You know, I hate to admit it, but Daque may be at least half right. I go out to tournaments with my son and I see these 8-10 year olds playing tournaments and I just wonder "why"? The parents are in the stands yelling and screaming worse than any team 12 and up. They are all yelling at the players where to throw the ball, whether to keep running the bases or to stop. It's any wonder at all that the kids can hear the coaches trying to coach. It's now to the point where they are having 8 year old coach pitch tournaments.
I really want to defend travel ball. My son started when he was 12. But I see this going on with the little kids and really think it's not necessary if I am honest with myself.
I say Daque is half right because, the age that most are talking about being a good age to start travel is 12. That is still the small field. I am also not convinced that 1 year on 60/90 prior to HS is enough to instill the value of better competition to be best prepared for HS ball. My son made varsity as a freshman as a pitcher. He was not a big freshman. He was 5'9", 155 lbs. He threw pretty hard and had a breaking ball and change up that were very effective. But the biggest thing that made him able to do it, I think was his confidence that he could face anyone and get outs. Didn't matter who he was facing. Several of the coaches approached me about the "cojones" my son had being able to get out there and pitch to these guys. We are in the largest classification in the state. In our region alone, there were 23 D-1 signees and I believe 4 or 5 kids who got drafted.
I think my kid was able to do this because he had 4-5 years of facing the best competition around. He had to actually had to pitch, not just throw strikes.
I think my point is that the answer is somewhere between starting playing travel at 7,8,9 years old and waiting till you are 14 and on the big field the year before HS. My son did just fine playing rec until he was 11 years old. I don't think he could have made varsity if he only played travel one year on the big field before HS.