Not sure if this has been posted, but if not here it is. Please share your thoughts.
http://www.9county9.com/high-s...eague-announced.html
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
It should be interesting at the very least. I am curiouse how spread out each league is. Also to see what regions this takes off in.
I just sent off for information for our 16u team. I will let everyone know what I recieve
I find the idea intriguing in concept (though the details are vague to say the least), but I am very wary of how the idea will be executed in practice.
Travel baseball is dominated by certain parts of the country where baseball can be played more or less year round. The top teams there are very good - I don't mean to suggest otherwise - but second- and third-tier teams from those areas tend to get more attention than they deserve, relative to top teams from cold-weather regions. I fear that this will be set up to be just another political game teams (and players) will have to play if they want the kind of attention being promised.
I don't mean to offer them up as any kind of true authority, but what I am talking about can be seen in who TravelBallSelect identifies as All-America players and "Players to Watch." Last year, I looked at this, to identify political biases (without really commenting on the worthiness of any particular player - I am sure they are all fine players):
I looked at the four different lists of 14U 2011 Players to Watch (my son played 14U in 2011, and is a 2015 grad-to-be). Excluding California (14 players) and Texas (13), who were well-represented, of the 107 players identified/honored, how many do you think came from the "west" (broadly defined here for the purposes of argument, using the line down the eastern borders of ND, SD, NE, KS, OK, and TX)? Eight players. If you include the 27 CA and TX kids, 35 out of 107 came from the half to roughly two-thirds of the geographical territory of the US. In contrast, the not-so-warm, rust-belt climes of IL-OH-MI-PA and Ontario had 24 players. Eight states had at least five players honored (MD, NC, OH, TX, FL, GA, CA, and IL), and collectively they had 76 of the 107 players listed. Without denigrating anyone or any program, those numbers are so far out of whack as to require several large grains of salt.... I just have a hard time believing that, outside of TX and CA, no better than 8% of kids playing in better than half of the western U.S. (and including several highly-ranked teams, according to TBS) even rate a mention....
In the end, none of this matters much. The only rankings that really matter are those of college recruiters and pro scouts, and if a kid is any good, he will be usually be given an opportunity to compete and shine. And any claim to be the "top" this or "best" that really doesn't mean much until it is decided between the lines.
BUT, when you see this at the PLAYER level, I can only imagine that it will be worse at the TEAM level.
If there isn't some way to ensure that there is truly regional competition, and that entry is available based on merit, my reaction is one big "meh."
I also think that there will be some lag between the start of this and getting teams to give up on the existing leagues they participate in, in favor of this.
Kudos to these folks for the effort, though. While I might be colored skeptical, I truly hope it works as they say it will.
Travel baseball is dominated by certain parts of the country where baseball can be played more or less year round. The top teams there are very good - I don't mean to suggest otherwise - but second- and third-tier teams from those areas tend to get more attention than they deserve, relative to top teams from cold-weather regions. I fear that this will be set up to be just another political game teams (and players) will have to play if they want the kind of attention being promised.
I don't mean to offer them up as any kind of true authority, but what I am talking about can be seen in who TravelBallSelect identifies as All-America players and "Players to Watch." Last year, I looked at this, to identify political biases (without really commenting on the worthiness of any particular player - I am sure they are all fine players):
I looked at the four different lists of 14U 2011 Players to Watch (my son played 14U in 2011, and is a 2015 grad-to-be). Excluding California (14 players) and Texas (13), who were well-represented, of the 107 players identified/honored, how many do you think came from the "west" (broadly defined here for the purposes of argument, using the line down the eastern borders of ND, SD, NE, KS, OK, and TX)? Eight players. If you include the 27 CA and TX kids, 35 out of 107 came from the half to roughly two-thirds of the geographical territory of the US. In contrast, the not-so-warm, rust-belt climes of IL-OH-MI-PA and Ontario had 24 players. Eight states had at least five players honored (MD, NC, OH, TX, FL, GA, CA, and IL), and collectively they had 76 of the 107 players listed. Without denigrating anyone or any program, those numbers are so far out of whack as to require several large grains of salt.... I just have a hard time believing that, outside of TX and CA, no better than 8% of kids playing in better than half of the western U.S. (and including several highly-ranked teams, according to TBS) even rate a mention....
In the end, none of this matters much. The only rankings that really matter are those of college recruiters and pro scouts, and if a kid is any good, he will be usually be given an opportunity to compete and shine. And any claim to be the "top" this or "best" that really doesn't mean much until it is decided between the lines.
BUT, when you see this at the PLAYER level, I can only imagine that it will be worse at the TEAM level.
If there isn't some way to ensure that there is truly regional competition, and that entry is available based on merit, my reaction is one big "meh."
