams before that to get there. Coaches love smart ballplayers.

Coaches love physically mature baseball players and in our experience prioritize size along with throwing and hitting velocity over smarts.

If the Coach only goes for size/velocity AND those players aren't smart ballplayers, then he's not a good Coach at any level. If he's a youth Coach, then not a good Coach at all.

Baseball games aren't won, they are lost.

Sounds like you have a small kid who plays travel...

I Coach a squad of munchkins -- they are all small.

But we will bunt, fake bunt/steal, fake bunt/swing, delay steal, get excellent primary and secondary leads, walking leads and steal 3rd against any catcher. We throw strikes, minimize walks, play solid defense, make accurate throws, back-pick lazy baserunners, run good 1st and 3rd plays, have special pickoff plays for certain situations, daylight plays, excellent cutoffs/relays, and our rundowns are superb. But really, our defense is our bread and butter. We play hard.

We will exhaust and torment teams of any size, and beat most of them. I like their odds of making HS Varsity if they keep at it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If LL is your Rec option, I would consider a local travel team to get on the bigger 50-70 field with Major League Baseball rules. Longer throws, leads/pickoffs, 1st/3rd plays -- a lot more baseball. Especially beneficial if you have a knowledgeable coach.

People are focusing on Varsity, but you gotta make teams before that to get there. Coaches love smart ballplayers.

Coaches love physically mature baseball players and in our experience prioritize size along with throwing and hitting velocity over smarts.

If the Coach only goes for size/velocity AND those players aren't smart ballplayers, then he's not a good Coach at any level. If he's a youth Coach, then not a good Coach at all.

Baseball games aren't won, they are lost.

Sounds like you have a small kid who plays travel...

I Coach a squad of munchkins -- they are all small.

But we will bunt, fake bunt/steal, fake bunt/swing, delay steal, get excellent primary and secondary leads, walking leads and steal 3rd against any catcher. We throw strikes, minimize walks, play solid defense, make accurate throws, back-pick lazy baserunners, run good 1st and 3rd plays, have special pickoff plays for certain situations, daylight plays, excellent cutoffs/relays, and our rundowns are superb. But really, our defense is our bread and butter. We play hard.

We will exhaust and torment teams of any size, and beat most of them. I like their odds of making HS Varsity if they keep at it.

So extra.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If LL is your Rec option, I would consider a local travel team to get on the bigger 50-70 field with Major League Baseball rules. Longer throws, leads/pickoffs, 1st/3rd plays -- a lot more baseball. Especially beneficial if you have a knowledgeable coach.

People are focusing on Varsity, but you gotta make teams before that to get there. Coaches love smart ballplayers.

Coaches love physically mature baseball players and in our experience prioritize size along with throwing and hitting velocity over smarts.

If the Coach only goes for size/velocity AND those players aren't smart ballplayers, then he's not a good Coach at any level. If he's a youth Coach, then not a good Coach at all.

Baseball games aren't won, they are lost.

Sounds like you have a small kid who plays travel...

I Coach a squad of munchkins -- they are all small.

But we will bunt, fake bunt/steal, fake bunt/swing, delay steal, get excellent primary and secondary leads, walking leads and steal 3rd against any catcher. We throw strikes, minimize walks, play solid defense, make accurate throws, back-pick lazy baserunners, run good 1st and 3rd plays, have special pickoff plays for certain situations, daylight plays, excellent cutoffs/relays, and our rundowns are superb. But really, our defense is our bread and butter. We play hard.

We will exhaust and torment teams of any size, and beat most of them. I like their odds of making HS Varsity if they keep at it.

And varsity coaches still won't give a crap and will take the 6'2 man child over today kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If LL is your Rec option, I would consider a local travel team to get on the bigger 50-70 field with Major League Baseball rules. Longer throws, leads/pickoffs, 1st/3rd plays -- a lot more baseball. Especially beneficial if you have a knowledgeable coach.

People are focusing on Varsity, but you gotta make teams before that to get there. Coaches love smart ballplayers.

Coaches love physically mature baseball players and in our experience prioritize size along with throwing and hitting velocity over smarts.

If the Coach only goes for size/velocity AND those players aren't smart ballplayers, then he's not a good Coach at any level. If he's a youth Coach, then not a good Coach at all.

Baseball games aren't won, they are lost.

Sounds like you have a small kid who plays travel...

I Coach a squad of munchkins -- they are all small.

