Player Age

You can't control this, worry about what you can. My kids entered college at 17 and just turning 18. They'll also be done with their 4 year at 21 and start their careers. Advantages and disadvantages to both situations.

Just to provide a different perspective there are other reasons a kid may be reclassed. It could be developmental delays either academic or social/emotional. A lot of boys do better in school when they have an extra year to mature. I know this occurs for sports reasons too. But you never know there may be a different kind of story...

I know two kids that were held back in 8th grade because they were young for their class - both exceptional ball players. At least that's what the parents said regarding the why, but I suppose it could have been for other reasons as well.

One flamed out in a P5 D1 freshman year (seemed like he struggled being an average freshman), but the other did well in a MM D1 and is currently pitching well In AAA for Detroit (I expect he'll get his MLB debut this year at 28).

Is it fair? I think it is if you're within the legal age for HS. I've got to believe it would be difficult to watch all your friends move on to HS while you hang back for another year. IMO it should be for reasons other than athletics, but that's a the parents call.

There's a fair number of kids who aren't ready mentally, emotionally and in terms of maturity to go away to college at 18.

Eighteen isn't the same now as it was 40 years ago either. Certainly not the same as it was 70 years ago.

I think it really depends on the kid. For sure, for some, getting another year before college might be a benefit in getting more mature, emotionally ready, etc. But, for others, it's probably a good excuse to spend another year goofing around and not growing up. Sometimes it's better to be thrown into the lake and being forced to swim.

As a former teacher, I am only in favor of reclassifying as early as possible, that being elementary school due to developmental issues.

My son was almost 18 when he went off to college, no reclassifying just the way it turned out due to late fall birthday. That meant he was over 21 when drafted his junior year. I think being older worked to his advantage.

Regardless, if reclassifying is what a parent chooses that's their business.

As far as a player being older,  get used to it, due to covid and the transfer portal your son will be in competition with a lot of really talented players.

@TPM posted:

As a former teacher, I am only in favor of reclassifying as early as possible, that being elementary school due to developmental issues.

If I had a kid today with a fall birthday (here in NY the school cutoff date is 12/31) I'd probably have him start school a year later for the reason you mentioned. At the younger ages a few months in age difference can make a huge difference.

It's been part of the "baseball experience" since we started.  Our son has been competing with kids a full year older (and in some cases even more) since he started playing travel and it's the main reason that for many years he was "smaller."  He still always made the top travel team in our area.  Perhaps he would have been more dominant had we held him back, but that would not have been good for him academically. Honestly, I think being the smaller kid for many years made him work harder to improve and develop.

@nycdad posted:

If I had a kid today with a fall birthday (here in NY the school cutoff date is 12/31) I'd probably have him start school a year later for the reason you mentioned. At the younger ages a few months in age difference can make a huge difference.

They changed the cutoff date to Aug 31 if I remember correctly.  So it made both of my kids with fall birthdays older and gave an advantage, for school.

When my son was younger the baseball cutoff was in December made him one of the youngest, but with his size, he still had an advantage.

I was thinking more of the kid who was struggling in pre K or in their earlier years because of speech or developmental delays or is just plain immature. Parent decides at a young age that they would do better with another year of development.

Having an extra year before  going to college isn't bad either not everyone is a great student or has their act together right after hs.

I try not to be too judgemental of this as my son struggled in his earlier years with school but is now an honor roll student.

I probably would not hold back  exclusively for sports but I  look at some of my sons friends at 14 and being a late bloomer can be really tough.

@TPM posted:

They changed the cutoff date to Aug 31 if I remember correctly.  So it made both of my kids with fall birthdays older and gave an advantage, for school.

When my son was younger the baseball cutoff was in December made him one of the youngest, but with his size, he still had an advantage.

Sorry, I was referring to the age to enter school. Here in NY it's 12/31.

