summer after freshman baseball

Hi jwalker9, and welcome.

My son is a sophomore this year and faced the same question you are facing last summer. He chose to play at the higher level, but it may well be that the quality of Juniors/Seniors LL in our area is worse than in yours (we really didn't consider it much of an option from a competitive standpoint), and we enjoy baseball travel and seeing some of the best players in the country at my son's age while trying to get a feel for how/where he fits. YMMV.

I don't think there is an easy answer to your question. On the one hand, I think it is always important to challenge yourself competitively by playing at the highest level at which you can play regularly. On the other hand, the age you are now is one of the last years where (if you are interested in playing at the next level, at least)you will have the luxury of playing with your friends like that. That is an important part of growing up, too. I don't know what others think, but the summer after your freshman year is not the most important time to be showcasing yourself, but it can be a good time to ease yourself into that. It can be a bit of a circus, and playing now gives you the benefit of getting adjusted to it so you will be at your best and most comfortable when it IS more important (after your sophomore and junior seasons).

One question: can you not do BOTH? Up here in the NW, there are teams that gather solely for national showcase events, after the summer season is over. Basically, you join these teams in August. Is that available to you? Would your LL Juniors season (assuming you go all the way to State) be over by August?

quote:

Originally posted by EdgarFan:
On the other hand, the age you are now is one of the last years where (if you are interested in playing at the next level, at least)you will have the luxury of playing with your friends like that. That is an important part of growing up, too.

"FUN" baseball is over so quick...and you cant go back......certainly you should consider this with your parents input and decide whats best for you...

You have plenty of time to showcase when you are on Varsity....

What is your ultimate goal for playing baseball? Do you just want to play high school ball and hopefully 3 years of varsity? Or do you have goals to play in college? If you want to play in college, I would get on the competitive team now, and start getting yourself playing better competition. Sorry, your friends may not help you get to the next level, while a more competitive team can. That would be my vote. My son got on a well know travel team as a freshman and has stayed there for what will be all 4 years.

Something to think about, also. I have heard on here that you dont have to play for a serious travel team until after your junior year to get noticed. Could be true, I dont know. But two thoughts on this: are you for sure there will be a slot open on one of these teams in two years? And if you were to join the team in two years, I would be worried that a coach of this team would be more willing to go out of his way to get exposure for the players that have been with him for a while, instead of a player that has just joined the team.

quote:

Originally posted by jwalker9:
How important is it to play the most competitive baseball possible at this stage? I have the choice of playing with a competitive team that will play in some big showcase tournaments and might prepare me for varsity baseball or playing with some of my friends and trying to win state for Juniors Little League. I have a very good chance to play at the varsity level sophomore year, but is it important that I play competitively in the summer? Our school has a fall and winter baseball program that I will do to prepare for the season. But for the summer do you think it would be in my best interest to play with my friends or to play in a competitive environment?

I feel these are very good questions and are some of the very question my son and I addressed at this same stage. Since I've always believed that one naturally gets better at what they do by competing with and against people that are better or the best, I've always tried to "raise the bar" for my son who showed interest in going to the next level. So we found very competitive travel team that he could play on starting in his Jr.High years. And though he was dedicated to the travel team, the Jr. Little League team with many of his friends wanted him to play there. We had a talk the coaches of the Little League team and let them know that my son would like to play with them, but could not be there for every practice and could not guarantee he would be there for every game as he was fully committed to the advanced travel team. I've always taught my son that when he joins a team he should be fully committed to it and the only reason my son and I considered the Little League team at this point was because the coaches and players really wanted him to play with them, even if it wasn't all the time. So, that's what we all agreed to do. . .up until the end of his Freshman year.

It was at this time we were looking to "raise the bar" again as he had a lot of success in his Freshman year, both in high school and travel ball. His high school coach had put together a summer team (and also had a fall program) to mostly play locally, but traveled at the end of the summer to a showcase event. My son was able to get onto the top local travel team that was well known for getting into the highest level of play. And so, very like what happened with the Little League group, my son was able to play on both, but dedicated to his travel team (meaning he would never miss a travel team's practice or game to attend the other teams event).

Now my son was a two-way player and was used mostly as a position player. So, splitting his playing time like this didn't really bother him physically. If he was primarily a pitcher, then it'd be a different story and we would have stuck to just the travel team.

There is no doubt that having my son play on a very competitive travel team was very beneficial. . . certainly more beneficial than had he chosen to just play on the other teams (both in terms of development and exposure to college recruiters). It was this summer between his Freshman and Sophomore year that my son began to show up on recruiter's radars. But I don't feel there was really any advantage to being on any radar this early.

With the advanced travel team my son was on, he played with and competed against top players not only those on his team but the teams they would play against. His travel team made it a point to play in tournaments where top teams from around the country would show up so that they would be playing against the highest possible competition. And they would of course participate in an occasional "showcase" event. Playing at this level sharpened my son's skills and mental focus and brought him to a higher level play. So when he went back to high school after summer, he was playing at a higher level than most, if not all, his high school team mates (where his teams mates were not playing at or against that level of ball).

Raising my son's skill level to as high as possible was our goal as my son had definite plans on playing baseball in college and beyond if he can. Therefore, to that end I feel we took the right track in raising the bar as far as we could as often as we could. And I feel it's paid off so far (he was drafted out of HS, he's been a starting player on a Pac12 team since the start of his Freshman year).

So. . .with all this said, it's MHO that if you have the desire to be the best and go a far as you possibly can, you should take every opportunity to that end. And I'd recommend going with the "competitive team" if they're willing and able to raise the bar for you. Just be careful about being on a "competitive team" that might only emphasizes showcasing as they may not really be good at the development end of the equation. You don't want to go through the expense of being on a "competitive team" where you're the guy that spends 90% of his time on the bench. . .which won't help you reach the bar you may be reaching for.

I hope this helps and whatever you decide to do, I hope you'll really enjoy the time as your time will seem to go by fast when keeping busy developing your baseball skills.

you always want to play with and against the best talent you can find

quote:

Originally posted by TRhit:
you always want to play with and against the best talent you can find

I agree with TR, but it also has to be fun for you. It's much easier to play at the highest level if you LOVE playing at the higher levels.

The bottom line, what do you want to do?

quote:

Originally posted by JMoff:
The bottom line, what do you want to do?

And how much are your parents or guardians prepared to spend? Yes playing against better competition helps you, and should be fun if you are good enough to be playing. But the high cost of some travel teams needs to weigh in the equation as some family budgets can't swing these and the money should be saved for rising senior summer.

The critical exposure year for a player who is not a complete and utter stud is still the summer after your Junior year. And even then, with the same caveat, you might get to the same place simply by defining where you want to go to school, and target that school's camps or find out where to get in front of a coach there.

Babe Ruth or comparable neighborhood leagues should not be discounted both for the camaraderie of playing with your buds, as well as the opportunity for playing against better competition in regional or statewide all star games. Most of this is done by mid July when you can still switch to a tournament team or look to teams who may need an add on for a tournament run.

You won't be this age again. Be sure you remember that baseball is a game to be enjoyed. Only you can decide what represents enjoyment for you.

You will make friends on competitive team too. If you can afford it, and if your going to play and not sit the bench, then go play more competitive ball. Sounds like your goal is to play Varsity and beyond. You never know what next yr will bring,there is always injuries to worry about. Find a good team/coach and go out and improve as much as possible. You can still hang with yur LL friends outside baseball.