Select Teams

Goosegg makes the best point.  If the player doesn't do the work the team will not matter.  I've seen many kids get their weekly lessons at $50 an hour or some other rate, then not do much in between.  

At 13 find a team that has coaches that still work fundamentals and lots of repetitions.  Winning championships at 13 really doesn't mean much.  There is a lot of growth between 13 and 16.  Set the conditions for physical maturity to apply the skills.  You notice many high school players are often Juniors when they break out and really show college level ability.  Sure the kid throwing 85 at 15 is a stud, but there is no guarantee he will throw 95 at 18.  Lots of players simply don't put it together until they are 16/17.  

Benchmark skills every four to six months and you will probably see the progress.  Just keep moving forward and enjoy the journey.  It is very easy to get caught up in comparing your son to others and getting caught up in observations that don't matter.  

Play on a team that plays at a level that is competitive for the player and hopefully similar skilled team mates.  

If a two way player (hopefully a 13 year old is a two way player) then play on a team that supports both roles.  A good coach should have no trouble managing this issue.  If a 13 year old goes to a weekend tournament and pitches five innings then watches three more games from a dugout you will find it will not take much to pull them away from baseball.  The game should still be fun for the player at this age.  

I saw several teams where the environment simply drove players to look for other things that they were enjoying more.  Activities ranged from Lacrosse to Bass fishing.  

Keep him working and enjoying the game. There is a point where coaches contacts and other connections matter, but the skill have to be there for those costly connections to matter.  

13u teams to watch out for have eleven player rosters and are looking for two players every year. Chances are the following year they will be a 14u team looking for two players.

They have their nine. Each year they use two new players for emergency subs and to help financially subsidize the team. 

An added red red flag is six dad coaches. 

Goosegg posted:

For the parents following this thread: control what you can control  - and that isn't size.

13 years old. 5' 4", 115 lbs. Every day, every place, buckets of balls. Never did hit all that well, but the discipline to do that work for incremental improvement is what develops a player in the long run.

He was 55 - 60 mph. Threw 360 days/yr, every place, freezing weather, high altitude, under trees, on vacation, at home, visiting relatives, anywhere there was space. 

That's what gets you there - work, work, and more work. And encouragement, encouragement, encouragement. With an occasional (figurative) kick in the behind.

I think I still have PTSD from trying folding those damn pop up nets. 

old_school posted:

It’s not just about pitchers and velocity numbers, it is broad based statement. If you take the top 20 12u kids in a local little league and track them to 17u well over half will almost certainly be the same names if they keep playing. It won’t be 100% but he numbers are overwhelming. 

this isn’t an opinion it is just true. The numbers will skew higher every year older that you start. It is a funnel, probably only 5 of those 20 play in college at all and 1 or 2 in D1.... it isn’t about the outliers 

The main difference is the age you pick for that comparison. You're probably right about 12U kids, but picking a pre-puberty age and saying the top 11- or 12-year-olds will be the best at 18U is a lot shakier than saying the best 14U or 15U players will be the best at 18. Then when people start talking about 11-year-olds throwing a legit 75....c'mon. That's not even the 1%, that's the 0.0001%.

I think the funnel analogy (we call it climbing the pyramid) captures the essense of what many are saying.  The numbers of players in each age group drops as the players age and not too many new kids enter the sport as they get older.

Within the narrowing funnel, however, player's abilities/potential aren't fixed in relation to one another. Those abilities/potential change organically (i.e., growth [over which there is no control] and inorganically (i.e., desire to play + effort [over which there is great control]).

Except for the rarest (think Bryce Harper), I think any prediction of which 13 yr old  staying in the funnel will be the best is pure speculation.

In our 9-10U rec league championship game, there were twelve 10-year olds.  Four of them (among the best players on those 2 teams) were 3-year varsity starters in high school, and are playing in college, the other 8 were not (o.k., one was a girl).  One of the 9-year-olds the same.  So, who is right?  It was not so much about "talent" as such, as it was that those 4 kids loved baseball and really worked at it.  But it's easy to love something when you're good at it and have success, which is why many kids keep doing what they were doing at age 10 or 12, and not just in sports - music, chess, math, whatever.  You're good to start with, you're told that if you put in the work you will stay good, and it's often true.

