Feel free to contact me if you guys & any of those other teams/coaches are interested in coming over to Bandtios. I'm the head operations baseball director for the Bandtios so I'd definitely work with you guys and any other teams/coaches that may be interested. I'll give both my emails personal and Banditos. - Troy

Burnetag99@gmail.com
Banditosshowcasebaseball@gmail.com

Thanks Troy. I'll shoot you an email.

I spoke via text with one of the Banditos guys over here and while I'd definitely be interested in him playing with that org the logistics of getting over to their practices from where we live are just too difficult. It's a good hour, even without traffic. It would be one thing if he was 16 and going for the Banditos Scout team or something but at 12/13 it's just too much.

We went to Warstic this afternoon while we are in Dallas. Wanted to check out the Bonesaber and Hawk2. This is the 27 drop 10 Hawk2. Didn't get video of the Bonesaber and he was much better with it.

https://1drv.ms/v/s!AovJVn0cMnzGiIMoaej9vdQzmWa6EQ


https://1drv.ms/v/s!AovJVn0cMnzGiIMqKlzHHB2YF2K3Ew

I take that back. She got one with the Bonesaber.

https://1drv.ms/v/s!AovJVn0cMnzGiIMpDJU1WDOoUg0Ong

Hate to hear that. Seems that the Wildcatters are pissing a lot of people off. I'll be interested to see how it all shakes out. They attempted to poach our best player. I've known this kid for years and he and my son are very close, so his dad called me about it. I assumed they wanted him on their top 12u team, but that wasn't the case. They wanted him on one of their AAA teams (who we beat when we met last fall). It's pretty laughable, but they were trying to sell him on all the "benefits" of their organization. This particular kid will leave our team and end up on one of the national teams at some point, it is inevitable. He's among the elite of the elite. No way in hell does the Wildcatter's top team have 10-12 kids better than him. I've seen them play and he's safely among the top 3-4 at worst. It makes no sense what they were trying to do with him. Anyway, good luck to your son. Hopefully he finds a good landing spot for the fall and you guys can always reevaluate after that when you have more time and tryouts.

And after all that **** the coach from the 13U AAA Wildcatters team up here calls and offers my kid a spot. He's actually a good dude with a good rep and there are friends on the team. It seems the big disconnect and what is pissing people off is the piss-poor communication from the guy who is running the baseball ops for the owner.

Got a couple other landing spots so we have to talk with the boy and see what he wants to do.

I saw they had 1150 kids tryout out and they posted they will have tryouts again for the Spring. Are they making everyone try out again after Fall?

I know everyone loves "Free" but they seem to be pissing a lot of people off. Their coaches are supposedly getting paid $3k a month, but it sounds like they have no say in their own team.

PhatMack19 said:

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I saw they had 1150 kids tryout out and they posted they will have tryouts again for the Spring. Are they making everyone try out again after Fall?

I know everyone loves "Free" but they seem to be pissing a lot of people off. Their coaches are supposedly getting paid $3k a month, but it sounds like they have no say in their own team.

---

Yeah there will be tryouts again for the spring. I don't know what the coaches are getting paid. When we were told about the deal back in late March his HC at the time said they were supposed to get $2K for a tourney win and $500 for 2nd. I don't know if that's how it shook out or not. The coaches sort of do have the ability to make their roster but they're also under pressure to win at the highest level so if they have to break up a team rather than keep some kids who need more development they're doing that. I also know that, at least going from 12 to 13 the organization is making a lot of kids play on grade level so there are some 13U eligible kids going into 8th grade that are being made to play 14U.

The ultimate goal is to build HS program that has elite, national level teams that get kids signed with colleges and drafted. That's what Banditos, Kyle Chapman, Trosky, Dallas Tigers, Dublin's Dodgers, and some other programs have built their reputations on.

The driving force for us this fall is having a good coach, friends on the team, and a facility we can use whenever we want. We'll reassess as necessary.

I know we have a lot of Houston people on here, so I am curious if anyone has more details on the story below?

baseballaficionado said:

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I know we have a lot of Houston people on here, so I am curious if anyone has more details on the story below?

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Other than it was at Baseball USA and the a-hole coach was a deputy constable and got fired, I don't know much.

SIAP

https://instagr.am/p/ChC8YPRF4bK

Iowaggie said:

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SIAP

https://instagr.am/p/ChC8YPRF4bK

---

Somebody chopping onions in here or what man?

Another reason why Baseball is the greatest game in the world

I'm not crying, you're crying

A great video:

Awesome to see W ask for Wacha and do the Gig'em.

We started Fall league yesterday, which is just double headers on Sundays for 5 weeks. We have 7 kids playing football, so it's impossible to practice right now. We use these games as practice. I pitch everyone 1 inning and move everyone around defensively. We will play 10 & 11u this year, so I wanted to get them on the bigger 50-70' field and see how it goes.

