OT: It's that Time

[Jeffreauxdawg]

Yute baseball season is on the horizon. My kids are actually playing in an official Little League going forward. No more travel ball. +/- 15 games in April and May. Plenty of practice time sprinkled in. Regular season ends before school let's out. If they're good enough to make all stars in their 12 year old season they can go to district, state, regionals, and Williamsport and I will happily support them.

But 17 these stupid tournaments. 8 games in 3 days? Ruining our weekends all summer long? We will hike, camp, raft, and fish our butts off vs the beating I took last June and July attributable to Yute baseball. I know many parents love it, but it's a horrible way to spend a weekend.

Most of the travel teams are going year around now anyways. The only way you can get my kids to put the baseball down is to hand them a football. They're not giving up football to play year around baseball and I wouldn't let them.

How many of you are staring down a 50+ game youth baseball season that's going to set you back $10,000 plus after all the travel expenses are added into the mix?

 

[DawgatAuburn]

Goat doesn't need anyone rustling his jimmy, yet here you are, posting this.

 

[GloryDawg]

Tell your kids sorry and give all that money to the NIL so somebody else's kid can have it. ******

 

[Jeffreauxdawg]

Goat doesn't need anyone rustling his jimmy, yet here you are, posting this.

Busted. I'm out jugging for Goat and Cooterpoot on this one.

 

[jethreauxdawg]

But how will your kid live out your dreams?

 

[Jeffreauxdawg]

But how will your kid live out your dreams?

Who's saying they're not? Look at our last family photo... Proud dad onion chopping moment here.

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

Buy and use some fishing gear instead.

 

[The Cooterpoot]

Yute baseball season is on the horizon. My kids are actually playing in an official Little League going forward. No more travel ball. +/- 15 games in April and May. Plenty of practice time sprinkled in. Regular season ends before school let's out. If they're good enough to make all stars in their 12 year old season they can go to district, state, regionals, and Williamsport and I will happily support them.

But 17 these stupid tournaments. 8 games in 3 days? Ruining our weekends all summer long? We will hike, camp, raft, and fish our butts off vs the beating I took last June and July attributable to Yute baseball. I know many parents love it, but it's a horrible way to spend a weekend.

Most of the travel teams are going year around now anyways. The only way you can get my kids to put the baseball down is to hand them a football. They're not giving up football to play year around baseball and I wouldn't let them.

How many of you are staring down a 50+ game youth baseball season that's going to set you back $10,000 plus after all the travel expenses are added into the mix?

Don't do any high-end expense travel unless the plan is to chase scholarships in baseball. It's a major hit on your finances and a tremendous stress on your personal life/family. Only do that stuff if you're already forking out money for training and workouts too because there's college potential.
Should be plenty of local stuff and teams that only want to do more local travel like twice a month in the summer (although that cold might limit it up there a little).

 

[dorndawg]

Don't do any high-end expense travel unless the plan is to chase scholarships in baseball. It's a major hit on your finances and a tremendous stress on your personal life/family. Only do that stuff if you're already forking out money for training and workouts too because there's college potential.
Should be plenty of local stuff and teams that only want to do more local travel like twice a month in the summer (although that cold might limit it up there a little).

I saw $10,000 per year above; for the sake of argument let's say it's 5k per season for, what, 6 years? That's $30k without any interest - well on your way to paying for 4 years at State. I know the scholarship/NIL $ is different now, but there's still a SLIM chance your kid is going to get more than that even if they're really good.

If folks are doing it as a hobby or truly think it's a positive for their kids - round of applause. Doing travel ball with any kind of ROI in mind is just a sucker bet.

 

[jethreauxdawg]

If folks are doing it a hobby or truly think it's a positive for their kids - round of applause. Doing travel ball with any kind of ROI in mind is just a sucker bet.

saying it’s for future scholarship is how people try to rationalize it. Similar to I know I lost money at the casino, but i was just paying for entertainment.

 

[dorndawg]

saying it’s for future scholarship is how people try to rationalize it. Similar to I know I lost money at the casino, but i was just paying for entertainment.

