Is it the norm for travel teams recruiting out of their state to play or be a guest on their national teams ?
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Yes it is. Particularly pitchers. Going deep in tournaments requires a lot of pitching. Some teams are made up solely of players from all over.
My advice to you is to research the teams well and choose the opportunities carefully.
East Cobb does it often. During the summer they have host families for multiple high schoolers who spend their summers in GA and away from their families. I spoke to a boy a couple years ago who was from KY and asked "And your parents are just OKAY with you not being there all summer?" He said "M'am, my parents want me to go to the college of my choice and doing this will get me there.".....had to admit, fair point.
Happens all the time. My oldest got several calls like this, but ultimately stayed with the travel team he had been playing for since the beginning.
We would "recruit" additional arms for the WWBA events. Typically these were guys that we either faced during the tournaments we played or saw them at those tournaments. If their team was not going to WWBA tourneys such as Jupiter we would invite them. Normally it was only 2 or 3 pitchers and never position players.
Anyone aware of younger teams i.e. 12u that do this? My 2023 son played on a team last year that did more PG, PBR, and USSSA in the South etc. This year he is on a new team that promised the same but when the schedule came out it was almost all local USSSA and wraps up in early July. Looking to pick up a few more high level tournaments toward the end of the season (Indy Grand Park, Kentucky, TBA Atlanta / PG would ). Very High level player for his age group (pitcher/catcher/OF) If so feel free to PM me.
I know that's younger, but I didn't see a better place to post this and if can place him in a few good tournaments I may be able to do the same with my 2020 (freshman) and make a few family trips out of it.
Top tier teams, especially teams located outside of FL/CA/TX, have rosters filled with players out of state. Look at the rosters of Evo Canes, Marucci Elite, Tri-State, Bayside, Midland Redskins, etc...Nothing wrong it, just not enough high level players to go around.
2020.2023dad posted:Anyone aware of younger teams i.e. 12u that do this? My 2023 son played on a team last year that did more PG, PBR, and USSSA in the South etc. This year he is on a new team that promised the same but when the schedule came out it was almost all local USSSA and wraps up in early July. Looking to pick up a few more high level tournaments toward the end of the season (Indy Grand Park, Kentucky, TBA Atlanta / PG would ). Very High level player for his age group (pitcher/catcher/OF) If so feel free to PM me.
I know that's younger, but I didn't see a better place to post this and if can place him in a few good tournaments I may be able to do the same with my 2020 (freshman) and make a few family trips out of it.
Probably the easiest way is to just go ahead and contact the teams that you know (and likely know of your son) that are going to some of the bigger tourneys. Tell them your situation and see if they'd be willing to pick up your son for some tourneys after your son's team is done. Teams can always use pitching...especially if they're going to Disney. The tourney and the heat make it tough. Sounds like you are in the Midwest somewhere since you mentioned Grand Park. There are plenty of teams that go to bigger tourneys....USSSA Disney, Ripken, heck, even at Cooperstown teams can need arms. If you have a chance for your son to go to Cooperstown, I would jump at it. Maybe not the competition of some of the others, unless you make it to the final 16, but a great experience, though if he's on a team with kids he doesn't know that well, it may be a little different. Good Luck
There is a bulletin board on the perfect game site, where a player can post that they are available for a certain tournament. I have seen players posted there, but I have never used it and don't know if any coaches do either? May be worth trying. I think most of those type teams have relationships with other coaches and "borrow" players for a tournament. There are also "Hired Guns" out there that really just go from team to team depending on which tournament they want to play in that particular week.
If your kid is good enough, there are lots of options and the teams will generally find you. There are lots of different situations and everyone needs to do what is right for their kids development (especially at the younger ages) , but I would bet that there are a lot of the top kids that play for free or very inexpensively on these upper level teams.
Some of these teams simply schedule pitchers for a certain day, so if you want to pitch there is no need to have to be there all week. You can pitch your scheduled game/day then go home. I have seen kids basically fly into Atlanta from Texas or New York, etc. pitch a game, then fly back home.
wareagle posted:
Some of these teams simply schedule pitchers for a certain day, so if you want to pitch there is no need to have to be there all week. You can pitch your scheduled game/day then go home. I have seen kids basically fly into Atlanta from Texas or New York, etc. pitch a game, then fly back home.
The older the team and the higher the level of tournament, the more common this is.
We are lucky enough to live in S. Florida within easy driving distance to everything from Ft. Myers on the west coast to all of the Vero/Port St. Lucie/Jupiter tourneys on the east coast. Over the past few years there have been plenty of calls that went - "We're short on pitching, is you son available this weekend?"
We drive up for the day, kid does his thing, drive home. Even with his "regular" teams we've frequently only driven up on his scheduled pitching days and then back home. It doesn't make much sense to pay for hotels and eating out for a few days when we can be home in 90 minutes.
FFXfireman posted:Yes it is. Particularly pitchers. Going deep in tournaments requires a lot of pitching. Some teams are made up solely of players from all over.
My advice to you is to research the teams well and choose the opportunities carefully.
Thx FFXfirman -My 2019 is a catcher that swtich hits ,not a pitcher , and I've been getting a few calls .
2020.2023dad posted:Anyone aware of younger teams i.e. 12u that do this? My 2023 son played on a team last year that did more PG, PBR, and USSSA in the South etc. This year he is on a new team that promised the same but when the schedule came out it was almost all local USSSA and wraps up in early July. Looking to pick up a few more high level tournaments toward the end of the season (Indy Grand Park, Kentucky, TBA Atlanta / PG would ). Very High level player for his age group (pitcher/catcher/OF) If so feel free to PM me.
