advice on upcoming season

Wherever he has the most fun!

The sooner he learns, or experiences, playing out of his comfort zone,( ie; facing better competition) the better off he will be.  He needs to be challenged by better players and learn to push himself, IF this is what HE wants to do

Travel ball usually weeds out the kids who don't really want it. There are outliers but for the most part, travel ball is the closest to what it's like playing college or Milb, considerig work, number of games, competition and loss of social life. If he want to play with hiss friends and stay away from travel, then let him be happy and have fun. 

 

There are tons of travel kids who were "all world" that never get to college ball and also are plenty of kids who played LL and HS that have the tools and make it. 

I'm leaning that way also,  up to him and if its travel team im completely fine with it.     He has a good future I think,   big kid for his age,  just turned 12 has hit low 70s pitching.   I'm tall played div 1 basketball in college and he's already taller than I was at this age.    The little league director may try and pressure me if we decide to move on but I can handle them.  

I think you need to talk to the coach of the travel team.  Find out what is his style and objectives are.  How he sees your kid contributing.  What kind of coaching/training.  etc.  Basically, you want to make sure he won't be the 12th man with little playing time. 

 

On the surface it looks like he'll get better training and coaching with the travel team.  If so, I would lean towards that.  Good luck.       

Don't let this stuff persuade you.  While the facilities maybe nice does the program offer the stuff your son wants?   Will he participate on the team or sit on the bench?  Do the coaches actually coach or just hit the kids grounders and have them take BP?  Do the coaches understand that winning is not what the kids need at this age (development should be #1)?

 

Lots to factor in.  As others said you may want to talk to the coach about his philosophies and make sure they are what your son and you want out of a program.

I'm going to give you opposite advice.  Little League can be magical (despite the politics, or maybe in spite?).  The 12 year old year is the last year -- after this summer your son could move on to a higher level of travel ball.  Our experiences are that if they want you when 12 they will likely want you when 13, especially a big kid who throws 70s already.  My second son stayed loyal to the old friends in LL and was able to make it to the regionals.  It was a lifetime of baseball memories, and something he had only dreamed of previously. After that summer he switched gears and has played high level travel since. 

 

You are only young once!  You age out so quickly from little league, and if your son is only 12 he has (at least) a couple of years before he would be on anyone's recruiting chart.  Therefore practicing with a D1 coach who may not be there but a few years or at the facility may not matter just yet.  

 

Is there a way to say no until next fall?  Or join in after the state/regional tournaments once your LL season ends?  There are PLENTY of competitive travel baseball programs, in fact, probably too many as it is watered down in many areas now.  But there is only one Little League, in my opinion. 

those are good points,  I had not thought of,     Little League tryouts down here are in late January so I actually told my son,  lets just go to the practices in the next month and see how you like it and if he gets along with the other kids.    Physically he looks the part compared to the other kids much taller and more athletic looking.   He has always been a solid player batted top of the order etc.  played key positions on every team he has played on travel team or playing up in age on little league so it didnt occur to me that he would sit at the end of the bench,  but we are the newcomers and I have heard horror stories about in team politics breaking up many teams around here. 

I have two boys 10 and 13. Older son left LL after 10 and younger left at 9. Both have been playing Tournament Travel ball since. Do not miss LL. Yes they had developed friendships but they have created many more since. 

If he loves baseball then travel ball is a good option. Be sure you do your due diligence before committing. Golfman25 and Joes87 speak the truth. Make sure you know what your getting into from a coaching style perspective.  

 

Is it out of the question to do both? My son played both LL and travel all the way through. Most of the LL games were weeknight and all of the travel games were weekend. Travel came first if there was a conflict on the weekend, but I can only think of a handful of times that happened. The LL coach was on board with this. When it came time for Districts, LL came first.

This is what I did with my son and he will never forget those times with all his buddies. It became a family affair and my wife and I are still very close to a lot of the LL parents. It has not seemed to hurt my sons baseball progression either!

Get on the best team he can. My son had fun in LL too but only about 3 boys stayed w baseball, most chose football or basketball. 

If son has passion for game, time to move on. Not many kids get opportunity your son may have. They may find someone else to take his spot on travel team and not want/need him next yr. I would not try and do both ESP for a P. 

My son never had problem making new friends when he played for new team. Kids have a lot to talk about and traveling makes them closer. Just my two cents

Where a kid plays as a preteen (small field) is irrelevant to his baseball future. What's important is he have fun, build a passion for baseball and learn fundamentals so the transition to the 60/90 field will be easier.

Learning fundamentals is more a function of coaching versus what level the kid plays. There are a lot of bad travel coaches at 14u and below. There can be a lot of politics in travel.

Agree with 2boys and RJM on this.  Spending 3-4 months this spring in travel rather than LL is not going to make a bit of difference regarding his baseball development down the road.  How much fun he has with his friends and how much he continues to love the game will.

 

But if he really wants to forgo his LL season then that's different.  You should support him.

My 2017 played LL through age 12.  He was on the tourney team every year and he has very fond memories of playing in the tourney.  We never did advance out of the districts but came close twice.  In spite of that LL tourney time is special to those kids who stick with it.