Redshirting all boys, i.e. having them start school at age 6, not 5, is becoming more recommended, not for sports but for maturity in general, e.g.:

https://www.theatlantic.com/ma...-redshirting/671238/

(not sure whether that's behind a paywall).  If you google "boys start school 6", you find many studies saying that wealthier families routinely do this, poorer ones less so.

@nycdad posted:

Sorry, I was referring to the age to enter school. Here in NY it's 12/31.

Got it, referring to the state where we are from, Florida.

There is a 2026 freshman in my son's HS school that is already 16. He is committed to play baseball at D1 across the state line.

@2022NYC posted:

There is a 2026 freshman in my son's HS school that is already 16. He is committed to play baseball at D1 across the state line.

I know a "freshman" now at a Juco who is attending college for the first time and is 20 years old. Actually 20 and change at this moment.

Also the age disparity is even greater in the collegiate summer leagues. My oldest kid played on a local team and the conversations in the dugout included planning a batchelor party/wedding and of course hitting local bars. When they asked him for his opinion, he told them he was 17 and only recently got his driver's license so he had no immediate plans for weddings

With covid and everything else, ages are widely varied in college.  Look at Stetson Bennett...older than a lot of NFL QBs.  A guy on my son's team graduated 3 years before him and they are both juniors.  Sadly, it is what it is.

I never figured what someone else did with their kids was my responsibility to judge. In public schools kids can't play if they turn twenty. In privates anything goes.  I was amused freshman year my son was a 5'6" point guard dishing off to 6'4" bigs. Some of them were twenty months older.

Both of my kids were seventeen on graduation day. With my daughter it didn't matter. Girls physically and mentally mature sooner. With my son, since he was asked to play 17u when he was 15u eligible by a couple of weeks there wasn't an issue. He had played 16u the year before. He was a stick when he was a freshman (5'11" 135) and a lot stronger than he looked soph year at 6' 160. He was asked to play 17u after the summer he was 5'11" 135. Even travel ball coaches project. Had my son benefitted physically with recruiting by doing a PG year it would have been considered.

I started school at four. As a preteen I starred age based youth sports. When i got to middle school I was a year to a year and a half younger. I was middle of the pack in sports of those making the teams and socially immature. In 8th grade I started dealing with depression due to the challenges being younger was causing. I was purposely not doing well in school so i wouldn't be the younger, smart nerd anymore.

We moved. My father decided to have me repeat 8th grade to place me my age group. No one would know. My mother was pissed. My father got it. He was a three sport star and played college football and baseball. The change moved me from the middle of the pack size wise and athletically to making varsity in three sports soph year. My mother was happy my grades went back up (until there were other issues).

@Francis7 posted:

I know a "freshman" now at a Juco who is attending college for the first time and is 20 years old. Actually 20 and change at this moment.

Some boys start school a year late because they're emotionally immature. If they get recruited by a private they might be asked to repeat 9th grade. They will turn twenty senior year. A local private typically had a couple of these guys on each sports team.

The way to deal with this is not see age. See an opponent you have to beat.

My son was young for his grade and on the smaller size.  I was very concerned about it when he was in 8th grade.  Fast forward, my son hit a nice growth spurt and is doing well as a Freshman in college at a MM D1. He is the youngest kid on the team.  One player was a freshman in college when my son was in the 6th grade.  Big age gap  but he is holding his own. 

It's becoming more common every year. Most parents say they held them back for academic reasons, but I have seen that be untrue almost every time.

The best HS player in my area is turned 19 recently as a senior, he is committed to a top SEC school. Had an older brother who was also a 19yr old senior that went D1.

I have a family member who was the youngest player on his varsity basketball team as a senior.

@anotherparent posted:

Redshirting all boys, i.e. having them start school at age 6, not 5, is becoming more recommended, not for sports but for maturity in general, e.g.:

https://www.theatlantic.com/ma...-redshirting/671238/

(not sure whether that's behind a paywall).  If you google "boys start school 6", you find many studies saying that wealthier families routinely do this, poorer ones less so.

