14-Year-Old Son New to Baseball, Suggestions?

check around, ask the HS coach, google fall leagues or check rec leagues in your area. also some travel teams have " developmental" teams where they work on instruction or may be willing to take your soon on the B or C team

You can also check with his hitting instructor who might know of some teams looking to add players

It is a little late but there are some rare exceptions even in mlb who started to play in HS. If he wants to get better work on mechanics and get stronger. If he can pitch it would be a plus, for a pitcher it doesn't really make a difference whether he starts at 8 or 15 as long the arm is good. Hitting is tougher. A talented player can achieve good swing mechanics in a year but all those pitches seen and swung at do make a difference.  Not impossible but tough if the goal is hs or even college.

I see you're in CA, as we are.  High schools in CA are allowed to run non-competitive, developmental fall programs. If your son's school doesn't, the coaches may be able place players with teams at nearby schools.  Also, don't be so sure that travel teams are out of the question.  I've seen coaches, or sometimes just dads, put together teams of pretty average 14u or 15u players and take them to tournaments. It's actually very easy to do, and USSSA, for example, has various rankings for team strength, so while your son might struggle on a Majors team he may do fine on an AA team.

American Legion has some fall programs in many areas. It could be another possibility.

He should play as much as possible.  This will help him get the feel for the decision making that is such a big part of the game.

Also -- and this will sound old school, but -- I would get him a few balls that you're OK with getting destroyed.  Find him a brick wall somewhere, where no one will object, then have him go to that wall every day and throw repeatedly against the wall.  If he's been playing, he should be able to handle 100 throws easily.  He should advance to 200 soon enough.  In my youth, I would often do this repeatedly over summer days and weekends, and I got to where I would just see how many throws I could get in.  I think my personal best was 2,000 in one day.  I used to do this against the side of our house.  Other times, when my mom couldn't stand the constant pounding noise, I'd ride my bike up to the local school (when it wasn't in session).  The important thing is that there be no doors or windows in the area where you're throwing!

To be clear, we're talking about gripping the ball, throwing it, and fielding the rebounds.  We're not talking about pitching or max effort throwing.

You will find that he quickly gains the ability to grab and throw without having to stop to think about it, and that his hands gain dexterity very quickly.  He'll build calluses where he needs calluses.  He can also advance to working on the fielding position (crouch with glove forward), shuffle step, etc. 

I know of no better way to get tons of reps regularly and in a short period of time.

I'll also say, nobody does this sort of thing any more.  If your son does, by springtime he will likely have surpassed most if not all of his JV teammates.

That's a good point, and since the OP was talking about bonding, another great thing to do is get a bucket of balls* and a fungo bat** and head to the local HS and hit the kid bucket after bucket of ground balls and/or flies.  The kid can throw after fielding each, or not.   Do that for a couple hours several times a week and you will see progress.

*(to get a bucket cheap, either go to the nearest travel tournament venue late on a Sunday and purchase their used balls, usually for $1 each, or go to the nearest Play it Again Sports and buy used balls there.)

* you don't really need a fungo bat - your kid's bat will do.

Midlo...had to laugh! At 10, son was determined...every moment he could, he was in backyard, throwing against the house...I'd gone somewhere one afternoon...Got home to find a note taped to master bedroom door..."I'm sorry, Mom. Love, Pres"...opened the door to a bed full of glass shards...Son put himself in time out...So we had a good laugh! 3rd one that summer...

For UJA, check out some simple strength & agility, coordination exercises...Son jumped rope, ladder exercises, ran sprints...lots of stretching beforehand...sit ups for core, & the like...work on  hammys & ankles... swimming was also good...The Track Coach at school should be able to help.

Good luck to him! 

Midlo Dad posted:

He should play as much as possible.  This will help him get the feel for the decision making that is such a big part of the game.