 

He did play on a Part Time travel team during his LL years.  For the most part the team was local to the town where he played LL.  A good portion of the team played in the local LL and they worked their schedule around the LL schedule.  This worked out well for him.

 

He did switch over to a full time travel team at age 13, but our LL program around here really drops off after 12 and the PONY league leaves a lot to be desired.  My older son followed the same path.

 

Im with the others until you are on the big field it does not really matter where you play prior to that as long as the kid is receiving enough instruction to develop as a player.  Development is key, not winning, or playing on the local prestigious travel team that does not provide any coaching.  

 

Around here there are a couple of programs for younger kids (8U-14U) known for winning.  By the time they get to the HS level these programs become the team everyone looks forward to beating up on.  The coaches/dads go around looking for the biggest/strongest kids at the young age, convince them to be on their teams and go out and arrogantly beat the pants off all the other teams.  IMO they do this mostly to feed their own ego's.  The main reason they are no good by the time the kids are on the big field is the teams provides nothing in the way of development for the kids.  Puberty is a great equalizer.

 

On the other hand there are some programs around here who really don't care about winning.  They are stacked with kids who will most likely go on to play college ball.  The one program my kid is now involved in puts a high percentage of their graduating Sr's in college every year.  In addition they usually have one or two kids drafted as well.  A lot of other parents usually wonder how they can go .500 on the season and put that many kids in college.  Its pretty simple they are willing to sacrifice winning for player development and exposure.  I've seen them pull a hot pitcher very early in a game because he has already committed to a college and there are recruiters at the game.  They want to try to get their other pitchers in to be seen.  Same thing for development.  If they feel a kid could use some more time at a position to develop fully they may switch him into that position for a few innings in a game.  Doesn't matter if they are winning or loosing.

 

 

It is not going to make a hill of beans difference in his long term baseball development which  way he goes. My advice is to stay within your community, play multiple sports and enjoy being with your friends. IMO all of this travel ball stuff before 13YO is a complete waste of time and money, you will hear parents saying that little johnny is playing for so and so (fill in the blank ex pro player). Well when puberty hits little johnny may or may not make his HS team. 

 

 Your LL sounds like they have a competitive program so if he wants to play there do so, enjoy the time with his friends, life goes by too fast. 

MY kid also plays 12u, so I may have a slightly different take on all this.  My biggest question for you is "Is there an in between?" 

 

Correct me if I am wrong, little league in my town means you practice 1-2 times a week, you have maybe 1-2 games a week.  Fall season lasts about 8 weeks, Spring about 12 weeks, and All-stars gives you another 5 weeks?  Totaling 25 weeks a year, with plenty of time for basketball, or football, or any other passion the kid may have. 

 

To go from LL to the type of team you are talking about is a HUGE change!  Most likely you will practice 4-5 days a week ALL YEAR LONG, with 3 home workouts expected to be documented per week with very little break.  Our coach is graciously cutting out 1 out of 4 practices next week due to finals, and giving us off 12/21 - 1/7 for the holidays, that likely has more to do with kids not being in town than him being nice though!  Even in the winter, we may not be picking up a baseball, but there are speed and agility practices, specialty practices for pitchers and catchers, team hitting...etc.

 

Are you ready for that?  Don't you think moving to a local travel team that practices all year round but not as fierce may be the step up he needs to decide if this is what he really wants?  I understand about getting out of the LL program to see what kind of baseball talent he really has and if it can truly go anywhere, but you seem to want to go from riding a bicycle in a park to driving a Porsche on the Autobahn!  I'm afraid the time and training commitment will put him and you parents off of the baseball idea if you don't ease into this.  But I do agree that if the boy has talent it's time to move on from LL.

A couple of things…first, my sons' LL experience wasn't quite like yours.  Our local LL was very weak, struggled to get volunteer coaches, and was 2-and-out in the All-Stars.  Also, most kids did not play in the fall (they played football, etc).

 

When we moved them to travel ball (at 11U), we were looking for higher quality coaching.  To us this meant skill development as well as learning how to play the game with intensity and focus.  We also wanted to see better, more consistent competition.  These things don't require 4-5 practices a week (plus documented at-home workouts?), and you can see by watching a few practices and games how the team is run and whether or not it's a good fit.

 

I believe my sons were much better prepared for the big field, and getting good coaching from the start put them on a better trajectory for development.  Travel ball isn't the only way to do this but for us it was the best option.

 

For what it's worth, my sons' travel teams have had great bonding experiences and the boys remain good friends, plus we have gone on some amazing family trips centered around baseball (i.e., LL has not cornered the market for good family experiences).

Couldn't agree more with this - well said! The only thing I might suggest is not to wait too long before making the adjustment to a drop 3 BBCR or wood bat.  Leaving behind the drop 10 composite bat was probably the hardest thing for my son when he eventually left LL at 13.  It takes some getting used to and requires a different hitting strategy for many kids when all those over the fence home runs suddenly become routine fly balls.