Worth the Effort?

quote:

Originally posted by theEH:
Father's,
I really miss mine right NOW.
I wish he could see his Grandson Play Ball
He'd be so Proud.
Wait a minute, Maybe he Does?? EH

Yep, you bring tears to my eyes. My father passed 8 months before our now 19-year old was born. I figure he's got a great seat for all of this though.

Heart and the desire to win and do your best is a good quality, but all of our players have that right?

Take a look at Andrew Miller and he has the "IT" they are looking for.

I miss my dad too, he was such a HUGE Yankee fan! He was a workaholic too, but always home to watch the games.

I hope he was watching DK in Omaha.

quote:

Take a look at Andrew Miller and he has teh "IT" they are looking for.

If you mean cold-blooded, high 90's, knee-high with the wrong hand? Yes, he has that.

quote:

Originally posted by Dad04:

quote:

Take a look at Andrew Miller and he has teh "IT" they are looking for.

If you mean cold-blooded, high 90's, knee-high with the wrong hand? Yes, he has that.

quote:

Originally posted by justbaseball:
Perhaps the best pitched college game I ever saw in person was him versus Prior on a Friday night. Final score was either 1-0 or 2-1.

cough **Fight On** cough

quote:

Originally posted by Beezer:
cough **Fight On** cough

Sorry, but Stanford won. Double COUGH!

Neighborhood ball v. travel ball. . .always an interesting discussion. For some folks, there probably isn't much of a choice when it comes to high competition. For others, there is. There was an interesting quote from early on in this discussion that I'd like to revisit:

"How many 14 yr olds who throw 80 MPH are playing in your local Babe Ruth league?"

Answer, it depends. The Babe Ruth league that my son played in has produced 2 first round MLB draft choices in the last 7 years and a large number of college players at all levels. One of those two was drafted as a pitcher, the other one was on his way to being drafted as a pitcher but became an outfielder in high school. Two players who were 15 on my son's LEAGUE team when he was 13, are playing D1 ball now. My bet is that there are going to be others when we factor in his class. (his class are rising seniors) Note, that was his league team, not even the all star team. By the way, those two first round MLB draft choices also played in the Cal Ripken 10-12 year old neighborhood league (used to be called Bambino). My son was on the team that won the Cal Ripken World Series in 2001. Every kid on that team lived close enough to the ballpark that they could walk or ride his bike to the park. Every kid on that team that is still playing baseball in our city was named to the high school all city team this year.

So, before you presume that you have to have travel ball to get good competition, you might want to look in your neighborhood. You might be surprised at what you find.

I waited to reply again.

There is an assumption of better instruction if a player plays select. That is not necessarily true. Many clubs simply play tournament ball and don't practice much. Also, I can get my son incredible instruction without going to any team. Furthermore, I know a lot about the game and more than most select coaches. The two (tournament ball and instruction) don't necessarily go together.

Also, baseball does not make a kid an athlete. I would rather my young son play all the sports. He will be more athletic than a lot of traveled out young baseball players. Seen this way too much. Look at the bios of the ML players, many multi-sport athletes.

You absolutely will get better competition by traveling. That just makes sense. However, it doesn't have to start at age 8 - 11 or earlier to see bases loaded 2 outs, bottom of the 7th, etc. Although, experience is great, it can come later.

My point about practicing while others are driving, I'm staying with. YOU DO NOT GET REPS IN SELECT BALL. A 4 game tourny gives you about 12 ABs unless they cycle in players and about 50 pitches. You also get very few defensive plays. There is not enough outs to go around.

I would rather my 8 year old play many sports, we work together on skills, and I'll take a chance he catches up to the others.

He will throw in the 90s and hit a ball 450-500 feet (with metal). (In all fairness, he won't run a sub 7.0 60 yd, he's a future pitcher corner like his brother). I'm not afraid of holding him off. I know too much about the game to not catch him up.

I think love of the game coupled with fear is a tough thing to overcome.

quote:

Mine is in college and still learning to be consistant. Consistency is a large part of the game, which usually comes later on when all of the parts are working. Mine became consistant as a senior, after growing, only to start all over again in college.
JMO.

TPM - boy, can I resonate with that
Thank goodness for summer ball!

Baseballpapa - I would argue that your situation is different than the norm. You obviously work with your son(s) as do I. But I would think, from what I've seen, the majority of fathers do not work with their sons. They have other obligations, don't know the game, work, other kid's activities, etc.

Another comment on being a multi-sport athlete. I agree with you 110%. My son also plays football and basketball. He wanted to run track or play lacrosse in the spring but that would be too much conflict. But I think they need that diversity, not only athletically but socially as well.

You also said that "You don't get reps in select ball". My point is that you can't quantify it because everybody's situation is different. But you can argue that the reps you do get, will be of a better quality in travel ball (in general). They'll be facing better pitching, better fielders, better hitters and it will be more challenging. You'd rather practice with your son(s) than travel and that's commendable. As I said, the majority of dads don't. Using my personal experiences, on my son's team this year, I think about 50% of the dads work with their sons, last year's team maybe about 25%. But my son plays travel, AND they practice AND I work with him on the side too. There's nothing right or wrong with either scenario.

Getting back to the original topic, StyleMismatch said "It would be interesting to hear from other parents about whether or not they feel competitive travel ball contributed to their son's later success, or if their sons had a succesful 'career' with the more simple approach advocated by TPM.".......like I said in another post, I think they've got it or they don't. I think playing travel ball and working with him on the side may give him a little edge at some point. But I don't think it will make an average player a D1 stud. They've either got it or they don't.