Size Matters

Coach Koz posted:

it's literally men against the boys out there and I worry someone might get hurt. The other night a big kid throwing 80 mph deliberately drilled our five foot nothing leadoff hitter and took him out of the game.

 

I don't think 80mph  injures a small 7th-grader worse than a big 7th-grader.

Meh. Mine was always one of the smallest on the field. He may have been 5' in 7th grade and perhaps 100 lbs. It taught him to put a chip on his shoulder and prove he belonged. He also got HBP a lot until college ball. Only 1 HBP in 8th grade bothered him and that hit him in the ankle bone. It didn't stop him from finishing the game in the field limping a bit. Of course I had to have a leg guard expressed in before the next game. LOL. As far as deliberately throwing at batters, that's a different issue and one that shouldn't happen, especially at that level.

It evens out as they get through high school.  I'm with you on the concern about comebackers off the pitcher, that was always my concern when my son was that age

In 2 years when they are freshmen, they're going to be competing against kids 3 years older than them.....better get used to it    Heck, there are kids entering college at barely 18 years old playing against guys who are 22. 

game7 posted:

Coach Koz posted:

it's literally men against the boys out there and I worry someone might get hurt. The other night a big kid throwing 80 mph deliberately drilled our five foot nothing leadoff hitter and took him out of the game.

 

I don't think 80mph  injures a small 7th-grader worse than a big 7th-grader.

Sorry, my point is that these are emotionally and physically immature kids competing against young men. I find the dichotomy fascinating to watch.

Buckeye 2015 posted:

In 2 years when they are freshmen, they're going to be competing against kids 3 years older than them.....better get used to it    Heck, there are kids entering college at barely 18 years old playing against guys who are 22. 

The D2 university team my son played for as a junior had at least one player that was 24.

size doesn't matter

There’s always bubble wrap. Or chess club. Why waste a minute thinking about something that’s out of your control? 

.

 

I don't think 80mph  injures a small 7th-grader worse than a big 7th-grader.

Sorry, my point is that these are emotionally and physically immature kids competing against young men. I find the dichotomy fascinating to watch.

Sorry, I was reacting to the safety aspect,  which IMO is negligible,  but I agree David-versus-Goliath can be fascinating.

Kids mature at different rates, what ya gonna do. IMHO tho, you don't want your kid to be the 12/13 yo at 5'11" with a mustache. You want that smooth,round baby face for as long as you can, it means they re still growing.

Nonamedad posted:

Kids mature at different rates, what ya gonna do. IMHO tho, you don't want your kid to be the 12/13 yo at 5'11" with a mustache. You want that smooth,round baby face for as long as you can, it means they re still growing.

The 5'11" 12/13 year olds with a mustache are the ones that get recruited early.  The rest of the kids are playing "catch up".  Ultimately, no matter what, you still need to produce once you get onto a college campus.

There are definitely a lot of advantages to being an early developer though in terms of playing on better travel teams, having a better chance of making it through NTIS, getting selected to Perfect Game 14U All Stars & PBR Junior Futures etc.  Just the way it is...

The "size matters" discussion comes up from time to time on this site.  

IMHO, baseball tools matter the most.  Throwing velocity, bat speed, running speed, etc.  Some of that can be correlated to size; some not so much.

The average MLB player is roughly 6'2" and 190+ lbs.  The average American man is roughly 5'9".  For every Jose Altuve or Dustin Pedroia, there's twenty much bigger guys.  Those littler guys are the exception by far.

Having two boys play in college at D1 and D3, in my experience, size matters.  Coaches are human.  They look at a bigger guy and see potential...even where it may not exist.  

As noted above, height is out of a kid's control.   But they can get more muscle, get stronger, faster, throw harder, hit the ball harder, field better, ... 

I've helped dozens of kids pursue playing baseball in college.  It helps the kid get looks if he's 6'3" and 195 lbs.  Playing time tends to be another matter! 

3and2Fastball posted:

Nonamedad posted:

Kids mature at different rates, what ya gonna do. IMHO tho, you don't want your kid to be the 12/13 yo at 5'11" with a mustache. You want that smooth,round baby face for as long as you can, it means they re still growing.

The 5'11" 12/13 year olds with a mustache are the ones that get recruited early.  The rest of the kids are playing "catch up".  Ultimately, no matter what, you still need to produce once you get onto a college campus.

There are definitely a lot of advantages to being an early developer though in terms of playing on better travel teams, having a better chance of making it through NTIS, getting selected to Perfect Game 14U All Stars & PBR Junior Futures etc.  Just the way it is...

A majority of early bloomers are done blooming physically and with baseball. They’re not going to be making big time 16u teams once others catch up.  The travel baseball programs and college coaches can typically sort out those who start fast and will make it to the finish line. 

When you see a 5’8” 12yo throwing 75 with his 5’6” father cheering him on it’s not hard to ignore this kid while looking at the 5’4” fundamentally sound, preteen player of the 6’2” former college playing dad.

If the 12yo  5’8” kid throwing 75 is being cheered on by his 6’6” dad you make sure you never lose track of the kid. 