Honestly, how many kids do you think were not good at baseball at 10U or 12U, and then turn out great at 18U?  (and I don't mean the ones who never played baseball until they were 16).  Far fewer than the ones who were good at a younger age.

Comical or delusional with some of these comments. No one is getting drafted or D1 looks or college looks for that matter - out of 7th grade or little league. If they are, they’re the .00001% as mentioned which, I’m sorry, but highly doubt anyone’s kid is on this board or the 1 set of parents on here or someone from dominican.

Y’all play right into the travel ball hysteria and money machines. If you can print money and fork over $500-800 a showcase for your 12–14 year old, good luck to you. Those places, events, coaches, and the like are happy to take your money.

I thought this board was for High School kids going after scouts and college after puberty and body/muscle changes and development, etc....

Kinda like flat ground app where people are throwing up videos of their 9-12 year olds looking for advice or kids doing driveline before puberty. Kid turns 15 and can’t even throw a tennis ball or wash his hair because his arm is blown over playing/pitching and playing year round. 

Back to your regularly schedule programming... haha 

Goosegg posted:

I think the funnel analogy (we call it climbing the pyramid) captures the essense of what many are saying.  The numbers of players in each age group drops as the players age and not too many new kids enter the sport as they get older.

Within the narrowing funnel, however, player's abilities/potential aren't fixed in relation to one another. Those abilities/potential change organically (i.e., growth [over which there is no control] and inorganically (i.e., desire to play + effort [over which there is great control]).

Except for the rarest (think Bryce Harper), I think any prediction of which 13 yr old  staying in the funnel will be the best is pure speculation.

Before Harper I recollect PG (the poster, Jerry Ford) saying he had only seen two 13yos he considered MLB prospects, Delmon Young and Prince Fielder. 

thx again for all the in-site and great advice, posted here. I totally agree with what one poster said about keeping the game fun and enjoyable. If its fun , the kid will want to do it. If the kid wants to do it, then he does it more and gets better. It's hard to get better at something you hate. Anyway, we are still shopping around for a select team that will be a good fit for us here in Corpus. Until then , we are looking forward to a FUN season in the Junior's Division of Little League. This summer we will get a little more serious, and perhaps progress to a travel team. At least that's our plan. 

Eokerholm posted:

Comical or delusional with some of these comments. No one is getting drafted or D1 looks or college looks for that matter - out of 7th grade or little league. If they are, they’re the .00001% as mentioned which, I’m sorry, but highly doubt anyone’s kid is on this board or the 1 set of parents on here or someone from dominican.

Y’all play right into the travel ball hysteria and money machines. If you can print money and fork over $500-800 a showcase for your 12–14 year old, good luck to you. Those places, events, coaches, and the like are happy to take your money.

I thought this board was for High School kids going after scouts and college after puberty and body/muscle changes and development, etc....

Kinda like flat ground app where people are throwing up videos of their 9-12 year olds looking for advice or kids doing driveline before puberty. Kid turns 15 and can’t even throw a tennis ball or wash his hair because his arm is blown over playing/pitching and playing year round. 

Back to your regularly schedule programming... haha 

Not to get off track here but getting D1 looks before high school may not be quite as rare as you think. There are at least 2 kids on teams my kids HS team plays against that have committed to a high level D1 college team (ACC) at a very young age. One committed while still in middle school and had never played a HS game. May have been 13 at the time or just turned 14. He was about 6' 1" 200 lbs. The other kid was 6' 4" and 194 lbs as a HS fresh. Committed at 15 so guessing he was on the D1 radar at 14. The thing about these kids is they were/are much, much more physically mature than most their age as well as being excellent athletes and extremely serious players. Lots of muscle. Look like big Varsity players in middle school. My late bloomer senior is probably about a year behind where those kids were physically in middle school For the record, I'm NOT suggesting that people should fork over big bucks for 13u and 14u teams, tournaments and showcases so they can get D1 looks. I'm also NOT suggesting that getting D1 looks before HS is anything but rare. Also not suggesting that kids that are physically mature very early are always going to be good players.