But we will bunt, fake bunt/steal, fake bunt/swing, delay steal, get excellent primary and secondary leads, walking leads and steal 3rd against any catcher. We throw strikes, minimize walks, play solid defense, make accurate throws, back-pick lazy baserunners, run good 1st and 3rd plays, have special pickoff plays for certain situations, daylight plays, excellent cutoffs/relays, and our rundowns are superb. But really, our defense is our bread and butter. We play hard.

We will exhaust and torment teams of any size, and beat most of them. I like their odds of making HS Varsity if they keep at it.

And varsity coaches still won't give a crap and will take the 6'2 man child over today kids.

+100

[Anonymous]

We found a team at our son’s age group that has Sat games. They may have Sunday games at your son’s age. We kept doing LL and some private coaching until we got to the Sat games age. They do double headers all in the area so not hotel/overnight. It’s DC Dynasty but maybe it’s their league? I know they play Hustle and Win Within. My husband researched and asked around about the teams, but it was a non-negotiable as we also attend church Sundays and for us, that was the priority to show our kids how we use our Sundays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If LL is your Rec option, I would consider a local travel team to get on the bigger 50-70 field with Major League Baseball rules. Longer throws, leads/pickoffs, 1st/3rd plays -- a lot more baseball. Especially beneficial if you have a knowledgeable coach.

People are focusing on Varsity, but you gotta make teams before that to get there. Coaches love smart ballplayers.

This there’s so much nuance to baseball and so many rules. By 11, kids are throwing 50+ MPH. By 13, some are close to 70. It gets much harder to hit, and even if you do get a hit, you need to be a smart base runner so you don’t get picked off or caught in a pickle. I don’t think kids can get the reps they need by just playing rec in my area. I can think of trades players who didn’t the JV this year. It is very hard to make JV at one of the 3 ApS high schools. They have so many kids who would easily make the weakest school’s team and maybe even the average school’s team.

The better 9U (and a couple of the best 8U) travel teams have kids throwing 50+ already… from 46 feet.

🤣🤣🤣🤣

I am so far removed from kiddie ball that I don’t even know if these speeds are plausible (or good for age)

But please get back to us when they are 12U, 14u, high school JV, & HS varsity. You won’t see much correlation with speeds in 9U kiddie ball (or heck, even 12U), one way or the other. That, I can promise.

LOL

Not to wade into the debate, but while it is true that many of the best 9u players won't end up being the best 12u or HS players...the inverse relationship is almost like 98% correlated.

If you look at MLB players, they were dominant at every age group they played (for 98%). Bryce Harper was playing on 12u teams at 9 years old and was hitting home runs on HS fields at 12. Anthony Rendon hit his first HR at 9 (yes LL fields). Greg Maddux threw a nearly perfect LL game at 10...he had 18 strikeouts on like 65 pitches...this story according to his brother (former Nationals pitching coach) that the LL told his coach he wasn't allowed to pitch anymore because he was so dominant.

So, yes the dominant kids at 9 may still be dominant at 14 and 18.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If LL is your Rec option, I would consider a local travel team to get on the bigger 50-70 field with Major League Baseball rules. Longer throws, leads/pickoffs, 1st/3rd plays -- a lot more baseball. Especially beneficial if you have a knowledgeable coach.

People are focusing on Varsity, but you gotta make teams before that to get there. Coaches love smart ballplayers.

This there’s so much nuance to baseball and so many rules. By 11, kids are throwing 50+ MPH. By 13, some are close to 70. It gets much harder to hit, and even if you do get a hit, you need to be a smart base runner so you don’t get picked off or caught in a pickle. I don’t think kids can get the reps they need by just playing rec in my area. I can think of trades players who didn’t the JV this year. It is very hard to make JV at one of the 3 ApS high schools. They have so many kids who would easily make the weakest school’s team and maybe even the average school’s team.

The better 9U (and a couple of the best 8U) travel teams have kids throwing 50+ already… from 46 feet.

🤣🤣🤣🤣

I am so far removed from kiddie ball that I don’t even know if these speeds are plausible (or good for age)

But please get back to us when they are 12U, 14u, high school JV, & HS varsity. You won’t see much correlation with speeds in 9U kiddie ball (or heck, even 12U), one way or the other. That, I can promise.

LOL

Not to wade into the debate, but while it is true that many of the best 9u players won't end up being the best 12u or HS players...the inverse relationship is almost like 98% correlated.

