Question about playing up on summer team

That's a tough one to answer, as I believe it depends on the kid, and on the team.  My 2017 played up from the time he was 11.  He was bigger and stronger than most kids and it wasn't a problem for him- as you say, he didn't stand out, and there were some tough times for him because he was used to being "the best", and on the older team he was not, he was competitive, but he was not a stand out on the team.  For him, it was the right move.  Made him a better player, and mentally toughened him up.    For my other two boys, (2014 and 2020) it would have been a huge mistake.  Not sure if this helps!  But my two cents. 

My opinion at this point would be to keep him with his grad year.  You are entering a crucial recruiting period.  This summer is when the majority of the 2017s are being looked at.  If your son is a little behind those playing he won't attract much attention.  If he continues to play up after this year he then would have skipped out on this important period.  IMO its best to keep him playing with his class at this point unless he is a total stud who would outshine all of the 2017s around him.

This. 

Based on what I have seen with my 2015, I am a big advocate of a player playing up if he has the ability AND if he will get playing time. It may be nice to say "I am on a ___U team when I am ___ years old" but a player will not develop unless he plays and has repetitions.

May be different answer for PO; some talented POs have a start or two on a higher aged-team as a challenge(Double-rostered, dominates a lower age group) and/or to help a team. My son is a position player, MI/CF.

His playing up started as a 10 playing 12U, and played 17U the summer before 8th grade and 19U as a 10th grader. It exposed him to faster speed pitching earlier. Older catcher's also gave him a barometer on whether or not he could still steal bases against their arms. He could also see how much bigger other kids were which gave him motivation to increase his arm strength. I used to watch his throws from SS, accurate but not as much behind it as today.

Playing up gave him confidence in his ability as he would not rest on being one of the best of his age, but the best on the team where players were sometimes 3 years older than him. As for socialization (age difference) teammates accepted him for what he brought to the table. In addition, his Summer team were different players than his high school team(he attended a different school the school of most of the players.) Playing up also gave him some "early looks" from schools that came to look for recruiting year players. Good luck to you. The answer really rests on the individual player and his situation. 

If he moves up he'll be playing 17U on this new team...correct?    Normally I would say yes, go ahead and do it...even if it means playing 17U again the following summer, but in this case I'm thinking I would shy away from it....

It's a new team.  At 17U colleges like to go to quality tournaments where they can see multiple "quality teams" in the same weekend without having to run all around to see those team.  Will a "new" team have access to the top events....with no track record to show that they are capable of playing in those tourneys.  If not, I'd look into finding a quality 16U team that will play good tourneys...and stay with them for 2 summers.  My son's biggest summer recruting wise was at 17U...and fortunately for him he was with one of the most repsected teams in the Midwest.  His team played in a "scout league" 3 or 4 weekends.  It was basically a 6-8 team round robin event with 4 or 5 other top organizations/teams.  We regularly saw 30-40 college coaches.  A good friend of his was offered a spot on his team....but decided to go with a lesser known team.  He never saw more than 5-8 coaches.  Being in front of the right coaches at the right events is a HUGE part of any team decision.

Agree, tough one.  I'll answer it with our experience this past weekend with my 2018 SS playing "up" with the 2017's at the PG WWBA Kernels Championship.

This 2017 team lost over half their games. The defense committed errors on routine plays causing a loss 0-4 with all runs unearned.  It was difficult to watch.  The team also lacked depth at the plate.  

I thought this was a good team asking my son to play up; I knew they weren't great.  (But it was only for a tourney, not a season, what the heck, but lessons were learned)

My son's glove stood out and he was on the daily top performers list with his hitting performance.  In a final game he was 2 of the 5 total hits.  This was a good, one time opportunity for my son to get exposure to a heavily recruited upper class attending this tourney.

If the 2017 team your son has been asked to be on is a good team and they will have a challenging schedule it could be a good opportunity.

