Hey y'all! (AUSTIN, TX)

My son is 10 and currently in 4th grade. Basketball is his main sport and it's all he has ever wanted to play. This weekend he mentioned that he wants to try baseball.

I haven't played baseball since probably his age so I don't know it like I do basketball

Can anyone recommend a league that isn't very intense for 10/11 year olds? With him never playing before I don't want to put him into an intense league. If you know of a baseball camp over the summer that would be cool too

Thanks!

We live in north central Austin, just south of the domain. So nothing far south.

At that age and really no baseball experience I would check out Town and Country. It is located at Parmer and 620.

https://www.tandcsports.org/our-sports/baseball/

docb said:

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At that age and really no baseball experience I would check out Town and Country. It is located at Parmer and 620.

https://www.tandcsports.org/our-sports/baseball/

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Thanks

L7 WEENIE said:

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Hey y'all! (AUSTIN, TX)

My son is 10 and currently in 4th grade. Basketball is his main sport and it's all he has ever wanted to play. This weekend he mentioned that he wants to try baseball.

I haven't played baseball since probably his age so I don't know it like I do basketball

Can anyone recommend a league that isn't very intense for 10/11 year olds? With him never playing before I don't want to put him into an intense league. If you know of a baseball camp over the summer that would be cool too

Thanks!

We live in north central Austin, just south of the domain. So nothing far south.

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I'll add

If you know of a baseball camp in Austin over the summer that would be cool too

Any chance you Houston folks know of any 9u players that would be looking to pickup April 12-13 (Scrapyard Wood Bat Classic) and April 26-27 (Baseball USA)?

What team are you with? I have some 9u connections in Houston I can reach out to.

I was able to fill the spot this morning.

We are with Legacy Baseball Club in Humble. Would still like to connect for future pickup/networking opportunities though. Email is aaron tx srf at yahoo. Thanks.

Super NIT this weekend in Beaumont. My two best pitchers had a "big" Little League game against each other on Tuesday. They are probably my only 2 arms that can shut down Major teams. One threw 89 pitches the other 87.

Why do parents do dumb *****

PhatMack19 said:

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Super NIT this weekend in Beaumont. My two best pitchers had a "big" Little League game against each other on Tuesday. They are probably my only 2 arms that can shut down Major teams. One threw 89 pitches the other 87.

Why do parents do dumb *****

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How did y'all end up? My youngest's team lost in the 10AAA semifinals. They went 1-1 in pool play, losing to the eventual #1 seed and then lost to the #2 seed in bracket play, 10-7.

Little man had himself a weekend- went 7-14 with 4 doubles and 11 RBIs. He was raking.

But in true DiamondKast fashion, they don't remotely have the correct scores or even rosters in there. Kid played every single inning but DK doesn't even have him as having played at all. They have incorrect scores for games and show multiple kids as having played who aren't even on the roster.

Regardless, super proud of how the boy and his team played. They played their asses off. It's only our second tournament with them but the coach & parents said this is the best they've ever played. The 2 teams the lost to should probably be playing majors or jumped up to it soon.

The team we lost to in pool play that was the #1 seed (lost to eventual champs in semis) has a .735 winning percentage in 10AAA and is even 7-1 vs. 11AA. The team we lost to in the semis has a .692 winning percentage in 10AAA. We also beat another team that should probably be 10maj, 5-0- they have a .634 winning percentage in 10AAA.

We had our first ever "drama" on our team after forming almost a year ago. A parent decided that using the team group chat to give their idea on where everyone should play, to bench players when they make errors, and the exclude players from the lineup when they're slumping was good idea. The coach shut it down. Said no one else comments. If you do don't show up the next day. They commented and were asked not to show up. 2 others decided not to show up too. I think the roster just shrunk from 12 to 9.

I assume stuff like this happens everywhere. But it's not fun dealing with it.

Farmer1906 said:

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We had our first ever "drama" on our team after forming almost a year ago. A parent decided that using the team group chat to give their idea on where everyone should play, to bench players when they make errors, and the exclude players from the lineup when they're slumping was good idea. The coach shut it down. Said no one else comments. If you do don't show up the next day. They commented and were asked not to show up. 2 others decided not to show up too. I think the roster just shrunk from 12 to 9.

I assume stuff like this happens everywhere. But it's not fun dealing with it.

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Unfortunately it's an all too common experience.

Adults ruin it for kids and teams. Coaches have to set clear guidelines on that kind of communication from the outset. Just shows that most teams/orgs will cut parents long before they cut kids.

We went 1-3 drawing ranked teams in every game. We did beat the #34 team in the country in our first game Sunday.

Saturday we couldn't throw strikes. Started off with 12 straight balls in the first game, made a few errors and gave up 8 runs in the first. We battled back and ended up losing 10-8. I was at least happy we competed after digging such a huge hole.

2nd game was rough. 13 walks and 2 HBP. You aren't beating any Major teams like that. Very uncharacteristic for us to not throw strikes. Not sure if we were trying to be too fine against better teams or what, but was pretty terrible. Lost 10-2.