As far as I'm concerned this was one of the best things I ever did.  2023 was smart enough but, as the youngest kid in his class, he was immature and struggled with some social aspects. So against the advice of every teacher and principal I spoke with, I "redshirted" him in 6th grade and home schooled him for another "6th grade". Then off to middle school as the oldest kid in his class. Will now graduate HS w just 2 B's and a GPA 4.4 or something like that. Probably would have been lower if we stayed on the previous schedule. Was sports part of the decision?  Yes I have to admit that it was. Retrospectively, with all the COVID/portal issues and his physical development time frame, I suspect he would not have found a spot at his upcoming college program if we hadn't done this. Back in a summer 7 years ago, I was a certified genius for exactly one week.

“Age is only a number and mine is unlisted”

Bob

MLB cares about the player's age, particularly for top draft picks.  Otherwise, I agree, nobody cares how old a college player is.

@anotherparent posted:

Redshirting all boys, i.e. having them start school at age 6, not 5, is becoming more recommended, not for sports but for maturity in general, e.g.:

https://www.theatlantic.com/ma...-redshirting/671238/

(not sure whether that's behind a paywall).  If you google "boys start school 6", you find many studies saying that wealthier families routinely do this, poorer ones less so.

This became popular after Malcom Galdwell's Outliers.

@nycdad posted:

This became popular after Malcom Galdwell's Outliers.

Indeed. That book was published in '08? Which means redshirting will become more and more prominent after the '22s (earliest 4-5 yo's supposed to start kindergarten when book came out were born in '03-'04)? There are places where school districts seemingly encourage this, and not JUST for athletic advantage. Afterall, school district academic performance metrics will likely be better when 10yo's take the 9yo standardized tests and so on. Just sayin'...

College recruits the older/mature. Pro ball likes to draft younger players. So I guess if a HS player "reclasses" somewhere along the way, and gets drafted jr year,  he is the same age as a college senior

@Ripken Fan posted:

College recruits the older/mature. Pro ball likes to draft younger players. So I guess if a HS player "reclasses" somewhere along the way, and gets drafted jr year,  he is the same age as a college senior

He would likely be draft eligible following his sophomore year.

It’s normal, common and actually part of the landscape of baseball. I wish I held my kid a year back. He’s 15 everyone is 16/17 as a 2025. If he was a 26/27 he would be extremely extraordinary. Lol. Lots of advantage. Mlb loves younger kids. College love older kids.

I’m certainly happy that we never held my son back.  He was ready for college at 18.  He will enter the workforce after college at a younger age than many.

Could he have played at a D2 instead of a D3 if we held him back a year?  Probably, but so what!?!?!

Instead he hits laser beams against D2 pitchers in a summer college league and meanwhile loves his D3 team and teammates

If you spend your time looking at what everyone else is doing you will miss your own opportunities that are right in front of your face!

I can't really say a darn thing personally because the cut off in MD moved to Sept 1 the year my son entered and he's a September baby so he was legitimately one of the oldest in his class (except for the reclasses). Plus he was always very tall. He played up on his travel team until HS and no one could tell. Oldest sister is a January birthday when the cut off was Dec 31 and both my husband and I were on the older end of the cut-off for HS sports although I went to college a year early. The only one who is not a Gladwell kid in our family is our middle daughter and she's doing great. She would have gone crazy with an extra year of school.

What I can say is I've seen reclassing work and I've also seen it be a huge waste of money. Sometimes a kid really needs an extra year to mature and to let puberty catch up and sometimes it makes no difference at all in their recruitment or where/how much they end up playing.

Someone above said college coaches like older. I think there is one serious clarification to that. All things equal they prefer an older, more proven player. But just being older doesn't cut it. If a freshman coming in is a superior athlete and produces s/he will play.

