The son has an opportunity (invite) to play up in several tourneys. I wanted to know if some of you guys were in similar situations. Did your kids enjoy themselves and what did they get out of it.
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The biggest adjustment playing up is between the ears. The confidence gained from success at another level does not fade quickly. The sooner the better, imo.
Baseballbum,
I think it depend on his ability to hang with the older boys. If he can hold his own on the field then I strongly recommend he move up. This is the best way to challenge a player and better players tend to rise to the occasion. On the other hand if he struggles against the older players it could be a humbling experience and he may become disappointed. My son did play up when he was younger and I always felt this “accelerated” his baseball ability. I will caution you that although a 14 year old player may be able to compete on the field with a 17 year old, there are still a lot of maturity differences between the two. I wouldn’t allow my son to hang out with the 17 year old players when he was 14. He may “play” beyond his years but maturity takes TIME.
Fungo
I think it depend on his ability to hang with the older boys. If he can hold his own on the field then I strongly recommend he move up. This is the best way to challenge a player and better players tend to rise to the occasion. On the other hand if he struggles against the older players it could be a humbling experience and he may become disappointed. My son did play up when he was younger and I always felt this “accelerated” his baseball ability. I will caution you that although a 14 year old player may be able to compete on the field with a 17 year old, there are still a lot of maturity differences between the two. I wouldn’t allow my son to hang out with the 17 year old players when he was 14. He may “play” beyond his years but maturity takes TIME.
Fungo
Baseballbum,
It sounds like you have the perfect opportunity to put your toe in the water by "playing up in several tourneys" but letting your son continue to play with his age group for the rest of the year. If that is the case, I would do it without hesitation. Let him find out where his confidence level is and whether he can compete with the older guys. If he gets a little humbled by the older boys, he can always rebuild his confidence playing against his own age group.
Mike F
It sounds like you have the perfect opportunity to put your toe in the water by "playing up in several tourneys" but letting your son continue to play with his age group for the rest of the year. If that is the case, I would do it without hesitation. Let him find out where his confidence level is and whether he can compete with the older guys. If he gets a little humbled by the older boys, he can always rebuild his confidence playing against his own age group.
Mike F
Here are some other things to consider:
Will he have a realistic opportunity for PT playing up?
Will this interfere with his rec or travel team schedule and is he, his coaches, and you comfortable with any possible repercussions?
If he is a pitcher, do you know the coaches involved and that they will respect his arm? (And is your son mature enough to recognize that he will be facing larger, more ‘dangerous’ hitters?)
My son played up as well, and thrived. The elevated game meant that plays that wouldn’t have been a possibility with his other teams were completed, that he could face superior pitching and gauge his progress against it, and that he had to anticipate that same level from the opposition. He also learned very quickly how to position himself to deal with getting trucked at the plate by guys, literally, twice his size.
On the whole, I would recommend it. But a discussion with your son in advance about all the points advised here will help prepare him, as well as give him an opportunity to tell you his expectations and concerns.
Will he have a realistic opportunity for PT playing up?
Will this interfere with his rec or travel team schedule and is he, his coaches, and you comfortable with any possible repercussions?
If he is a pitcher, do you know the coaches involved and that they will respect his arm? (And is your son mature enough to recognize that he will be facing larger, more ‘dangerous’ hitters?)
My son played up as well, and thrived. The elevated game meant that plays that wouldn’t have been a possibility with his other teams were completed, that he could face superior pitching and gauge his progress against it, and that he had to anticipate that same level from the opposition. He also learned very quickly how to position himself to deal with getting trucked at the plate by guys, literally, twice his size.
On the whole, I would recommend it. But a discussion with your son in advance about all the points advised here will help prepare him, as well as give him an opportunity to tell you his expectations and concerns.
Orlando,
Yes he will receive some considerable PT.
The coaches are aware I am a stickler on pitch counts especially this time of year.
Fungo, he has been challenged his whole life. Since he isn't as big as the other guys he has worked twice as hard as everyone else and still works at it to this day. He applied the same work ethic in his schooling and his grades are great!
Thanks for all of the answers, I know many kids from this site have been in the same situation.
Yes he will receive some considerable PT.
The coaches are aware I am a stickler on pitch counts especially this time of year.
Fungo, he has been challenged his whole life. Since he isn't as big as the other guys he has worked twice as hard as everyone else and still works at it to this day. He applied the same work ethic in his schooling and his grades are great!
