PitchingFan posted:DIGGUM, we tried with my oldest two sons and it was a disaster. They threw too hard, they might hit somebody, the swing too hard, they are too competitive, it's not fair having them together on a team, and on and on and on. It was a joke when you are trying to play against a team that has no one who can throw a strike or if they could it was 50 mph when they were seeing 75 in travel ball. That is why players leave LL. I know there are a few competitive leagues where it is worth it but that is not the case in most small towns. it is a joke. It has a place but just not in the competitive conversation. Not mentioning all the local politics that come into play. The good ole boy system where the guy who knows nothing about baseball other than he watches the Braves has been a coach for 30 years. And he is the president so he gets the first pick each year. Again, I know there are a few that do it right but they are the freak not the ordinary.
I also believe the world has changed and so many of those kids who play only LL all the way until 14 are way behind when it comes to being able to be competitive. So many of them cannot make a MS or HS team because they do not know how to pick-off or get a lead or swing a bat and the homeruns they hit in LL drop in front of the outfielders in travel ball or MS. Or like several they are not athletic enough to play on the big field.
Again, LL has it's place and that is as a recreational event but don't make it out to be a competitive baseball league or that those players in the LL WS are the best 12 or 13 year olds out there. There are a few but most could not even make a top travel team roster.
I think you are right that there is a lot of variation in quality of leagues, play and leadership. Every family has to make its own assessment and do what's best. I wouldn't presume to say your son (or daughter) should have played LL if you don't think that was right for him.
I do think plenty of LL all star teams are competitive with most travel teams. I'm in a large metro area with several strong LL programs. The travel teams these leagues field (basically their ages 9-12 LL all star teams) win and place in plenty of tournaments. These are weekend events drawing teams from roughly a 4- or 5-hour driving radius--definitely not a WWBA championship-type events, but drawing from a few million population all told. Several of these teams go to Cooperstown as 12s, but I don't know of any playing PG events. IMO these squads are in ~the top 1/3 of travel teams I've seen overall. Being restricted to players a particular geographic area can be challenging. If my house were three blocks north, my son would have played in a different league. But I suppose the same is true of public HS districts...
My son and his LL all star teammates did have a bit of a learning curve initially when they had to learn to hold runners, etc. But I'd say they caught up within a season or so (most play HS baseball now; almost all who do not chose to play other HS sports). (This is a team that won a state LL title in one of their pre-12 year-old years, so they admittedly were better than most LL programs around here.)