After watching the video I have to say....Joey comes across as a driven kid with a ton of self confidence. If all of this doesn't pan out for him, I bet he will channel all that drive into something else and be successful. He does not strike me as a mentally weak or stressed kid. If his parents choose to spend money they have or don't have on trying to help him reach his goal that's their business. Joey is going to achieve a lot more from what he is doing than just polished baseball skills. He is acquiring valuable tools from all the adults that coach and work with him. They are passing on to him all the knowledge they have and he will be that much further ahead. He is not only learning teamwork, but how to rise to a position of leadership within a very competitive environment and one in which he is size challenged. What's that saying..." Sports don't build character, they reveal it ". He reminds me of the snowballs we would make as kids and roll down a hill, snowball getting bigger and bigger, picking up sticks and leaves and everything else in its path.
I have watched very talented "size gifted" players nagged by their parents to practice...to their wits end. Those kids didn't go that far in baseball and they are struggling with being motivated as young adults. I have also seen a few size challenged, but very athletically gifted players that were a lot like Joey end up out of the game and playing something else by HS. I hope Joey continues to work hard, stays humble and achieves his dream of playing in the MLB....wouldn't surprise me if this kid didn't turn out to be a GM one day.
As for all the attention he gets...baseball loves a good underdog story :-)