Thanks for all of the answers, I know many kids from this site have been in the same situation.
Son played up 14 with the 16's. Talent wise he held his own very well.After ballgames it was always an interesting conversation on the way home.Situations arose in the dugouts that really made him think and show me my boy was growing up.Those dugout conversations between players were any where from tabacco(chew)to x-rated content for mothers but alright for us proud fathers.But as he saids now theres no better place to grow up then on the ball field.
My son played up his entire BB career even when he arrived at the Senior Varsity year in HS he was one of the youngest Seniors on the team.
He is sort of playing up now since he is only 19y/o and a lot of the players are in their mid-twenties.
Though this past summer he played 18U/19U with a good HS level team. He enjoyed the relaxed environment and though he did well, we weren't concerned about W's. as we wanted him to relax and work on keeping his follow through throwing hand closer to the push/pull hand to eliminate any fly-open with the front shoulder.
But we found that playing up did have some benefits even if they spend some of the time on the bench. Fortunately for my son he was good enough to get to play most of the time.
It is also more expensive, because you will probably have to travel a lot more. But you get to see a lot of beautiful country and watch some pretty good baseball.
But if your son can handle it, the baseball education is must more accelerated and he will gain a lot of confidence from being able to play with the older more mature players.
He is sort of playing up now since he is only 19y/o and a lot of the players are in their mid-twenties.
Though this past summer he played 18U/19U with a good HS level team. He enjoyed the relaxed environment and though he did well, we weren't concerned about W's. as we wanted him to relax and work on keeping his follow through throwing hand closer to the push/pull hand to eliminate any fly-open with the front shoulder.
But we found that playing up did have some benefits even if they spend some of the time on the bench. Fortunately for my son he was good enough to get to play most of the time.
It is also more expensive, because you will probably have to travel a lot more. But you get to see a lot of beautiful country and watch some pretty good baseball.
But if your son can handle it, the baseball education is must more accelerated and he will gain a lot of confidence from being able to play with the older more mature players.
My son also played up and it was the best thing for him. In Ontario we have 8 districts and the best players in the districts play for their rep teams and the best of those rep teams play for the district all star teams. This is very high level ball. At 15 he played 18U district allstar. His 1st game he started his 1st 2 pitches were hit for doubles. I was thinking OOOPS maybe too soon. Then he shut the door hard on them. 12 Ks and a 3-1 win. Go for it. The news article 15yr old beats 18U team in District Allstar game looks very impressive to coaches recruiting your son. 2 ML scouts watching . They would never go to a 16U game.
If the coach invited him they must feel he is capable.
The only thing we encoutered was parents upset that he was gettin equal playing time. A few were very open about it but he just shook it off.
If the coach invited him they must feel he is capable.
The only thing we encoutered was parents upset that he was gettin equal playing time. A few were very open about it but he just shook it off.
My son was always big for his age, (still is) and played up from age 7-13. After that traveling teams provided plenty of intensity.
I can't say it was the "best thing" in every way, cause he never played with any kids from his neighborhood or school grade, but we are sure that playing up prepared him to start immediately at the varsity level from the 10th grade on (at a school of 2400)....with the payback being he never seemed overmatched at the plate and hit .440+ as a soph.
I can't say it was the "best thing" in every way, cause he never played with any kids from his neighborhood or school grade, but we are sure that playing up prepared him to start immediately at the varsity level from the 10th grade on (at a school of 2400)....with the payback being he never seemed overmatched at the plate and hit .440+ as a soph.
My son played up most of his life. Skills were there to compete as a starter on varsity as a freshman. (size too)
The challenge in HS was the maturity levels, as Fungo mentioned...
If your son has the skills, go for it!
The challenge in HS was the maturity levels, as Fungo mentioned...
If your son has the skills, go for it!
As a rule, always let your son (if possible) be the hero in his own age group. It is just a matter of time before his last day of baseball will come too (it happens to everyone). The exception to this rule, is the one you stated; tournament play. Tournaments are a great way to see how better and older kids play the game. Also, for most boys, it is generally a lot of fun to travel with older kids. Again, your regular season should be spent in your own age group.
Not sure the "hero" thing matters, but I do remember it seemed odd, when he came home from freshman tryouts (9th grade) saying there were 60+ guys there and he'd never played with, or against, even one of them.
SideNote: As far as I know... no other position players (and only one pitcher) from that freshman group, were still playing during spring 2005.
