Select Teams

There’s so much room for it to wrong at this age. I started a 13u USSSA Majors team with some of the best all stars from our eighteen league LL district. The three assistants and I played college ball. We knew the game. We kept the team together for three years until several moved on to 17u teams with college contacts.

There can be a lot of daddy ball at this age with dad coaches who think they know the game and believe their kid is a stud. These teams tend to be in disarray for a year or two until they ultimately implode. 

You can tryout for a 13u academy team. They tend to be expensive. Playing time tends to be equal due to the cost. A friend told me his son got frustrated losing so many games in the late innings due to large rosters when the subs came in. If nothing else with academy teams there’s usually good instruction. Being on a 13u or 14u team means nothing without talent in terms of sticking with the academy at recruiting levels.

Some kids think they’re trying out for the A travel team and get stuck on the B team with mediocre players at the same cost of the A team. They also often charge for tryouts. 

The best scenario if you can’t put together your own quality team is to be pursued  by a quality program rather than pursuing them. 

In any case figure what’s important to yor son and you and ask questions. At an academy, if you see names you recognize on the alumni wall it might mean they took one lesson there or played one tournament as a ringer rather than a team regular.

Due to building my own team I laid out what can go wrong looking for teams based on what i witnessed. I’m sure here are posters here who can better address what went well in these curcumstances.

Good luck.

Around here the organizations post tryouts online.   Attend and perform well and your player will be selected. 

If your player is a legitimate STUD, you could attend a PBR/PG showcase and teams will seek him out.  Not many unknown stud players out there with that level of skill.

Thirteen is when players start to weed themselves out.  Other activities, competition, puberty, etc.  

Welcome to HSBBWeb.  Lots of experience in the heads of members and lots of knowledge in old posts.

At this age I would make sure you find a team he likes with good coaching. If he is good enough, the better programs will invite him to guest play and eventually offer him a full time roster spot.  

If your son is offered a spot or a tryout, I would find out when the team practices and go watch. I've seen coaches hold an "open" practice/tryout and tons of kids show up. They have a handful of really good coaches and trainers there for that one practice and you never see them the rest of the season. Look for kids standing around or kids engaged and getting tons of reps. 

thx folks-good advice! We're from a "smaller market" but may have to travel to San Antonio or Houston. Would rather get on a team here in Corpus Christi, but might have to form our own. Anyway, we'll play out this season in "Juniors" Little League, and take it from there. Thx again for your help!

I see from your profile that you live in Corpus Christi, which is an under the radar baseball hotbed. My advice would be to start with Marucci Elite. They are a well known and reputable program. If they are not a good fit for you they can probably steer you in the right direction. Good luck. 

Adams Baseball posted:

thx folks-good advice! We're from a "smaller market" but may have to travel to San Antonio or Houston. Would rather get on a team here in Corpus Christi, but might have to form our own. Anyway, we'll play out this season in "Juniors" Little League, and take it from there. Thx again for your help!

We are also in a small market. When my son got to the big field we drove 30-45 minutes to try out for some other teams. It was like a whole new world for him. Better players, better coaches, better everything. The drive can be a pain, especially when there are tests the next day at school. But my son has had the most fun I've seen over the past 2 years.

Bandito org in a Houston is another one that consistently puts out solid teams.

At this point in time the coaching, skills and connections are what you need to be looking for. It is highly doubtful that you will be able to do a better job working with your own son and what essentially will be a bunch of his friends to accomplish the needed tasks. It is possible...but you are huge underdog. 

You need to go find an organization that fits your budget and the baseball skills and time commitment you and your son want to make. It may be year round, it may be multiple workouts week, it may be individual lessons, it may be small group workouts in the offseason, it may include conditioning and strength training. 

The recruiting time line starts at 14u if you son is a top 1% kid, it doesn't start until 17u if he is a mid level D3 kid and it can start at any point in between depending on player and position. The truth is you don't know what you have or how to go about getting where he need to go if he is that good....

You could talk to your HS coaches for reference, search local tournaments for names to research, go out and network people who have been through the travel circuit with older children and are doing it again, google searches are just the beginning not the end. Contact programs of high reputation and talk to them, ask them what they do and how the operate. You will start to see trends and ideology that you agree or don't agree with. 

Find some local people you trust to get you to a network of people who know the local scene and get some recommendations - that in my opinion should the place to start. 