They all did great. Looks like we didn't skip a beat taking off the last 2 & half months. It was good to be back at the ball park!

Trying to think ahead to the Spring, some of the parents have expressed an interest in doing a custom jersey...especially since the sizes the rec league we play in are terrible.


Anyone ordered some online in the past? Care to share where yall ordered from?

We use C&C in Hempstead. Tell Chad that Chris at Fairfield Baseball sent ya.

https://www.shopcandcsports.com/

Our fall league has kicked off and so far so good. We are an 11u team playing in a 12u league with everything from 12aaa teams to rec teams.

It is really amazing how good these kids are now. In 9u we played AAA and won a tournament and came in second I think twice. Scores were often all over the place with as many as 15-20 runs scored in a game, even on Sundays. That tightened up in 10uAAA quite a bit but it was still a little wild and sloppy at times.

But there seems to be quite a difference now, at least so far this year. I guess it started last May when they won their only spring tournament without scoring more than five runs in all but one game(7). All one run games. This year we have played a 3-3, 3-2, 4-3, and 3-0 games in six games so far. A couple of those games were error free too. And it is not that the pitching is just striking everyone out but the defense is so crisp.

Lonestar_Ag09 said:

---

Trying to think ahead to the Spring, some of the parents have expressed an interest in doing a custom jersey...especially since the sizes the rec league we play in are terrible.


Anyone ordered some online in the past? Care to share where yall ordered from?

---

Boombah is really good with everything, outside of the boxes all over my house,

Edit - The boxes were from the hats and huge roller bags we ordered. The jerseys actually were packed well and sent very lightly.

Saw something interesting last week. And no it is not baseball but youth football related.

Two middle schools that feed into the same high school, both undefeated, had their A teams playing against each other. In the second half one of the star players got called for targeting. It was one of those plays that before targeting came about we all would have said 'hey, nice hit kid.' But I did actually get to see a replay of it and it was called correctly. But not malicious.

Anyway, and I am not certain of the rules in middle school on ejections, but the coaches for the high school who were obviously very interested in the game apparently told the referee to let the kid back in the game. The middle school coaches on both sides agreed, so he was back in on the next series.

Seemed like a fun atmosphere on the field too since all the coaches, and referees knew each other very well. One of the four referees was having a really good time laughing and joking with the coaches quite a bit.

But the kids, oh the kids. They treated it like the Super Bowl. And there were over 1000 people in the stands.

My son starts tackle next year. Not sure I am ready for that.

agsalaska said:

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Saw something interesting last week. And no it is not baseball but youth football related.

Two middle schools that feed into the same high school, both undefeated, had their A teams playing against each other. In the second half one of the star players got called for targeting. It was one of those plays that before targeting came about we all would have said 'hey, nice hit kid.' But I did actually get to see a replay of it and it was called correctly. But not malicious.

Anyway, and I am not certain of the rules in middle school on ejections, but the coaches for the high school who were obviously very interested in the game apparently told the referee to let the kid back in the game. The middle school coaches on both sides agreed, so he was back in on the next series.

Seemed like a fun atmosphere on the field too since all the coaches, and referees knew each other very well. One of the four referees was having a really good time laughing and joking with the coaches quite a bit.

But the kids, oh the kids. They treated it like the Super Bowl. And there were over 1000 people in the stands.

My son starts tackle next year. Not sure I am ready for that.

---

I coached middle school football a short period not long ago...never heard of review in those games and definitely never seen targeting called at that level. Cant say I remember it being called in high school either when I coached HS

Dont misunderstand. It wasn't reviewed. The replay I saw was recorded on a phone.

There was a discussion amongst the coaches and referees as to whether or not the player was ejected and they decided to let him stay in the game. The high school coaches who were there as I understand it were also involved in the discussion. it seemed like everyone was just trying to get on the same page. The play happened on a change of possession and the conversation happened at the next change of possession.

Just thought it was interesting.

agsalaska said:

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Dont misunderstand. It wasn't reviewed. The replay I saw was recorded on a phone.

There was a discussion amongst the coaches and referees as to whether or not the player was ejected and they decided to let him stay in the game. The high school coaches who were there as I understand it were also involved in the discussion. it seemed like everyone was just trying to get on the same page. The play happened on a change of possession and the conversation happened at the next change of possession.

Just thought it was interesting.

---

That's what I figured about rewatching it.

But still remains. I didn't realize targeting had trickled down to that level or even into HS it was just deemed a personal foul unnecessary roughness if anything

I didn't either.

Tonight was flat out embarrassing for everyone involved.

12u fall ball league night with our 11u AAA team playing a 12u AA team that somehow picked up a transplant 12 year old that can throw heat. When I say heat, I am talking 75mph plus heat. At 12. I would guess that you can count on one hand how many kids his age in this State that can throw that hard. I am not sure where he is from but with Ft Hood right down the road we see a lot of kids come and go.