SideNote: As far as I know... no other position players (and only one pitcher) from that freshman group, were still playing during spring 2005.
I think playing up at a high level is the best thing you can do for a serious ball player. Confidence and feeling you are accepted by teammates is a huge growth experience.
Eventually your son is going off to college and he has to know he can get it done. You are not going to be there to pick him up. I always saw my job as preparing him to face this transition.
He was aked to play for an open aged Elite A senior team at the end of the summer. The oldest player is 42. This is an amazing team with several top college players. He went to pickup his uniform and meet the guys. 6 of them had played with him at District Allstar. He was greeted warmly by all of the team and huggs and kisses from the guys he played with. No concern about wether he will fit in from him or the team. The average age is late 20s.
The only thing he said after the post game meeting was "Dad there all talking about their kids and having babies"
You have to take the shot if you are a serious ball player. The benefits just keep adding up.
Eventually your son is going off to college and he has to know he can get it done. You are not going to be there to pick him up. I always saw my job as preparing him to face this transition.
He was aked to play for an open aged Elite A senior team at the end of the summer. The oldest player is 42. This is an amazing team with several top college players. He went to pickup his uniform and meet the guys. 6 of them had played with him at District Allstar. He was greeted warmly by all of the team and huggs and kisses from the guys he played with. No concern about wether he will fit in from him or the team. The average age is late 20s.
The only thing he said after the post game meeting was "Dad there all talking about their kids and having babies"
You have to take the shot if you are a serious ball player. The benefits just keep adding up.
I'm a big fan of kids playing up, as long as they are good players and understand what they're getting into.
We selectively bring up kids from our 16u team to play with the 18s, and it ends up being good experience for them in almost every instance. Last summer, our 16s team also played a significant part of their summer schedule against Sr. Legion and Connie Mack teams, as well as a few 18u tournaments. They did well and really got a boost to their confidence. One problem we did have after a while some of the older teams wouldn't play our younger kids, as they thought it a lose/lose situation.
I even took some of our 16s to play against juco summer teams, and they did well. One kid's father told me after a game that he thought his kid was going to wet himself out on the mound facing 19 & 20 year old hitters, until he went 3 innings successfully. All of a sudden, high school kids didn't seem quite as tough to face
We probably took 8 or 9 different 15 & 16 year olds to play in juco games, and they generally did well and I plan to do more of it again this summer. I think its a good opportunity for them and a nice chance to start building contacts with college coaches.
We selectively bring up kids from our 16u team to play with the 18s, and it ends up being good experience for them in almost every instance. Last summer, our 16s team also played a significant part of their summer schedule against Sr. Legion and Connie Mack teams, as well as a few 18u tournaments. They did well and really got a boost to their confidence. One problem we did have after a while some of the older teams wouldn't play our younger kids, as they thought it a lose/lose situation.
I even took some of our 16s to play against juco summer teams, and they did well. One kid's father told me after a game that he thought his kid was going to wet himself out on the mound facing 19 & 20 year old hitters, until he went 3 innings successfully. All of a sudden, high school kids didn't seem quite as tough to face
We probably took 8 or 9 different 15 & 16 year olds to play in juco games, and they generally did well and I plan to do more of it again this summer. I think its a good opportunity for them and a nice chance to start building contacts with college coaches.quote:He was greeted warmly by all of the team and huggs and kisses from the guys he played with
Are we still talking baseball?
06catcher You answered the question I had when I started to read your post. How do you get these guys to play you and if you do ,do they play their starters. It is a lose/lose for those teams and most will not use their starters. Not that some of the younger guys can't play with them but they have to have an excuse.
Fungo, ya still baseball. Very happy guys !!
Fungo, ya still baseball. Very happy guys !!
Bobblehead, it actually works better than you might think. What happened is that I asked the head coach of a local juco to help me with some summer games, and since he didn't have a team he referred me to a few coaches who did. These juco summer teams were mostly made up of rising freshman, redshirt freshman and sophomores who aren't playing out of the area. These players are all working to get more time, or to help their chances of making the teams, so the competition is pretty stiff.
