BEST SUMMER LEAGUE

EDIT: Looked at the teams in each league. Obvious that BBI has the better teams.

Driller,
Take a look at the teams...who & where they play, etc. Some play mostly local (limited travel), some make the WWBA tournaments in Marietta & Florida. Some showcase locally, others on a National basis.
BBI has been around 60+ years & has proven to be the strongest. Higher level of competition.
Lonestar was/is Sam Carpenter. Dallas Mustangs merged with DBat a few years ago, & are now in BBI. Not sure what teams are still in Lonestar, or if it is still Carpenters outfit.
Don't know of Tx Showcase League.

I am pretty sure BBI has 5 or 6 DBAT Mustang Teams in the league and I think the Tigers have teams in both also. I could be wrong.

Texas Showcase League doesn't offer any type of regular "league play" in the summer season...only tournaments in the summer.

quote:

Originally posted by Newscout:
I am pretty sure BBI has 5 or 6 DBAT Mustang Teams in the league and I think the Tigers have teams in both also. I could be wrong.

According to the Lone Star League web site these are teams appearing for last summer http://www.lonestaraba.com/teams.cfm?divid=3

New2This...the link your provided looks like it's over a year old...does anyone know who updates this league website?

All you need to look at is the teams that qualified for the regional.

All the area's teams that qualified are from BBI.

Except the host team (Carpenter), they were from Lonestar.

The World Series Qualifier winner (Tigers) was also from BBI.

In simple terms, the only Lonestar representative, Mustangs Capenter. They did go to the Connie Mack World Series though.

No doubt, which league is stronger.

Wow, Driller Man, your everywhere! I wish I had that amount of time to spend on here!

quote:

Originally posted by Driller Man:
We have played in the BBI league for 4 seasons now and it gets weaker every season! I thought maybe Lone Star was where every ones moving to?

The team I coached last summer played in BBI 18U and I don't remember seeing a Driller's team.

We played BBI last year and I will admit that the rescheduling of games is very easy, but the umpiring was atrocious. We actually had one umpire bring his son to the game...no big deal except little Johny played for the opposing team.

Competition was good, but there were a lot of games that were out of the players hands.

Let me say what no one else wants to say. If you play in the premier division of BBI then you are playing the best. If you do not get in the PD of BBI then Lonestar is a better choice.

Driller Man,

I don't know how good your team is but the 18U Premier League will give you all you want. I saw probably 8 different teams play last summer and other than one team all of them were pretty good.

quote:

Originally posted by Driller Man:
We played in the 16 premiere last season and it just seemed really watered down.

Where? I don't see it...