"We really can't afford not to, when you put a pencil to it" - me looking at lakehouses after vacation

 

[Jeffreauxdawg]

Don't do any high-end expense travel unless the plan is to chase scholarships in baseball. It's a major hit on your finances and a tremendous stress on your personal life/family. Only do that stuff if you're already forking out money for training and workouts too because there's college potential.
Should be plenty of local stuff and teams that only want to do more local travel like twice a month in the summer (although that cold might limit it up there a little).

At what point are people trying to identify college potential in baseball players? Surely not before they start puberting... I'd say at 13 and up, you might have a decent idea, but before that it's just a crapshoot.

I see these big tournaments with 25 teams in the 10u, 11u, & 12u divisions showing up, but only 1/4 of that in 13-14u... Seems like there is a lot of burnout or football takes over with summer workouts etc.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

We will hike, camp, raft, and fish our butts off vs the beating I took last June and July attributable to Yute baseball.

To be fair, you don't have many of those things in many of the travel ball meccas.......like Jackson. So down that way you also have the 'something to do' factor.

But what's funny to me......majority of tournaments are fall and spring.....that's the calendar cycle. Tryouts in the summer, fall tournaments, then spring tournaments, then a state tournament in early June. So if you follow all that....the tournaments are planned in months where you have more decent weather, because you have to cram it all in on Saturday and Sunday, all day long. Can't be giving kids heatstroke and all. That's the money grab part of it that nobody seems to have caught on to.

But at the same time......people love these tournaments, right? The majority of people who participate, at least the parents, do love it.

Sooooooo, what if we could combine these things? Develop players, make a little money, and have the urgency that so many parents and kids love? And also give some time off?

My suggestion would be some travel ball leagues or tournaments during the week, at least in late spring and all summer. Rec ball itself is just dead. The better players simply do not want to play with the ones who can't halfway throw in a general direction. And much of travel ball isn't quite as expensive as you say. In Jackson, even the most expensive ones are about $2,500, at least through 12U. After that, who cares, kids are hitting puberty and are all asssholes anyway.

 

[o_HuntDawg]

There are plenty of travel ball teams now that dont do the 50 game schedule. Find them and you'll be fine. Travel ball isnt what it was 5 years ago. Dont get me wrong you can still find the teams and people that treat it the same as people treated in 5 years ago... but you'll find plenty that do it every other weekend... for pennies on the dollar

 

[00Dawg]

I'm in what will almost certainly be our last year of Rec. 13/14 metro-Birmingham league with 11 teams from Gardendale over to Trussville and down to Chelsea. We had a blast last year and expect the same this spring. 12 games from mid-March to end of April (spring break always throws in a huge pause) and a single-elimination tournament the first week of May.
Interestingly, I found out Vestavia Hills has their own 10-team league for this age group that had evals, drafts, etc, so there's definitely a hunger out there for non-travel-ball baseball.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

At what point are people trying to identify college potential in baseball players? Surely not before they start puberting... I'd say at 13 and up, you might have a decent idea, but before that it's just a crapshoot.

I see these big tournaments with 25 teams in the 10u, 11u, & 12u divisions showing up, but only 1/4 of that in 13-14u... Seems like there is a lot of burnout or football takes over with summer workouts etc.

You'll know who the potential college players are. At younger ages, you'll know who has the potential. At 13-14, you'll narrow it out. By 15-16, you'll know.

All the rest are the middle grounders who will need to spend crazy amounts of money to train and get noticed. Depends on what you want.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

I'm in what will almost certainly be our last year of Rec. 13/14 metro-Birmingham league with 11 teams from Gardendale over to Trussville and down to Chelsea. We had a blast last year and expect the same this spring. 12 games from mid-March to end of April (spring break always throws in a huge pause) and a single-elimination tournament the first week of May.
Interestingly, I found out Vestavia Hills has their own 10-team league for this age group that had evals, drafts, etc, so there's definitely a hunger out there for non-travel-ball baseball.

In all seriousness......the Birmingham Metro is actually one of the last holdouts overall. It's not that the area got bit by the bug and now is recovering.....it simply just hasn't been bitten as bad. But it's coming. They've done a good job in propping up the dam.

 

[aTotal360]

Try travel lacrosse when you don't live in the northeast or Florida...