FWIW, during my son's recruitment (so pre-COVID...2019) three ACC and SEC coaches sat behind me at Lakepoint talking about reclassing and they all thought that it was overused. One coach's perspective was that there are only so many bullets in an arm and another's was that a lot of guys only get older, they don't necessarily become a better prospect. They all valued players willing to come in and work hard to earn playing time. Please don't kill the messenger. Just sharing what I overheard.

@PTWood posted:

FWIW, during my son's recruitment (so pre-COVID...2019) three ACC and SEC coaches sat behind me at Lakepoint talking about reclassing and they all thought that it was overused. One coach's perspective was that there are only so many bullets in an arm and another's was that a lot of guys only get older, they don't necessarily become a better prospect. They all valued players willing to come in and work hard to earn playing time. Please don't kill the messenger. Just sharing what I overheard.

My opinion, college coaches value the players HS or travel coach over a player's age.

I also think the philosophy now with filling in using the portal is not necessarily players being older, but rather more experienced, as well as who they worked under at their previous program.

JMO

We held youngest back for social and emotional reasons.  I don’t think sports were affected.  He would have started new school at 14 with no friends.  It was easier as an 8th grader than it would have been as a 9th grader.

For those that reclassed, saying they wished they reclassed, or thinks that reclassing is a good idea for athletic purposes/reason, is it really worth starting a year or 2 later with life and lose out on that extra earning potential and real world experience?  I've met a lot of families that did this.  My son has kids 2 to 3 years older than him in his grade (we reclassed him 1 year up when he was in 2nd grade).  I honestly don't understand reclassing down for athletic purpose/reason.

Just to be clear, I am not talking about reclassing due to maturity or academic reasons.

My oldest is a November born baby. Mom and I did not feel the need to hold the kid back as he did well academically with "plenty" of room to excel further (he really didn't and should/could have, but I can't complain as he ended up attending a HA School). Athletically, he may have gotten more looks and it would have helped a lot with the timing of his elbow surgery but he ended up in the right school that will give him a real shot at playing meaningful innings and his biggest complaint so far is woke agenda, It's a Northeast Liberal Arts College (duh!)a good deal for us. He does play the "what if" game and sometime suckers the missus into it, then me, but I remind him you got to tell a bunch of 20 somethings, they are getting out-everythinged by a 17 year old and ultimately earned their respect despite all the freshman hazing.

Honestly, imo reclassifying a november kid would seem off unless it truly was for academic or maturity reasons. I think the question lies with the june, july, august births.  To me, summer birthdays may make sense in many cases.  Like i previously said it worked for us.  And no, i dont worry about his one lost year of earnings and experience.  When he was home schooled again for 6th grade, i traveled the world with him and fished... A lot...

@Dadbelly2023 posted:

Honestly, imo reclassifying a november kid would seem off unless it truly was for academic or maturity reasons. I think the question lies with the june, july, august births.  To me, summer birthdays may make sense in many cases.  Like i previously said it worked for us.  And no, i dont worry about his one lost year of earnings and experience.  When he was home schooled again for 6th grade, i traveled the world with him and fished... A lot...

Out of curiosity (and bec I truly want to understand), when you say reclassing summer bdays makes sense, does this include purely athletic reasons?  If it's purely athletic reasons and the kid is mature enough and academically ready enough for grade level, then I'm still struggling why it's worth the one lost year of earnings and experience.  I want to learn if I'm missing something as I grew up in Asia where I think the culture is too much on the other extreme (focusing too much on academics to the point where it's not healthy for the kids).  Here in the US, I feel similarly (focusing too much on athletics to the point where it's not healthy for the kids) when I hear about reclassing purely for athletic purposes.