Coach Koz posted:

game7 posted:

Coach Koz posted:

it's literally men against the boys out there and I worry someone might get hurt. The other night a big kid throwing 80 mph deliberately drilled our five foot nothing leadoff hitter and took him out of the game.

 

I don't think 80mph  injures a small 7th-grader worse than a big 7th-grader.

Sorry, my point is that these are emotionally and physically immature kids competing against young men. I find the dichotomy fascinating to watch.

Be careful.  There is a giant gap at that age.  My 7th grade son was invited to play summer ball with the HS JV and was exposed to 17 year old's at 13 in a way that was not great.  

They will see things and be asked to join in things that they may not have been exposed to before or be fully prepared for.  A short list is kind of the obvious, pot, beer and language.  It started getting dicer around stronger intoxicants, criminal activity and sexual acts both by players and girls.

It was quite a ride for a while there and you should do what you can to be sure if he is in this kind of situation that rides are given by VERY trusted individuals.  A lot can happen in 15 to 30 minutes in a car and they should not be left at a practice or game site unless a coach is present.

I could see changes in my son after one week that required some hard questions to pull out information.  He was being told not to rat by the older kids and in my case it took the threat of not playing baseball that summer to get it out of him.  It happens very fast. 

RJM posted:

3and2Fastball posted:

Nonamedad posted:

Kids mature at different rates, what ya gonna do. IMHO tho, you don't want your kid to be the 12/13 yo at 5'11" with a mustache. You want that smooth,round baby face for as long as you can, it means they re still growing.

The 5'11" 12/13 year olds with a mustache are the ones that get recruited early.  The rest of the kids are playing "catch up".  Ultimately, no matter what, you still need to produce once you get onto a college campus.

There are definitely a lot of advantages to being an early developer though in terms of playing on better travel teams, having a better chance of making it through NTIS, getting selected to Perfect Game 14U All Stars & PBR Junior Futures etc.  Just the way it is...

A majority of early bloomers are done blooming physically and with baseball. They’re not going to be making big time 16u teams once others catch up.  The travel baseball programs and college coaches can typically sort out those who start fast and will make it to the finish line. 

When you see a 5’8” 12yo throwing 75 with his 5’6” father cheering him on it’s not hard to ignore this kid while looking at the 5’4” fundamentally sound, preteen player of the 6’2” former college playing dad.

If the 12yo  5’8” kid throwing 75 is being cheered on by his 6’6” dad you make sure you never lose track of the kid. 

This reminds me of a situation on the freshman team at a school close to me.  They had several 8th graders that tried out for the freshman team.  There were two players that the parents were all shocked about.  One player they couldn't believe he made it and the other they couldn't believe he didn't make it.   The first kid is not as good as the second right now.  Its not a huge margin, but it doesn't take long to figure it out.  They are equal in size.  The difference?  The one they kept's dad is 6-3 and played d-1 ball.  The one they cut's dad is probably 5ft 5.  When you shake his hand its like shaking hands with an 8 year old.  You can't convince me the coach did not take this into heavy consideration.  

$tinky posted:

RJM posted:

3and2Fastball posted:

Nonamedad posted:

Kids mature at different rates, what ya gonna do. IMHO tho, you don't want your kid to be the 12/13 yo at 5'11" with a mustache. You want that smooth,round baby face for as long as you can, it means they re still growing.

The 5'11" 12/13 year olds with a mustache are the ones that get recruited early.  The rest of the kids are playing "catch up".  Ultimately, no matter what, you still need to produce once you get onto a college campus.

There are definitely a lot of advantages to being an early developer though in terms of playing on better travel teams, having a better chance of making it through NTIS, getting selected to Perfect Game 14U All Stars & PBR Junior Futures etc.  Just the way it is...

A majority of early bloomers are done blooming physically and with baseball. They’re not going to be making big time 16u teams once others catch up.  The travel baseball programs and college coaches can typically sort out those who start fast and will make it to the finish line. 

When you see a 5’8” 12yo throwing 75 with his 5’6” father cheering him on it’s not hard to ignore this kid while looking at the 5’4” fundamentally sound, preteen player of the 6’2” former college playing dad.

If the 12yo  5’8” kid throwing 75 is being cheered on by his 6’6” dad you make sure you never lose track of the kid. 

This reminds me of a situation on the freshman team at a school close to me.  They had several 8th graders that tried out for the freshman team.  There were two players that the parents were all shocked about.  One player they couldn't believe he made it and the other they couldn't believe he didn't make it.   The first kid is not as good as the second right now.  Its not a huge margin, but it doesn't take long to figure it out.  They are equal in size.  The difference?  The one they kept's dad is 6-3 and played d-1 ball.  The one they cut's dad is probably 5ft 5.  When you shake his hand its like shaking hands with an 8 year old.  You can't convince me the coach did not take this into heavy consideration.  

You probably can’t convince the 5’5” dad the former D1 player dad didn’t somehow influence the decision behind the scenes. Parents who weren’t athletes rarely see the big picture with it’s realities.