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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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! [/quote]

ETA: obviously does not have to use BBCOR in the fall, but will need to for spring if he plays for the middle school team...[/quote]

At that age I wouldn’t underestimate the importance of a speedy kid with smart base running skills who puts the ball in play. 13u is an error nightmare and nobody expects the prepuberty kid to be hitting home runs. Solid fielding and not striking out will serve him just fine on most travel teams![/quote]

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