If you look at MLB players, they were dominant at every age group they played (for 98%). Bryce Harper was playing on 12u teams at 9 years old and was hitting home runs on HS fields at 12. Anthony Rendon hit his first HR at 9 (yes LL fields). Greg Maddux threw a nearly perfect LL game at 10...he had 18 strikeouts on like 65 pitches...this story according to his brother (former Nationals pitching coach) that the LL told his coach he wasn't allowed to pitch anymore because he was so dominant.

So, yes the dominant kids at 9 may still be dominant at 14 and 18.

This is the most rational explanation of these facts that I've seen on here (instead of people trying to argue from the inverse relationship - that MLB stars dominated as young kids - to "therefore you can tell who's making varsity at 9").

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If LL is your Rec option, I would consider a local travel team to get on the bigger 50-70 field with Major League Baseball rules. Longer throws, leads/pickoffs, 1st/3rd plays -- a lot more baseball. Especially beneficial if you have a knowledgeable coach.

People are focusing on Varsity, but you gotta make teams before that to get there. Coaches love smart ballplayers.

This there’s so much nuance to baseball and so many rules. By 11, kids are throwing 50+ MPH. By 13, some are close to 70. It gets much harder to hit, and even if you do get a hit, you need to be a smart base runner so you don’t get picked off or caught in a pickle. I don’t think kids can get the reps they need by just playing rec in my area. I can think of trades players who didn’t the JV this year. It is very hard to make JV at one of the 3 ApS high schools. They have so many kids who would easily make the weakest school’s team and maybe even the average school’s team.

The better 9U (and a couple of the best 8U) travel teams have kids throwing 50+ already… from 46 feet.

🤣🤣🤣🤣

I am so far removed from kiddie ball that I don’t even know if these speeds are plausible (or good for age)

But please get back to us when they are 12U, 14u, high school JV, & HS varsity. You won’t see much correlation with speeds in 9U kiddie ball (or heck, even 12U), one way or the other. That, I can promise.

LOL

Not to wade into the debate, but while it is true that many of the best 9u players won't end up being the best 12u or HS players...the inverse relationship is almost like 98% correlated.

If you look at MLB players, they were dominant at every age group they played (for 98%). Bryce Harper was playing on 12u teams at 9 years old and was hitting home runs on HS fields at 12. Anthony Rendon hit his first HR at 9 (yes LL fields). Greg Maddux threw a nearly perfect LL game at 10...he had 18 strikeouts on like 65 pitches...this story according to his brother (former Nationals pitching coach) that the LL told his coach he wasn't allowed to pitch anymore because he was so dominant.

So, yes the dominant kids at 9 may still be dominant at 14 and 18.

The truth is professional athletes are built different and are born with a genetic make up that the rest of us don't have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If LL is your Rec option, I would consider a local travel team to get on the bigger 50-70 field with Major League Baseball rules. Longer throws, leads/pickoffs, 1st/3rd plays -- a lot more baseball. Especially beneficial if you have a knowledgeable coach.

People are focusing on Varsity, but you gotta make teams before that to get there. Coaches love smart ballplayers.

This there’s so much nuance to baseball and so many rules. By 11, kids are throwing 50+ MPH. By 13, some are close to 70. It gets much harder to hit, and even if you do get a hit, you need to be a smart base runner so you don’t get picked off or caught in a pickle. I don’t think kids can get the reps they need by just playing rec in my area. I can think of trades players who didn’t the JV this year. It is very hard to make JV at one of the 3 ApS high schools. They have so many kids who would easily make the weakest school’s team and maybe even the average school’s team.

The better 9U (and a couple of the best 8U) travel teams have kids throwing 50+ already… from 46 feet.

🤣🤣🤣🤣

I am so far removed from kiddie ball that I don’t even know if these speeds are plausible (or good for age)

But please get back to us when they are 12U, 14u, high school JV, & HS varsity. You won’t see much correlation with speeds in 9U kiddie ball (or heck, even 12U), one way or the other. That, I can promise.

LOL

Not to wade into the debate, but while it is true that many of the best 9u players won't end up being the best 12u or HS players...the inverse relationship is almost like 98% correlated.