The juco coaches ended up liking to play our 18s, as it gives them a chance to see players they might have an interest in recruiting. The biggest obstacle I had to overcome was convincing the first few that we could compete. After winning our first game by a large score and then splitting a DH against a different school, everyone realized this could be a good thing. After a bit, I had juco coaches calling, telling me that "so and so" recommended they call me for some games. It was kinda late in the schedule, so we weren't able to add too many games, but this coming summer I plan to play 15-20 of our games vs. juco summer teams. I'm hoping to schedule games with at least 6 or 7 different jucos for summer 2006. Last summer, we scheduled 11 juco games, but were only able to get 7 of them played. We ended up going 4-3. None of the college coaches had a problem with our teams competing and winning, in fact they all told us there would be more games to play with them next summer, and several offered to hook me up with other teams in 2006.
The lose/lose referred more to our 16s. They won the first 18u tournament they entered, then played really tough with a couple Connie Mack and Sr. Legion teams and those teams didn't see the benefit of playing a bunch of 15s & 16s anymore. It was one of those things where if the older guys won, they should have and if they lost, it was kinda embarassing. At that point, I just started taking some of the younger kids to play with my 18s in our games and spread the opportunities around to quite a few of them.
The juco coaches ended up liking to play our 18s, as it gives them a chance to see players they might have an interest in recruiting. The biggest obstacle I had to overcome was convincing the first few that we could compete. After winning our first game by a large score and then splitting a DH against a different school, everyone realized this could be a good thing. After a bit, I had juco coaches calling, telling me that "so and so" recommended they call me for some games. It was kinda late in the schedule, so we weren't able to add too many games, but this coming summer I plan to play 15-20 of our games vs. juco summer teams. I'm hoping to schedule games with at least 6 or 7 different jucos for summer 2006. Last summer, we scheduled 11 juco games, but were only able to get 7 of them played. We ended up going 4-3. None of the college coaches had a problem with our teams competing and winning, in fact they all told us there would be more games to play with them next summer, and several offered to hook me up with other teams in 2006.
The lose/lose referred more to our 16s. They won the first 18u tournament they entered, then played really tough with a couple Connie Mack and Sr. Legion teams and those teams didn't see the benefit of playing a bunch of 15s & 16s anymore. It was one of those things where if the older guys won, they should have and if they lost, it was kinda embarassing. At that point, I just started taking some of the younger kids to play with my 18s in our games and spread the opportunities around to quite a few of them.
I think baseballbum was asking about a single player moving up, not the team. It's a completle different situation when a team moves up to play older teams when compared to a single player joining a team of older players.
My advice for what it's worth.
Get used to playing up, when you are a freshman in college you will play against juniors and seniors.
When you are a 22 year old major league pitcher you might have to play against a 40 year old major league pitcher.
Get used to playing up, when you are a freshman in college you will play against juniors and seniors.
When you are a 22 year old major league pitcher you might have to play against a 40 year old major league pitcher.
I played up in fall league after playing summer league at my age level it made high school ball seem alot easier because i was used to seeing the pitch speed and the level of gameplay already
I agree with TPM. We don't really care how old a kid is, but do care about the level he might be able to play at.
Heck, I even took a 14 yr. old to fill in against a juco. The kid ripped a single in his first AB, then went back to the bench and told all the older guys how good he was. You can imagine how that went over
The older guys did get a kick out of him later in the game though, when he ran into the outfield fence full speed, face first, chasing a ball that went for a home run. 
Heck, I even took a 14 yr. old to fill in against a juco. The kid ripped a single in his first AB, then went back to the bench and told all the older guys how good he was. You can imagine how that went over
The older guys did get a kick out of him later in the game though, when he ran into the outfield fence full speed, face first, chasing a ball that went for a home run.
My son played varsity as a 15 year old. He is a left handed pitcher and did very well. At the time, he was pretty small but held his own very well. He had played up since he was 11 years old and we have never regretted doing so. The next summer, he tried out for our highly competitive AAA Legion team. He let us know that he intended to make the team. I picked him up from practice to learn he had made the team and turned out to be one of top three starters. It was a little scary having him hang around 19 year olds but again an experience he will never forget. He just signed a National Letter of Intent to a DI school that attended the world series. We are very proud of him.
The biggest challenge he faced might not have been on the field with 18 & 19 year olds. I'm sure he could tell you some interesting stories, though he won't. I'm amazed at some of the things that the older kids get into, that you just don't have to worry about with the younger kids. Amazed that we have to deal with it, that is.
Thanks again everyone. He recently played in a Tourney in San Diego and pitched very well. One more Tourney before he shuts it down completely for about two months, except long toss of course, and then back to baseball in February. Thanks again everyone and I had him read all of your posts.
Everyone have a terrific Holidays!!!
Everyone have a terrific Holidays!!!