 

[Jeffreauxdawg]

My suggestion would be some travel ball leagues or tournaments during the week, at least in late spring and all summer. Rec ball itself is just dead. The better players simply do not want to play with the ones who can't halfway throw in a general direction. And much of travel ball isn't quite as expensive as you say. In Jackson, even the most expensive ones are about $2,500, at least through 12U. After that, who cares, kids are hitting puberty and are all asssholes anyway.

I don't know if its happening everywhere, but Little League is figuring out a way around this. My 11 year old will go to an assessment on Saturday and be put into one of 4 different leagues. Almost copying the travel ball system but focusing more on actual skill level than age. Here are the divisions.


TEE BALL 5-7
ROOKIES 6-8
MINORS AA 8-11
MINORS AAA 9-11
MAJORS 10-12
INTERMEDIATES 11-13
SENIORS 13-16

He's good enough that he will probably be in the majors, but the intermediates are possible as well. They are 60/90 and he's been pitching from the high school mound since last summer. It makes it fun, because the less capable 11 year olds are pushed down the rung pretty far and the better ones are pulled up.

If he wants to keep going, summer all stars are an option. They'll play other all star teams. There are 12 other little leagues in the district following a similar format and all within 50 miles of one another so they can play a few games in June before the district tournaments.

All star ages.

• 9U (League Age 8-9)
• l0U (League Age 8-10)
• llU (League Age 9-11)
• 12U (League Age 10-12)

The same little league is now offering fall leagues for the kids that want more games. It's possible to get in 30-40 games a year with very little travel and about $400 for both spring and fall seasons + all stars. I think you develop a lot better players playing a season where you have a game, practice mistakes, play antother game, practice more mistakes. etc. VS show up this weekend for 2 triple headers and a quadruple header on Sunday.

 

[johnson86-1]

There are plenty of travel ball teams now that dont do the 50 game schedule. Find them and you'll be fine. Travel ball isnt what it was 5 years ago. Dont get me wrong you can still find the teams and people that treat it the same as people treated in 5 years ago... but you'll find plenty that do it every other weekend... for pennies on the dollar

We have those here, but those are almost worse to me because they are basically accomplishing what rec did but in a more expensive and less convenient way. At least the teams traveling a good distance are theoretically improving the competition they play. The rest of them are what would have been rec quality teams, or probably more accurately in between an average rec league team and a rec all star team, but more expensive and less convenient.

It's just crazy to me how much worse travel ball has made things. You have way more kids playing 8U travel coach pitch than there are spots on high school teams, so it's not like they are really improving the competition they'd face compared to if they played rec. Basically, they get a player in right field and left field that is paying attention instead of a space cadet from rec, and they are cutting out a couple of free outs each game.

It is effective at chasing kids out of baseball sooner I guess. We have a few friends that have kids spending much more time playing golf and tennis and other things because of a combination of getting burned out on rec and being one of the weaker players. And I guess it lets people that aren't going to get to play high school ball play in a lot of tournament environments and win "championships".

That said, as Goat said, if you live in a place like Jackson metro, I guess it does give you something to do on weekends if you don't like to golf or freshwater fish.

 

[jethreauxdawg]

Rec ball itself is just dead. The better players simply do not want to play with the ones who can't halfway throw in a general direction.

We’ve only played rec ball. my son tried out for a school team last year, didn’t make it. But after the tryout he said that was the most fun he’s ever had playing baseball because everyone could catch and throw.

 

[Dawg Raid]

There is a 0.0296% chance that your child will become a professional athlete, yet there is a 100% chance that your child will stand before Jesus one day.

Dump travel ball and it’s Sunday games. Take your kids to church and invest in their eternity

 

[Jeffreauxdawg]

There are plenty of travel ball teams now that dont do the 50 game schedule. Find them and you'll be fine. Travel ball isnt what it was 5 years ago. Dont get me wrong you can still find the teams and people that treat it the same as people treated in 5 years ago... but you'll find plenty that do it every other weekend... for pennies on the dollar

I think there's some push back happening for sure. I hope it spreads and makes baseball more fun for more kids.