Purely athletic reasons?  No.  I think that is a bit off.  I hear what you are saying. The stereotypical asian/indian parent drives their kid excessively with academic focus to the detriment of other aspects of life and personal development. Conversely there is a subset of culture in the US where parents only focus on the athletics. That's pretty weird also. As a just OK former HS athlete, I take a lot of pleasure in watching my kids athletic exploits but I'm more proud of their academics.  Fortunately for me, my wife and her side of the family are incredible athletes including NCAA champ/US nat team/NFL.  I married up for sure. But we wouldn't have done it just to get some sort of an advantage in sports. 

When 2023 was age 5, he was too smart to hold back from kindergarten. During elementary school, he always scored 96-99th% on annual standardized tests but something was off. He struggled socially and wouldn't quite do as well as you would think he should; mostly because of things like not turning in assignments or being sloppy with work. So we repeated 6th grade to allow him to mature. He just happened to physically mature also.  I think there is some pretty good data that suggests boys often benefit from a delay in entering school when reasonable. Like I said, summer birthdays like my kids might make sense to me. 

Athletically, 2023 was 5ft9 140lbs at age 16.  He gained 25lbs by age 17 and earned all sorts of awards as a junior.  If we held him on the same track, maybe he wouldn't have earned those same accolades until his senior year?  Does he have the same college baseball opportunities then?  I suspect not. As it stands, I think he did better in school with our decision (leading to more merit money) and better in sports (leading to athletic money and a good fit college). 

I get what people are saying about draft age and what P5 schools are looking for.  While I think my kid will be a good college player, he's probably not ever getting drafted or ever going to go into a portal to try and move up. 

BTW. In things that matter, Stetson Bennett turned out to not really benefit from all that reclassing and redshirting.

@Dadbelly2023 posted:

Purely athletic reasons?  No.  I think that is a bit off.  I hear what you are saying. The stereotypical asian/indian parent drives their kid excessively with academic focus to the detriment of other aspects of life and personal development. Conversely there is a subset of culture in the US where parents only focus on the athletics. That's pretty weird also. As a just OK former HS athlete, I take a lot of pleasure in watching my kids athletic exploits but I'm more proud of their academics.  Fortunately for me, my wife and her side of the family are incredible athletes including NCAA champ/US nat team/NFL.  I married up for sure. But we wouldn't have done it just to get some sort of an advantage in sports.

When 2023 was age 5, he was too smart to hold back from kindergarten. During elementary school, he always scored 96-99th% on annual standardized tests but something was off. He struggled socially and wouldn't quite do as well as you would think he should; mostly because of things like not turning in assignments or being sloppy with work. So we repeated 6th grade to allow him to mature. He just happened to physically mature also.  I think there is some pretty good data that suggests boys often benefit from a delay in entering school when reasonable. Like I said, summer birthdays like my kids might make sense to me.

Athletically, 2023 was 5ft9 140lbs at age 16.  He gained 25lbs by age 17 and earned all sorts of awards as a junior.  If we held him on the same track, maybe he wouldn't have earned those same accolades until his senior year?  Does he have the same college baseball opportunities then?  I suspect not. As it stands, I think he did better in school with our decision (leading to more merit money) and better in sports (leading to athletic money and a good fit college).

I get what people are saying about draft age and what P5 schools are looking for.  While I think my kid will be a good college player, he's probably not ever getting drafted or ever going to go into a portal to try and move up.

Then I don't think you reclassed based on athletics alone.  There was a maturity concern.  I was reacting more on the summer bdays reclassing.  My perspective is that reclassing should be considered if there is maturity or academic concerns, regardless of what month their bday is.  But the reality is that there are a lot of parents out there that are reclassing for purely athletic reasons (I personally met several of them).  I also met parents who reclassed their kids for maturity and academic reasons (2 of which are my son's best friends).  Absolutely no concerns with the latter.

Re Asians and academics.  There are a lot of Korean exchange students here in the US bec of the pressure/stress due to academics back on Korea.  A lot of the students in Korea struggle with mental health and suicidal tendencies bec of this.  We hosted a Korean exchange student for a year so we had first row seat to this.