Tournament Team All Star

Very often Babe Ruth tournaments with 15 and 16yo are made up of mostly players who weren't good enough to make the HS team. They are all-stars relative to their league.

At the same time I still see HS coaches pushing their hitters to hit the ball on the ground because most HS infields are rather weak defensively.

CADdad

I dont know. In my experience some of these were the kids who when they tried out for the team and did not make it you got the phone call or letter that they were on the "tournament team" the year before.

our youth leagues had a similar games - the roster is "presumably" made up from the best kids in the league -
a few observations about what can/does happen

they usually only get a few practices to become accustomed to each other

often extra SSs will play out of position because they're good athletes

outfielders often don't play their normal field either

ya may also have a 3B at 1B

they weren't all taught the same fundamentals

some don't know what a double cut is and many played on teams where a catcher wouldn't/couldn't throw thru to 2B with runners at 1rst & 3rd

put them in a makeshift competitive situation where everyone is trying to "MAKE THE PLAY" and ya often get what you describe

Bee,
Yep. Last year LL all-stars runners on 1st and 3rd, 1 out. We signaled the catcher to throw. He held the ball. Next batter doubled. We lost 2-1.

CADad

While many of the above thoughts may hold true keep in mind one other thing:

If you watched the college world series you would have seen a team with great defense the entire year come out and have quiet a few errors by kids who had gone all year with almost none.

Every team and every player can have a bad day.

Hard to judge a kid or a teams talent on one outing.

Aparent,
That was my point about HS coaches getting their players to hit ground balls. The reality is that errors happen more often than we want to admit.

Our Senior ALL STAR got the error bug this year. Some players were out of position( no excuse) . I seems like they try to hard playing with others from other school programs or somthing. It was out of character for these kids that came off HS teams with .93 fielding %

one more observation, some kids who just played together "forever" in youth, summer & hs just are out of their comfort zone with new/strange personnel around them

our hs coach was a big proponent of keeping his players (and expected future players) together, and went to great lengths to do so - in summer, fall, and even youth leagues - his thoughts being they will know each other so well they would anticipate each others actions

there was real grief when about 6-8 players near my sons age (pre hs) abandoned local teams and played on whatever the best travel team they could make

his attitude quickly changed when they arrived in hs - and these 8 kids who were all friends but had not played together, looked "light years" ahead of upperclassmen in their first week of practice - plays & situations had become instinct

he don't worry so much now