TEAM MANAGER CELL PHONE EMAIL
Dallas D'Backs
Sanders Dennis Pelfrey 817.798.9569 dallasdbacks@yahoo.com
Texas Sports 16U
Black Kyle Money 214.325.1893 kylemoney@tx.rr.com
Texas Dukes Kim Price 214.850.2572 kim.price@strasburger.com
Dallas Redds 16U Ricky Joe Redd 972.567.4115 ricky-nisa@sbcglobal.net
Heroes Eddie Lewis 214.707.7840 elewisjr16@yahoo.com
Dallas
Tigers-Wayson Wayne Wayson 817.565.6310 txbball14@aol.com
DBAT
Mustangs - Bothun Gary Bothun 214.724.4153 grbothun@garlandisd.net
Dallas
Tigers - Nutt Don Wiley 940.367.4314 tazwiley@verizon.net
Dallas Titans 15U Casey Funk 214.908.0151 cfunk@tx.rr.com
Dallas Titans 16U
Nester Clayton Nester 469.774.6995 clayton.nester@bishoplynch.org
Dallas Titans 16U
Clements Michael Clements 817.637.7309 mclements1981@hotmail.com
Dallas Redds 15U Jarod Neil 214.497.3370 jarodneil@hotmail.com
Irving Horns Matthew Acosta 972.822.0382 acostam@smtexas.org
DBAT Mustans - Tovar John Tovar 214.236.3903 johnptovar@sbcglobal.net
Dallas Giants Jonathan Perlman 214.632.3599 jperlman@traditionseniorliving.com
North Texas Pirates John Wilborn 972.740.0262 jwilborn@dallassummermusicals.org
Dukes Kelly Kirkpatrick 817.614.3634 k.kirkpatrick4@yahoo.com
Irving Gators 15U Russell Hollaway 214.394.8772 russellhollaway@tx.rr.com
Lone Star Baseball Keith Taylor 682.365.4803 keith.taylor@pharmacyconcepts.com
Texas Sports Red Derek Brandow 972.824.8072 derek.brandow@verizon.net
Heroes 15U Eddie Lewis 214.707.7840 elewisjr16@yahoo.com
Dallas Diamond
Jaxx (Domenico Jr.) Mike Domenico 214.755.3816 mjdomenico@jaxxbaseball.com
Irving Gators Gilbert Ornelaz 972.877.7674 gnornelaz@verizon.net
Texas Blackhawks Ed Aguiar 817.996.9441 aguiared@yahoo.com
Dallas Panthers Cecil Espy 817.808.3779 cecilbaseball@aol.com
16U TARRANT COUNTY DIVISION
TEAM MANAGER CELL PHONE EMAIL
Texas Blue Jays 15 Rick Teakell 817.565.3669 texasbluejays@academicplanet.com
Fort Worth Cats 15 Rick Teakell 817.565.3669 texasbluejays@academicplanet.com
Burkburnett
Blacksox 15U Tom Scholl 940.447.4311 blacksox11@live.com
Burkburnett
Blacksox 16U Tom Scholl 940.447.4311 blacksox11@live.com
Brewer Bears Wes Harkins 817.994.1326 wes@geo-log.net

All 3 of our teams played in Lonestar last Summer. Ken, that site has our teams listed but we were not allowed to participate in the Premiere BBI league.

We were very happy with the competition in the LoneStar league and will most likely be returning in 2010. Unless maybe Ken gets us voted in with his bunch!

quote:

Originally posted by Dallas D'backs:
Unless maybe Ken gets us voted in with his bunch!

If the Dallas D'Backs are interested in BBI Premier, I certainly will make that recommendation to our representative. I personally have little to do with BBI and the board that makes decisions. But again, I will ask the DBAT Mustang representative to suggest your organization for participation if your interested.

The D'Backs and their coaching staff play the game the right way and were one of the most competitive teams we faced last year.

quote:

! I'm not trying to be "smart" just looking for the best position for my team. .

Nor am I implying you are being "smart".

Just trying to get a feel on where you are basing your opinions.

I'm confused. Did your 16U play BBI last year?

If so, where did your team finish in the league?

quote:

Originally posted by Driller Man:
My son played for cecil Espy last season in the 16u premiere and we (the drillers) played this fall in the varsity division. like I was saying earlier I just put the team back together this past fall and I'm just looking for the best most competitive place to play.

I see...

I was just confused when you mentioned this...

quote:

We played in the 16 premiere last season and it just seemed really watered down.

and this...

quote:

It just seems like all the 17's and 18's are leaving BBI !

So really your team played in the fall?

And the team Cecil Espy coached played in a "watered down" league last summer?

How did Cecil's team fair in the standings?

quote:

Originally posted by Driller Man:
BBI did not keep up with the standings so I don't know but I think we lost 3 or 4 games.

How many games were scheduled in league play?

How did the team fair in the state tournament? Regional?

quote:

Originally posted by Driller Man:
We lost in the state tournament in the championship game against the Dbat-Mustangs Gustafson.

Well then I'd say that team had a good showing.

Let me give you my opinions on which league to play in if you don't mind...

You ready?

It doesn't matter.

Why?

Because if your goal is to achieve the AABC World Series level, playing league play is nothing more than a formality.

In reality, there are only 5-6 real competitive teams/organizations in DFW anyway.

Back in the day, they used to call those teams "select" teams.

Today, every team is a select team. Every team gets a fancy uniform, has a "professional" coach, and promises exposer. Families make financial sacrifices for this hoping what they pay for and participate in lives up to the promises. Except for about 5-6 teams, the only promise that is fulfilled is the fancy uniform.

