I have also posted this on the 13U forum. ...........What is best? Our son has a July birthday. He is the oldest in travelball (majors) but, one of the youngest in his grade. Most of his classmates have always been one year ahead in ball. He will try out in the Fall of 2012 for the following Spring HS season. He pitches (primary), plays 3rd and left. He is 5'4" and 103lbs. Puberty is only just beginning. I would like your opinions on this subject. There are pros and cons to any choice. We just want to make the best decision possible for our son.
Keep him in 13U. He's still pretty small and would be better served staying back and being a stud for a year. Just my opinion but why not let him make the adjustments from his changes from puberty without having to push to keep up with boys that are already much bigger and older.
Also, again, JMO but Fall HS ball is not coached by actual HS coaches and is populated predominately by players that will not make the actual Spring teams. Take a pass on HS Fall ball and shoot for really solid travel program that will play a limited Fall schedule and have a regimented Fall winter workout schedule to take advantage of that puberty induced higher testosterone.
But the flip side of playing 13 is that he would be playing behind is graduation class and what good would that do the kid? At the end of the day he would be graded on his class not his age! So my advice would be at that size get stronger and faster. Height is what it is. Get his arm stronger, work on range. That just my thought on it. There is nothing wrong with working hard to keep up. As a parent would you rather hear the only reason he's doing good is because he's older than the other kids or he is working hard on his game and getting better with his class?
Passball, I don't disagree with you as my son played up in 13U Majors at 12 and 14U Majors at 13 at ECB but my son was tall for his age and threw harder than most of the boys that were older. I'm a big fan of playing up to get better. I held him back this year in travel in 14U and then we saw the real benefit from him playing up.
This situation is different though. His son has yet to grow and that will be an automatic strike against him playing majors ball. Coaches are coaches and bigger is almost always initially better in their eyes. At least in Majors travel ball.
If you're referring to HS then no big deal. His travel team age has no bearing on his HS team. Let him play 13U travel, be a stud and get a ton of playing time, build his confidence and then go for the REAL HS team in the spring. Just spend some time practicing on the 60/90 fields so he can adjust for the spring. Fall HS baseball is a joke to players who are on high level travel teams. JMO of course.
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Posted - 07/25/2011 : 16:42:45