The problem is he has a AA catcher, a nice boy that is local. And he can't catch him. The umpire took five direct balls to his body in the first 35 pitches.

Coaches, if you cannot catch a kid don't pitch him. Nothing good will come of it, and that point was made several times to the coach by both our parents and even his own. But he was completely dismissive and even confrontational about it.

After a somewhat heated conversation between one of our parents and their coach in front of the umpire about that fact, the coach showed his ass. Six pitches into the third inning the catcher finally broke down crying and walked to the dugout mid at bat. The coach tried to send him back and the kid did slowly walk back but the umpire said 'hell no' and wouldn't allow it. After unsuccessfully trying to get several kids to come catch him he finally decided to pull him. He said, out loud so everyone could hear him that he was pulling him so none of the parents would get mad.

What?? The parents?? How about for the kids. Or for the poor umpire.

Total asshat.


Unfortunately our side, and this rarely happens, had parents that were ridiculously critical of the strike zone and completely oblivious to the fact that that the umpire was putting himself at serious risk just standing in there. And he did make a couple of terrible calls, including calling a ball when our kid actually swung and calling a strike on a ball forehead high. But they need to shut the F up.

But man, poor umpire.


Last, I usually judge these things by how my son reacts afterwards. He actually fouled a ball off, got to first on a dropped strike three, and scored the first run in a 2-1 win. He told me in the car that he felt terrible for the catcher and the umpire. He didn't say anything about our own parents and some of the parents friends who were there. Not sure if he noticed them or just dismissed it. But I was glad that he saw the problem clearly like most of us did.

Rant over.

agsalaska said:

---

Tonight was flat out embarrassing for everyone involved.

12u fall ball league night with our 11u AAA team playing a 12u AA team that somehow picked up a transplant 12 year old that can throw heat. When I say heat, I am talking 75mph plus heat. At 12. I would guess that you can count on one hand how many kids his age in this State that can throw that hard. I am not sure where he is from but with Ft Hood right down the road we see a lot of kids come and go.

The problem is he has a AA catcher, a nice boy that is local. And he can't catch him. The umpire took five direct balls to his body in the first 35 pitches.

Coaches, if you cannot catch a kid don't pitch him. Nothing good will come of it, and that point was made several times to the coach by both our parents and even his own. But he was completely dismissive and even confrontational about it.

After a somewhat heated conversation between one of our parents and their coach in front of the umpire about that fact, the coach showed his ass. Six pitches into the third inning the catcher finally broke down crying and walked to the dugout mid at bat. The coach tried to send him back and the kid did slowly walk back but the umpire said 'hell no' and wouldn't allow it. After unsuccessfully trying to get several kids to come catch him he finally decided to pull him. He said, out loud so everyone could hear him that he was pulling him so none of the parents would get mad.

What?? The parents?? How about for the kids. Or for the poor umpire.

Total asshat.


Unfortunately our side, and this rarely happens, had parents that were ridiculously critical of the strike zone and completely oblivious to the fact that that the umpire was putting himself at serious risk just standing in there. And he did make a couple of terrible calls, including calling a ball when our kid actually swung and calling a strike on a ball forehead high. But they need to shut the F up.

But man, poor umpire.


Last, I usually judge these things by how my son reacts afterwards. He actually fouled a ball off, got to first on a dropped strike three, and scored the first run in a 2-1 win. He told me in the car that he felt terrible for the catcher and the umpire. He didn't say anything about our own parents and some of the parents friends who were there. Not sure if he noticed them or just dismissed it. But I was glad that he saw the problem clearly like most of us did.

Rant over.

---

That's a little nuts. I wonder if that 12-year old throwing heat had played much baseball.

That being said, you'd be shocked at the number of kids in 12U, primarily at the major level, throwing 70-75. It only happened a couple times but we also faced a couple kids topping 80 at 12U.

Any legit 12U major squad in the Houston area will have a couple pitchers who consistently throw in the 70-75mph range.

PhatMack19 said:

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For fall I gave no signals. I just talked to the kids between innings about what they could do to help the team. If you have the steal take it, if the 3rd baseman is back, bunt etc. I want them to learn the game on their own and know situations and they've done an awesome job with it. If they messed up, I asked what they saw and why? I could tell them what to do every play, but they are picking it all up on their own.

---

This is great. My oldest daughter is a slapper who has the ability to control her bat both bunting and slapping or even hitting away but it's only really been in the past year she has had the self-confidence to make her own decisions based on how the defense is playing (she's 13). Her coach has a very similar philosophy in allowing them to make their own decisions at times and it took awhile but now she really understands the "why."

played a team over the weekend (13U AAA) that had some very strong hitters, but some of worst base running I've ever seen. Our pitcher went 5 innings with 5 Ks. of the other 10 outs, half were on the base paths.