If you look at MLB players, they were dominant at every age group they played (for 98%). Bryce Harper was playing on 12u teams at 9 years old and was hitting home runs on HS fields at 12. Anthony Rendon hit his first HR at 9 (yes LL fields). Greg Maddux threw a nearly perfect LL game at 10...he had 18 strikeouts on like 65 pitches...this story according to his brother (former Nationals pitching coach) that the LL told his coach he wasn't allowed to pitch anymore because he was so dominant.

So, yes the dominant kids at 9 may still be dominant at 14 and 18.

This is the most rational explanation of these facts that I've seen on here (instead of people trying to argue from the inverse relationship - that MLB stars dominated as young kids - to "therefore you can tell who's making varsity at 9").

Maybe the best way to think about it is that you can tell a 9u player will be great because the player is better than 99% of all 12 year olds…not just the best among average 9 year olds.

You see similar stories for players like the 15 year old soccer player from Philly playing for Manchester City (I think he is in the equivalent of a AA minor league team but still one of the youngest ever signed to that division).

[Anonymous]

I don't know, baseball is such a hard sport and littered with late bloomers and guys that needed 2nd and 3rd chances just to hang on before becoming dominant MLB players. Take Jim Thome, for example -- undrafted out of high school. After junior college, drafted in the 13th round. Zero homers in his first pro minor league season. Then a 612 HR hall of famer.

And it's not MLB or bust! There's value in working really, really hard at something and seeing how far you can go. A lot of satisfaction too. Better than a bunch of old farts wondering what could have been. Or deciding that at 9 years old, they needed to be better than 12's, so why bother?

The WCAC has tons of smaller players and they bunt a lot! It's not all 6-4 studs, especially in baseball.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know, baseball is such a hard sport and littered with late bloomers and guys that needed 2nd and 3rd chances just to hang on before becoming dominant MLB players. Take Jim Thome, for example -- undrafted out of high school. After junior college, drafted in the 13th round. Zero homers in his first pro minor league season. Then a 612 HR hall of famer.

And it's not MLB or bust! There's value in working really, really hard at something and seeing how far you can go. A lot of satisfaction too. Better than a bunch of old farts wondering what could have been. Or deciding that at 9 years old, they needed to be better than 12's, so why bother?

The WCAC has tons of smaller players and they bunt a lot! It's not all 6-4 studs, especially in baseball.

“Littered” is a strong word…it’s 2% of MLB players. There is also the local kid Jackson Merrill who played JV in 9th and ended up as a 1st round draft pick out of HS. It happens exceedingly rarely.

Now admittedly 50% of the MLB are international players…most of those players (especially from the DR) were drafted into MLB academies at 12 and then signed to contracts starting at 15.

That’s actually how pro sports work outside the US. Kids are put on a pro track starting as young as 5 for soccer and around 10-12 for hockey and basketball.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are lot of options.

Lets also be honest.

If your kid is truly rec material, forget travel baseball. Focus on LL and enjoy your Sunday service and save money. Kid can continue with senior BR until like 17.

There is close to zero chance that your son will get in any reasonable travel team or HS team w/o being in strong travel baseball teams in early years like 9u or 10u.

It is fantasy land that kid will simply jump at 11u into good travel baseball team.

However, if you are looking at ANY travel ball team, there is so many that will gladly take your money. It is not even funny. I say there is travel baseball team for everyone as long as there is cash!

Just jumping in with some of the others that this is terrible advice and completely untrue.

Play youth travel ball or don’t play youth travel ball, but that is a decision you should base on your finances, family life, and child’s desire. Many kids develop nicely in those early programs and many thrive pursuing multiple rec sports. HS and college baseball rosters are full of both. There isn’t one way.

I think early advice is on mark. For sure, many options. One is that you don't really need travel ball. If you want to play multiple sports, you can easily do it via rec. Why bother with travel? So many cool options to enjoy. But, if you are thinking of higher level of competition along the way, that is different story. I would agree that you can not just jump into baseball and be objectivelly good since you play other sports. Travel ball for the most part is about $$$

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We found a team at our son’s age group that has Sat games. They may have Sunday games at your son’s age. We kept doing LL and some private coaching until we got to the Sat games age. They do double headers all in the area so not hotel/overnight. It’s DC Dynasty but maybe it’s their league? I know they play Hustle and Win Within. My husband researched and asked around about the teams, but it was a non-negotiable as we also attend church Sundays and for us, that was the priority to show our kids how we use our Sundays.

The DC Dynasty 10U Team and 11U Team this Spring have some truly talented players on them. They are regularly beating the Maryland, Virginia, and DC teams this Spring.