need advice on travel team vs summer high school

Starting catcher in varsity, I left that out

Generally speaking, travel teams will play a tougher schedule against better competition. At least around here, the HS summer teams are made up of the guys who did not get on a summer travel team. Our HS coach let his players know if they can get on a good summer team, do it. If not, the HS summer team is available. If your son is as good as it seems by your post, the HS will take him regardless where he plays summer ball.

The obvious answer is play the better competition but you really don't know if it's going to affect his status with the HS team. My advice is go talk to the HS coach and see what he says. If he's a good coach he will let your son play for the travel team so he will get the experience and he can use the HS team to prepare another catcher. From the sound of your post he is need of some.

You might even want to look into trying to play for both but that will be pretty tough to do.

I'm sending you a PM

For now, as a position player, try not to make a choice and attempt to do both. In Illinois, the high schools usually play during the week and most travel happens on the weekends. My answer would be different, if your son was a Pitcher.

I say do what's best for your son. If he is as good as you say he is his HS will get over it and play him.

Like others have said, a good HS coach will appreciate the fact that he improved over the summer regardless of who he played for.

As a rule, the best kids play. With this as a foundation, my advice would be to go where your son will learn to compete, fail, learn and grow.

From our experience, we did what we could afford. Was it always the best situation, no; however, my son has great memories and grew both as a person and a ball player. At the age your son is he was playing on three teams, two local leagues and a travel team. This was a very formative time in his baseball development. That summer he probably played in 80 games getting nearly 250 at-bats. In the end, it was about development and learning what was expected at the next level.

What he will get out of this summer and the next is what will carry him through his junior and senior year in high school when kids will want to not only succeed but make an impression which may take them to the next level of baseball.

Teams come and go, it really doesn’t matter which program per se, however, what does matter is finding a program or programs that you as a family can afford, where your son will find joy in playing and be challenge to compete and improve.

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My personal advice is do your homework, especially when entering this minefield. We had a situation with our HS school coach that was one of those "really scarey deals". He was trying to build a reputation of having a HS summer team that could take on the "Norcals of the World", and he made it no secret that he was building "his team" (meaning the HS season team) and that no travel team could get a kid ready in "better form" than his summer program. He clearly stated to us that he felt that "Travel Teams were for rich guys who wanted to hear how good their kids were..." This truly became a huge obstacle to both of my sons making the Varsity "before the Coach really needed them". He didn't like people from our side of the tracks...

Point in example. Our HS coach had one major policy as pertaining to the HS Team. There is no such thing as an excused absence. Miss one practice and you don't start the next game (meaning you must win your position back)... miss a second practice and you are off the team. I am not kidding here. Most of you in northern California know this story, and know of this guy. cadKID#1 missed a practice his junior year (he was starting at 3B on the V) to attend his grandfather's funeral. Benched. Did not get back into the starting lineup for 16 games. The coach actually put another kid there who had never played INF before. We had to go to arbitration with the AD to determine if his missing a second practice TO TAKE THE SAT's would get him removed from the team. So that he could stick to his rules, he cancelled practice that Saturday rather than make an exception on the second absence.

I don't get involved with too many politically charged discussions around here... but this one gets my blood boiling to an unbelievable state. As I sit here at the keyboard... now having reached my target heart rate for the day... I tell you this story is true. Both of my sons have gone on to higher levels, have played well at D1 and even beyond... but as I look back, it is this one subject that I constantly question whether the effort in those days, fighting the tyrant as we did, was worth it. I saw dozens of kids come through our system that just gave up the sport because of this man. Why was it allowed? He knew his baseball fundamentals. He taught the game well. AND HE WON... EVERY YEAR HE WAS OUR HEAD COACH. He's gone now. The program is still one of the best in northern California.

Do your homework people. Unfortunately it's not always just about communication. Not when there are other agendas at hand.

cadDAD

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I would agree with bbman - ask the coach. There are lots of variables that will depend on your personal circumstances. My son had the opportunity to play for a nationally rated travel team the summer of his incoming freshman year or with his HS team. We chose the HS team because the coach put him on the upper level team and he faced kids much older and stronger than he would have on the travel team. It was also local, did not cost much, and we did not have to travel all over the state and spend a lot of money and generally uproot our family life. He also met all of the kids in the baseball program and made his freshmen start to HS much more comfortable since he knew most of the HS team kids when he started school. The coaching staff got a better look at him, and got to know him better so for us it was a much better choice.