Like you I assume, I'd like our bunch to play the most competitive teams possible. But I hardly find league play so competitive that BBI or Lone Star outweighs one or the other.

As a coach, the most frustrating part of the situation is the perception of league play having less importance than any tournament or game played.

The 2 biggest challenges that await each summer I coach are...

1. To have all players together for entire schedule.

2. Making the players understand that no game is more or less important than the other. Regardless of opponent.

That being said, which league the team I coach plays in makes little difference to me.

Good luck with your search and I hope my perspective had some value.

Thank's Ken

This chat room is now closed!

No question on this. BBI is very strong with some of the best teams anywhere. Look at the teams and their success. State and Regional Champions everywhere. DBAT's, Fort Worth Cats, Mustangs and other great teams with quality high school players. All very good and if you stand out here you are a stud at you high school. Many great tournaments around these areas. Other good teams from come here and get beat. If you want the best for your kid, get him on one of these teams. Not just about the money, you have to tryout and be a very good athlete to be on these teams. Best experience.

The Dallas Patriots (16U Stout) played BBI last summer (Tues night double headers) and went undefeated in the league. The ultimate goal is to be able to participate in your "age level" world series. The Patriots wound up playing in the Mickey Mantle World Series, losing in the finals to a team from East Cobb, GA.

I can't speak to the level of play in the fall as the Patriots didn't participate, but the summer really does depend on your schedule since you don't play everyone...some good teams, and some not so good teams.

quote:

Originally posted by Ken Guthrie:

quote:

Originally posted by Dallas D'backs:
Unless maybe Ken gets us voted in with his bunch!

If the Dallas D'Backs are interested in BBI Premier, I certainly will make that recommendation to our representative. I personally have little to do with BBI and the board that makes decisions. But again, I will ask the DBAT Mustang representative to suggest your organization for participation if your interested.

The D'Backs and their coaching staff play the game the right way and were one of the most competitive teams we faced last year.

Coach P, you know you have my vote; it was tough for us to play Premier last season eventhough we were the brain child behind it. You know what I'm saying. Don't you just love it, the politics of summer baseball. Hope to see you this summer.

Thanks for the kind words guys. We did our best to put quality teams on the field last Summer. I would like to think that we had a pretty good showing for our first Summer. We competed well in Lonestar and AABC events and would have advanced to bracket play in Arizona if not for losing a heartbreaker in extra innings in our final pool game.

As for which league we will play in this Summer, we have not come to a decision yet. We would like to avoid the "politics of Summer baseball", but we all know that is not possible.

It is nice to have the support from the guys at DBAT. Ken, hopefully we will get the chance to play you guys again this Summer. That Brewer/Bundy matchup at DBU last Summer was a doosy.

Any matchup with Bundy is a 'doosy'.

Dallas D'Backs,

Would you and some of the other summer coaches please explain to us freshman dads what the "politics of summer baseball" means???? Thank you

quote:

Originally posted by txdad1315:
Dallas D'Backs,

Would you and some of the other summer coaches please explain to us freshman dads what the "politics of summer baseball" means???? Thank you

Means your kid isn't playing.

Actually, the "politics" that we were talking about has nothing to do with playing time for the kids. I am also a HS coach, so I know of the politics that you are speaking of there.

First of all, SWAC was the one that mentioned "the politics of summer baseball", so I was really just using his term from the post above mine. And honestly, Im not going to shed any further light on the subject that we were talking about.

What is the expectation on the top Summer Leagues for 2011?

What happened to DRILLER MAN???

Are these leagues traditionally doubleheaders during the week?

North Texas Mickey Mantle schedules all their games as part of DHers. Lone Star ABA will do some as DHers at the manager's request. I'm not sure about BBI in the summer. We have played there the last two fall seasons, and it was DHers on Sundays...but that is a different thing altogether.

Per Aleeblabla's post...what is the goal\expectation of Summer Leagues...in this case a 16U league?

To play high level competition for development?..to showcase kids and competition\score be ****ed?...or some other combination of emphasis?