Also -- and this will sound old school, but -- I would get him a few balls that you're OK with getting destroyed.  Find him a brick wall somewhere, where no one will object, then have him go to that wall every day and throw repeatedly against the wall.  If he's been playing, he should be able to handle 100 throws easily.  He should advance to 200 soon enough.  In my youth, I would often do this repeatedly over summer days and weekends, and I got to where I would just see how many throws I could get in.  I think my personal best was 2,000 in one day.  I used to do this against the side of our house.  Other times, when my mom couldn't stand the constant pounding noise, I'd ride my bike up to the local school (when it wasn't in session).  The important thing is that there be no doors or windows in the area where you're throwing!

To be clear, we're talking about gripping the ball, throwing it, and fielding the rebounds.  We're not talking about pitching or max effort throwing.

You will find that he quickly gains the ability to grab and throw without having to stop to think about it, and that his hands gain dexterity very quickly.  He'll build calluses where he needs calluses.  He can also advance to working on the fielding position (crouch with glove forward), shuffle step, etc. 

I know of no better way to get tons of reps regularly and in a short period of time.

I'll also say, nobody does this sort of thing any more.  If your son does, by springtime he will likely have surpassed most if not all of his JV teammates.

As a kid I spent any time alone throwing rubbber balls off the side of the garage to field grounders. Then I threw rubber balls up on the roof to practice catching fly balls. Due to the roof being angled in two different directions I was never sure where the ball would come down. Then I tried throwing the rubber ball on the roof and running under the ledge to make catches over the shoulder.

During football season I threw to a double covered lawn chair. We needed new lawn furniture every couple of years. Then footballs went up on the roof for over the shoulder catches. 

Do you have hot stove league in your area?  They have a fall league around here that was pretty good. 

Dang...

My son started at 12, and through shear determination and hard work has managed to make it to the next level each year. Its meant that he's played on a different team every year (he's now 17). Its a long frustrating climb I gotta say, but in our case, he's the one driving the ship... My job is logistics only. 

In his case, he was a good pitcher and by the time we got to 15 or so he needed to focus on that to stay competitive. There were simply too many kids more capable at the plate for him to get the playing time he needed to keep developing. 

Its worked out, and he's now competitive as a RHP in D3 baseball, with his top choice being one that is a perennial favorite in its conference. Its been a struggle, but I'm very proud of his attitude in all this. its even made him care more about his grades, which makes me most happy.

Good luck to you in this journey.

Good training aid ...  the pitch back ... allows player to practice throws and fielding.

https://express.google.com/pro..._content=test_90_MAX

"As an aside, I am so grateful that baseball has created this connection between my son and I."  

I can't second this enough. 

TIP: I hurt my arm throwing with my son a couple of years back. I could still swing the bat so, instead of throwing to him, I just hit the ball to him. This turned out to be a blessing because now he was fielding a ground ball each rep instead of just normal catch. This means ground balls at close range and then pop flys mixed with hard ground balls as he backs up to outfield range. With this, he practices footwork, throwing accuracy, glovework, long toss, etc and gets multiple reps. Depending on the day, he will throw in every 3rd to 5th ball on longer distances. The rest he tosses to the side.

My arm is better, but we still continue that practice. I wail balls at him in the cages. Good father/son fun.

Midlo Son went through several of those pitch-backs.  Our house at that time had no brick!

But they are really just for light tossing and then catching reflexively.  They won't handle hard throws well.  Also, the netting dry rots, so be careful what you place it in front of.  (Plus, the kid will miss it entirely with some frequency.)

That's why I've always favored brick walls.  But ... oh, for the good old days, when I'd get home from work and see my son in the back yard with the pitch-back, just waiting to pounce on me as I drove in so he'd have someone to throw hard to!

We sold that house not long ago.  The pitch-back used to sit in front of a metal side door to the garage.  Luckily our buyer made no bones about all the dents in that door.