I am in the area north of you. My youngest is in the same age group. We have played a lot of tournaments in the Corpus area. Teams in that area like in most places, go from win at all costs to friends getting together to have a good time playing ball. Youngest left little league when he was 7/8. We have been on a few different teams and it took a while to find the right fit. For us the best fit has been a team that focuses on development. IMO find a team with really good instruction and tries to play against teams that challenge the boys. Wins and Losses mean little to nothing at 13u (other than some kids hate to always lose) again IMO. 15, 16, 17u is where the better players get picked up for the larger tournaments sometimes with kids they have never met and still practice with private coaches or their local team.

 I do have a few tips for looking for a team, (some may agree or disagree). Just because a coach has played in college, minors, or is a scout does not always mean they are good coaches.  The better coaches have the ability to breakdown what they are trying to teach so the player can understand what they want them to do and why. They are not afraid to try new or different things with a player to find what works for them. Not all players are the same, but some coaches try to teach like they are. If you find a team that you think could be a fit. Ask if your son can attend a practice or go watch a practice. Look to see how the practice is ran and look for a few things:

 Is there a lot of standing around? If all the boys are standing at SS and a coach is hitting them grounders there is way too much down time.

Watch how the boys are warming up. Is it structured, are the boys taking it seriously, or are the goofing around?Are the boys working in small groups?

Are the boys working at different positions?

Are the boys engaged and getting reps?

Are the coaches engaged and providing instruction?

Is the coach using the right amount of discipline you are comfortable with?

How are the parents acting (you will be spending a lot of time with these people)?

Are the parents yelling instructions to the kids from the fence (bad sign)?

 The last time we changed teams, we went to 7 different tryouts, picked a few that looked like a good fit, went and watched practices, asked the coaches about their background and coaching philosophy, talked to parents to see if they were happy with the teams (what they like or dislike about the team/organization).

 Best bet would be to try and tryout with a teams in Aug if they will play fall ball, or Dec for the spring. That is when most of the teams are looking in our area.

I'd suggest you contact a baseball facility in Corpus...They will have names & numbers for teams...Get schedules & go watch a few teams play to get an idea of what players & coaches are like...Contact the HS coach where your son will go to HS  (or another strong HS program, ie. Calallen, Memorial, etc)...He more than likely knows who is who in the area...

Do lots of homework! You want a coach & team that shares YOUR philosophy, values, goals, etc....someone you can trust to mentor your son...

i'm a distant "neighbor", in Rockport...retired from Dallas area...

If your son is a pitcher, be careful.  He's entering his growth phase and growth plates can be open/tender and he's moving to a bigger field.  Make sure you keep an eye on how the coaches handle pitchers. 

Wow, lots of good information-thx to all!!!! I am/was just clueless on how to go about getting try-outs for my son. I will follow the advice on contacting Maurucci ( i know they were active a couple of years ago, but not sure about 2020), and i'll call some of the facilities (maybe closer to August). A family member recommended Banditos in Houston, but that's a long drive if we plan on alot of games up there. I do plan on having him attend a "try-out/showcase for PG in Tomball next Feb( 2021) as i think he'll be ready by then. Should be fun. Thanks again everybody! if you have any Coaches names/Team names, in the Corpus area, please let me know. 

Adams Baseball posted:

Wow, lots of good information-thx to all!!!! I am/was just clueless on how to go about getting try-outs for my son. I will follow the advice on contacting Maurucci ( i know they were active a couple of years ago, but not sure about 2020), and i'll call some of the facilities (maybe closer to August). A family member recommended Banditos in Houston, but that's a long drive if we plan on alot of games up there. I do plan on having him attend a "try-out/showcase for PG in Tomball next Feb( 2021) as i think he'll be ready by then. Should be fun. Thanks again everybody! if you have any Coaches names/Team names, in the Corpus area, please let me know. 

Wish you guys the best moving forward, but I would caution you on showcasing for PG next year. Not only is the jump from most local little leagues to PG competition eye opening, you need to make sure he has a measurable/tool that matters before dropping that kind of money. Most kids don't have this til they mature a little (usually older than 14) yet parents still seem to sign them up.

Got me thinking:  

So to further this line of thought, I just went back into my 2025's PG account. He has been invited to 12 (last I checked it was 5) different upcoming 14u showcases in 2020. None of which we plan on attending. After all he is just starting to hit puberty (turns 13 in March).

