Not to change the subject, but that old odds of making it has popped up again.
Everyone knows that a small percentage of players make it to professional baseball. For that matter it is even a small percentage that make it to college baseball.
But one thing that is absolutely certain is that thousands will play college baseball and thousands will play professional baseball. Someone will fill those spots! The percentages are not the same for everyone. When Bryce Harper, Justin Upton, Delmon Young, were 13 years old their odds were much better than most kids that age.
A better percentage to consider would be how many 13 year will will have the ingredients to make it to the next level. The talent, makeup, desire, passion, work ethic, etc. to have a chance? Now out of all those, what percentage will make it to the next level? That percentage would look much more favorable than the one that includes millions that have nearly a zero chance.
Myself, I look at age 13 as being where things really start happening. The younger ages are important when it comes to developing skills, attitude and love for the game. But separation really sets in at age 13 for most (not all). Some might say older, some might say younger and there's always physical maturity involved.
The reason I have mentioned this is because It seems a lot of people look at 13u similar to 8u. Then I see a 13 year old throwing mid 80s from a shorter distance and realize this is getting fairly serious. This boy belongs in the 16u! It becomes eye opening.
I know this is off topic, sorry for that. Back on topic, would anyone care if a team just picked up another player? What if he was a below average player? Or is it just picking up the so called "ringer" that bothers people? What if a very good player can't afford to pay the team fee? Would he have to set because others payed their fee?
People pay to attend events showcases and tournaments. They get their opportunity to show their skills. Not once, ever, have we ever received a complaint from someone whose son did well. But the typical complaint from others is we spent this money and didn't get what we expected. What they expected was to create recruiting and scouting attention. People need to understand you can't BUY that! You either have what they want or you don't. If you don't you are throwing away money. So it sure makes me wonder when I see a kid that simply can't compete, paying a lot of money to play on a team with a bunch of other kids that have paid a lot of money. Maybe they call themselves a Showcase Team! What is a Showcase Team? Is that better than the truly outstanding regular teams? The very best teams don't call themselves a Showcase Team.
I look at it like this. Nothing wrong with paying a fair price to play baseball. And if you want to be on a team that guarantees you will play all the time, fine. Guess there is nothing wrong with that. Just know that isn't the way it works for the most successful teams. Most of those teams charge a fee also, but no matter how good a player might be there are no guarantees, you might be on the bench In short order. There is just opportunity! But they might pick up a player next week.
Sorry about the rant. Bottom line is I'm just not very smart!