He did not get the exposure, or “baseball resume”, both of which are nice but are not going to mean much long term in my opinion.

Trying to win versus trying to develop.

Our HS coach had NO summer involvement except this.

Get on a travel team and expand your horizons, play the best competition you can, learn to be a teammate all over again with new players, learn from a set of new coaches, and play hard.

When the HS team reconvened he felt the team became more experienced exponentially because each member brought back a different experience and a personal confidence in themselves. The coach also felt the challenge at whatever travel level each player achieved helped identify the weakenesses each player needed to work on.

Talked to the coach several times, vrey nice guy. He's seen the people from the travel team approach us. He says do what you feel is best, he said their wouldn't be any kind of hard feelings if we do the travel ball still invited to participate in summer program. 2 older guys are playing on this travel team. We've done travel for a few years know what it's about. Just trying to decide if less participation in summer program might hinder chance to claim that catcher's spot. His goal was to start by junior year, so the possibility of possibly being a varsity starter as a freshman is exciting for us.

Kevin25,

Don't be in such a hurry to play travel ball. College coaches can only talk to Juniors or Seniors. I would suggest that you play a couple of years for your High School and play travel ball after your Junior year. That was what my son did. He got all the exposure he needed playing summer and fall ball after his junior season. And by then he was ready for the competition. Not saying you aren't. But let me give you an example of the competition.

We're at a PG event and my son is catching. The coach brought in players from around the country for this event. After a couple of innings we change pitchers. The kid that comes in to pitch is a tall lefty who was clocked at 94mph that day. My son had never caught him before. The pitcher had some serious movement on his ball and my son was doing his best to handle it. He got through it without looking too bad but it was quite a step up from the 75-80mph he caught in high school. Luckily, the regular pitchers on his travel team all threw in the high 80's so he was a lot more prepared to catch mid 90's pitching. I doubt he would have been able to handle that kind of pitching as a sophmore, much less a freshman.

And that's just from the catcher's side of things. At the plate, he played in 4 games at the National PG event in Jupiter and every pitcher he faced was clocked at 90mph+. You better bring the goods if you want to impress anyone at these kind of tournaments.

I would recommend doing a showcase or two before you are a junior. It's a good way to get comfortable with them. Good Luck!

Lot of good advice here. Bottom line, I think, is to play at the highest level your son can while still enjoying it. My sons summer team (15u) will not play in any 15u tournaments until very end of season in a world series event. All tournaments will be against 16, 17 and 18 yr. olds. HS summer team on the other hand will be against other HS summer teams. HS baseball coaches aren't even involved in it. I think the varsity s****r coach coached it. Talking with others who did the HS summer team last year, they said it was not a very good experience. So, for us, it's travel. Not so much for the exposure, but for the competition and growth as a player. You'll have to make your own comparisons, but it sounds like the coach is reasonable and will not hold it against your son for playing on a travel team.

Kevin25 did you see my PM?

While I generally will say that a talented player needs to play at the highest level he's capable of, you also need to heed the words of Academy Dad and figure out how this will be viewed by the HS coach. HS coaches are very important to your son's development (at least the good ones, not guys like caddad's boys were subjected to) both as a player and a young man. They will have your son for about nine months of the year, while he'll only play for the travel team for 3 or 4 months each summer, in most cases. Ideally, you're in a situation that allows for both and your son can benefit from both programs. If the HS coach discourages him participating on a quality travel team (and keep in mind that many travel teams are NOT quality, just like HS programs some are good some are not) or won't allow it, then you'll have difficult decisions to make. You can always come back here to use us as a sounding board.

quote:

Originally posted by Dear old Dad:
Kevin25,

Don't be in such a hurry to play travel ball. College coaches can only talk to Juniors or Seniors. I would suggest that you play a couple of years for your High School and play travel ball after your Junior year. That was what my son did.

There is local area travel.
There is regional travel.
There is national travel.

My 11 year old will be starting his 4th year of area travel.

Your advice is good for some, but many, many players are doing much more the summer after their Junior year than just starting to increase their level of play for the very first time.

To be precise, many are competing at a high level well before the start of their Sophomore year, and even sooner than that.

One must seek their own level. Age and class have little to do with it.

