Yeah, and the parents sign a similar thing with us too.

Or did with the Marlins. We'll see if Wildcatters does too since we were acquired by the Wildcatters.

Quote:

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Good stuff and alot true insight that sometimes players and parents don't understand. One thing we do extra with the Banditos is we make both the players & parents sign each season a Code of Conduct agreement. So when some of the things happen like you listed we have that signed agreement.

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My daughter's select soccer team did that for the first time this year. They had a rough second half of the season last year that included lots of girls missing practice and even missing games. Ended up costing them promotion. Not this year.

I am sure in an organization as large as yall and with any real player turnover and tryouts having an agreement like that is essential.

We have considered it but so far have not done it. With most of our kids playing together for so long and all of them going to the same couple of elementary schools the self policing has so far worked. We are also independent of any parent organization.

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Another note about last week and another reason we recruit parents.

- To repeat my 10 year old played with the older boys(11u AAA) in a USSSA tournament to end the season. They lost in the final A couple of parents on that team behave a lot different than my son is used too. One parent in particular yelled at his 11 year old son for dropping a fly ball about 260 feet from home plate. Kid hit a bomb on 300 foot fields, and in every other field it would have been a no doubt home run. The fact that he even got to it was an amazing play. But he dropped it. Why? Cause he is 11. But instead of encouraging him they yelled at him, questioning his desire. Mind you it was 106 degrees and our third game of the day.

In the car on the way home my son asked me about it. He was in LF and clearly heard what the parents said and just didn't understand what they were mad at. He said to me 'I couldn't believe he even got under that ball in the first place. Do they really think he doesn't care?'

Pre puberty ball players, 12u and down, should hear nothing but encouragement from fans. Fans are there to encourage the boys and help them have fun. ALL the boys.

Oldest boy is at Aggie baseball camp right now. Any of y'all have kiddos here?

BurnetAggie99 said:

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This happens all the time and it's a shame cause it's not on the player. We had it happen many times in my 15 plus years as Head Baseball Operations Bandito Director. This is why like I mentioned we started about 8 years ago having the players & parents sign a Code of Conduct agreement which is done for each season.

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I'm guessing Deleon didn't sign that.

Seriously, I've seen asses from "club" teams as well as independent teams. I coached a team from 8U-13U, playing at the top level. I lost kids who were good friends of ours & my son's good friends b/c I didn't play their kid enough or at the right position according to them.

I was very clear from the onset: our goal as a staff was to put kids in the right place for the TEAM to be successful. Ironically, after they went to another team, my assistant(college ball experience) & I rebuilt the team & got better. Almost all who left came back.

Our parents understand two important things.

First is, unless you are raising Ozzie Smith, your son will not be the starting SS as a freshman or soph. It's critical they all learn the OF. I'm certain that when our players get to HS they will make Varsity earlier because they are more versatile.

Second, it is really important to rest arms, especially of kids that pitch and catch. If my son throws 30 on Saturday and 50 Sunday morning, I don't really want him starting at 3b after that. Sore arms are the most overlooked problem in youth baseball.

We are carrying 11 into 11u, a few of whom will also play league. Our reasoning and our entire rotation plans going into every tournament will be around resting arms. You can do that when you have 11 versatile players and parents that understand.

Coaches are exempt. I know another one who needs to sign the form for one of their 11u (now 12u) teams. He made a mockery of himself and his team while getting tossed a couple of seasons back.

Here is an offseason topic. Bat rolling. We had another coach telling us about a team in our age group and how one of that team's coaches has a bat rolling business and that all of their bats have been rolled. That particular team can definitely rake. In fact, when we played them earlier this year, they had tiny kids check swinging on off speed pitches and hitting outfield gaps, so it wasn't a big surprise once we heard this. If that is true though, I got to wondering why no one says anything about it. The coach telling us this info was speaking in fact, but he didn't seem bothered by it, which I thought was strange. Am I just naive to how common that is is in select baseball?

agsalaska said:

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Second, it is really important to rest arms, especially of kids that pitch and catch. If my son throws 30 on Saturday and 50 Sunday morning, I don't really want him starting at 3b after that. Sore arms are the most overlooked problem in youth baseball.

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This is definitely burned us this summer. We have always tried to be very careful with my son's arm, but we got burned with overuse a bit too much lately with several major events colliding causing him to pitch more than we would have liked.

He is playing on a high level majors travel team here in SoCal and they were playing in the USA Baseball futures national team identification event at the same time we were also preparing for our Little League all star team that had a legit chance to go to Williamsport this year (won Southern California States last year as 11U). He got to where he was pitching every 4-5 days for a few months straight. Tried to limit pitch counts when we could (would never go over 80, and usually tried to keep him around 60), but it wasn't enough and he hurt his shoulder in our 2nd game of Districts for Little League all stars. Sports med doc says he thinks it is just Little League Shoulder due to growth plates (at best) and small chance it is a labrum issue at worst (if Physical Therapy doesn't fix it we will get an MRI). Down from throwing for minimum 6 weeks.

