I'll apologize in advance for this question . My son just turned 14 and plays 13u . He will be a freshman this year. Is he suppposed to play 14u or 15u when HS ball is over next year ? He will be a 2018.Tryouts are starting now.Sorry again.
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If your son turned fourteen on or after May 1st he's eligible for 14u next summer. But given he will be a freshman in high school it's highly advisable he starts playing with his grade rather than his age. He should play 15u. He's actually at the point where he should be playing up as far as his talent will allow. But 13u to 15u is enough of a jump. 13u is somewhat slow motion baseball as kids get accustomed to the 60/90 field. The game starts to speed up after 13u.
I'll echo rjm. Play with grade at 15u. Those are the kids he'll be playing with/against during high school. Good luck.
2018 = u15 for the fall and next summer. Tell him to relax and let it come, there is a big jump in game speed and quality of play when you jump forward a year.
Ditto to what the others said. Son was in same position (late birthday) but he played at 15U this year instead of 14U to be with kids of same class. Not sure if your son was on smaller field at 13u (ours was, I see you're in Michigan also) but the increased field size actually seemed to slow the game down. Pitches that seemed crazy fast and unhittable on the smaller field are now hittable.
I agree mostly with what everybody else is saying, but it also depends on what kind of ball your son will be playing. From what I have seen, a very good 14U travel team is better than any 15u Legion team around here and could hang with all but the best of the 17u teams. Pitching is the big issue. My son, a 2017, played a couple 15u games as a guest, and all he saw was pie-throwers. 17u was better.
Thank you for the responses. I kind of figured it was 15u. He has been on the same team for 4 years now. Although he is 1 of only 2 originial members. We have alot of team support getting him to tournaments . By the end of the season they will have played like 16 or 17 tournaments. Does anyone have a range in how many tournaments teams play after HS ? I would hope it would be a more manageable number.I guess I'm going to have to have this conversation with my son and his coach . Baseball has come too easy for him. I guess it's time to turn up the heat and see what happens . Thank you again.
Once you reach HS you should at least play with your grade because those are the kids you are ultimately fighting for playing time / college recruiting / etc.
Once you hit 15U ball, you are mostly talking about summer tourneys. Fewer, but if you are going to the big ones (Florida / Georgia) it can get expensive.
My son played 14U ball before his freshman year and his team generally played 16U games if they played locally. They played 5 major tourneys during the summer, and each ran for 5-6 days. My wife is a school administrator so she was usually able to travel without it being an issue. One tournament conflicted with both of our schedules, so our son stayed with a teammate and his family.
Hueysdad, as Rob T posted, once they hit high school age, 15U plus, summer ball doesn't get going until after the high school season is completed, which is beginning or mid June. You will want to expect 5-6 tournaments for next summer. A lot of these tournaments will be Wednesday-Sunday or Thursday-Sunday. Look for your son to join not only the best team that he can contribute to, but also look at what level of competition/tournaments they will be playing. Most coaches are willing to take along extra players if parents cannot make it so you'll want to check with coach on this as well. Also, make sure the team is a good fit for your son and that he can continue to improve his game. Good luck with tryouts! I hope his season goes well!