I know that's younger, but I didn't see a better place to post this and if can place him in a few good tournaments I may be able to do the same with my 2020 (freshman) and make a few family trips out of it.
Yes, has been going on for years. At least since Bryce Harper was 11/12. See: http://articles.sun-sentinel.c...outh-florida-stealth
Does anyone have a player who is doing this right now? I'd be interested to chat with you.
My son and I were visiting a facility. On the alumni wall were a couple of Vanderbilt players and the Upton brothers among ours who did not live in the area. I know the dads of the two Vanderbilt players. I called one. This program recruited these four and others and threw their paying lineup under the bus for a WWBA event. We never called back.
For teams to recruit additional pitchers for longer tournaments is normal. It doesn't throw anyone under the bus.
asking for a friend....if your son is a pitcher and picks up with an org for WWBA, any assurances that he will actually pitch? two appearances, 4-6 innings seem reasonable? Seems hard to trust someone for the travel expense if you don't know them.
And I (I mean my friend) clearly understand that it depends how good the pitcher is.
Go44dad posted:asking for a friend....if your son is a pitcher and picks up with an org for WWBA, any assurances that he will actually pitch? two appearances, 4-6 innings seem reasonable? Seems hard to trust someone for the travel expense if you don't know them.
And I (I mean my friend) clearly understand that it depends how good the pitcher is.
Seems like the cheapest approach would be one longer outing towards the front end. We went to 5 day tourney - threw day #1 and stuck around for possible day #5 outing, but lost last game on day #4. Wasn't worried about hanging out a couple of extra days but easily could have arranged for a single day attendance if necessary. A second appearance for a starter can be tricky and may depend on just how deep the team goes in bracket play.
Go44dad posted:asking for a friend....if your son is a pitcher and picks up with an org for WWBA, any assurances that he will actually pitch? two appearances, 4-6 innings seem reasonable? Seems hard to trust someone for the travel expense if you don't know them.
And I (I mean my friend) clearly understand that it depends how good the pitcher is.
My (or is he my friends?) son, guest pitched for a team two summers for two WWBA tourneys and got 4 innings each time. The first year was 2 games and the second year was 1 game. The first year, he also played 1st base for an inning because a kid had dirt in his eye!
My 2017 played for a team at EC and we hosted kids from Texas and Alabama. There were kids from Japan, Singapore and all over the US on the team. It was a great experience for him and he developed lifelong friends.
Go44dad posted:asking for a friend....if your son is a pitcher and picks up with an org for WWBA, any assurances that he will actually pitch? two appearances, 4-6 innings seem reasonable? Seems hard to trust someone for the travel expense if you don't know them.
And I (I mean my friend) clearly understand that it depends how good the pitcher is.
In theory the guest player is either total stud or fodder. Fodder gets used early in pool play to save the studs, stud gets reserved for bracket play. Either way one game 4-6 innings is likely.
CaCO3Girl posted:Go44dad posted:asking for a friend....if your son is a pitcher and picks up with an org for WWBA, any assurances that he will actually pitch? two appearances, 4-6 innings seem reasonable? Seems hard to trust someone for the travel expense if you don't know them.
And I (I mean my friend) clearly understand that it depends how good the pitcher is.
In theory the guest player is either total stud or fodder. Fodder gets used early in pool play to save the studs, stud gets reserved for bracket play. Either way one game 4-6 innings is likely.
In the bigger tournaments, you have to win your bracket to advance so you can't always save your studs.
I think your friend can expect one complete game or pitch count max...obviously, assuming that he's dealing. The other option is going a couple, your team grabs a big lead and they pull him to pitch later in the tournament.
hshuler posted:CaCO3Girl posted:Go44dad posted:asking for a friend....if your son is a pitcher and picks up with an org for WWBA, any assurances that he will actually pitch? two appearances, 4-6 innings seem reasonable? Seems hard to trust someone for the travel expense if you don't know them.
And I (I mean my friend) clearly understand that it depends how good the pitcher is.
In theory the guest player is either total stud or fodder. Fodder gets used early in pool play to save the studs, stud gets reserved for bracket play. Either way one game 4-6 innings is likely.
In the bigger tournaments, you have to win your bracket to advance so you can't always save your studs.
I think your friend can expect one complete game or pitch count max...obviously, assuming that he's dealing. The other option is going a couple, your team grabs a big lead and they pull him to pitch later in the tournament.
Good point. Most PG tourneys call it pool play but only one team advances out of the pool.
CaCO3Girl posted:hshuler posted:CaCO3Girl posted:Go44dad posted:asking for a friend....if your son is a pitcher and picks up with an org for WWBA, any assurances that he will actually pitch? two appearances, 4-6 innings seem reasonable? Seems hard to trust someone for the travel expense if you don't know them.
And I (I mean my friend) clearly understand that it depends how good the pitcher is.
In theory the guest player is either total stud or fodder. Fodder gets used early in pool play to save the studs, stud gets reserved for bracket play. Either way one game 4-6 innings is likely.
In the bigger tournaments, you have to win your bracket to advance so you can't always save your studs.
I think your friend can expect one complete game or pitch count max...obviously, assuming that he's dealing. The other option is going a couple, your team grabs a big lead and they pull him to pitch later in the tournament.
Good point. Most PG tourneys call it pool play but only one team advances out of the pool.
I meant win your pool to advance to bracket. Good catch!