My son will be 15 in March and will play a 16u league...just want to know what to expect.

I can only speak for what we did and wanted to accomplish. First of all, as you've probably already figured out, at HS it is typically 16U and 18U, so you don't get a lot of true 15U leagues or tournaments.

We played in two 16U leagues last summer... North Texas MM and Lone Star. We chose to play in 16U Division 2 in Lone Star. There are 3 divisions typically (some years may be different, but this is how it was last summer). Given that it was league and not tournaments, and I knew going in we'd be younger than most teams, we elected for D2. If we'd played down, we'd have won a lot more games, but I didn't think that would help our 15yr olds. In the end it was a very good experience, and most of the teams we played were true 16U teams (although there were certainly some 15U teams doing what we did... some 15U teams played D1 and did very well too).

In any of the league's I mentioned above, you will be playing at a significantly higher level of ball than you will find with most Freshman programs (both internally and what your son plays against during the school season), and often better than the JV ball I saw last year. When you run into a top-level 16U team, you'll be playing against kids that are starting and succeeding at 5A varsity programs. It's a good challenge. We didn't win 75+% of our games like we were used to, but we never got run-ruled either, and beat some teams that on paper we probably shouldn't have... just made the boys better, IMHO.

Anyway... the competition can vary from game to game. You may be playing a 16U team on a Thursday night that has a big tournament that weekend, and you're facing their #8 Pitcher. So it really depends from team-to-team what the emphasis is....

In Lone Star, we saw some scouts out there... not a lot, but some.

Your son and his team will do just fine playing in a 16U league. Depending on the makeup of the team, I am sure the manager will choose the right level of competition. A lot of that is just being very objective about what the talent level is of the team.

Thanks for the great insight coach very much appreciated!!!

Is there anything noticeable in the actual gameplay and how a coach coaches one of these games versus a "normal" tournament...or at 15u and older is what we think of as "normal" tournaments completely different?

Thanks again for the great help!

Think of league play as pool play...doesn't matter that much. Think of tournament play as bracket play...each game matters much more. If you start there, you're on the right track.

Dallas D-Backs they are a great club my kid played for them the first year they put the club together. My kid played on there 18u B-Team (mostly 17u) it still was a great team as I remember they played about .500 ball. My kid is still playing College ball they played in the Lone Star league it's a good league.

quote:

Originally posted by Coach Joe:
Thanks for the great insight coach very much appreciated!!!

Is there anything noticeable in the actual gameplay and how a coach coaches one of these games versus a "normal" tournament...or at 15u and older is what we think of as "normal" tournaments completely different?

Thanks again for the great help!

Many tournaments at the HS level are round-robin format. We all want to pay for the boys to get on the field. Winning local tournaments (except for the ones at the end of the year) are really of less importance, so it is far superior format than 2 pool games and single-elim Sunday. Now when I say that, don't get the impression that teams aren't trying to win every game... we all are! But in a round-robin, you know you're going to play more games over a weekend. The result of winning more games may be one extra game Sunday afternoon/evening. It matters, but the point is that you're getting in more baseball. But in most cases, the best pitchers/players are being utilized more in tournament games than what you might see during the week.

USSSA, Super Series, etc are not nearly as popular at the HS ages compared to tourneys that give 4-5 Game Guarantees.

Any of the 3 HS leagues mentioned in this thread will provide substantially more competition than leagues your son may have played in during 12-14U. Typically, it is tournament quality baseball played during the week, with a set schedule (something we all prefer over the "wait and see", which is typical of youth tournament play).

As I mentioned, every coach will manage things differently, but in leagues like these the competition level is good enough that no matter what the approach is for a given game at the managerial level, it will most often be a very competitive game. And that's really all coaches/players/parents/umpires (yes, those guys have more fun, too, in a competitive environment) want.

I like the leagues and we'll play in them again. It ends up a lot like a college schedule... couple DHers a week, then tournament play (which would be like conference games) on the weekend. You have to have a deep pitching staff, but everyone gets lots of PT. The season is relatively short (11-12 weeks), so it goes quick, but is very rewarding. Hopefully there will be less rain than last summer.