I don't necessarily even mind the total number of games if they're spread out from March-July and you play 40+ 6-7 inning games with 2-3 games a week. It's just the goofy áss tournaments shove all of them into a single weekend. Some of those kids can end up playing 7-9 games over 3 days. My 10 year old played 4 games in one day last year in 100+ temps. It was assanine. The games have such strict time limits it doesn't feel like real baseball either. Parents set up bluetooth speakers and play walk up songs for kids. I saw a 10 year old with a gold chain hanging out of his jersey with "Let's Go" in big block letters. Pure trash.

For a 12 player 12u team to play 7 games that average 5 innings over the course of 3 days you are giving them 25% more workload than a MLB team of 26 players full of grown men. All 12 players would have to pitch to prevent overuse. It's just not how baseball should be played. Youth baseball should 2-3 games a week and maybe a doubleheader once in a while. High school can handle 3-4 games a week. College 4-5 a week. MLB 6-7 a week. Why in the holy 17 are the youngest kids with the smallest teams playing so much on a single weekend when high school, college, or pros would never dream of it?

 

[dorndawg]

Dump travel ball and it’s Sunday games. Take your kids to church and invest in their eternity

Some of yall might never believe it but I generally agree with this sentiment - too much nonsense gets scheduled on Sundays. And it's really peaceful when neighbors refrain from running lawnmowers, leafblowers, etc

 

[Jeffreauxdawg]

Dump travel ball and it’s Sunday games. Take your kids to church and invest in their eternity

 

[Lucifer Morningstar]

View attachment 764687

Of the celestial beings I hit the curve ball the best, just for the record.

 

[Jeffreauxdawg]

Some of yall might never believe it but I generally agree with this sentiment - too much nonsense gets scheduled on Sundays. And it's really peaceful when neighbors refrain from running lawnmowers, leafblowers, etc

 

[Jeffreauxdawg]

Of the celestial beings I hit the curve ball the best, just for the record.

You may be able to hit off some jabroni, but my guy would turn you around in 3 pitches 'cause..

 

[Maroon13]

Interesting.... not baseball but I'm in the middle of volleyball season. $3500 in fees to play this season. They practice from NOV to April and will play in 7 tournaments and 4 will be out of town. So travel expenses too

We've faired well so far in regional tournaments. We haven't won a regional tournament. However we go to national tournaments in stl, Atl and Dallas. We will play the cream of the crop from all over the U.S. and get our tails kicked. I've watched enough of this to know the level these girls are playing.

So the club director has already said he wants to take the team to National Finals or Orlando AAU in June. That is another $2000 he will ask for..... I can't do it. It is foolish to do it if we get our tails kicked in the next 3 tournaments. It's foolish to do it period. But the club director will need some summer cash flow. So he will work the parents.

With all that said, the fees went up substantially this season. The club cited inflation, their rent went up etc etc.

Anyways, the levee has broken. It's gotten beyond ridiculous.

My cap is off to you guys resisting the peer pressure.... especially with boys.

 

[Bulldog45]

I see these big tournaments with 25 teams in the 10u, 11u, & 12u divisions showing up, but only 1/4 of that in 13-14u... Seems like there is a lot of burnout or football takes over with summer workouts etc.

Generally speaking, there is a jump at 11U and the mound goes 4 feet further back and the distance between the bases increases. At 12U bat restrictions kick in and it’s no more than a -5. 13U is BBCOR. So with that you see a natural filtering out of kids who can’t make the jump competitively, and that’s also why you see kids held back to play another year of 10U when grade-wise they should move on to 11U.

Also I believe there is a restriction in place that doesn’t allow high school players to play travel at the same time. Don’t know if it applies at the younger jr. High ages or not, but that’s a high school athletics restriction, or so I think.

not to mention the simple fact that kid’s interests change as they move to the teenage years.

 

[johnson86-1]

Interesting.... not baseball but I'm in the middle of volleyball season. $3500 in fees to play this season. They practice from NOV to April and will play in 7 tournaments and 4 will be out of town. So travel expenses too

We've faired well so far in regional tournaments. We haven't won a regional tournament. However we go to national tournaments in stl, Atl and Dallas. We will play the cream of the crop from all over the U.S. and get our tails kicked. I've watched enough of this to know the level these girls are playing.

So the club director has already said he wants to take the team to National Finals or Orlando AAU in June. That is another $2000 he will ask for..... I can't do it. It is foolish to do it if we get our tails kicked in the next 3 tournaments. It's foolish to do it period. But the club director will need some summer cash flow. So he will work the parents.