Really sucked as injuries to him and illness to other pitchers on our LL team derailed us, and our competing neighbor is now the one getting close to Williamsport. Very frustrating to watch, and now he is down for a while. Plan was to rest his arm for a few months after All Stars so the time down is not a huge deal other than he has a lot of work ahead of him to get back to where he was safely. In retrospect, we definitely should have just picked one or the other to focus on (USA or LL). Luckily, whatever it is, he will be fine and should come back strong, but gonna have to be more cautious in the future.

AggieJ2002 said:

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agsalaska said:

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Second, it is really important to rest arms, especially of kids that pitch and catch. If my son throws 30 on Saturday and 50 Sunday morning, I don't really want him starting at 3b after that. Sore arms are the most overlooked problem in youth baseball.

---

This is definitely burned us this summer. We have always tried to be very careful with my son's arm, but we got burned with overuse a bit too much lately with several major events colliding causing him to pitch more than we would have liked.

He is playing on a high level majors travel team here in SoCal and they were playing in the USA Baseball futures national team identification event at the same time we were also preparing for our Little League all star team that had a legit chance to go to Williamsport this year (won Southern California States last year as 11U). He got to where he was pitching every 4-5 days for a few months straight. Tried to limit pitch counts when we could (would never go over 80, and usually tried to keep him around 60), but it wasn't enough and he hurt his shoulder in our 2nd game of Districts for Little League all stars. Sports med doc says he thinks it is just Little League Shoulder due to growth plates (at best) and small chance it is a labrum issue at worst (if Physical Therapy doesn't fix it we will get an MRI). Down from throwing for minimum 6 weeks.

Really sucked as injuries to him and illness to other pitchers on our LL team derailed us, and our competing neighbor is now the one getting close to Williamsport. Very frustrating to watch, and now he is down for a while. Plan was to rest his arm for a few months after All Stars so the time down is not a huge deal other than he has a lot of work ahead of him to get back to where he was safely. In retrospect, we definitely should have just picked one or the other to focus on (USA or LL). Luckily, whatever it is, he will be fine and should come back strong, but gonna have to be more cautious in the future.

---

Most of our kids played league and select this year too and we put a lot of pressure on their arms, including my son's arm. And he was pitching at about that same clip, though probably less total pitches. And at the end of the year he was tired.

It's not just the pitching. We as coaches lose focus sometimes on all of the other throwing they do. An orthopedic surgeon friend of mine pointed out to me one time just how much these kids throw in warmups, between games, between innings, etc. We wathched kids throw 20 warmup pitches between innings, thrown 50 balls from third to first, throw each other fly balls, etc.

Now you almost need permission from us to throw a ball. PItchers get five warmup pitches. Between innings each infielder gets two throws to first base. Same with the outfielders. There is no throwing between games. First practice after a tournament is almost exclusively geared towards arm care.

I am not sure how much other organizations pay attention to that. I have see some other teams be very cautious too, and have seen others straight up abuse kids. Not sure if its out of ignorance or what.

We follow the MLB guidelines for youth pitchers. That's why we are carrying 11 this season instead of 10.

Bat rolling is not illegal. Is it a quick process that speeds up the break in time. Normally a player would have to to hit 300 plus balls to break that bat in. Very tedious process and the bat has to be turned 1/4" increments while breaking the bat in.

So having a bat rolled is a breaking in that bat immediately as bat rolling is an accelerated break in process for composite bats which the bat to peak performance.

BurnetAggie99 said:

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Bat rolling is not illegal. Is it a quick process that speeds up the break in time. Normally a player would have to to hit 300 plus balls to break that bat in. Very tedious process and the bat has to be turned 1/4" increments while breaking the bat in.

So having a bat rolled is a breaking in that bat immediately as bat rolling is an accelerated break in process for composite bats which the bat to peak performance.

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I am glad you brought up that bat rolling is meant for composite bats. Alloy bats are hot out of the wrapper and lose pop with use, so it doesn't do any good to roll an alloy bat.

agsalaska said:

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AggieJ2002 said:

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agsalaska said:

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Second, it is really important to rest arms, especially of kids that pitch and catch. If my son throws 30 on Saturday and 50 Sunday morning, I don't really want him starting at 3b after that. Sore arms are the most overlooked problem in youth baseball.

---

This is definitely burned us this summer. We have always tried to be very careful with my son's arm, but we got burned with overuse a bit too much lately with several major events colliding causing him to pitch more than we would have liked.