You could gauge how good they are by asking the coach or program staff how many kids on this 2017 team plan to play in college and if any have verbally committed to any colleges.  If this team has position and pitching depth along with a good schedule I would seriously consider it.

If the 2018 team is the marquis team of the program (like my son's) I'd opt to stay with that team, and occasionally play up in a few tournaments with the 2017 team.

Hope not confusing, starting to ramble and rush this...  Happy to revisit or PM.

We're in a similar position.

Good luck

If he's a position player, get on a team with great pitching. 

Whether it is playing up with this team, or with his grade. 

Number one priority IMO.

In addition to my take, Buckeye has some good advice here.  If you want to search for it I put up a post a month or so back about the difference a good organization can make.  You do need to take an overall look at the organizations he is looking at and make sure they fit your needs.  Like Buckeye's son my son plays for an organization that does not play a lot of traditional tournament ball or even in a travel league.  Many of our games are setup through a "closed - invite only" scout organization in our area and we play the same teams over and over again in round robin events.  Most of our games are played in front of college coaches.  Sometimes 10 sometimes 30.  We play real games but the goal of the games are to get kids exposure not to win the games.  Don't get me wrong we want to win but if we loose a game because we needed to pull a hot pitcher to get another kid on the mound to be seen no one gets upset.  

Contrast this to the majority of the kids playing travel ball in our area.  Even the "better" teams.  They are chasing after the recruiters.  They will play games at the local colleges in hopes that someone will be there.  

I will use a good friend as an example of this.  He plays on a decent travel team.  Is a good player and has potential to play at the next level.  One weekend a summer the midwest colleges send recruiters to the area for a HS showcase.  Its open to any HS Varsity player for free as long as they have the recommendation of their HS coach.  The event draws about 40 to 50 college guys.  During that same weekend the local scout organization and another mass tourney company have exposure games/tournament.  The scouts organization is open to only the teams that belong to the organization.  The companies events are open to any team who wants to pony up the $1500 entry fee.  Last year during that weekend my kids scouts organization team played 5 games.  There were no less then 15 college guys at each game.  More like 25 or so at most events.  My kids friends team decided to play in the tourney companies event as they are not part of the scout organization.  They were excited to see 5 to 8 college guys the entire weekend.  In essence my son, as a sophomore, was exposed to the same number of recruiters who watched the HS event while his friend was seen by maybe 8 guys total.  

My 2018 played in two Chicago Scouts Association showcases in September.  I attended 6 of the games, only saw 2 college scouts the entire time.  In previous years I have seen more scouts.  It was disappointing.

Reminded me that you need to take charge of your own recruiting process.  Reaching out to the college coach's with video, attending a camp or tournament where they will be and they know you will be there, getting on a decent club team with a decent schedule, and most importantly, getting stronger and continuing your skill development.  

If a college scout doesn't know about you before he arrives at a showcase or tournament, you'll likely go unnoticed. You would have to be the sophomore physical beast that's dominating on the mound or launching missiles at the plate to get the attention of any of the scouts attending.

Just my experience thus far....

I will say we (2017) saw a lot fewer of them during the Fall season then we did during Summer.  I would guess we saw maybe 5 this fall.  During the summer events is when they all show up.  Last summer the majority of them were watching the 2016s so be prepared to see them but realize that the majority of the attention we be on the 2017s. They will wonder by the 2018 games and will watch, especially if there is a stud playing, but for the most part will be watching 2017s.

Im also with you.  Need to take control of the recruiting process and work it yourself as well.

I'm assuming you're talking about Chicago Scouts Assoc "CSA"..  Which summer showcases did you guys attend?  Our program was out of the loop on the summer CSA events.  I heard good things, but nothing specific about the number of college scouts in  attendance.  This was the first fall that our program attended any CSA events.  I'll mention this to our program focal points.

