2019 Summer (after freshman year) for 2022

Welcome to the site.  Your husband is right but I will share that weekends tend to be a bit slower than weekdays, so if you don't get much other response, just revive the thread tomorrow.

You are definitely on the right path with asking important questions prior to your son committing to a new travel team.  I also think you are right to be considering other teams.  You are entering into the age/s where the recruiting aspect is, of course, very important.  If the coach of the old team hasn't worked with the older kids, this will very likely be a negative (all organizations have pros and cons).  Ideally, you want him to be with an organization that has established relationships with college RC's and HC's and attend the right events.  You don't want your son to go through the learning curve with a coach or coaches who are also going through the learning curve.

Your questions are good but I think I would fine-tune.  Instead of asking about marketing, I would ask about who they get their kids in front of and what type of typical dialog they have with RC's and HC's.  What events do they attend?  What does the typical schedule look like?  What is the arrangement in regards to playing time and position?  What type of practices/training are included, required?  What coaches are on staff that have specific background in the position/s son plays?  What is general philosophy with things like development/play/recruiting balance?  Do they often bring in outside players for tourneys?  Who else is on the team?

When you ask about costs, be sure to get the whole picture.  Uni's, fees, training, tourneys, travel, etc.  What is included and what is not?  What is the likely total cost over a period of time?  What variables are there?

You will want to ask these questions while maintaining respect and appreciation that they are considering your son for inclusion.   It is also a good idea to contact other parents/players who are or have recently been with the organization to get their feedback.

Disagree a little on the "importance" of Fall Ball, depending on when/if a kids gets a break from Baseball.   Most travel organizations start up practice in mid October.   If a kid plays in the Fall, when do they get a break from Baseball?   I sincerely believe that all kids are best off with 2-3 consecutive months of no throwing.

Once you get into the high school years, "winning" should take a backseat to development and exposure, in my opinion.

You need a program with a track record of getting players into college.   Period.  End of story.  No "plans to do this or that".   Let somebody else's kid be that program's experiment or guinea pig.   There is no time for that.

And not every program develops.  Some travel programs are very skilled at recruiting players and getting players placed into college programs but don't develop.   That can be a little tricky if you don't have advanced Baseball knowledge and/or cannot watch practices prior to making a decision.

You will want to play for a program that plays a majority of their schedule in front of college scouts.

Meant to add:  I think Fall Ball can be important in the Fall of Junior and Senior year in terms of getting scouted.   But even then you need to be steadfast about a kid getting a break after Fall Ball.

I would ask their history of players getting into colleges, what schools, what levels, etc. You might also ask questions about their coaching philosophy and how they work with kids. It's important to be seen, but it's also important for your child to enjoy the experience.

What’s the end goal? Playing at the next level? If so, will your son be recruited no matter who he plays for or does he need to be marketed? 

If he needs marketing which program has the relationships/credibility with college recruiters. 

In my experience, development happens mostly on your own once you get to high school due to the lack of practice time during the summer. You play a ton of games but don’t practice a lot. 

Everyone has to do what’s best for them but I always caution folks about making group decisions. You have to do what’s best for your son. 

Lots of great advice here, I would also suggest to make sure their off season training does not interfere with HS. 

I believe the proof question is vital if you are paying money to help get your child a scholarship.   If they are a big program, they will have all the answers but if not you may have to prod.  I tell people all the time, if you don't ask questions now then you can't complain later.  To me the recruiting process is like the dating process.  The travel team coaches are your wingmen.  They have to know people and be great communicators.  To be honest, some great baseball men are great teachers and coaches but lousy at the recruiting process.  There are also the ones who had all the talent and were successful in college and pro ball but don't know the game or the recruiting process.  Don't take this the wrong way, but be a mom.  Don't trust anyone.  Ask the questions you want to know.  Understand they may not have all the answers but you can at least ask them.  Most of the time we as men don't always ask because we don't want anyone to think we don't know or it's just not cool.

NEBase posted:

In terms of this fall, I would not worry about the national elite programs yet. I understand wanting to get ahead of it, and you are asking the right questions, but he has yet to step on a high school field. Personally what I would be doing is playing 16u on a team from your region/area and stay in state or within a few hours drive and start playing against older/bigger kids. The faster pitching/game speed will help prepare him for high school and making a team is more important than shelling out money for schools not to recruit you. Unless you are in of the 1% of freshman with an exit velocity of 85+ and a sub 7 60 or a have mid 80s fastball schools are not looking at you yet. Unless you are one of those players there is no way to tell if you're D1, D2, D3, etc material yet. 

The fall of/summer after sophomore year is when I would look into a well established team that places kids in college programs your son is interested in. And I would not worry about staying loyal to old programs or old coaches. Play for the best team, with the best players, the best schedule that fits into your budget. 

Thanks everyone for the replies so far, it is really appreciated.

We've reached out to a few "reputable" people in the last couple of days to get more "independent" information and they have sort of mirrored the comments here:

1- Early in the process

2 - Important for time off (as he will be playing fall ball for school, but that is usually not worth much)

3 - Play for the best team that he can that he will get on field at his best position

However with regards to the last post, this is where we see the issue (as soon we will "know" if he is as good as people say he is)..........I did not want to speak to highly of 2022 as we try REALLY hard not to be THOSE PARENTS, but we anticipate that he'll get his measurables confirmed in the next couple of weeks.  We fully expect that he'll be able to "confirm" via a reputable showcase numbers of 84+ from the OF, EV of 85+, and a sub 6.9.

2022Mom posted:

.  We fully expect that he'll be able to "confirm" via a reputable showcase numbers of 84+ from the OF, EV of 85+, and a sub 6.9.

 

That is fantastic!  Then he should be able to pretty much have his pick of Travel Teams.   While the NCAA rules have changed, he still might be recruited early.  All the more reason why it would be smart to get him into a travel program that has a great track record of getting players placed into colleges.   A reputable travel program will also be best positioned to get him into Area Code Tryouts and PBR Futures as well. 

I'll go on record as saying I'm a bit of a travel ball skeptic, as many of them are just businesses where people want to make money off of you.  If you're going to go that route, be sure to have one where your kid's best interests are at heart.

My kid played travel from 11-13 to get more reps to supplement Little League.  At 13U he won the pitcher of the year for his team, but when prices went from $2300 to $3500 for 14U, we walked.  He then played Legion after his Frosh/Soph years.  He was not yet physically mature enough yet to catch the eye of colleges, so I figured he wasn't losing out in any way.

We did return to travel this year, but run by college coaches, low cost, main goal to get the kids to play at the next level.  It all worked out to plan.  Have many friend's who are the "business" teams and very frustrated and depressed at the lack of attention from colleges. 

Not arguing against 3and2, but my son got invited/attended PBR Futures last year and invited/did not attend ACT, while not on a paid travel team.

Yeah... With PBR & Area Code.  It really depends on the region, I suppose.   Around here, (Illinois/Wisconsin) you really need to be on one of the top travel teams to get an AC or PBR Futures invite, and if you aren't you had better be running a 6.4 sixty with a 100mph exit Velo and a cannon 90+ arm.   It just is what it is...

Also around here, the percentage of kids who just play Legion who go on to college programs has gotta be something like 2 or 3%, maybe less...

In terms of development, I agree with Shu's statement above that for the most part development really is up to the individual, especially during the summer.  There are a couple of travel programs in WI that do a phenomenal job of instructing & developing kids during winter workouts, a good bit above what everyone else offers in my opinion, and are well worth it...

Ultimately with travel programs you are paying for the college connections, the experience of playing against great competition in events that are scouted, and the development.   It is good to choose wisely, of course.