A lot has changed in just the past five years or so, that my guy has been playing. He managed to stay just in front of those rule changes upon rule changes each year. If you include the interlock with TBA, he has been in five different affiliates and a stint in Buffalo. I guess they would feel great that finally the rules they have put in place would never let that happen again. It's true - they wouldnt...
and that's the sad part. We live rural and you're lucky to get in 15 games in a season locally. I can say in a heartbeat, he would not be in the game today if the new rules had been in place when he started out. He will be with a strong organization next summer and there are a number of US schools interested in getting him to camp as a pitcher already. Imagine if he becomes a D1 pitcher and can look back and say that "...for my situation, the organization that nurtured me, closed off the very doors that got me here."
I think Bobble has a lot to offer. Then again, Bobble, there are things (multiple teams) that your son was able to do back then that he couldn't do now under OBA rules. You were able to market with a good quality video at a time when there wasn't nearly as much video being sent out. Nowadays, you can load new videos every month or so on a free recruiting site and everyone is doing it. Coaches are inundated with videos. There is an expectation that you have one or two (at $600 a pop) PG Showcases under your belt. I'm not saying your son wasn't a very projectable pitcher when all was said and done but, the marketting of very projectable is quite different.
Imagine if you had no pitching coaching at all and you cant move.
For the other guys... imagine if baseball were run like basketball - pretty much complete freedom of movement. You see teams forming and folding on a continual basis. With girls and guys playing; a much longer season; they are running on about 2 1/2 times the budget - they can handle it. In baseball the affiliates would never know what they would be getting year-to-year. Organized ball might die without some sort of stability.
As far as its mandate goes, the OBA is fulfilling it. Every year 80 or so teams show up, play baseball and in general have fun doing so. Personally, in order for the sport to thrive, I believe they should have broadened the mandate to include maximizing the development of baseball to its highest levels. That would have kept the game alive and healthy. They should have created the PBLO
themselves and the training programs to reach elite levels.
I dont really want to close the door on Baseball Ontario. I think there's hope. That hope in my opinion, takes on the form of an overhaul of coaching development. Out of the 80 or so Bantam teams in Ontario, how many of them truly have a person capable of training a 15U player to pitch?; to hit? I'm not talking about training just the basics. I mean a kid who has been well-trained since 9 YO. I think that number is more than 5 and less than 10 - out of the 80. If that number were between 65 and 80, would we be so worried about moving our kids around?
I occasionally read the OBA minutes - I dont see serious development getting on the agenda soon...