Thanks

Gonna PM you

Keep in mind that by the time fall showcases or tourneys start up that colleges are also in their "fall season"....my son's team has been practicing 5-6 days/week the past month.  I'm guessing that the coaches are using their 1 or 2 days/week off to spend time with their families and other responsibilities rather that attending fall events that may not have a lot of top level talent due to football, soccer, basketball practice or kids just not playing fall ball.  Summer is the prime recruiting time.  A coach may come to a fall event to see particular kids...but not a lot of them show up just because there's an event they can go to.

My 2018 is in the same boat.  Plays in an excellent organization, and was asked to move up. I trust the coaches know what they are doing (ex MLB and college guys).  2018 and Dad are excited, as moving up puts him on a good team, that is playing in 4-5 showcase tourneys this year, versus staying at 16U and playing in zero showcase tourneys this year.  He has the tools to do it, but this will also challenge him to get even better. In our situation, I really see no negatives.  He already is familiar with some of the 17U kids, as they practice together in the winter.  You have to get yourself noticed at showcases and camps.  Recruiting is an active process, and 2018 will do at least one showcase this winter, and a camp or two.  Just not sure where or when.  Football at the moment, then back to full-time baseball.  Different situations for different folks, but I like the move in our case.  Hope you can make the right decision.     

IMHO, I feel it's always a great idea to "raise the bar" and see if the player can raise his level of play.  If he doesn't or can't, that's OK as then gives one a better reality check.  And I don't think it can do any harm, unless the player has a really weak ego and in that case it's good to learn of that too.

I tend to fall into the "Whatever makes him a better player" camp.  Each situation is different and each player is different.  Of my 5, 3 consistently played up because it was the best way to push them to excel, get the right competition and the best coaching.  Two played grad year all the way through.  I would look at the individual situation and ask yourself:

• Is the player physically able to compete?
• Is the player talented enough to get adequate (You have to define that one) playing time?
• Is the player mentally tough enough to deal with a decrease in production? (which normally comes as you up the competition) 
• Where will he get the best instruction?
• What team will push him to excel? (Don't minimize this one, some players excel when they are the star of a team and have the expectations for performance high, some excel when they are playing with the best and self motivate to assure they help the team, some excel when they are looking up at the better players and trying to compete)
• What team is the best fit for our long term baseball objectives? (League play and lots of games, regional travel against good competition, showcases where college scouts are present, elite teams that play against the best of the best) 
• Where will he have fun? (O.k. you can laugh at that but I have seen very talented players burn out and leave the game because it stopped being fun.  2018 will have a lot of stressful issues heading his way over the next 3 years and hopefully baseball will be what he can do to break free of that and not cause it to get worse)

As with many of the discussions on this forum there is not a right answer but hopefully the discussion helps provide a framework of reference so you can make the best decision for you and 2018.

Best of luck!!

It's a mixed bag. I can only tell you of my personal experience. This past summer, my 2018 played up on an 18u team. For personal development, it was fantastic. They made a west coast swing that lasted a little over two weeks. He left on that trip a hard thrower. He came back a dominating pitcher. The team, other than him, was made up of 2015's who had already graduated and 2016's. Most of the teams he pitched against were rostered entirely of kids who were already committed or signed, mostly to D1's. he went from a guy throwing mid-80's down the middle to a kid who knew how to work the strike zone. It was an invaluable experience for him. Keep in mind, though, that we only allowed him to do it with the provision that my wife made the trip (was not letting him hang out I rented homes with 18yo's as a 15yo). he did garner a lot of attention.

The bad: There were several inquiries. Unfortunately, at the 18u level, it tended to be JuCo's, D2's and NAIA - all schools looking for upper classmen. None had interest in him when they found out he was 15. Too early for them to even think about. He became the ace of that staff, even as a 2018 and is invited back this year to play 18u. Instead, we will be playing for a team that will play 16u and 17u. That seems to be the better option for recruitment. If this team is playing 17u and not 18u and your kid will get significant playing time, then do it.