This topic may have been beat to death in the past, I sorry if it's redundant.
Is it our imagination or do teams have trouble filling rosters when they hit 13U and why? It seems like every average/above average team in our area is short on players and "looking" constantly. Is this something that will settle down after Jan. 1st?
What happened to all the "middle" infielders? Did they get moved to outfield because the field got bigger? Did they all jump from 12U to 14U because they are in the 8th grade and played down in the past? Is it the junior high school teams (for counties that have them) cracking down on not letting players play for a travel team?
Does the bigger field size at 13U really level out the playing field? Or maybe all the kids that were pushed at a very early age have burned out?
Or are there just too many teams out there? Maybe everybody is just being more selective.
Lots of questions I know - but you guys are very knowledgeable and fun to read!
I think one thing that happens is that this is the age that kids figure out that they are not going to be able to compete at a high level on the baseball field. I think alot has to do with the change in field dimensions. Speed and athletic ability become much more important and marginal athletes who used to get by in the outfield or at first base and their parents see the writing on the wall. They know "good" baseball because they have been living it and they know that they are not going to make the "good" team, and don't want to play at a lower level.
Also think this gets to be the age where school, girls, and specialization in other sports begin to take their toll.
And likely more than a few late bloomers get discouraged by the "early" bloomers with respect to puberty and are not of the inclination to think they will catch up if they just tough it out for a year or two...
Coaches want to win. So they pick the kids with power, size. Only small kids who remain are the ones with exceptional speed and baseball IQ. Tough to get picked to play on a top level team if you are a good athlete and small at age 13. Got to have something special going for you or you get left out. No desire to go back to rec ball, so they leave.
I really don't think that many teams are truly having problems filling rosters at all. If anything it's getting harder to make a team now as coaches have gotten more selective. The teams who are constantly "looking" are really only interested to adding another pitcher or two to their lineup. Nothing wrong with that, but their core team is almost always set. Other position players really need not apply.
That being said there is still some drop off at 13U. What you find at this age range is that a lot of kids will bail out of travel ball if they are not selected on a competitive team. It's no longer acceptable for them just to be playing, they want to win. Most of the pick-up's now are from kids switching teams trying to jockey for more playing time or to move up in division with a better program. That's just the way it goes.
I think this issue has several layers of why you dont see more players infielders or other wise playing on a bigger field. One issue is the fact that 13u plays mostly 54/80. This is an issue because IMHO playing those distances are a waste of time for player development. If you are going to play 54/80 just play 60/90.
Second there was a comment about players/parents realizing that they cant play the positions on the infield/pitcher/catcher/outfield they have been able to at the younger age grps. This is mostly due to arm strength/speed and range.
Third- Playing 13u with the fields being larger than the younger age grps play on. Some of the more sought out bigger kids who hit for power in the younger age grps dont fair as well on the bigger fields. Coaches now realize that those power shots are nothing more than typical fly balls now and usually tend to place more weight on the speedy line drive type hitters. Sure there are kids who have both at 13u power and speed. However at the younger age grps when 12u kids are playing on 200ft fences hitting for power isnt hard.
Fourth- Is the real easy one- SPEED...Once a team/player hits the bigger field you better have some speed. The lack of speed at the 13u division can clog up a coaches bases with runners and also hurt them offensively by slowing down base stealing and by allowing the defensive teams opportunities to turn more double plays. Also not to forget the ability to bunt runners over and tag up opportunities.
Defensively the lack of speed hurts a team as a whole. Infielders/outfielders now have more ground to cover and range becomes more important. You can have a great arm but if you cant get to the ball that arm does no good.
Finally the last issue is just the simple fact that some kids who have been playing for several years may just be burnt out on baseball. Most have hit puberty and now all of a sudden girls are entering the picture or other interest have developed other than baseball.
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Posted - 12/14/2010 : 12:43:51