Last game we got bombed 12-0 by a Wildcatters team that just hit everything we threw at them.

I had a pitcher out for a school event, then my best 2 pitchers decide to throw complete games in Little League a few days before. Wasn't really how I planned working my pitching for an NIT, but we will learn from it. We aren't as far away as the kids think sometimes.

I did tell the team and parents after the last game that they get 100 pitches a week. If they choose to use them in LL, they won't pitch for me on the weekend. It's their choice.

If you're going to lose I'd say better to lose early. That way you can enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

PhatMack19 said:

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I did tell the team and parents after the last game that they get 100 pitches a week. If they choose to use them in LL, they won't pitch for me on the weekend. It's their choice.

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How was that received?

TarponChaser said:

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Farmer1906 said:

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We had our first ever "drama" on our team after forming almost a year ago. A parent decided that using the team group chat to give their idea on where everyone should play, to bench players when they make errors, and the exclude players from the lineup when they're slumping was good idea. The coach shut it down. Said no one else comments. If you do don't show up the next day. They commented and were asked not to show up. 2 others decided not to show up too. I think the roster just shrunk from 12 to 9.

I assume stuff like this happens everywhere. But it's not fun dealing with it.

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Unfortunately it's an all too common experience.

Adults ruin it for kids and teams. Coaches have to set clear guidelines on that kind of communication from the outset. Just shows that most teams/orgs will cut parents long before they cut kids.

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On our 5th team in 5 seasons. We've left teams for this reason twice.

I'll talk to the coach 24 hours+ after a game to ask about stuff, but usually to see what's going on, not "why didn't you bench him or pitch my son", etc.

We did have one team where a parent pulled his son out IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TOURNAMENT. Becaue the coach moved him after he missed his 2nd routine fly ball at 3rd. He moved him to left field. Dad got mad, starting messaging on the groupme and then the coach's wife got in. This was during quarterfinals; we did end up going to the 'ship though.

But I think most of the issues revolve around egos and parents (mainly dads) trying to live vicariously through their kids.

~egon

Just had a very refreshing experience with the coach from my youngest's new team. Coach called and said he likes to call parents after a weekend and get a read on how the kid/parents are feeling after the tournament. Thoughts, comments, concerns, airing of grievances, etc.

We ended up shooting the breeze for about 30 minutes. I really didn't have any concerns other than we're a thin roster and probably don't have the arms to win most tournaments but that's not the issue. I just want to make sure the arms are protected and coach/parents are on board with being OK if we don't win rings- I just want to play 4 games every weekend and be competitive doing so. See the boys develop and have fun playing the game while being pushed to get better and learn the fundamentals. We're completely aligned on those items.

He said he would work to get my kid in at multiple positions and I said I didn't care where he played him but be ready to give him more instruction on where to line up and what to do if he puts him in a spot he hasn't really played (like 1st or SS).

When I coached select baseball we intentionally did not pick kids/parents that wanted to jump to a new team every year. We felt there was a reason for that and we didn't want to deal with them because they were most likely just going to cause problems. I get a one or two moves because it can be bad but jumping teams 5-6 times tells me the problem may not just be those teams.

I've coached for 8 seasons now. Going on 2 in 9u select. I've never had a problem until we went select. And I assume that's about the age/level most start to have issues. I spend most of my time managing parents.

Just this past Saturday we won both our pool games and had one parent tell another that he was going to kill him, twice, just for saying "come on" when the former parents kid made an error.

It's really sucked the joy out of coaching for me. It has given me a good perspective however when I feel the need to criticize a coach going forward. So I got that going for me.

On the bright side, the parental craziness tends to decline as the boys get older. Especially when psycho parents are forced to see that little Timmy is topping out at 5'6" and will not be the next Aaron Judge despite hitting eleventy nukes in 9AA.

This is only our 3rd season of select (2nd team because the 1st organization ended up disbanding after the owners parted ways). But during the first parents meeting year 1, the coaches set clear guidelines..they don't want to hear from parents until 48 hours after the tournament ends.

There have been 3 times since where I was really frustrated with coaching decisions made on Sunday and was ready to fire off a text to coach or call him but I adhered to the 48 hours policy.

It's amazing how "cooling off" for 2 days reshapes your mind and the importance (or unimportance) of things.
I only ended up reaching out once but the 2 days gave me the right mindset to find the right tone and it was really well received. We had a good exchange.

The other 2 times I never said anything and the coach either reached out to some of us on his own or you could already tell he was making the "right" adjustments in practice.

I highly encourage parents to take 48 hours and cool down before contacting a coach about your frustrations and concerns.