I also think that there will be some lag between the start of this and getting teams to give up on the existing leagues they participate in, in favor of this.
Kudos to these folks for the effort, though. While I might be colored skeptical, I truly hope it works as they say it will.
Just found a bit more information. It's not from the World Scout League people, so who knows how accurate it is, but until chefmike can report back more of what he hears, here you go:
"Only the best of the best have been invited to play with the 5 best teams from each state participating in 8 divisonal games while being match up with another state to participate in an additional 8 regional games. The top two teams from each division will play in a National Championship at the end of July in South Florida."
Some questions:
* Who determines who the best five teams from each state are? Do they self select, or is there some sort of objective measure (such as winning state-wide, regional, or national tournaments)?
* How do they deal with the enormous amount of player movement from year-to-year, especially in the upper age groups? Just because a team was "top five" in 2011 doesn't mean they will be in 2012.
* Why South Florida in July? My god, that's hot and humid then. If this is to be truly national, and truly designed to help reduce team expenses (and by that I mean for ALL teams, not just teams in certain parts of the country), then why not rotate the Championship between regions?
"Only the best of the best have been invited to play with the 5 best teams from each state participating in 8 divisonal games while being match up with another state to participate in an additional 8 regional games. The top two teams from each division will play in a National Championship at the end of July in South Florida."
Some questions:
* Who determines who the best five teams from each state are? Do they self select, or is there some sort of objective measure (such as winning state-wide, regional, or national tournaments)?
* How do they deal with the enormous amount of player movement from year-to-year, especially in the upper age groups? Just because a team was "top five" in 2011 doesn't mean they will be in 2012.
* Why South Florida in July? My god, that's hot and humid then. If this is to be truly national, and truly designed to help reduce team expenses (and by that I mean for ALL teams, not just teams in certain parts of the country), then why not rotate the Championship between regions?
It's not that bad to play in Florida in July, son did it and he survived. July is not the humid month, rain is pretty predictable as well (mid afternoon).
It's also very cheap in summer, makes sense to me!
It's also very cheap in summer, makes sense to me!
Florida in July is hot and humid when you are coming from Seattle. 
And there are already so many national events in the southeast....
I re-read the original posted article, and somehow I missed that they will divide into west (AZ) and east (FL), much like USA Baseball does with JOs. I don't know how I missed that the first time around.
Even still, that's a big competitive and cost advantage to teams in the southeast and southwest. I still think, if you can identify proper facilities, rotating the championship is more fair.
Don't get me wrong, I think this idea has promise, I'm just skeptical until I see that they have thought through the details and political pitfalls very carefully.
And there are already so many national events in the southeast....I re-read the original posted article, and somehow I missed that they will divide into west (AZ) and east (FL), much like USA Baseball does with JOs. I don't know how I missed that the first time around.
Even still, that's a big competitive and cost advantage to teams in the southeast and southwest. I still think, if you can identify proper facilities, rotating the championship is more fair.
Don't get me wrong, I think this idea has promise, I'm just skeptical until I see that they have thought through the details and political pitfalls very carefully.
I am going to assume that Florida and Arizona means spring training facilities which are not used in July on an everyday basis.
It's not as bad as you think, summer breezes, the beach close by, swimming pool at the hotel with tiki bar, where else could you find a better venue?
I like it, if it brings business anywhere, it's a good thing.
It's not as bad as you think, summer breezes, the beach close by, swimming pool at the hotel with tiki bar, where else could you find a better venue?
I like it, if it brings business anywhere, it's a good thing.
I have some info about this now. basically it is a "league" of 5 best teams in an area. the area for southern ohio reaches about 3 - 4 hours drive time for those team I was told were interested. guarantee of 20 games for roughly $4000 according to plus expenses. this is how i was told they decided top 5 teams
"1. Interest level, seriousness and commitment to joining and making it special.
2. Some programs have just 1 team. Some have multiple teams. Some have multiple teams but only want to put in 18u, 16u and 14u. Etc.
It gets pieced together"
They sent list of who has expressed interest in north ohio and south ohio. Since we know more than half these teams, we called them. as far as i can tell, all liked the idea, but none are doing it, because we are not seeing teh money saving that is projected. Also, there are quite a few well known tournaments in Ohio that are attended by colleges. We have chosen to go to those instead.
"1. Interest level, seriousness and commitment to joining and making it special.
2. Some programs have just 1 team. Some have multiple teams. Some have multiple teams but only want to put in 18u, 16u and 14u. Etc.
It gets pieced together"
They sent list of who has expressed interest in north ohio and south ohio. Since we know more than half these teams, we called them. as far as i can tell, all liked the idea, but none are doing it, because we are not seeing teh money saving that is projected. Also, there are quite a few well known tournaments in Ohio that are attended by colleges. We have chosen to go to those instead.