Sit up or play down?

For the 13 year old playing time and "reps" are key !!

Tournament trophies do not necessarily make the player a better player

I agree, playing time is the answer. He won't get his stick working on the bench and the extra mound time can only help him to improve.

What does he think about it?

So far whatever way I'm leaning at the moment is the way he leans. He's got a couple days to make a firm decision and then I'll go with whatever he wants as long as he'll make a choice.

CADAD

If you are going to do as he wants why did you ask for info?

TR,
1.) To pass along to him.
2.) To help me make a decision if he can't decide.
3.) The makeup of the team may not be exactly what I think it will be and that could affect whether he's likely to get playing time. I'll know that when the time comes, he won't.

CADad

I can understand the dilema. Last spring Boomer made the All Stars and had to decide to play All Stars or go to Cooperstown with Redbird's team. It was a tough decision but he figured that the experience playing with better talent and seeing teams from across the Country would be the best choice. Ultimately he had a great time.

As you would have it, his All Star team made it to the Dixie WS (something that he felt was a long shot prior to deciding upon the Cooperstown trip). He never indicated to me that he had made the wrong decision, in fact, he remarked a number of times that Cooperstown was the way to go.

This spring, they honored last year's WS team during opening ceremonies. I could tell that he was upset about not being part of the team. But, the entire experience was a good character building lesson. He cheered the boys and I was proud of him.

Bottom line. The choice was always his to make. I believe had I made the choice (either way) he might have had some regrets. In hind-sight thank goodness I did not try to sway him either direction. Good call dad!!

CADad:

In my experience the #3 pitcher will get all the work he can stand. He may be the most important player on the team. In addition, if the team really is a good as you suspect there will be at bats for the kids sitting on the bench. You may want to consider what the the experience will do for his confidence against high level competition in HS.

3rdgen,
He's one of 3 thru 5, and 6, 7 & 8 aren't far behind. Also that's just my opinion and I'm almost certainly biased. I don't know which of 3 thru 5 he is and I don't think anyone will know before the warm-up tournaments. It is difficult to judge how the kids are going to stand up against top 13yo. These 3 typically do well in league vs. 13yo teams but don't dominate them. Against the better 14yo teams they can have good innings but eventually get hammered. They all throw mid to high 60s and occasionally can hit 70. The hardest thrower of the 3 has the flattest fastball. He tends to be more effective overall but they tend to make more solid contact against him. The other two have a bit more movement but have to have their off speed pitches working well to put the better hitters away.

In fact, it is hard to judge how good the team is going to be because although we can expect to have a pitcher who was clearly one of the best 12yo pitchers in the nation last year and another who is pretty close and may throw a bit harder, they aren't going to be anywhere near as dominant against top 13yo at 54'.

unless im mistaken there is no 13 year old pony division, the all stars are open to all league age for that division,

I know you guys will be facing some tough competition in SoCal and you'd expect kids to put the ball in play more at 54' however a good pitcher does not just stop getting hitters out because of the change. Will your defense make the routine plays? Will your hitters have quality at bats?

In general, I'd treat playing at a higher level of competition as a little like taking the honors classes in school. If the student qualifies, chances are with lots of work he'll be able to keep up.

CaDad...now that he is 13, have him get a sign on and he can ask the questions himself. He may surprise you.

tecspd,
There is a 13,14 all-stars and 13 only all-stars in Pony. Starting last year the 13yo go all the way to a WS.

3rdgen,
They're still good pitchers and still get outs, there are just a lot less strikeouts. That means to me that a good hitting team is going to be able to beat a good pitching team a bit more often than at 46'.

Last year at 12yo we were crushed in the first round by a team that I thought had much better hitting from top to bottom than Conejo Valley. Conejo Valley was able to beat them with pitching and defense. We went a few games further in the loser's bracket and lost to a weak hitting, strong pitching team 2-1 with one possibly both of the runs we gave up being unearned. The team we lost to went on to eliminate the strong hitting team in the loser's bracket final in extra innings of a low scoring game. They were out of pitching after that and were easily beaten by Conejo.