USA Baseball

Welcome Strike,
We are coming to the trials from Nor Cal for the 14u team also. This is our first year to compete, but our team has several veterans that played on the team last year. USA baseball is a quality program from top to bottom. No matter what the outcome of the trials it should be a great experience for the players. Good luck and have a safe trip.

We are headed over as well. My son is on the 15U USA Stars Red team (1995 birthday). He went last year, but it was down in Jupiter FL. I look forward to seeing the new facilities. I hear it is great. Not to mention it is about 4 hours closer to Cary, NC.

I see they have added a gate fee to watch the events this year. $10 per day or $25 pass for the weekend. They did not do that last year. I guess they have to cover the facilities expenses some way. The photo option is new this year. Last year we just took our own pictures. I still plan to take a camera but not sure how that will go.


strike,
Terry Shadler does a great job with the ECTB teams. He is very organized and will make sure all the players get looked at.

Strike and Patriot, are your son's 1994 or 1995 players?

I look forward to seeing you there.

Patriot son is a 1995 birthdate. He is scheduled to pitch our game 1 vs. USA stars blue. I was surprised to learn that the '94 and '95's played as one team. It has been a great learning experience already playing up sort to speak with Wallace and Viceral from last year's team. Also, the older players have been nothing but great to Patiot son. I have to believe the experience will be all positive.

One of the things I noticed last year for pitchers is to use your time on the mound wisely. You may only get 1 or 2 innings to pitch because, with 18 players on the team (13 or 14 of them wanting to pitch) and only 3 games played per team, you don't get a lot of time to work things out.

My son is a 1996 birth date. I guess we are actually the 13u team. So what about the time away from school if your selected? Anyone know what the actual commitment is?

I hear what you are saying. "Just throw strikes" Wow, if I had a dime for everytime I've said or heard that from the stands. Young pitchers struggle for various reasons. Usually it is because they are out of their comfort zone. New surroundings, different mound, big game, showcase, older competition, etc. It is a process to command the strike zone under all conditions. When they do they are usually in college or beyond. Hopefully Cary in another step on his journey.

The 1995's are trying for a spot on the 2009 14U team that will go to Equador in Oct. That would be at least a 2 week timeframe, if not a little more since one week is for the final cuts down in Miami and the next week would be the actual tourament in Equador. Then there is the travel back.

The 1996's are trying to make the 2010 14U National team and the 1994's are trying to make the 2010 16U team Trials team. I have not seen the dates for those tournaments yet. There is more time to plan for those age groups.

I think most schools will work with you on circumstances like this, though.

I hear you guys talking age cut offs like the 1995s or 1996s what is the month of those respected years to be a 14 or 16

In USA baseball it is the calendar year. You see a lot of kids that have Jan and Feb birthdays make the teams for some reason .

Bizzle,
USA Baseball goes by calendar year, so if you are born in 1996, you are considered 13, 1995 considered 14, 1994 considered 15, etc. The thing to keep in mind is this event is looking at players for one 2009 team (1995's for 14U) and two 2010 teams (1996's for 2010 14U National Team and 1995 & 1994 for 2010 16U team trials team. At 16U they have a different tournament in July to decide the final team).

I always thought they did the birth date backwards since all other sanction bodies us "what age were you on *** date?" In this case I would have expected them to say "What age are you on Dec 31st?" like softball does, but they use "Whatever age you turn during the calendar year" approach.

quote:

I hear what you are saying. "Just throw strikes" Wow, if I had a dime for everytime I've said or heard that from the stands.

Possibly the worst pitching advice, yet the advice most commonly given.

I would commend to you an article in the most recent edition of Collegiate Baseball magazine on this subject, it is spot on. The author preaches that the best way to learn to throw is to work on mechanics first, free of any constraints as to accuracy, and then after the mechanics are right, ask the pitcher to throw to locations. Pitchers throw more strikes when they throw free and easy with sound mechanics. But when you admonish them to "just throw strikes", they tighten up, "aim the ball", lose their mechanics and throw poorly.

A big part of the USA trials is to see who can overcome all the circumstances of travel, strange surroundings, and being under a microscope, and still perform. The best thing to tell a pitcher is, no matter where you slept last night, no matter what field you're on, no matter who you're facing, the mitt is still 60'6" away from you. Talk to your catcher about what you do best so he can call the game the way it best suits your style. Then do your thing, just like you were on your favorite field back home.

Patriot son was just notified that he has advanced to the USA 14u trials in Miami, FL. The experience in Cary, NC was fantastic. The USA baseball complex is beautiful and neat as a pin. The weather was a light drizzle at first but it cleared for the weekend games. We saw a lot of good games and some great plays. The kids gave it their all with sportsmanship and hustle.

Way to go! Congrats and best of luck!

This was a well ran tryout. The facilities were great, but they did a great job of mapping out when players were playing and in what positions. They did not leave it up to the discression of the coaches, but had it mapped out ahead of time. This made it easy for the coaches as they did not have to try to figure out how they were going to get all 18 players seen. The evaluators would know, in advance, who was pitching and playing.

I was very pleased with the way thing ran.

It was interesting seeing the scouts (AZ, Harvard, VA Tech, App State, etc) who were there watching. Apparently they were there watching the 17U players, but I did see several watching the 15U's and being pleasantly surprised with the high level of talent there.


Congrats to Patriot son. I hope things go great in Miami as well.

quote:

Originally posted by Patriot:
Patriot son was just notified that he has advanced to the USA 14u trials in Miami, FL.

Congratulations! Good Luck to your son on the next step!