At mooossst he projects, but who can really say that about a soon to turn 13 year old  ????  I guess one could argue that it would show progression over the years. But who really cares the road taken to check the boxes? Everybody matures at different rates and will travel different paths. Just a little common sense goes a long way.

ReluctantO'sFan posted:

Got me thinking:  

So to further this line of thought, I just went back into my 2025's PG account. He has been invited to 12 (last I checked it was 5) different upcoming 14u showcases in 2020. None of which we plan on attending. After all he is just starting to hit puberty (turns 13 in March).

At mooossst he projects, but who can really say that about a soon to turn 13 year old  ????  I guess one could argue that it would show progression over the years. But who really cares the road taken to check the boxes? Everybody matures at different rates and will travel different paths. Just a little common sense goes a long way.

No college coach is going to care about anything in a PG profile when a kid is 13.  Some studs may start to put up notable numbers at 14u but those are very few and far between.  Save your money and spend it on training and nutrition.  

22and25 posted:

ReluctantO'sFan posted:

Got me thinking:  

So to further this line of thought, I just went back into my 2025's PG account. He has been invited to 12 (last I checked it was 5) different upcoming 14u showcases in 2020. None of which we plan on attending. After all he is just starting to hit puberty (turns 13 in March).

At mooossst he projects, but who can really say that about a soon to turn 13 year old  ????  I guess one could argue that it would show progression over the years. But who really cares the road taken to check the boxes? Everybody matures at different rates and will travel different paths. Just a little common sense goes a long way.

No college coach is going to care about anything in a PG profile when a kid is 13.  Some studs may start to put up notable numbers at 14u but those are very few and far between.  Save your money and spend it on training and nutrition.  

A local kid that often was a guest player on the travel team I coached was the best player in Texas when he was 13.  He never got any bigger and didn’t get a lot better. Had a good (but not great) HS career and was recruited to a mid-major based on past reputation.  Was redshirted and gone after one year. Landed at a prominent JuCo and can’t get on the field there either. Moral of the story? What a kid does at 13 means nothing and often isn’t at all projectable. 

ok. good advice. i guess i was thinking that if he showed well at the showcase, it may open up better Travel Team options. i definitely don't want to "rush things". the most important thing, in my mind, is to keep baseball fun!

I know there might be haters, but LL isn't really baseball..... when they play on such short fields/fences, and can't steal, no pick off moves, etc. Big changes for the LL kids when they get to Travel Ball.  Our 11U team would have cleaned up LLWS teams playing on 9U fields with 215 ft fences. Just saying.

As others have mentioned, it doesn't matter before 14 or so. My son was on the #10 Travel team in the country at 11U, we have a wall of plastic trophies, and stupid rings. None of that matters. Not one single coach or scout asked about or cared about any of that stuff. haha. 

When looking for a team at 13 and beyond, you want go to one with LOTS of pitching. That way they don't have to rely and abuse only a few kids. Trust me it happens. We say a 14U team pitch their kid 142 pitches! 142! We were about to call Child Protective Services. That is abuse.

But on our Travel team, we had lots of arms and that allows you to go deeper in travel tourneys and weekends. Definitely get in a program that carries arms and kids with them.....

Team Citius is good down that way and recruits all over (if they're still around).

Banditos is good, but also have a huge stratification of teams and skills and like others, will recruit your checkbook. 

San Antonio Colts is now part of Lonestar Baseball Club (where we were from North Austin/Central A Team).

Plenty of big names to pick from and try out for. Most already had their tryouts but call and ask around. 

Good luck!

Any baseball not on a 60/90 field isn’t really baseball. When I created a 13u USSSA Majors team from top talent in our eighteen league LL district I wasn’t just looking at performance. I was looking at potential. I was looking for kids we could groom into quality high school players. After getting rid of a couple of attitudes heading into 14u the entire roster played college ball at some level.

I took the athletic 5’2” thirteen year old with the 6’2” dad over the dominating 5’8” pitcher with the 5’4” dad. The 5’2” kid played college ball at 6’2”. The 5’8” kid washed out at high school JV level. He’s still 5’8”. His dad wanted to know if pro scouts attend 13u games. He thought he was recruiting me. I had no interest. 

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