Starting up a new one for 2023. It's still early, some teams are still having tryouts, some kids are still looking for spots, and others are basically set up and will have team meetings by the end of the month to set practice/tournament schedules, and so forth.

Both of my boys are playing- the older is in 13U and the younger in 8U. The older one will also be doing track & field at school while my younger one is currently playing basketball and flag football starts tonight. February will be interesting for the younger one because baseball will have started and overlap with basketball and flag football.

What do you think is the best way to find out information about tryouts, etc?

My 12 yo son was a mostly a rec player, playing a lot of sports, and generally just a very good overall athlete. He has focused in on baseball since last spring and he's sort of risen to the top of rec level competition. Against those levels (bronco?) he rarely gives up a run.

He'd love to try out for a tournament team, but we are both aware of the politics that happen. Every coach that's ever seen him pitch sort of has the same reaction - "ok, wow, I thought you were just another dad who thinks their son is great but boy, ___ can really pitch."

We just have no idea how to approach finding him higher levels of competition since it's not an area I've been.

FrioAg 00 said:

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What do you think is the best way to find out information about tryouts, etc?

My 12 yo son was a mostly a rec player, playing a lot of sports, and generally just a very good overall athlete. He has focused in on baseball since last spring and he's sort of risen to the top of rec level competition. Against those levels (bronco?) he rarely gives up a run.

He'd love to try out for a tournament team, but we are both aware of the politics that happen. Every coach that's ever seen him pitch sort of has the same reaction - "ok, wow, I thought you were just another dad who thinks their son is great but boy, ___ can really pitch."

We just have no idea how to approach finding him higher levels of competition since it's not an area I've been.

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Where do you live? If you're on Facebook and in Houston look up the Houston Select Baseball group on there then simply post that you've got a kid looking to make the jump to select and you'll have tons of teams respond. Presumably it's the same in other metro areas too.

If you're not on social media then surely some of your son's classmates play select ball somewhere. Maybe reach out to them. And while the league folks may not like losing kids I promise you they'll get it and will know of teams that you can reach out to.

After that it's up to your kid in tryouts and up to you to figure out if the team/organization are a fit.

There are always politics and drama to a certain extent. But those can be minimized by finding the right organization. And frankly, your son is at an age where a lot of that starts to be mitigated. As one of my older boy's coaches says, "between 8 and 12U every parent thinks their kid is the next Mike Trout [or insert MLB star] but by 13U they're just hoping their kid is good enough and will develop enough to make the HS team" so a lot of the craziness dies out. Kids hitting puberty and moving up to the big field really levels things out.

Thank you, that's very encouraging insight.

And that last part of it sort of matches up to what I've been telling him. If you develop a great fastball that you can place wherever you want it, and then a breaking ball with movement that is really difficult to hit - I really doubt it's going to matter a whole lot where you developed it.

The goal is to make his high school team in a couple years (which happens to be a very good program). I figure that's all the exposure he really could ask for.


Edit: if he's too late for tryouts, especially as a pitcher, it may be another season before he can make the leap. But he had both former coaches from the leagues he played (spring and fall ball) call me to see if I'd assistant coach so they could lock him down on their team. So he'll at least get plenty more action and reps.

If he can pitch teams will make room.

TAM85 said:

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I think playing multiple sports is great for the kids for a lot of reasons. I have heard several college baseball coaches say that they look for multi-sport athletes. And a lot of kids play more than one sport in high school. Two of my boys have played basketball and baseball through high school. One is about to graduate college and the other is a senior in high school. It is not a common combo (there are quite a few football/baseball kids), but it is doable.

An example of one of the challenges is due to basketball playoffs my high schooler did not make it out to baseball until 6 weeks after tryouts his junior year. Plus you are in the basketball class not the baseball class all Fall. Not many kids do it all the way through high school, but if the basketball and baseball coaches are okay with it you can make it work.

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Absolutely- I'm pretty adamant that they play multiple sports. At a minimum until HS. And even then I don't want them focusing on a single sport unless they're forced to do so.

So many people focus their kids on one sport because they don't truly have a clue about playing beyond HS and think specializing will get them there. But the percentages are so low and it doesn't matter how great you are at a sport there's a very finite period of time you get to compete in a sport as a member of a team. It comes to an end for even the greatest players at a fairly young age. Look at JJ Watt- he's a lock to be an 1st-ballot NFL HoF player and he's retiring at 33 because he's just not at the level he was when he was 25 or even 30. In baseball guys like Verlander or Nolan Ryan are the exception.

Plus, tons and tons of college and pro scouts (in all sports) consistently talk about how they prefer multisport athletes. And specific to baseball these same coaches/scouts talk about how focusing on baseball alone has led to an overall decline in athleticism in baseball players in the USA.

Just registered for the local 8U season. Will be my son's last in coach pitch. His coach from last season emailed us all and asked if we'd like to come back, my son said no. So I won't turn in the protection form. I kind of hate going into the crap shoot for him, b/c I don't really know many of the coaches. On the other hand, I wasn't a fan of last season's coaches, either. Lot of talking and not doing for 7 and 8 year olds.