With all that said, the fees went up substantially this season. The club cited inflation, their rent went up etc etc.

Anyways, the levee has broken. It's gotten beyond ridiculous.

My cap is off to you guys resisting the peer pressure.... especially with boys.

I honestly don't understand where the money comes from. I get that nobody really poor is playing travel sports (at least until they get to the age where they get invited and subsidized), but I see a lot of people that don't seem that well off probably dropping a grand a month on it between two kids playing travel soccer and baseball. I guess a lot of those people also have a single car note that is more than that even though it's on a 6 or 7 year note, so maybe travel ball doesn't seem like that big of an expense compared to that, but I suspect a lot of those people aren't even saving $1,000 per month.

 

[ETK99]

I saw $10,000 per year above; for the sake of argument let's say it's 5k per season for, what, 6 years? That's $30k without any interest - well on your way to paying for 4 years at State. I know the scholarship/NIL $ is different now, but there's still a SLIM chance your kid is going to get more than that even if they're really good.

If folks are doing it as a hobby or truly think it's a positive for their kids - round of applause. Doing travel ball with any kind of ROI in mind is just a sucker bet.

We paid fees of $4500 to be on a team. Traveled to California, Texas, Florida, Colorado, Chicago, Indiana, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Tennessee, Atlanta, & my favorite...Lake Tahoe. Three of those Florida trips each year were to Disney facilities. I didn't include the recruiting trip costs because I might have to day drink. That was 11 years ago. I paid it all off 2 years ago LOL. Got them out of college with a degree for only $5000 and that was with the Covid year added (5 years). I could've paid for college for what I spent. But you know what, it was worth it! I wouldn't change a damn thing! Was all conference and won multiple conference championships and played in regionals. Now they're about to finish up PA school at STATE in Meridian. I'd say damn success and I love seeing my kids excel more than I care about my own happiness. BUT, I'm glad I'm done with it all now!

 

[1msucub]

It’s an unholy money grabbing racket…. Adults have completely ruined youth sports….all of them. It really breaks my heart.

 

[johnson86-1]

It’s an unholy money grabbing racket…. Adults have completely ruined youth sports….all of them. It really breaks my heart.

You want to see adults act poorly, watch them going through a divorce. You want to see how poorly they can act, watch them fight over an inheritance. But if you want to lose faith in humanity, watch how adults act in and around youth sports.

 

[Jeffreauxdawg]

Anyways, the levee has broken. It's gotten beyond ridiculous.

My cap is off to you guys resisting the peer pressure.... especially with boys.

I'm lucky in that my boys love 3 sports. Baseball, football, and wrestling. It's easier to steer clear of the big budget money grabs that way. I'd also argue that until they are 13-14 years old, they're becoming better athletes by competing in several sports vs playing one virtually year around. I love wrestling as a conditioning sport that perfectly bridges the gap between football and baseball season. My oldest already understands that standing on the mound in a tight spot is way less pressure than squaring up on the wrestling mat with a kid trying to rip your head off.

I almost fell into the trap though. My youngest went 19-0 and won the state title in his first year wrestling. He was invited to join the state wrestling team this year to compete in the 8u division against other states. It would have required lots of travel to the Midwest and West Coast and would have kept him from playing baseball and football.

I never wrestled, but it was exciting to see him dominate the way he did. So I was definitely getting way too into it. I was talked out of having him do that by the old high school coach here in town who's currently a D1 wrestling coach and also a 2 time All American at Iowa. Apparently wrestling is a huge burnout sport. He said go to a few practices and camps here and there and roll him back into serious competition in 7th or 8th grade. He's got nothing left to prove and will just burnout if anything.

We didn't even go to a tournament this year. Just practice. But had we joined the state team it would have consumed our lives for 6-7 months and kinda screwed his older brother out of doing all kinds of stuff he wanted to do.

 

[HRMSU]

Yute baseball season is on the horizon. My kids are actually playing in an official Little League going forward. No more travel ball. +/- 15 games in April and May. Plenty of practice time sprinkled in. Regular season ends before school let's out. If they're good enough to make all stars in their 12 year old season they can go to district, state, regionals, and Williamsport and I will happily support them.

