Summer Team Question

At 14, I'd be most focused on his development as a player; and it's hard to imagine that occurring as well as it might if he were playing on an out-of-state team. Instead, I'd try to find the best local baseball academy I could; someplace he could work on his game regularly. Virtually every academy I have known also fields teams; so, presumably, he'd be able to get valuable game time in with his age group's team, as well.

Best of luck to him!

This is just my opinion but at 14U he needs to be working on development more than exposure at this point.  So whatever team will make him better is what I would go with. If he didn't play his primary position because the  other kid is better, then in the words of Jocko Willink "Good", it will give him something to strive and fight for.  If the other kid is the coach's kid and he doesn't have a shot, then definitely look for another team or consider other positions. The summer exposure won't be important until he finishes sophomore year so just work on getting better.  Wherever that is , is where I would recommend.

I don't think you're going to like a lot of what I have to say here, but....

* Why are we talking about a 14U training all winter?  What about playing basketball?  Soccer?  Football?  The side benefits of cross training by playing other things are far more than folks give them credit for.  Having coached a lot of kids and parented two college and pro players, the biggest leaps any of them took was when they played another sport at age 12-16.  And you should think about whether this extra training is driven by your son - or by you?  I have to tell you, I know many, many college and pro players and I knew some of them at age 14, as well as some who didn't make it - virtually none of them was self-workout-driven at that age.  In fact, I cannot think of any - and my list would include current MLB players.

Let kids be kids - age 14 is awfully young and there is plenty of time for intense training down the road.  As a legendary college coach once told me, 'I worry about burning kids out with today's travel ball/workout culture.'

* Ask yourself - did you take your son off that team because he wasn't good enough?  Or because he wasn't playing enough?  Two different things.  If the former, maybe not a bad decision if you see no way for your son to surpass the talent level of the leader.  If the latter, I suggest you may(?) be giving your son an "out" rather than challenging him to step up his game to get on the field more.

* Ask yourself this too - is all the money it appears you're investing worth it?  At this age?  Academic money can often be more than athletic money.  How are your son's academics?  Have you even done a rough-order calculation about year-long training and playing in a different state costs vs. a possible (emphasis - POSSIBLE) 25-50% athletic scholarship?  Cause thats what you're shooting for most likely.

I think you are likely to do what you want to do - but at some point you should ask yourself the questions above.  They are good questions.  If money is no issue, some of them go away.  

I agree with the above except, you have to play good competition to get better.  I understand the wanting to play for the team you would eventually love to play for.  I believe there are local programs, because we have experienced it that just do not play the better competition.  Your kid may hit .600 but it is not against elite competition and not progressing.  I understand you can develop in the gym all day long but if you are not facing good competition you cannot put it into action.  I say look for local good team but if they are not playing competition or going to the right tournaments then you may have to do it on your own and go out of state for the travel team.

So, I really don't have any advice on playing out of state or not and I would agree this is super early convo for a 2023, but want to weigh in on the competition question versus training.  To me, this is about what your son's goals are.  I agree that playing the best competition gets you to be the best player.  You don't really know how to pitch against a top hitter until you face them and vice versa for a hitter.

BUT, you can make a decent argument that it is irrelevant or maybe not a deciding factor in getting a college offer.  You can make for sure an argument that you are better off "training" and getting a FB to highest possible velocity or running or throwing metrics up over playing top competition experience with a lesser measurable.  In this world metrics are the king!  I watch every weekend "better hitters" and "better pitchers" excel against top competition (get nice hits and work batters for outs) in front of college coaches and get ignored.  Then watch stronger and harder throwers struggle and get drooled over.  Obviously the answer is to have both...but the measurable is the magic key to get you into the club, it may not get you laid when you're inside...but better to be at the party than standing outside...

I will add one more thing in regards to position.  If his position is catcher and wants to stay there, then you should switch to a team where he can play there.  Along with pitcher it is the easiest to be evaluated at in a game.  Watch a showcase game and see a catcher touch the ball every play and see what they can do as opposed to any other position and maybe get 1 or 2 chances a game.  Maybe a chance when the scout is not even looking.  

Play on the best local team at your position that will hit the big events in the summer.   You still have 2 years before it really matters.  You want to make sure you are on a national type team his soph and jr season. Until then doesn't matter.  Just baseball gave you some awesome advice.  

MHO don't play up in age... dominate your age group.  And don't burn him out at 14..... most of the studs at 14 are out of the game at 18

My son had absolutely no real "winter training" after his 14U season.  He did it all on his own.  Our HS did nothing organized in the winter and his travel teams were a good distance away.   The concept of winter training can mean a lot of things and it's not necessarily a must that he does it with a full team....as long as he does it.

My son played travel ball 11U-13U.  In CT, you can't overlap Travel with High School, so he just played Legion after his Frosh and Soph years.  My thinking was I save a ton of money, he gets the reps and colleges we're going to care about him then (he's a slow grower, so not an early commit target).  He led the State in IP and made 19U All Legion First Team as a 16yo, so his confidence sky rocketed.

Went back to travel this summer, after his junior year, and I'm confident he's going to have multiple offers and hopefully to his top choices.

Now, he's a mid major D1 player.  If you think your son is a stud and can get looks at his age, then maybe go big sooner, rather than later.

CTBBALLDAD said exactly what I was going to say... Why not see if you can get him on a local 16u if you're gung-ho on seeing the best competition...?

My 13U 2022 kid was offered to play on tourney teams that never practiced. While the opportunity to play against top talent is great but I personally did not like no team practices at that age group. Team practices imo are equally important for overall player development. 

If it were my kid I'd be nixing the national travel team this early.  The Canes, Banditos, EC Astros, etc have some exceptional talent on their rosters now. But there will be many many kids on their younger teams that do not end up making the team by the time they are juniors and seniors. 

What I would be doing is finding one of the better teams in your area and having him play 16u. He will a rising freshman next summer. Playing against 7th/8th graders throwing high 60s/low 70s is not going to get him ready for high school tryouts. He needs to be challenging himself. We found that playing with better older kids made ours perform better. Had to prove he belonged and he played up until rising junior summer when he joined a national team finally at his own age/class. They don't have to go to all the big PG tournaments yet, but he will benefit from playing against high schoolers and will probably struggle for the first time in a while (a good thing). Once middle school is over age doesn't matter a whole lot anymore. It goes by grad year and the competition you need to be playing against. Going into HS? Play against high schoolers. Simple. Doesn't make sense for a freshman playing varsity against 18 year olds throwing low 90s to drop back down to 14/15u. 

Long story short: Playing on a brand name national team doesn't mean much until you turn 15/16. Play up until it comes recruiting time - rising junior year (rising soph year if he is truly elite).  And train at your own pace in the winter. If he wants catching lessons take them, if he wants to hit once a week until the season starts do it. 

Do what makes him happiest now and worry about the team best for exposure the next year.

Thanks all good advice.  There is a lot of talk about exposure.  I realize that comes later but wanted to see the best pitching possible.   In our state the 9th traders can't play travel ball until early June, so you have to be on a 14u team of 8th graders which means the competition is complete garbage.   Had not even thought of playing 16u as a 14 year old (typically that's 15/16 here actually).   His team played up locally (13 played top 14u) and it was nowhere as good as PG etc. but  will change next year and we can play up another age group as suggested.    I'm sure it will be by going up an age group next summer.  Good advice. 

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