is baltimore metro league as good as people make it seem?

I managed the 17-18 Columbia Reds in the Baltimore Metro for 9 years. We left the league after the 1997 season. Prior to 1997, we had about 7 or 8 strong teams in the league. Very good competition each and every night. We were doormats in the early 90's (I had some good teams too), and then became the top dog in 96 and 97. By then, the league had 12-14 teams, about 1/2 were competitive, the other 1/2 were not very good.

I still believe it is the best game in town (around these parts), but I don't think it is that much stronger of a league than any others.

As far as scouts, the only scouts (college) that came to our games were as a result of me or my coaching staff contacting them and inviting.

I played in the baltimore metro last year for a 17U team. However that just ment that our preson berth was 17U, the other teams we plaed in the league were 18U.(dont know if you knew that or not). This year the league will be 19U.

In terms of the competition, its the best I have seem for a 19U league in the area. I have watched th legion games and played legions team last ear that were considered to be good teams and none of them were as good as the top of the metro. The top 8 teams in the metro league are really competitive, and the bottom 6-8 teams could beat any of the top teams because of one pitcher. The major difference that seperates the top teams from the bottom is the depth in pitching and the depth in the lineup.

For example last year my team finished 4th overall in the league and we had 4 solid starting pitchers to go along with 2 strong left handed bats and 3-4 solid right handed batters. And the remaining starters were sound defensively.

The bottoms teams had either one or two good pitchers, and 3 solid bats total. So if there is anything bad i would say it would be the bottom teams lack in depth.

And as far as scouts go, it depends on the games we had a few games that were big games that 3 or 4 scouts would attend, but in general scouts only come when thy are called by a coach or are interested in one player. But the preson tourniments that you can quilify for (6 teams qualify and then an additional 2 17U teams) draw a lot of scouts both professional and college from all levels.

I hope that was of some help.

quote:

However that just ment that our preson berth was 17U

i meant post season

thnx hscatcher for your help. what did u mean by "however that just meant that our post season was 17u,"? you were talkin about the preseason tournements when and where are they usually held (and this year if you know). i wonder what is the person of makin some of the teams 17u and some 19u? do the 17 u seem as though its hard to win against a 19u or is there really no differenece?

when i said post season tournaments i meant the tournaments that you qualify for. This is after the season is over. The top six teams in both divisions(3 from each) receive a tournament bid. Either NABF, AABC, Dizzy Dean.(2 for each). However if you're on a 17U team you don't have to finish in the top six you have to be one of the top 2 17U teams. I think this year there are four in the league.

Last year there were two 17U teams in the league. Both were in the top 5 from both divisions combined. (They have two divisions the east and west but when they do the final standings they combind the 2 leagues to pick the top six teams). It all depends on the talent of the team, and individual or whether your overmatched or not. However if the team is 17U and enters the league most likely they have alot of talent or they wouldn't enter that level of competition just to get crushed every game.

This year they switched to 19 and under this year to allow a team to bring back a college player who would normally have had to of played 22 and under college league.

I played in the Baltimore Metro league for two years and then stepped down to MMTA but I am back again, the compitition is much better in the Baltimore Metro League and for me personally I had a very good coach with the TITANS baseball club (he is currently the assistant at the Mid Alantic Red Sox) I was only 13 and 14 when I played but I am playing in the league now and I hope to see more scouts but don't really excpet it, if you want to see scouts go to a tournament team, I am playing both tournament team and baltimore metro league this year because my tournament team is not doing as much as I thought. Baltimore Metro has really good compititon but if you are only there for scouts, I suggest to find a team going on a lot of tournaments near the school of your choice.