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| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| jacjacatk |
Posted - 07/29/2013 : 15:39:49
Is it unusual for tryouts at these ages to involve hours of standing around by the majority of the players while individual player/pitcher matchups are evaluated? Based on my admittedly limited experience with the process, this appears to be far more common than I would have expected.
Likewise, is it standard for the individual team coaches to be largely uninvolved in the process of choosing players who are new to the program? My son has yet to meet a 15U coach (or at least been told which coaches were the 15U coaches at the tryout) at a tryout, including for organizations where he's been offered a spot to play.
Is it standard for teams/organizations to insist on immediate decisions from players about the spots they're offered? Every team he's tried out for so far has essentially said that they expect an answer to an offer of a spot within a day. I realize that teams have to get organized fairly quickly, but with most people probably interested in doing at least a couple of tryouts when making the transition from pre-HS to HS age travel, is there really no leeway to get multiple evaluations from the players' side? |
| 8 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| bestplayinbaseball |
Posted - 08/01/2013 : 17:04:38
Do your research. larryjr is correct. Nelson runs a great program! It is all about development, not wins.....at the 15u and up level. Windward is another great program, 643 is another. They all win their fair share, but in the end, most of their 17's and 18's are college signees. These guys are all professionals and are looking to develop the projectable players.
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| larryjr |
Posted - 08/01/2013 : 15:35:36
It is rare to see a startup have an elite team out of the gate. Take for example, Canton Chargers post above about Nelson Baseball School. That program has been around for about 6-7 years and is very strong. However, since he doesn't have a youth program, the 15U team is usually the weakest team in the bunch since no one in 14U is aware of the program. You typically see that team change a little after 15U and get strong as the good players realize where the coaching really is located. His entire 18U team will be college signees and that's why it pays to research the entire program first and pick the program. |
| 743 |
Posted - 08/01/2013 : 09:36:15
My point on knowing who is on the team is you don't want your son if he is an elite major player playing on a team with other players who are AAA type players and the team wont be able to compete at a high level.
Especially if a team is a start up program that doesn't have a track record. |
| larryjr |
Posted - 08/01/2013 : 08:16:15
You have to understand that your son is no longer in the youth baseball world. Once they get to HS, coaches will primarily communicate with the player and they expect the player to communicate with them if the have questions or need anything. You have 2 jobs as a parent, especially at 15U and up. Pay the bill and get them to practice. Once they drive themselves, you just need to pay the bill. At 15-18U, you select the program and not the coach or other players on the team. The top programs give your son 24 hours to make a decision and he either wants to be in the program or wants to keep looking. Also, keep in mind the HS age travel teams have 2 seasons. Just because you make the Fall team does not mean you are gauranteed a spot in the summer. Your son will need to prove that he wants to be there by hustling, giving 100% and being a good teammate. The top programs have a long list of others interested and they won't put up with attitude or laziness. At some point, you can't play with your childhood best friend, you have to pick the program that will help your son develop into a better player and provide opportunities to be seen by scouts and have coaches that are well connected beyond Atlanta baseball. |
| jmac83 |
Posted - 08/01/2013 : 07:14:49
Tryouts really have become such an obvious fundraiser for a lot of these teams. It won't last, sooner or later enough parents will balk at the fee or insist on knowing the number of available slots that the trend will reverse, but for now enough families are accepting the status quo. |
| 743 |
Posted - 07/31/2013 : 07:40:23
My big question would be can you tell me who else has taken a spot. You don't just take a spot without knowing the make up of the rest of your team. |
| Canton Chargers |
Posted - 07/29/2013 : 17:02:52
I've gone to (3) 15U tryouts so far that were all well run and had quite a few kids. All the coaches either spoke before or after to the parents and were all pretty straight forward on their process of evaluating and when you would or would not have an answer.
These were all Major level programs whereby most kids are looking to get an offer and pretty much accept on the spot and is why they were there in the first place. If your kid is a flat out stud, most coaches regardless of what they say, will wait a lil longer than "I need an answer now", but remember that there are a lot of kids that are pretty good that are ready to committ now and the coaches potential headache of filling the roster is over.
Went to Nelson tryout on Saturday and Brian spoke to the parents for about 5-10 minutes and gave us all the info needed on deadlines for answers after offers, etc... It was the best tryout we've been to this season and all the kids were pretty much involved for 3 hours. The 4th hour, they did pitchers vs. hitters and of course, most of the kids were in the dugout waiting to hit, pitch or catch. Instead of having 200 kids spread all over the field, he would swap 9 new players every 3-4 batters, so the kids weren't getting croth rot in the dugout. Very well run tryout in my opinion.
Good luck to all out there in finding a new team or staying with their old one.
Bring it!!! |
| Mets69 |
Posted - 07/29/2013 : 16:51:35
Is it standard for team to insist on immediate decisions ... I guess it depends on the organization. If it's a successful organization with a track record of producing quality teams, then I think most would want a response right away. The success of the program should speak for itself. Those who really want to be part of the program need to know their tryout status in as short a time as possible. I would hate to hear that I'm on the "waiting list", while other players postpone their decision while they go off and continue to tryout with other organizations.
Is it standard for individual team coaches to be uninvolved in the tryout process ... Again, it would depend on how the organization is run. If it's a small organization, with only one team per age group, then I don't think it makes much of a difference to have individual team coaches involved in the selection process. The head of the organization has a vested interest in choosing the players who he feels will best represent the organization. In the organization my son was involved in, the head of the organization will eventually be the head coach for the 18YO team. He also ran the practices for all age groups (15 thru 18) and spent time in the dugout with each team as time permits.
And lastly, as far as the tryout format ... I've seen most teams at the older age groups run some form of the "pro-style" workout, whereby infielders are all placed at SS and outfielders are placed in RF. Each player gets a number of balls hit to them and they're evaluated on their glove use and arm strength/accuracy. While infielders are being evaluated, outfielders may be hitting in batting cages.
As far as pitcher/batter matchups, I think they are more used to help evaluate pitchers in live game situations rather than batters ability to hit. Since pitchers always have the advantage, the batters are likely to be better evaluated on their mechanics and performance in the batting cages. That's not to say that the onfield pitcher/batter matchup is meaningless for the batter. If I were a coach, I would want to see a batter's overall approach when facing live pitching. Regardless of whether he gets a hit or not, if I saw a batter who looked clueless at the plate, then that would be a red flag regardless of how well he did in the batting cage.
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