Another note about throwing near the house.....metal garage doors do not do well with balls thrown by a 14 year old with a good arm    If your son is going to throw in the driveway the kid that catches best should have his back to the garage door....not the other way around lol

Thank you for all the great advice and suggestions.  This is all very helpful.  I've already started scouting the neighborhood for a brick wall. 

1. The pitch back thing...I bought a $5 personal trampoline at a yard sale, hung it up on a tree and my son bounced balls off of there for 5 years, it was awesome!

2. 15u is a step up but only about 20% of the teams are a big deal. I'm sure just like in GA you can find a lower level team in CA to start him on.  We have teams at 15u that run from 95mph pitching to 60mph pitching, no lie.  We have levels, Majors, AAA, AA, A...the majors full up quickly but you can always find room on the other teams.  We have a local youth board for travel ball, maybe you guys have one too?  we can look up team tryouts and see when people post that they need players.  There is even a sandlot type of team where they gather 15 kids for a tourney and tell them all to wear yellow tshirts and pay $20 to play. You can find him a spot I'm sure!

JCG posted:

I see you're in CA, as we are.  High schools in CA are allowed to run non-competitive, developmental fall programs. If your son's school doesn't, the coaches may be able place players with teams at nearby schools.  Also, don't be so sure that travel teams are out of the question.  I've seen coaches, or sometimes just dads, put together teams of pretty average 14u or 15u players and take them to tournaments. It's actually very easy to do, and USSSA, for example, has various rankings for team strength, so while your son might struggle on a Majors team he may do fine on an AA team.

What constitutes a non-competitive, developmental program?

hsbaseball101 posted:

JCG posted:

I see you're in CA, as we are.  High schools in CA are allowed to run non-competitive, developmental fall programs. If your son's school doesn't, the coaches may be able place players with teams at nearby schools.  Also, don't be so sure that travel teams are out of the question.  I've seen coaches, or sometimes just dads, put together teams of pretty average 14u or 15u players and take them to tournaments. It's actually very easy to do, and USSSA, for example, has various rankings for team strength, so while your son might struggle on a Majors team he may do fine on an AA team.

What constitutes a non-competitive, developmental program?

Usually the cost 

NewUmpire posted:

Good training aid ...  the pitch back ... allows player to practice throws and fielding.

 

https://express.google.com/pro..._content=test_90_MAX

Here, here. this was a perennial favorite in our back yard, had them for years. I do not know how many we went through.

CaCO3Girl posted:

hsbaseball101 posted:

JCG posted:

I see you're in CA, as we are.  High schools in CA are allowed to run non-competitive, developmental fall programs. If your son's school doesn't, the coaches may be able place players with teams at nearby schools.  Also, don't be so sure that travel teams are out of the question.  I've seen coaches, or sometimes just dads, put together teams of pretty average 14u or 15u players and take them to tournaments. It's actually very easy to do, and USSSA, for example, has various rankings for team strength, so while your son might struggle on a Majors team he may do fine on an AA team.

What constitutes a non-competitive, developmental program?

Usually the cost 

Haha good one. And not untrue.

HSBBALL I don't know the exact rules but it's basically that you can't have real games or keep score, or wear the school's unis. In practice coaches usually spread the playing time out, which they would never do in spring, and they may give kids a shot at playing new positions.  

I thought I would provide an update regarding my son Bobby's journey.  He kept grinding away this Fall and Winter on his JV team, countless of hours in the cages, and instruction both one on one and at a winter camp through U.S. Baseball Academy.  He also asked us if we could sign him up for Athletic Republic, a gym which came highly recommended from a friend of mine.  Though it's not cheap, we couldn't say no because Bobby just wants to get stronger and faster.  He also just passed me up height-wise, he's now 6'0.5" 160 lbs.  

Just before Bobby's first JV game, we prepared him not to play at all this year, given his lack of experience.  We were all surprised when he started in his first game, batting fifth.  In his second game, he discovered he couldn't hit a curve ball--we hadn't prepared him for that.  A long weekend working on hitting curves with his instructor paid immediate dividends.  He knocked in all four of his RBI's off of a curveball against Santa Ana, Estancia, and Orange.  His hitting is so far ahead of his other skills.      

