Middle School Baseball

When my son was in middle school the varsity coach ran several practices per season. A couple of times he asked the middle school coach to start kids at certain positions to see how they handle it. Three freshman were invited to tryout for varsity freshman year based on the varsity coach's observations at middle school practices and games. While none of them made varsity they were the only three freshmen on the JV team. Two should start varsity soph year. The third should be in the bullpen.

Not playing middle school ball won't keep a kid out of the high school program. It might affect where he starts out freshman year unless the varsity coach is watching the summer programs or the kid is overwhelming in tryouts. But tryouts are only a few days to impress.

Why would someone not want to play middle school ball? It's fun. It's another chance to play with friends who may not climb the baseball ladder into high school. It's an opportunity to represent the school and the community.

Our middle schools have no baseball programs, softball only, one of the reasons why so many kids travel here.

My sons HS coach had no clue who he was when he registered.

Just play some baseball somewhere, it doesn't have to be on the middle school level, though it probably is most likely more cost effective.

I have two Middle School programs that feed our High School. I try to make the games when they face each other just so the kids can see that I came to see them play. Other than that it means nothing to me where they play or how they play in Middle School. I really dont care who is on the team either. Some dont play in Middle School some play travel baseball. I have three camps each summer where I get to work with some of the 7 and 8 grade kids and get to know them a bit.

I start my coaching experience with every player once they arrive on our campus and we start fall workouts. What they have done before arriving on campus , who they have played for , what posistion they have played etc etc does not amount to a hill of beans in my eyes. I will evaluate them all fall. The ones that play football I will know because I will have 2 meetings in the fall for all the guys planning to come out in the spring. In the spring I will get the opportunity to evaluate every player and get to know them on a personal level.

I always spend way more time with my younger guys early in the year and in the fall. My older guys know what to do and they work hard in the off season. The bottom line is , its what you do once you arrive that matters not before you even get there. Play the best baseball you can and work hard to improve every day. Dont worry about impressing a coach or trying to get on his radar before you even get to his school. Do that once you step on the field when you play for him. Good Luck

Thanks for your replies! Next time I see some of the middle school parents I am going to introduce them to H.S. Baseball web!

I started a middle school baseball program 5 years ago because in our county baseball is not funded and not considered a sport. Surrounding counties all have programs and have had programs for over 10 years. My purpose for starting a program, self funded, was to see that our high school baseball program didn't get short-changed and for the talent to bond together earlier. The local recreational league has diminished, only allowing travel teams to participate. We fill a gap for those AA players that are good athletes but would stop playing at the age of 13U because a travel team doesn't pick them up. We lose them to s****r and AAU Basketball.
We have two teams now. A JV (6th and 7th graders) and a Varsity (7th & 8th graders). These are not all travel ball players. We take the JV players and compete in the summer against travel teams and the previous year's team play fall ball together against other counties.

This program is successful because the kids want it and take pride in representing their school. Three middle schools are represented (All are feeder schools to one high school) My goal is to send the high school coach 6 tried and true players each year. He will have 24 players to choose from at any given time. Our Success Rate, Runner-up,Champions,Runner-up the last three years amongst private schools (that recruit) and other area schools not in our county.

Is it a good idea?Does the High School Coach Notice?

The answer is yes. For the next two years, the High School Coach will compete for State Championship.

Some of these kids had never played travel ball and could have easily not played past 12 years old.

It depends on your middle school. A lot of middle schools around here don't have actual programs. You have some dad's that start a "Feeder team" to try to get players feeding into a HS on a common team, but the level of play has not gotten there yet. It is equivilent to AA ball and for players on Elite Travel Teams, the level of play would hinder their development.

As several others have said, it depends on the level of the team and connection to the HS program, and the level of the player.

quote:

Originally posted by southpaws_dad:
It depends on your middle school. A lot of middle schools around here don't have actual programs. You have some dad's that start a "Feeder team" to try to get players feeding into a HS on a common team, but the level of play has not gotten there yet. It is equivilent to AA ball and for players on Elite Travel Teams, the level of play would hinder their development.

As several others have said, it depends on the level of the team and connection to the HS program, and the level of the player.

Why would it hinder their development? My son played middle school and USSSA Majors during middle school. The middle school games were like slow motion compared to travel. But I don't think it hindered the development of the handful of kids who could play. While the depth of lineup was not there in school games, they often faced pitchers also pitching travel during the summer. Because the overall game is a slower speed they had to make adjustments.

Last year at the beginning of the JV season my son was overswinging. He had a little trouble adjusting to high school JV ball not being the quality of 14U Majors. Should he have passed on JV ball? I thought JV ball was slow motion compared to travel?

Around here it seems like too many middle school baseball programs have been scrapped for s****r. Plus that season is in the fall so they might have trouble interacting with football (non-school sport)

I've coached a fall team for the past several years working with kids from fifth to eighth grade, depending on the year.

It's too bad because fall is a great time of year to play baseball.

in my town the middle school is grades 6,7,8. the 6th graders and a few 7th from time to time are still at the LL age.

still have many more kids that want to play than can be picked. sounds like a good problem to have. but because of their season it forces the local BR league to start their season later.
so a larger number of marginal players do nothing waiting for 18 or so kids to finish the season.

to me it doesn't really benifit the greater number of players that need to play. but that's just how i see it.

RJM,
What I meant by hindering their development is if their travel team is starting to play USSSA Major tournaments in Feb/March and he is playing on a middle school feeder team instead. You can't tell me the competition would be anywhere near the same. Also you can't tell me he would develop as much playing weaker competition as he would playing better.

I think this is more geographical in nature as well. Some areas don't start playing their travel season until later in the spring, so there is not really a negative to playing on a Middle School team. Also some areas truly have middle school teams while others have only feeder teams which are not directly associated with the middle school.

It all depends on the situation.

Middle school ball in our area is played in the fall. So, some of the kids have just come off a very competitive summer and then take a step back by playing middle school ball. This also runs into football for a lot of the kids.

quote:

Originally posted by southpaws_dad:
RJM,
What I meant by hindering their development is if their travel team is starting to play USSSA Major tournaments in Feb/March and he is playing on a middle school feeder team instead. You can't tell me the competition would be anywhere near the same. Also you can't tell me he would develop as much playing weaker competition as he would playing better.

I think this is more geographical in nature as well. Some areas don't start playing their travel season until later in the spring, so there is not really a negative to playing on a Middle School team. Also some areas truly have middle school teams while others have only feeder teams which are not directly associated with the middle school.

It all depends on the situation.

In 7th grade my son's travel team didn't start until the last two weeks of the middle school season. In 8th grade he played for a travel team that completely overlapped the middle school season. He was one of only two kids on the travel team whose middle schools had teams.

The travel team provided the challenge that had my son ready to skip freshman ball and play JV as a freshman and be ready to start on varsity as a soph. The middle school teams gave him exposure to the high school varsity coach who watched middle school ball as much as possible.

I think the key word you hit on was the exposure to the high school varsity coach. In circumstances where a HS coach is actively watching, I think it would be beneficial. Unfortunately in our area, very rarely does the HS coach get a close look at these feeder teams. Especially since they are not truly tied to the Middle School, only someone's dad that decides to put the team together.

I think that is the biggest thing for parents to figure out; what exposure is this going to provide my son. If it is limited or non-existant, then it is hard to justify spending your time on a team that does not provide the same level of play.