1 guy picked off 2B, really didn't even try to get back to the bag.
2 guys caught in rundown between 2B and 3B after they over committed to 3B before pitcher committed to pitch
2 guys thrown out at 3B stealing

we won the game 3-2. should have lost by several runs.

BMX Bandit said:

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played a team over the weekend (13U AAA) that had some very strong hitters, but some of worst base running I've ever seen. Our pitcher went 5 innings with 5 Ks. of the other 10 outs, half were on the base paths.

1 guy picked off 2B, really didn't even try to get back to the bag.
2 guys caught in rundown between 2B and 3B after they over committed to 3B before pitcher committed to pitch
2 guys thrown out at 3B stealing

we won the game 3-2. should have lost by several runs.

---

Baseball IQ matters.

We've been planning around football all Fall, which I'm good with. I want them to play every sport.

My kid is the only one still left in the playoffs for football. Super NIT this weekend in Beaumont for baseball. Football playoff schedule has been posted for 3 weeks. I requested early so my kid could make his 3:30pm football game. On Wednesday football decided to change the time to 2pm. We had 8:30 & 12:10 games scheduled for baseball.

I held out as long as I could, and made my wife take him to football in the 4th inning(she's still mad at me). My kid showed up to football and ran in as the football game started.

Down 7-6 to the Banditos in the 5th. Runner at 2nd with 1 out. Batter before my kid grounds out. My kid auto out- Ball game. We lose with a runner at 3rd.

So the question is, when is the auto out considered out? I could have sent the kid at 2nd running and made them throw him out at home? He is one of my fastest and definitely craziest base runner. From what I've been told, my auto out isn't out until the pitcher steps on the rubber.

Oh well. It's Saturday baseball vs playoff football and we are going to the Super Bowl. I still feel like an ass, but now we need to try to win some baseball games tomorrow.

Were you batting the roster or the lineup? If it's the roster, the out is as soon as the ump calls it in play for his AB. But if you were just batting 9 you could have subbed with no automatic out.

Oldest was off this past weekend and has one more tournament this weekend coming up.

Youngest played his last this weekend- it was pretty insane. Playing at Baseball USA and most of the Saturday games were rained out except for a handful that were on a turf field. So they split up the 12 teams into two divisions- the teams that got to play Saturday had their own bracket on Sunday but the 6 teams who had their games rained out played 2 pool games early Sunday morning and then when those were done the TD told us "bracket play starts in 30 minutes" so we ended up going 3-2 (I think, I'm still a little punchy) and losing in the semis to the eventual winner. We played 5 games yesterday and were there from 8:15 until 10PM. They started the 8U championship game at about 9:45PM.

Finished up the fall for both of my older two a few weeks back. My 8yo (playing 9u) played league ball. We have 4 kids from our regular roster that play football, so we were without them in the fall. We thought that would put us middle of the pack, but we actually ended up with the 2 seed, but we overachieved a bit. The 3 and 4 seeds probably had more talent than we did. Ended up losing in the semis to the 3 seed who we split with in the regular season. No big deal. What was terrible, however, was that they pitched one of their kids every single game, and threw him 135 pitches in the playoffs against us. We were winning the entire game and then had a meltdown on the mound in the last inning and blew it. But 135 pitches, at 9 years old, unreal. And they threw him 48 hours later in the championship and got waxed. Kid probably couldn't feel his arm. His dad is an aggie, so I wonder if he'll see this. We allowed every one of our kids an opportunity to pitch throughout the season, and I'm pretty proud that we were able to do that and still win a lot of games. Our kids learned a lot, and I'm pretty excited to get our football kids back for the spring. Should be fun.

My 11yo (playing 12u) played with the same team he's been with since starting select at 9u. They played 6 tournaments, 4 at AAA and 2 major. They won two of the AAA tournaments and my son had a walk off base knock in the bottom of the last inning in one of the championship games, so that was exciting! Our last tournament was pretty big and had the #1 and #2 ranked 12u teams in the nation, along with one ZT national team who just started playing together, and I suspect they'll end the spring as the #1 team in the country. Out of 22 teams, we drew the #2 team and the ZT team for our pool games LOL. ZT blew us out, which wasn't a surprise. This is 12u baseball, which should be class of 2029. My son is 2030. ZT has 9 kids who are class of 2028 and they have kids from 6 different states. These were full grown men, playing against kids. Pretty comical. I don't really understand the point of playing 12u when your grade level is 13u, but that is beside the point. Our kids played hard, they are just simply not as good and shouldn't be expected to be as good. That's ok, we are a little league all star team and we have competed with and beat many teams from big organizations and we're pretty proud of that. In the spring, we'll play nothing but major so there will be more losing, but that is where we need to be at this point.