But 17 these stupid tournaments. 8 games in 3 days? Ruining our weekends all summer long? We will hike, camp, raft, and fish our butts off vs the beating I took last June and July attributable to Yute baseball. I know many parents love it, but it's a horrible way to spend a weekend.

Most of the travel teams are going year around now anyways. The only way you can get my kids to put the baseball down is to hand them a football. They're not giving up football to play year around baseball and I wouldn't let them.

How many of you are staring down a 50+ game youth baseball season that's going to set you back $10,000 plus after all the travel expenses are added into the mix?

If only I could go back in time! I would have directed that money to golf lessons for my son. Way more practical in the long run.

 

[kired]

At what point are people trying to identify college potential in baseball players? Surely not before they start puberting... I'd say at 13 and up, you might have a decent idea, but before that it's just a crapshoot.

I see these big tournaments with 25 teams in the 10u, 11u, & 12u divisions showing up, but only 1/4 of that in 13-14u... Seems like there is a lot of burnout or football takes over with summer workouts etc.

I’ve coached or helped coach my sons rec team since tball. Last year he hit the 13-15 age group. I noticed parents suddenly don’t give a 17, very chill atmosphere. No arguing at umps or coaches. My opinion is that by this age parents have realized their kid isn’t going pro and probably can’t even make the high school team. They’re finally content watching them play a dozen games, maybe get a few hits & score a few runs, catch a fly ball, and just genuinely have fun.

 

[The Cooterpoot]

At what point are people trying to identify college potential in baseball players? Surely not before they start puberting... I'd say at 13 and up, you might have a decent idea, but before that it's just a crapshoot.

I see these big tournaments with 25 teams in the 10u, 11u, & 12u divisions showing up, but only 1/4 of that in 13-14u... Seems like there is a lot of burnout or football takes over with summer workouts etc.

13/14 for sure
There can be large more local tournaments that are just money makers and ring give aways. But that's better than the average league ball. Not sure about your area though.

 

[Jeffreauxdawg]

13/14 for sure
There can be large more local tournaments that are just money makers and ring give aways. But that's better than the average league ball. Not sure about your area though.

I'd agree. I coached 13-15 year olds last year. I saw 3 kids out of 8 teams that could probably turn into college level players. Sadly 2 of them were in my team and they'll never put the work in to take it to the next level. The kid on another team will make it. Unbelievable catcher at 14 years old.

I had a 13 yo that was about 5'-10" 135 last year. Nasty arm action and threw in the upper 70's. Got em out long tossing this fall and he was between 90-95 yards. His dad is 6'-3" and that's about where he's tracking height wise. But his dad is the 8th grade basketball coach and is all in on basketball. Kid won't be all district in Idaho at basketball in high school basketball. But with hard work, strength gains, and normal development... He'd be a guy the could possibly throw in the mid to upper 90's by graduation.

The other kid is just a mess. But at 14 he was 6'2" and lefty. Throwing low to mid 70's, but couldn't hit a barn half the time. His dad actually pitched in the majors for Toronto for a couple of seasons, but won't even work with the kid. Pretty sad.

Both kids were unhittable if they could throw strikes. The younger righty finally dialed in at the end of the year and struck out 23 over 8 innings in his final 2 games and only walked 4. But he may not even play this year so he can play summer basketball. He's averaging about 8 points a game in 8th grade. SMH

 

[CochiseCowbell]

But after the tryout he said that was the most fun he’s ever had playing baseball because everyone could catch and throw.

This blows my mind.

I'm early 40's, have toddler and a step-teen.

The teen, got back into baseball at 12 after I came into his life. Last time he played was 5 or 6. He couldn't understand why he wasn't good anymore. That was also 2020 Covid year, so all that got screwed up. He was also afraid of the ball. The most fun he, and I, ever had with rec baseball was when the coach offered a practice for any who wanted to attend. Unsanctioned, I suppose.

Only 5-6 kids showed up. I pitched, shagged flies, we played pickle & went over rundowns.

Long story longer, I played rec ball, Dixie Youth not LL, & we could turn double plays in pitching machine. Not many, of course. For High School tryouts being his first experience with basic ability teammates, well, blows my mind.

IF he WANTS to I hope tries out again next year.