This info is available on Perfect Game.

getting back to the original ask  by ADAMS BASEBALL, my son is also 13 yrs old and was one of the best players in his local little league.  We did not pursue playing on a Select Team, however, we did accept an unsolicited invitation to join a Select Team part time last summer.  We had no plan to increase my son's exposure; only a plan to invest in his development.  IMO, the exposure is (was) a bi-product of his performance during developmental opportunities against very good teams and good players - both regionally and nationally.  My son's participation and performance in USA Baseball NTIS Program was (and will continue to be - I hope) where we prioritize for the next couple years over any other for-profit nationally recognized exposure event opportunities.   

2True posted:

Not to get off track here but getting D1 looks before high school may not be quite as rare as you think. There are at least 2 kids on teams my kids HS team plays against that have committed to a high level D1 college team (ACC) at a very young age. One committed while still in middle school and had never played a HS game. May have been 13 at the time or just turned 14. He was about 6' 1" 200 lbs. The other kid was 6' 4" and 194 lbs as a HS fresh. Committed at 15 so guessing he was on the D1 radar at 14. The thing about these kids is they were/are much, much more physically mature than most their age as well as being excellent athletes and extremely serious players. Lots of muscle. Look like big Varsity players in middle school. My late bloomer senior is probably about a year behind where those kids were physically in middle school For the record, I'm NOT suggesting that people should fork over big bucks for 13u and 14u teams, tournaments and showcases so they can get D1 looks. I'm also NOT suggesting that getting D1 looks before HS is anything but rare. Also not suggesting that kids that are physically mature very early are always going to be good players.

This info is available on Perfect Game.

Yes it happens, but you can't use the .000001% as the example. Think of all the 13 year olds that play baseball, lets say 15 commit before they enter HS. That is the best of the best and less than 1%. If OPs son were that good, he would know by now and would have people coming up to him at games asking who he plays for and to join their teams, his LL would be too easy and he likely would have left years ago. 

A local 8th grader committed to the SEC powerhouse, got all the press, the interviews, and the hype for the next four years. Good player, but the first time I saw him play I thought mid major D1 at best. Saw him play again as a senior against a commit from a mid major. Weak, defensive swings. 

He got to his powerhouse and was out of there before Halloween. When he didn't get drafted out of HS the family told everybody it was because he wasn't signing for anything less than _____. When he transferred to a Juco he told everybody it was so he could get drafted right away. That Juco appears to be in midseason form and he has 3 ABs. 

The point being that sure you can commit to a big time school at 13. But they will also be recruiting other players at 16, 17, 18. How young you are when you commit doesn't matter. A lot of the guys who commit at 13, 14, 15 will end up being studs. But a lot of guys who get recruited at 16,17 will also be studs. I think 10/11 is when you should start getting into travel ball. Better competition, less LL "all-star" talent. Bump it up a notch when you get to HS. When your son is better than the competition and has legitimate tools that make him appealing to colleges that is when you start playing big boy ball and get him with and in front of the right people. You don't need to go to PG at 13 to get exposure. You need exposure when you have something to show. Good baseball player ≠ potential college prospect. When your son is a standout on his HS team, or can hang with the studs that's when it's time. 

My son played LL, LL all stars and travel in his preteen years. I don’t believe where a kid plays as a preteen makes a difference. What matters is the passion he develops for the game and how much time he’s willing to put into it.  From nine to twelve my son and I were always practicing away from his teams. He never saw it as work. It was nothing but fun to him. 

Conversely, my daughter never practiced softball away from her teams until high school. Then she went into intense mode on softball despite playing two other sports. Both kids ended up at the same level of college baseball/softball. My son was better in college. But he was the “it” kid starting with four year old soccer. My daughter started being more consumed with graduating PBK than softball by junior year. Talk about misguided priorities! 😁