Agreed. Another benefit, especially for pitchers, is playing another sport provides a couple of months off from throwing. Regarding basketball, I think it is a fantastic agility sport that benefits baseball players.

First practice of 6U rec league started tonight. So far it's 100x better than the coach we got last fall.

TAM85 said:

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Agreed. Another benefit, especially for pitchers, is playing another sport provides a couple of months off from throwing. Regarding basketball, I think it is a fantastic agility sport that benefits baseball players.

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To listen to Tom House it's not that kids should take time off from throwing but take time off from pitching. He's pretty adamant that kids pitch too much and throw too little. And it doesn't have to be a baseball- throw a football, throw one-hand passes with a basketball, just throw. Doesn't mean you empty the tank on every throw or every day but he advocates long-toss a couple times a week year-round.

Yes, we did the Tom House/National Pitching Assoc. stuff for awhile. It has a lot of good things and somethings we didn't buy into. I had the discussion with one of its coaches about whether or not 3 months off from throwing is too long.

General question: my son is almost 8. When should/would I think about getting some serious instruction for him? We aren't diving into select our anything super competitive, yet.

redline248 said:

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General question: my son is almost 8. When should/would I think about getting some serious instruction for him? We aren't diving into select our anything super competitive, yet.

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If he is enjoying baseball and wants to continue playing, I don't think it's ever to early to work with a hitting coach. He can help fine tune some mechanics and (hopefully) break some bad habits that will be a bigger issue when playing kid pitch baseball. Plus you can try a hitting coach or two and start figuring out which one has a style that works for your son, and then keep using that coach as your kid gets older.

aggielax48 said:

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I think most tryouts for the spring have already happened. In my area (Austin) most tryouts were first part of December. But there is definitely teams still looking for a player to fill a final roster spot. I think depending on where you are located, someone on this site can probably point you to a Facebook group or maybe a specific club to try to find out an organization still looking for players.

It may not be exactly who you want to play for, but can almost guarantee it will be a step up in competition. Play one season then try out for all the orgs for the fall and find the best fit.

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Good advice, imo. Start the transition now if he wants to play in high school.

Anybody here on your local youth baseball board? Got a question about non profit status for local leagues.

I am the commissioner of a league. Feel free to send me a message or whatever.

Pm sent. Thank you

Most of our boys are still playing basketball. First baseball tournament is not til March 4-5.

Most of them are better baseball players than they are basketball players.

playing two boys in rec league this spring!


i've come to the realization that i am not going to fit in with the dad groups in baseball. they always love my kid in the rec leagues and then drop them. real shame too...one of my kids is basically a 10 year old blonde Altuve. haha


we played in a league last fall with pretty mediocre kid pitching. 14 games. my kid batted lead off, came away with .714 and accounted for 36% of run production (lead hits, average, extra bases, RBIs) the next closest average was less than .550.



come this spring...did not make the same team. its hard to address a 10 year old that can hit well and say "well they want better pitchers." This is second time in 15 months this has happened (almost exact scenario the previous time...just in coach pitch)

I'm definitely going to start teaching my kid to pitch. Even then, I have similar concerns about coaches passing over my son because I don't really know anyone.

redline248 said:

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I'm definitely going to start teaching my kid to pitch. Even then, I have similar concerns about coaches passing over my son because I don't really know anyone.

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i know them all - they just stop talking baseball to me at a certain point. the first one that did it to us mentioned no sports for over 6 months.


i could not be more pleased with my children...and having to explain pettiness is not my forte.

evestor1 said:

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playing two boys in rec league this spring!


i've come to the realization that i am not going to fit in with the dad groups in baseball. they always love my kid in the rec leagues and then drop them. real shame too...one of my kids is basically a 10 year old blonde Altuve. haha


we played in a league last fall with pretty mediocre kid pitching. 14 games. my kid batted lead off, came away with .714 and accounted for 36% of run production (lead hits, average, extra bases, RBIs) the next closest average was less than .550.



come this spring...did not make the same team. its hard to address a 10 year old that can hit well and say "well they want better pitchers." This is second time in 15 months this has happened (almost exact scenario the previous time...just in coach pitch)

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Sounds like some sh**ty coaching.

My son plays up (kids in his grade but age wise he could play lower) therefore he's smaller, he's also just a small kid. Last season he qualified to tryout for AllStars and I had zero expectations because of size alone. Sure enough he made the team and it was because of his arm strength. I was pleasantly surprised he was able to break through first look opinions, during that all star season I bet I heard comments 8-10 times about his arm strength for how small he was

Quote:

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i've come to the realization that i am not going to fit in with the dad groups in baseball. they always love my kid in the rec leagues and then drop them. real shame too...one of my kids is basically a 10 year old blonde Altuve. haha

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Can you provide a little more color to this statement. I am just curious.

