Legion Vs. AAU TRAVEL TEAM ADVICE PLEASE.

78sox,

Here in Texas, travel teams are the way to go to get exposure. One more hint--don't use all caps as this is considered like shouting in a forum like this.

Welcome to the site and hope you can find the information you are looking for. Here is the best I can come up with.

Which offers the best competition? Do you know which one will put you in front of the most college / pro scouts? Is your talent level good enough to play on the better team?

Overall if you have the talent to compete with the best then you need to find out which of those teams will allow you to get in front of the most scouts. If you are on the bench then you have wasted your time other than see what it takes to get there.

It's a tough question to answer without knowing the talent level of where you live. Others on here may know and give you a better answer but without knowing myself that is the best answer I can give you.

Agree with Coach2709 for sure. You want to get on the best U18 team you are capable of getting quality playing time on. However, there is great benefit also for younger players to watch. listen and learn from older players.

My now sophomore son tried out for and made a quality 18 team last year that also played some U21 tournaments. He saw only about a 50% play rate but it wa a 70 game season so he still received a large number of at-bats, etc. He learned a tremendous amount from playing with the seniors and some college ball players.

I'd suggest you go to a few "try-outs", talk with the coaches about their season schedule, goals, costs, etc and see how that fits your program. Sometimes AL is the best league (and it is certainly price effective) and often AL teams play in other tournaments/leagues as well. Sometimes AAU, Connie Mack, etc have the strongest competition.

Best or Luck

I'll start by saying that I have no experience in Massachusetts, so I don't know the lay of the land up your way. But based on what I see around central Virginia and many other states I've become familiar with, a high level travel team would be a far better bet.

An "AAU" team -- a team playing in AAU tournaments like a younger team -- would not be a good vehicle. But a high level travel team that focuses on exposure tournaments where college scouts will be present in significant numbers is far superior for someone looking to get recruited than would be your local Legion team.

Occasionally you'll get college coaches scouting Legion games, if they want to follow a particular player. But you don't see them just showing up to see what they can see, at least not prior to tournament time.

The key question is whether you can get yourself onto the right team, that is, can you make the cut. All I can do on that is, wish you luck!

You have a pm

I have a second home in Massachusetts. I sometimes attend local college games. I ask the parents how their kids made the journey. If the player is from Massachusetts he played Legion and a couple of well selected showcases or camps. In another state this may not be the solution.

Hi 78sox and welcome to this site.

Another aspect you should consider is targeting some schools that you are interested in; both academics and baseball. Just be realistic about your ability to play at the school. Make a list of different levels from junior colleges, NAIA, D3, D2, D1. Plan to go to a camp at schools on your list. As a sophomore that gives you this summer, next fall/winter, and next summer to get the most exposure before many programs have many commitments. Many offers still go out through the senior year and this site helps post for uncommitted seniors. IMHO, the more you do now the better chances you will have.

Unless you are a stud and draw alot of attention with great defense and great hitting at these tournaments, you need to make the colleges you are interested in aware you are going to be at an event with a travel team. If you play well you will also get interest from schools you have not considered. WIN WIN for you!!

I believe that coaches like to see that you are as interested in their school/baseball program as you would like for them to be interested in recruiting you. Don't put all your eggs in the travel team basket. Be proactive!!!

good advice folks; lots of different things to consider; I'll throw out one more. On one team you might hit 3 hole and play ss.. on another team you might platoon and hit 9th when you play. You have to ask yourself how these scenarios would effect you.

Agreed there is some great advice in this thread.

Another thing you need to watch out for is don't get caught up in what the name of the team you play on if you go with something other than Legion. There a lot of teams out there that form / compete for the right reasons. There are also a lot of teams out there for the wrong reasons. They could form because someone wants their son to be the star, they are just using you to make money or whatever else. If you get on a team like this then you have truly wasted your time.

Do your research and investigate potential teams to find out if they are the best fit for you. Once you find a team that you think you will flourish in then go for it.

Keep us posted as to how you are doing and best of luck.

If you go the travel route ....

By 17U/18Ushowcase ball the most important thing the showcase team has to offer is reputation and contacts. You want to play for a team college coaches come to watch expecting to see talent.

Before 17U the best fit is a team where there's equal opportunity to earn playing time (no daddyball) and the coaching staff can teach skills.

Question for the experts: if he has a list of colleges he is interested in, can he contact the coaches at those school as ask how they find their players?

The colleges in the Northeast are all aware of "who" the travel teams are.

I cannot speak for other programs but we make sure the colleges are aware of our roster and schedule. We also ask our kids to contact schools they are interested in let them know that they are playing for us. We have not started the summer season yet but because the kids alert the schools are are already getting emails and contact from colleges regarding certain of our players.

The exposure is combo effort on the part of the player and the team

All pretty good advice. Let me add one more thing. You said you are a "B" student? Get your grades up higher. Just speaking from experience here. Good grades and great test scores (ACT/SAT) will get you more money than baseball will. But if you can combine the two, grades AND baseball, you make yourself a very marketable student-athlete. You are just a soph. so you have time to work on the grades and make them better. JMO

quote:

Originally posted by twotex:
Question for the experts: if he has a list of colleges he is interested in, can he contact the coaches at those school as ask how they find their players?

My son emailed fifty colleges asking what showcases they attend and if they have prospect camps. His showcase coach requested his top fifteen choices to work from his end via his contacts.