Travel ball teams

How old is your son? Big differences in answers if he is High School age vs 8 years old for example. 

Pcjt, if you search in the box up above you will find numerous discussions on this issue directly on point.  A good travel team with top coaching and connections to colleges is invaluable if your son is in high school and wants to play college ball.  Playing time most important.  Just being part of an organization is not enough, as many have lower-level teams that are just money makers.  Do your research.  This site is very helpful for that, especially regional forums. 

Thanks Aleebaba; I will check that section.

For 2014 Dad, I am interested in the HS level. 

My opinion is that travel ball offers an opportunity to play against the best and the competition gives you insight as to whether your son can play at the next level and narrows the range of the next level..  I would look for an organization\ team that plays in at least one or a couple of high profile tournaments like Perfect Game in Atlanta or other prestigious events. Hopefully word of mouth in your city can guide you to some of these teams. If not scour the Perfect Game website they will list the teams by age group for Atlanta as an example and you can get an idea of teams from your region.

My son was an undersized freshman when we went this route and we looked for a team that had a good reputation, placed an emphasis on developing players and practice , and one of the fist things you see on their web site was their number of commits. There were other teams with equal or greater prestige but none that played PG events. Now that being said to be seen he has to play. Our team had a policy that every kid played at least 50% during the first 6weeks leading up to the big tournaments; after that there was a starting lineup and playing time was not guaranteed. So your performance for the first 6 weeks dictated your role for the big tournament which we had no problem with. Basically the best were starters and the others got some innings. During 15 and 16U events not a lot of Pitchers only ,so quite a bit of flexibility. We stayed with the organization throughout High School and my son would state it was the best baseball decision he ever made.

Go to tryouts for these teams and speak to the coaches and see where they think your son fits. A lot changes in the High School years, of my son's 15 U team he is the only one committed to play D1 ball next year and he was not a stud by any means, the first two years. He worked hard , went to every practice and grew 8 inches, and with that came different player. Ask around , watch the tryouts you should be able to separate the teams looking for money and the ones that are not.

Best of luck, it can be frustrating; time consuming and expensive but we would not trade the past few summers for anything.

Most travel teams will have websites and specific positions that they're trying to fill.  Pitching is always desired so that's always a plus if your kid has an arm and can pitch.

 I would look at their schedule and see if they play quality teams and tournaments.  A trip to PG's WWBA as a 17U is always a plus.  Most travel teams do a good job of linking a player to a college coach (at the right level) that's looking for that specific skillset.  Of course, you and your son can help yourselves by researching and reaching out as well.  Good Luck!