Are you sure you're being "passed over" or just selected by another team? At rec level, the only way to ensure being on the same "team" is to coach. Otherwise you are subject to the draft. Lets be honest here, pitching rules at all levels, but especially at 9/10 rec. If kids can't throw it over the plate, doesn't matter what kind of bats there are. Perhaps your old coach took a pitcher first, then your son wasn't available with the next pick. Doesn't need to be some grand conspiracy by the baseball dad's.

Flip side of the coin and please don't take this the wrong way, because clearly I have no idea, just food for thought. Maybe your son isn't as good as you think, or your son doesn't follow directions or be a team player despite the talent, or just maybe the coach doesn't think your family is a fit for the team. Maybe the coach is just a terrible talent evaluator.

Anyway, daddy ball always has its issues, but doubt there is anything nefarious here. Just some team movement at the rec level. If your son starts getting cut from every team at the select level, then its time to do more evaluation as to the root cause. Of course, hopefully you would have professional coaches to give honest feedback at that stage.

All this seems fairly accurate.

One difference I'd propose is our Rec league doesn't have a draft. We're allowed a certain number on our "friend roster" depending on age and then the league assigns the rest of the kids, not sure how that process works honestly.

agsalaska said:

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Quote:

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i've come to the realization that i am not going to fit in with the dad groups in baseball. they always love my kid in the rec leagues and then drop them. real shame too...one of my kids is basically a 10 year old blonde Altuve. haha

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Can you provide a little more color to this statement. I am just curious.

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From my view, baseball dads are most competitive with other kids on the team...rather than competitive with other teams. Some parent's go to a game and pick at players on their own team rather than cheering them on.

It is the nature of how slow and defined the positions are. I played football and basketball and the only parallel i've seen is with the quarterback position...typically other positions dont have parents playing great amounts of politics.



I notice this b/c my kid is good at hitting (and only hitting) his production of runs is hard for me and others to understand. So much so that coaches give him the benefit of the doubt and award him better defensive positions than he deserves. It confusing people and i've noticed some get upset...even in rec ball.


If there was a DH position in 10-11U basball...my kid would probably have a two year contract - guess we should have been playing catch instead of golfing when he was tiny!

Did you guys watch Nathan Dettmer's interview that was posted last Friday? He was asked what he attributed his velo bump to- "main point of the off-season (summer) ... was getting bigger and stronger ... not much throwing actually".

AustinCountyAg said:

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I picture the majority of the dads in this thread sitting at their computer or phone posting while wearing mizuno coaching shoes, mizuno pullover, some type of flat bill hat and oakley radar jackets....

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Swing and a miss on all of that. However, I do have a Mizuno hat (not flat-billed) because my oldest is now playing for a Mizuno team.

TarponChaser said:

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AustinCountyAg said:

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I picture the majority of the dads in this thread sitting at their computer or phone posting while wearing mizuno coaching shoes, mizuno pullover, some type of flat bill hat and oakley radar jackets....

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Swing and a miss on all of that. However, I do have a Mizuno hat because my oldest is now playing for a Mizuno team.

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I wear a Mizuno golfing hat if that counts for anything? Not flat billed unfortunately!

TAM85 said:

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Did you guys watch Nathan Dettmer's interview that was posted last Friday? He was asked what he attributed his velo bump to- "main point of the off-season (summer) ... was getting bigger and stronger ... not much throwing actually".

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That somewhat jives with the message from the A&M staff that the best thing for junior high & high school-aged players can do isn't necessarily throwing & taking cuts in the cage but getting more explosive, stronger, and faster. Hutch specifically was saying that their pitchers don't stop throwing completely between November & January but they want them lifting & running. They're still playing catch and doing long-toss but not necessarily pitching off the mound.

I've seen it this off season with my oldest. He's been throwing some but doing a whole lot more S&C/agility work and at his new team's first practice last week it was really evident. They're a 13U team but instead of practicing at the 54/80 field they practice at 60/90 and the work he's done is really noticeable in his footwork & quickness but also in his ability to transition from fielding the ball at third (or in the OF) to making a really strong throw with less effort.

8U and 11 Majors here. We are at the 4 nights a week practice stage right now between the 2. Not super happy with some players on 8U team bc we played fall ball on the same team and there are some very grab ass vs. serious players on the team but they also know my lefty son can pitch which is good bc he is small for his age and can get overlooked. That kid has thrown stuff since a toddler and I wish I would have kept track of how much stuff he broke with his arm. 11 yo- talked dad into helping coach so we could get in a team that didn't have some complete beat downs coach and player wise. We had one last year that lost us some serious games and it was just heart breaking to see the talented kids give up bc of a player that shouldn't be playing. We have talked about select vs LL and that's way too long of a discussion for this here but if our 11 yo doesn't have at least a decent winning season I can see him wanting to walk away from it. So def leaning into select but he also loves hunting fishing and that will be a tough decision. Got my car loaded down with stadium seats, blankets, baseball bags, umbrellas and god only knows what else. Let's do this