I would agree with OldSlugger8 that waiting till after one's junior year is too late in many cases to start playing higher level baseball. Many of the top high school players we see are joining us after their freshman year, or sophomore year at the latest. Colleges are recruiting top players earlier than ever before, with many of the top high school juniors already being seriously recruited out in our part of the country.

Another thing to consider is that with a top level travel club, there may not be an opportunity to join the club if a player waits till just before his senior year of high school. The good clubs tend to have the same players come back year after year.

Most HS coaches want
1) the kid to play
2)the kid to play where he will be challenged

All of us know it ain't that simple everywhere

This question may be silly and out of line, but

What does your son want to do?

RZ1

quote:

This question may be silly and out of line, but

What does your son want to do?

I think its a good question.

I believe its important to listen ( & hear not just what we want/hope to hear ) to what the kids are saying. Many times they know and have a feel of where they belong better than we do.

Last year i played on a showcase team similar to what your son is being scouted to be on. Chances are he can play on both. Tournaments with summer teams are usually thurs. through sun. and high school summer teams are usually mon. through thurs.

Your sons high school coach shouldnt have a problem if he truly is being seen by college coaches at these tournaments

Kevin,

Unless I missed it, you didn't say what age level the Summer Travel team plays? If it's 14U, the competition may not be any better than his HS team.

If the HS Summer Team JV is 15U or 16U, that might be a good place for him, since he's playing up a year.

If it is older kids, he will get some good competition and I would let him play on his HS Summer team for another reason; being around his future teammates.

Plus, I think his HS Coach will have more patience with him, knowing that he will have him for 4 more years. The Travel team may not have that same attitude?

14-15 years old is a critical age for baseball players.
Some kids are fully developed, some haven't even started.

I coached a 15U team that were all good athletes, and we were pretty good! Only 3 of those kids ever ended up starting for their HS baseball team, 1 went on to a golf scholarship and 2 went on to play football in the Big 10.

My younger boy played on a 16U travel team when he was 15 and didn't do too well. The next year as a 16 year old, he played on the 18U team and was named MVP.

Go figure?

Does the coach want to see the kid play and prove himself in front of the coach, or does he want to control his development? Like one posters mentioned, make sure your son is not going to hurt his chances with the high school coach over a post 8th grade year of travel. Is it possible for the travel team to be the primary team and get a little playing time with the high school summer team?

My son just encountered a similar situation. He has "optional" pitching workouts with the high school on Mondays and Thursdays. He has travel practice on Sundays. Fortunately he has a coach who understands getting the best training is most important. When my son told the high school coach his arm felt stiff on Monday from his Sunday workout (it's early in the throwing season) his coach asked who's giving him the instruction. When told, the coach told my son to stay with his instructor and skip the Monday high school sessions. The high school coach said he could see the difference in just two workouts with the travel pitching coach.

My son (LHP) had the same choice last year. He chose to play for the high school coach. After all, the whole point of all those weekend tournaments all those years was so he could play high school ball some day.

Since we live in Arizona, the summer high school season runs basically from the end of May through early July or about 7 weeks. That left us August - January for club, show cases, camps, vacation, etc.

During his look in summer ball, he rapidly progressed from Freshman to JV to Varsity in the first two weeks. He's being offered the opportunity to try out for Varsity as a freshman pitcher this spring.

At our 5A-I school, where exactly 2 freshmen have played varsity in the last 14 years, I doubt he would've had that opportunity if he hadn't been placed in some pressure situations against varsity competition as a freshman during the summer.

He got noticed during one of those outtings and was asked to play on a pro scout team this fall. He pitched against a community college team in a scrimmage before he's even pitched a real HS baseball game (of any kind - fr, jv or v). He pitched against some of the best senior talent around as an incomming freshman. He learned that high fastballs do not strike out pro prospects. They fly a long way, even with wood bats. He learned that good hitters can hit good pitches. As a result, he's focused this fall on learning how to pitch.

As a side note, he faced some pretty good pitching in the at bats he got during this process, facing several kids who threw in the 90's in the pro scout league. His hitting lessons 'short and quick to the ball' took on new meaning and seriousness as a result of getting blown away by some legitimate prospects. It taught him a valuable lesson most pre-freshmen probably don't have a chance to learn.

His high school coach has already had him pitch in front of the Angels area scout. Doors have opened for him.

Bottom line, playing for the high school coach will assure him the high school spot and may even open some other doors you don't even know about. If you can keep him healthy (most important) playing both, take the best of both worlds...