Say goodbye!

Go Boomer !

Right now we're 18-4-1 witha mixed schedule of league paly and tournaments. We're a AA team but most of our games are versus AAA or Major. Our states isn't until 6/24 - 27 and have qualified for CABA WS in July.

My 12 year old son is in LL. His team is 14-0 with 4 games to go. There are 3 LL's in our city and at the end of the regular season there is a city tournament. After that there is a District tournament. After that will be All-Stars.

The next 2 months should be fun.

Jason

We are doing pretty well. Our record is 41-8. We have USSSA States and Cooperstown Dreams Park in June followed by AAU Nationals in July. Then, we are done.

Our LL regular season team finished the regular season 18-2. Their first playoff game is tonight, against the fourth place team. Being in the playoffs changes the dynamics somewhat. We've won by having two solid pitchers. The other team will throw their only strong pitcher all six if he is throwing well which would just about even things out between the teams. Hopefully, we'll go on to play in the championship game on Saturday.

All-star practice will begin on the 15th, the moment the teams are announced. We face the team that won the district last year, supposedly with a lot of 11yo, in the first round. If we win that game we'll play a team that was highly ranked in USSSA majors without two of it's top players. Those two were pitching for a higher ranked USSSA team. That team is expected to have a realistic chance of making it to Williamsport. As usual their biggest challenge will probably be getting out of our district.

FlippJ

14-0 is awesome. Don't you coach that team as well?

How many teams are in your LL. Is it about the same with the other two LL's? Is each LL divided into an American and National League? I'm just curious how it compares (structurally) to our Dixie Youth Leagues here.

Boomer's Dixie team won their National league title but had a couple of early losses so they weren't undefeated. His team went on to win the Dixie combined Am/Na League Tournament.

All Stars practice has already started but Boomer opted out because he has the opportunity to play in Cooperstown this year and decided to do that instead (Dixie doesn't allow a player to participate in both).

It was an easy decision for him but mom had some serious issues with it because she wanted him on All Stars. The League Commissioner named him to the All Star team at the closing ceremonies knowing that he wasn't going to play which was a very nice thing to do.

Will your All Star teams be selected from the three leagues as three separate teams and then compete or will you have two All Star teams from each League?

Sorry for all of the questions. I am just trying to understand how it works.

Anyway, best of luck moving forward! Please post some pics if you have some. I really enjoy seeing the players as they grow.

R.

Ross,

No I do not coach. I help out once in a while when asked but other than that I typically only work individually with my son.

The three LL's in our city are divided into the American (where my son plays), National, and Central. Each leagues top division (aka Majors) has around 5 teams. All three leagues play interleague games so there is some travel, which is fun for the kids. Each league has their own All-Star team. The past two years the All-Star team from the National league has gone to the Regional tournament in Indianapolis. Two years ago they lost to an Iowa team that went to the LL World Series and last year they lost to a team that then lost in the championship to go to the LL World Series.

This year it would appear that the American league is the better league in the city. My son's team could realistically have 5-6 players on the All-Star team, although that isn't likely. They are a good team, but would struggle against top travel teams. The All-Star team would hold their own but a team made up of the 12 best players, regardless of the league they play in, would be very competitive within the state. That's what my son has to look forward to next year (if he makes the team).

I hope that answers your questions.

I don't have any pictures off hand but I've got a couple of game clips.

Here they are:
Hitting Clip
Pitching Clip

Jason

P.S. You'll need the latest version of Quicktime to view those clips.

Jason

Geez, he looks like he has grown a lot since I saw him last. Great mechanics pitching and hitting. Looks like a ball player!

Big maturity difference between a 10 year old and a 12 year old.

Thanks for explaining your league. Best of luck in All Stars!

R.

Congratulations - sounds like you've all done very well!! Good momentum to have going into the summer.
We just wrapped up our Pony and Bronco leagues over here.
Both boys' teams finished in 2nd place. My older son pitched in the 13-15 championship game against a team with only one loss and who regularly beat opponents by 15-20 runs (I believe 3/4 of their victories were by mercy rule). When Tristan took the mound against them, I told him "Be athletic, be explosive, be dynamic, and most of all......by very, very secksy (sic)," then turned straight-faced and walked back to the dugout. I could hear him laughing behind me and I knew then that he'd be fine. We lost 5-1 on errors, but he pitched a fantastic game against this megalithic team, whiffing 15, walking only 3, and allowing only four hits. IMHO, he outduelled the ace of the other team - same # of K's but gave up more hits to us (which we just couldn't capitalize on.
Now, on to summer events and then back to Fall Wood Bat. Good luck to everyone this summer!!

callaway,
Don't ever lose that pic. The gaze of the onlookers tells it all.

Flipp,
It really looks like he's throwing across his body a lot. Might be some potential for arm problems there.

CADad

It looks like a screwball release with a pronated wrist/thumb. I can't really tell at this resolution. Could be wrong, but I thought it was just the camera angle or perhaps the release because everything looked good until the release. I would like to see another clip or two.

Jason, do you happen to know what the pitch was? And does he always finish like that?

Callaway,
Despite the pronation it almost looks like a kid trying to throw one of those sidearm "curve" balls given the follow through. That's why I was a bit confused by it.

The camera angle isn't straight on. I'm off to the side (right) a bit. His rotational momentum is taking him off the mound the way he is.

Check out this clip: Pedro (1993)

Pedro's falling off the mound quite a bit there too. My son isn't throwing a curve ball either. He only throws three pitches (2-seam fastball, 4-seam fastball, and a circle changeup). His 2-seamer does have a nice tail to it though. Must be from the "natural" pronation.

Jason

P.S. Callaway, the pitch was either a 2-seam or a 4-seam fastball.

One last thing...

Callaway,

Brandon has grown about an inch since you last saw video of him. It looks like he's really grown and you aren't the first person to comment on that. He thinned out a little and I'm sure that's why he looks so much bigger. Currently he stands at 5'5" tall and weighs around 130lbs. Not small, but not HUGE either. At least not around here.

Jason

Flipp,
Got another clip by any chance? I've never seen a follow through that high. It probably isn't that different from where Pedro would be in the clip if he wasn't tilted over so much. Not surprising that the ball would tail with that arm slot. I'd think the four seamer would tail as well from there.

My reason for saying that it was more like a curve ball follow through than a screwball follow through is that the arm tends to end up by the right leg when a righty throws a screwball.

CADad,

The biggest difference between the two is that Pedro is much more efficient than my son is. And he should be. My son is far from a finished product. He's going to get better, and more efficient.

Take care!

Jason

CADad, you have a PM.