He is playing on a high level majors travel team here in SoCal and they were playing in the USA Baseball futures national team identification event at the same time we were also preparing for our Little League all star team that had a legit chance to go to Williamsport this year (won Southern California States last year as 11U). He got to where he was pitching every 4-5 days for a few months straight. Tried to limit pitch counts when we could (would never go over 80, and usually tried to keep him around 60), but it wasn't enough and he hurt his shoulder in our 2nd game of Districts for Little League all stars. Sports med doc says he thinks it is just Little League Shoulder due to growth plates (at best) and small chance it is a labrum issue at worst (if Physical Therapy doesn't fix it we will get an MRI). Down from throwing for minimum 6 weeks.

Really sucked as injuries to him and illness to other pitchers on our LL team derailed us, and our competing neighbor is now the one getting close to Williamsport. Very frustrating to watch, and now he is down for a while. Plan was to rest his arm for a few months after All Stars so the time down is not a huge deal other than he has a lot of work ahead of him to get back to where he was safely. In retrospect, we definitely should have just picked one or the other to focus on (USA or LL). Luckily, whatever it is, he will be fine and should come back strong, but gonna have to be more cautious in the future.

---

Most of our kids played league and select this year too and we put a lot of pressure on their arms, including my son's arm. And he was pitching at about that same clip, though probably less total pitches. And at the end of the year he was tired.

It's not just the pitching. We as coaches lose focus sometimes on all of the other throwing they do. An orthopedic surgeon friend of mine pointed out to me one time just how much these kids throw in warmups, between games, between innings, etc. We wathched kids throw 20 warmup pitches between innings, thrown 50 balls from third to first, throw each other fly balls, etc.

Now you almost need permission from us to throw a ball. PItchers get five warmup pitches. Between innings each infielder gets two throws to first base. Same with the outfielders. There is no throwing between games. First practice after a tournament is almost exclusively geared towards arm care.

I am not sure how much other organizations pay attention to that. I have see some other teams be very cautious too, and have seen others straight up abuse kids. Not sure if its out of ignorance or what.

We follow the MLB guidelines for youth pitchers. That's why we are carrying 11 this season instead of 10.

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I mean couldn't you just play a few less tournaments…?

In hindsight yes. Probably should have played three less tournaments.

It wasn't a problem until the league kids couldn't throw strikes. The idea was for the select kids not to pitch in league and that worked for two of the three teams our kids were on. Unfortunately not ours.

We handled it and didn't overthrow him. But it was close.

baseballaficionado said:

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BurnetAggie99 said:

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Bat rolling is not illegal. Is it a quick process that speeds up the break in time. Normally a player would have to to hit 300 plus balls to break that bat in. Very tedious process and the bat has to be turned 1/4" increments while breaking the bat in.

So having a bat rolled is a breaking in that bat immediately as bat rolling is an accelerated break in process for composite bats which the bat to peak performance.

---

I am glad you brought up that bat rolling is meant for composite bats. Alloy bats are hot out of the wrapper and lose pop with use, so it doesn't do any good to roll an alloy bat.

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And the odds of a youth player hitting with an alloy bat long enough and hard enough before they outgrow it are exceedingly slim.

I understand what it is. But with everything I've read, there seems to be a consensus that rolling creates an "altered bat" under PG and USSSA rules. Is that accurate? I've also heard it voids the bat warranty. I'm not being a smart ass, these are genuine questions.

Bassmaster said:

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Here is an offseason topic. Bat rolling. We had another coach telling us about a team in our age group and how one of that team's coaches has a bat rolling business and that all of their bats have been rolled. That particular team can definitely rake. In fact, when we played them earlier this year, they had tiny kids check swinging on off speed pitches and hitting outfield gaps, so it wasn't a big surprise once we heard this. If that is true though, I got to wondering why no one says anything about it. The coach telling us this info was speaking in fact, but he didn't seem bothered by it, which I thought was strange. Am I just naive to how common that is is in select baseball?

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By the lack of responses to my original question, I've come to the conclusion that the answer is a resounding "yes."

&ct=g

My good friend's son made Team USA 12u. They started the World Cup this morning in Taiwan with a big win. Pretty awesome experience.

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗹. 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀.

Step inside the @USABaseball12U team meeting with @CoachFarrell017 as he discusses the importance of playing #ForGlory🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/yaqvp6HyvH

— USA Baseball (@USABaseball) June 29, 2022

How do you get chosen? My son just got moved from 9uAA to 11UAAA in our organization? Just curious

Brad 98 said:

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How do you get chosen? My son just got moved from 9uAA to 11UAAA in our organization? Just curious

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They played in an invitational tournament and 18 kids were selected to go to Team USA Headquarters in Cary, NC along with 18 other hand picked kids. They played for a week and those 36 kids were cut down to 18 to make Team USA.

