Advice Needed

My son is heading into his junior year. He started varsity as a soph in a large high school. This past summer he played on a 16U team and an 18U scout team.

He never played on a 54/80 field. While it's not a bad idea for many of the 13U players, I can't imagine not playing on the 60/90 the year before high school (son was 5'2" 110 in 13U using a -3 bat, 5'4" 120 in 14U, 6'1" 170 now).

If your son is heading onto high school and played 13U this past summer I believe that was a mistake. 13U is slow mation compared to 14U. Heading into high school it's important to play grade appropriate, not age appropriate. When the date deadline changed I didn't let my son be a stayback 12U player. He stayed grade appropriate.

By high school a kid should be playing at the highest level of competition he can handle. High school varsity baseball is 18/19U baseball.

The biggest difference between underclassmen and upperclassmen is upper body strength. Get him in the weight room in the offseason. My son was told the reason he didn't make varsity as a freshman is he wasn't driving the ball like the older players.

Thanks RJM, My son is just now starting the 8th grade. I knew if he was just starting HS, we'd be in major trouble. His team will be playing PONY this fall as 13U on 54/80, but will play a few tournaments after the season (Nov-dec)using 60/90.

We thought about joining a 14u team, but really enjoy the security on the team he is on now, the team is coached professionally and has a great workout program. He has always played up, and this Fall will be his normal age level. I know for spring 2010, he will have to be playing on a 14U team. He basically has 5 months to get ready, since most players get sucked into the summer HS leagues that play under Sandy Koufax and Mickey Mantle down here in AZ.

What did your son do in the summer after 8th grade? Did the HS have a Fall program? Was he identified by the HS coach some months before the official tryout?....Thanks for the feedback...

"we'd be in trouble"


Why are you. the parent, in trouble?

More so why is the kid in trouble?

What HS will your son be attending?

TRhit, if you read the preceding thread, you would have known I was referring to RJM's comment. If a player is starting 9th and playing 54/80 in the fall, he would be in major trouble adjusting to the 60/90 that following Spring as suggested by the other post (and I totally agree with it).

That's not the case in my son's situation. Also, I am one of my son's biggest supporter in all areas, so I was including "We'd" as a figure of speach. Please read ALL of the content, instead of parsing out a single phrase next time to nitpick on. I'm sure 99% of the Dads out there feel when they speak on their son's baseball, they would feel comfortable to so "WE" when attemtping to get advice.

Hawk, we are in the Marana School Dist. Mountain View is one of his two options. We can always open enroll at other schools but that's tricky.

Batterbing, Welcome to HSBBW, try to disregard TRHit, he very often replies with negative questions vs helpful advice.

Your son is in a common situation but difficult situation where your son will be entering high school as a 14U, since there are 14U playing high school who often are the stronger players, we found there are not many strong 14U teams in the fall, winter, or spring, due to fact the better players are playing high school, so the true 14U tournaments during these times were fairly weak until the summer when some come back though others get sweep into playing with their class mates in 15U tournaments and leagues.

My suggestion is play with the strong 13U 54/80 team and get the most playing time as possible in the fall and winter, then hopefully the team will start to play as you said Nov/Dec and continue to play 60/90 field tournaments in the spring and summer. If not, find a 14U team in the summer which will permit your son to get used to the larger field on a consistent basis and position him to get ready for the high school.

Good Luck, enjoy the ride!

quote:

His team will be playing PONY this fall as 13U on 54/80, but will play a few tournaments after the season (Nov-dec)using 60/90.

My son's team played in that same PONY league at 13u and 54/80 tournaments and then a few 14u tournaments....I don't see any problem with what you are doing since we basically followed the same path. My son (incoming junior)now plays small school baseball but all of his teammates play at big schools and almost every one made varsity by sophomore year.

Batter -
If your son enjoys the team he is on and he playing NHSL rules, I would continue. But keep in mind, that if the goal is to play HS ball, the sooner he gets on the big field, the more experience he will have.
I would try to find a team that would be willing to let your boy participate in their practices -- that way he can continue with his team and experience a faster game.

And Homerun's advice is solid - disregard TR he is sour.

Thanks gentleman, it is so easy to get caught up with all the hype that is going around with the 8th graders who have some talent. This board has alot of great info and experience through the many parents/players who have gone through this.

Hope you don't mind (except you TR), here's the track my son is on:

Fall 09 - 24 PONY games 54/80
Winter 09- 2 tournaments 60/90
Spring 10 - 12 Middle School games 60/90
Spring 10 - ??????? Need to find a 14U team
Summer 10 - HS recruits graduated 8th graders for summer league for local Sandy Koufax and Mickey Mantle leagues for 20 games 60/90
Fall 10 - HS does an unofficial 6 week season, before the winter workouts.

Our current team is a split age group, all very talented. So not 100% sure the whole squad will step up into 14U.

Our PONY league lost its 14U divison to another league last year. Now, the talk is PONY is going to have 14U wood bat league using the 54/80 dimensions - which doesn't make alot of sense to me.

So its not that easy to just locate a 14U team.

Thanks again for all the responses....Including you TR....

quote:

What did your son do in the summer after 8th grade? Did the HS have a Fall program? Was he identified by the HS coach some months before the official tryout?....

The summer after 8th grade he played 14U. His team played some 15U and one 17U tournament. The high school didn't have a fall program in place. The coach was new. The high school coach did attend a few middle school practices and identified three players ahead of the pack.

The three played JV as freshman rather than frosh ball. As a soph my son started and another started half the time. The third never progressed. Last year there was a fall program. I believe my son won his starting postion in fall ball.

The best development leading into high school was being on a top travel team and playing against top pitching from the quarterfinals to the championship in tournaments. He saw a lot of 80+ in those Sunday 14U games. He played 16U as a fifteen year old/freshman.