I am the admin for our local select team that we have had together for 3 years now. We are in 9u at this point. We have had a core of 5-6 kids for all 3 seasons and filter in 3-4 new kids every season. Some move teams, some decide not to play anymore, etc etc. The last two years we implemented a 24 hour rule and it works beautifully. It has also helped me when my kid picks up on other teams to understand what that head coach is dealing with and to give him some grace. I'm not sure how much longer I got in me doing the admin thing though, pretty burned out dealing with tournament directors. This is the most 'go with the flow' group of parents we have had, which is nice.

Luckily, I don't deal with the tourney directors for our team, but as I understand it 5Tool has been tough to work with this season (in communication, availability, etc.).

Curious what's everyone's thoughts on a select 10u team playing in a rec league. Personally, I'm pissed about it but didn't know how common it was.

It's not allowed in our organization or any organization our rec teams interlock with.

It will happen sometimes in the fall when leagues are trying to make. They will try to put rec teams in one division and select in a different division. You typically can't just sign a straight select team up for a rec league. Sometimes a rec team will stick together for a few years and play some select on their own but that is a little bit different than a random select team showing up for a rec league out of the blue.

Yep. FiveTool randomly charged my personal card $250 for a 'Team Gate Fee' for our tournament last weekend. Never told me there was a team gate fee and never asked for authorization to run my card. They just took a card that was on file from when I entered tournaments earlier in the year. I called Drew out on it and he just ignored. We will be going back to Perfect Game after the next two pre paid Five Tools. Sad state of affairs when PG is providing the 'best' product.

You guys have any resources or recommendations on daily pitching drills/plans for a 9 yr old? I'd like to have something my son can do on his own at home to both build strength and form.

AgEng06 said:

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You guys have any resources or recommendations on daily pitching drills/plans for a 9 yr old? I'd like to have something my son can do on his own at home to both build strength and form.

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I got this from a former ND pitcher who's kid is now 11U. Obviously this is just one of most likely six million but we use it.

Monday- Rest (may be more than a day if we pitch more than 40 pitches on Sunday.
Tuesday- Long Toss (Normal warm up and then 15-20 throws from 120'. We throw from center to home which also helps outfield reps.)
Wednesday- Normal warm up and then bull pen work. 20-25 pitches. We throw 60% until we throw three strikes in a row. There has been days where this takes up all 25 pitches. Once he throws three strikes in a row we move the speed to 90%. Just working on strikes. At 9 I don't expect them to have much command at all.
Thursday- Off day but we do stretch the arm using bands. Can work dry pick offs and/or fundamentals. Dry pitching is good for footwork.
Friday- Normal practice but we usually only bat on Fridays.
Saturday/Sunday is live.

At nine he has a great change up by just throwing the ball slower. We tried to develop a circle change up but his hands are not big enough to command the ball and its really hard to throw with any consistency. At his age its extremely hard for batters to slow down even if they notice the pitcher is literally slowing down.

I have no love for Five Tool but they do list team gate fees for certain venues. PG does the same. Frankly, I prefer the team gate bc its cheaper. Usually the org pays it and we see no gate fee for that weekend. You could just get 20 bucks from each family to cover it. At worst, that same 20 covers one parent entering both days. On the other hand, if both parents attend, that would be $40 for the weekend for the family and even better if you're bringing little ones into Five Tool where they charge for 6 and up. I've always been surprised the team gates aren't higher, I'd have to think they make more on individual gate fees.

docb said:

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AgEng06 said:

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You guys have any resources or recommendations on daily pitching drills/plans for a 9 yr old? I'd like to have something my son can do on his own at home to both build strength and form.

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He's 9. I wouldn't worry about any of that stuff yet. Just work on his control and let him have fun. It is way too early to start some rigorous schedule several days a week. Just my humble opinion though.

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This.

Just worry about throwing and mechanics. As for a change-up, don't worry about a circle-change yet but have him do a "bear claw" which is basically where he grips the ball in his palm with all his fingers on the ball. It moves it towards his pinky a bit and away from his index finger which gives it a different spin and slows it down without having to slow down his motion or arm.

And just play catch. Mix in some long-toss too- don't worry about accuracy just his mechanics.

Look up simple throwing progressions for your warm up routine. Have 3-4 different progressions that focus on getting his mechanics correct. Also, make sure he is throwing with proper pitching mechanics all the time. My son has always landed open and released from a lower slot. Even as a 7u kid he's thrown that way. He's learned to be accurate and can throw hard. Once we started pitching he couldn't be consistent because landing open and slinging the ball across will never work. We really focus on staying on top of the baseball stepping straight to your target. When he is playing catch with buddies on a day he's not pitching, I will catch him in his bad habits and I call it out every time. Muscle memory is key.

Oldest's first HS season ended yesterday. They have a sophomore team, JV, and varsity. The sophomore team is all freshmen and 3 freshmen were on JV- our 2028 class is special. We're talking, state championship caliber in a couple years.

Varsity made playoffs as the 3rd place team. JV won district, and the sophomore team went 14-0 to win district too. Went 19-2-1 scoring 226 runs and only giving up 29. The 2 losses & tie were to an excellent Pearland team, 4-4, 3-0, and 2-0.