12 year old playing in 13U?

MoDad,
My son has a July birthday which has necessitated his always playing up, until this past summer. He played on a 13U team and a 14U team, and based on his performance played on a 15U team in fall ball when everyone moved up a year. We are relatively new to travel ball, but all the coaches I respect have told us he should play at the highest level he can succeed at. Playing 60/90 hasn't been a problem for him pitching or hitting.
Seems at 14U this spring there are some venues here that still have 54/80, and I think that it is a detriment, maybe even a risk as the more mature boys are going to hit the ball hard, and the shorter pitching distance is dangerous to the pitcher. So his 14U team is opting out of 54/80 tournaments and leagues.

Our 12u boys played 60/90 at the 13u level and did quite well. I think it gives the batter and your defensive players more reaction time. I've had some 14u coaches tell me they'd rather play 54/80 because it's MORE challenging, less reaction time for the batter and the infielders. They say "why face 75mph at 60' when it looks much faster at 54'? So I guess there are different ways of looking at it but our kids loved it.

There's a boy who played on my son's 14U team as a 13, and has played up all through his "career." He's a late birthday, big, tall, coordinated, and has never had trouble adjusting up. An outstanding player, all around.

This year he DOES have a problem being a 14 on a 15U team. While the other boys are playing HS ball, his middle school doesn't field a team and he can't "play up" on his local HS JV team. He probably should be playing on a 14U travel team that plans to start the season off in Feb and play until July rather than wait until the May start for the HS guys. Not sure what he's doing until then...

My son's U13 team has 3 12 year olds playing.
Two are struggling and one is doing very well. The one doing well is a good athelete ( his dad played college BB and football). The other two kids aren't gifted but pratice a lot - the practice just doesn't seem to help after a while...

So really it's the kid more than the age... Is he a "stud"?

Definately depends on the player. My oldest can handle playing up and would rather do so in most cases. My 10 yo isn't ready for older kids yet. Just not there and would struggle (late April b-day).

We had a 10yo on our 12U team last year and while he was a good 10 year old he really, really struggled. He was small in size and the field was too much for him. The other kids started to resent him as he took much playing time from others (Daddy ball-another story). He just wasn't ready. You just need to assess each situation separately.

We have a couple of kids who are 12 playing up with us at 13U. If your son is mature (emotionally) and is not completely ovewhelmed, I say go for it. There will be times tht he is physically overmatched but that is OK, IMO.

Depends very much upon the individuals involved. You will just have to judge that...