Bobby tried out for Michael Garciaparra's developmental team last month.  He didn't make it.  There were many, many polished young players out there, and Bobby simply didn't have some basic skills to compete with them (except his hitting).  He had one of the weakest arms in the outfield.  Since then, Bobby has learned how to execute a crow-hop throw and to get on top of the ball in his throwing motion.  He's already put about 50 extra feet and more zip on his throws.  We just taught him how to execute a proper slide yesterday (he was just plopping himself in a heap previously).

Bobby gets down on himself occasionally when he has a bad cage session, a bad at bat, or gets chewed out by the coach for making a baserunning mistake, and I have to keep reminding him how far he has come in such a short period of time.  Each time, Bobby gets after it even harder than before.  He is always asking to go to the batting cages; we never have to ask him.  We have to limit how many swings he takes in the cages because he just wears himself out.      

We're trying to find him a team for this Summer and Fall to continue his development.  It's been quite the journey for Bobby and us so far.      

Thanks for the update UJA (are you a Parliment/Funkadelic fan?)

Just remind your son not to beat himself up if he makes an error, mistake or has a bad game. Baseball is a tough sport to play even for advanced players who have been playing for awhile, let alone someone new to the sport. 

I would recommend to focus more time on baseball skills training/playing games in order to learn proper technique and develop baseball IQ. Also make sure he gets some time off from baseball (2-3 months) so he doesn’t get burned out or get injured.

Good luck in finding a team for this summer & fall.

Dad and son go to a 10/12U field and try to hit balls over the fence.  This is probably a better way to learn to hit.  99% of hitting instruction is wrong/destructive.

SultanofSwat posted:

Dad and son go to a 10/12U field and try to hit balls over the fence.  This is probably a better way to learn to hit.  99% of hitting instruction is wrong/destructive.

I will second this....even as a HS kid, when my son got in a hitting funk, we would go back to the junior high field (260/280/260) with a wood bat pretty regularly.  If he got to the point where he was stinging line drives over the fences instead of just hitting deep fly balls (outs on the HS field)...we knew his swing was back.  It was amazing how well it worked for him

Thank you everyone for your input and suggestions.  We appreciate it.  And Burger, yessir on Parliament!

Thought I would provide another update on Bobby's journey.  Bobby is playing on two travel ball teams: one 17U team (he just turned 16) where he does not get much playing time in the field, but gets ABs and is hitting the hell out of the ball; and another 16U team where he is playing LF and RF and is hitting really well.  He consistently makes hard contact and needs about another 10 feet or so to clear the fence.  I keep trying to get him to hit the weights (he is 6'0" 160 lbs), but it is a struggle with everything he is juggling and all the private instruction he gets to catch up to the other kids in the on-field skills department. 

Bobby transferred to one of the strongest high school baseball programs in Orange County, but didn't make the team coming out of summer camp; his hitting let him down, as he had only one good week with the bat and struggled the other times.  The coach let Bobby into the 6th period class this Fall, with the understanding he would probably be a team manager in the Spring.  Just a few days ago, the coach offered Bobby a position on the team (not sure which one, Frosh or JV) as a catcher, a position he has never played before.  We're in the process of getting Bobby some instruction to learn that position so he can start catching up, but it is going to be a struggle.  Bobby is up for it, though.

It's been an up and down journey, with some highs and lows.  But we are so proud of Bobby's sheer will and determination to keep chasing his dream.             

I love reading this kind of stuff.  Way to get after it, Bobby.  And, a rule of baseball, If You Hit, You Don't Sit.

Love to hear stories like this.  Glad the coach wanted to recognize his growth and efforts.  Catcher?! Seems an interesting choice, but maybe he sees how determined your son is.  Sounds like we are in the same area.  Feel free to reach out if you ever need help finding instructors, etc.