A lot of money is spent to get to that point. Once you make it, Team USA picks up the tab. It's been pretty awesome following his journey. 5 Texas kids made the 12u team.

A kid I coached a few years ago in middle school, before I hung up the whistle, played/plays for Team USA, he's currently committed to TCU I believe. They always talked about how good of a ball player he was, I never got to see him play though. Great kid though!

Link for tonight's game at 9:30pm against Dominican Republic. The other games have been at 1:30am, so this one I'll actually get to watch live.

USA has dominated their 3 games out scoring opponents 55-6.

One thing I noticed is almost all of our kids are swinging 5-7 yr old bats including half the team swinging the banned 2017 Green CF Zen. The teams we are playing are using new USA bats. Those USA bats aren't cheap, so it's not a money thing.

Why would you go to a tourney like that swinging USA when there are obviously no bat restrictions?

Have a 6 year old swinging a 25 inch CAT9. Need to bring him up to a 27 inch.

Recommendations for the hottest bat on the market? Prefer balanced swing weight.

Is he a giant? Not sure I've seen a 6yr old swing a 27.

That being said, hard to give recs without knowing what bat restrictions you're playing under.

No not a giant. Seems that most kids on our team swing a 27 with 1 swinging a 29 and does so well (big kid).

USSSA

Cru said:

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Have a 6 year old swinging a 25 inch CAT9. Need to bring him up to a 27 inch.

Recommendations for the hottest bat on the market? Prefer balanced swing weight.

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First off, not a 27. I have never seen a six year old that could swing a 27.

My son is 10 and plays now 11u AAA. He is a little bigger than average for a ten year old but not a monster. He swung a 27/17 until this April when he moved up to a 28/18.

Probably 7 of his 10 teammates swung a 27 going into 10u and three finished the year there.

Cru said:

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No not a giant. Seems that most kids on our team swing a 27 with 1 swinging a 29 and does so well (big kid).

USSSA

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Just because they do...doesn't mean they should. Let the kid control the bat efficiently.

My recommendation would be a 26" CAT9. Hot out of the wrapper. If you're dead set on the 27" you could also look at a META. 2021 is same bat with different graphics to save 75 bucks or so. Downside is a 6 yr old isn't going to be able to break it in properly, so you'll probably never realize it's full potential and be any better than the CAT. Plus more breakage potential.

My son hits a Meta,

And lucky enough he already has a 26" Cat9

Welp- time to work through tryout season. If you're on the Houston Select Baseball Forum on Facebook you've probably seen my post.

My oldest is a casualty of the Wildcatters organization. They had close to 200 kids tryout for 6 13U teams out of the N/NE side. His team from the spring had played 12U AAA and was planning to stay at AAA in moving up to 13U. But after so many kids showed up the management dictated to the coaches that they had to jump to majors and build their roster accordingly. As such, all but one of those 12U teams moving to 13U turned over half of their respective rosters, except Wildcatters Burgos which was the #6 12U team in the country. And my oldest was left in the lurch. The kind of messed up thing is that the coaches were told this AFTER tryouts and so a lot of good alternatives nearby are already full up.

There are a whole lot of really good players looking for homes after the Wildcatters tryouts fiasco.

I get it because he's not ready for 13U majors. In 12U-14U, and even some in 15U, there's a wide gulf physically where a lot of guys have hit puberty so you see the kids that are 6'0"+ at 12/13 and throwing 75-80mph while there are tons of other kids who haven't but are close to it. My boy, despite being 5'7" 140# just turned 12 2 weeks ago and is nowhere close to hitting puberty but we want him playing on grade level since he's going into 7th next week. Anyway, he's a 13U AAA caliber player just not a major-level only his AAA team is now major and the coach (if he wanted to remain with Wildcatters and be paid) had to turn over half his roster. Hell, the kids he kept from the spring who would have been the top-5 or so on our team will now be bottom 5 if they're going to compete at the major level. We're trying to find the right fit where he'll be challenged, get great instruction, and be forced to elevate his play to make the HS roster.

Obviously he's bummed (as are we) but he's taking it as a challenge. It also sucks because of starting over with a new team after spending months forming friendships and I think very highly of his coaches. Now the challenge is finding good coaches and the right situation- we'd much rather have him scrap for PT on a good team than be the best on a mediocre team because you're challenged to elevate your play. So he's trying out for a bunch of teams in the next week or two.

Wish us luck.

I saw your post on Facebook. Have the group of parents checked to see if there are any organizations looking to possibly create an additional team and absorb those players and have a tryout for a few extra spots? There is something to be said about having a solid team with chemistry.

....with that said, there seem to be a lot of teams looking for players.