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Rocky
290 Posts |
 Posted - 01/13/2010 : 09:06:43
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| I have a feeling a team no one is even talking about from past seasons will jump in and be a major top ten team this season. There are just too many good ball players all around georgia that haven't even started playing travel but this could be the year. I would guess maybe a team from Evans GA or somewhere around Valdosta or Columbus. |
Edited by - Rocky on 01/13/2010 09:19:35 |
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bmoser
1633 Posts |
Posted - 01/13/2010 : 16:10:24
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Rocky,
I agree. Most of us on this forum are overly Cobb/ATl centric IMHO. Every year, teams come out of nowhere like the Albany Stixx did a couple Falls ago, then Cartersville Rookies this Past Fall and Georgia Force from Tifton/Cordele last Summer. I'd bet a hot dog that a team nobody's talking about right now will wind up top 10 by season's end.
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Originally posted by Rocky
I have a feeling a team no one is even talking about from past seasons will jump in and be a major top ten team this season. There are just too many good ball players all around georgia that haven't even started playing travel but this could be the year. I would guess maybe a team from Evans GA or somewhere around Valdosta or Columbus.
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baseballpapa
1520 Posts |
Posted - 01/13/2010 : 19:17:16
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| Papa don't like to bet but I will go off the beaten path for a good ball park hot dog. But I would have to bet with Moser against some of you younger whipper snappers. |
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BREAMKING
323 Posts |
Posted - 01/13/2010 : 21:23:04
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| I agree. We only see a small sample but the south ga. Boys have good athletes but in the past most put football first. Not nearly as many teams down that way. They will show up later on though. I think of all the small towns that do not even have a team. Heck these small towns do not even have enough talent to play kid pitch until 11 hrs. Old. There will be some good arms show up latter from all these small towns in Georgia. |
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bmoser
1633 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2010 : 10:09:16
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BREAMKING:
Your post is right on the money. Football is king South of the A-T-L, but there's something in the water down there that spawns athletes. Look at the past High School football results in all school sizes. When they are able to aggregate talent enough to create a level playing field (as GHSAA's classification systems provides), they shine.
I agree, they shift focus to baseball late, perhaps after a football injury, or not getting the starting QB, RB, WR position in Middle School. When they do, they're raw, but packed with potential.
The hardest ball I saw hit in 10U last year was hit by a Rec player from Cordele, who could barely catch and throw. He sat the max every game. Just goes to show how different things are down there. I wonder if J.D. Drew started late? He's from down that way.
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baseballpapa
1520 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2010 : 20:13:58
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| I agree with the South Georgia theory but you would not be smart to overlook some of the other teams from North Georgia. Some of the Bandits closest games were played North of East Cobb. From my experience the difference between the winners of the tournaments and the rest is depth. Bandits are lucky or unlucky depending on how you look at it in that we seem to get the best the other team has to offer each and every time out. Best effort, Best Pitcher, Best of Everything and that is what makes us ever vigilant and keeps us on our toes. |
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dirtdawgs
58 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2010 : 21:24:07
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| The problem in south Georgia is the kids play pitching machine thru 10u. We have a hard time finding any new players that can step in because they dont have the live pitch skill set. We need one player right now and I honestly dont think there is one kid in this area that can make our team. |
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bmoser
1633 Posts |
Posted - 01/18/2010 : 09:12:51
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You are mostly correct. The exceptions are the Little League towns. That's where your search should focus. In small-town LL, 9's hit against 10's, 11's, and even 12's. By the time LL 9's play 11U, you cannot throw it past them, and they've already seen the hook for 2 years. We learned this lesson last year the hard way...3 times! We were slow learners :(
quote:
Originally posted by dirtdawgs
The problem in south Georgia is the kids play pitching machine thru 10u. We have a hard time finding any new players that can step in because they dont have the live pitch skill set. We need one player right now and I honestly dont think there is one kid in this area that can make our team.
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baseballpapa
1520 Posts |
Posted - 01/18/2010 : 10:54:39
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The pitching machine topic is almost one worthy of its own topic. What is the theory on pitching machines. I have heard that some Coaches discourage hitting off the machine as the machine throws the same pitch the same spot at the same speed.
The pitching machine the Bandits hit off of throws a different pitch every 7 seconds. Goes from a 70 mile per hour fastball on the outside corner to a 55 mile per hour change up on the other corner. Random pitches keep the kids alert. There has been many a sad Bandit come out of the cage when the HomePlate pitching machine is throwing its good stuff.
I really feel that this machine has been a tremendous asset to the Bandits but will also state that once we get started live then it is live and that we don't like to mix between the machine and live very much.
How do you guys feel about this. Maybe another topic but dirtdawg brought it up. |
Edited by - baseballpapa on 01/18/2010 14:43:49 |
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bmoser
1633 Posts |
Posted - 01/18/2010 : 23:08:56
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I like sticking with Coach and machine pitch as long as the kids are still having fun. Why? Because it puts the ball into play many more times per game than kid pitch. Thus, the fielders don't get bored watching so many balls and strikes, and they can hone their defensive skills.
My son had the chance to play kid pitch with a team that went on to win the 7/8 DYB Georgia States (we saw that coming). Their pitchers were so good, only 3-4 balls/game got put into play. The team we went with instead played coach pitch, and every game had 20+ balls put into play. That was the funnest Summer yet, even though there's still an empty space where that State Trophy could have been.
By 11u however, its time to play real baseball. |
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Rocky
290 Posts |
Posted - 01/19/2010 : 08:36:06
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| I believe at 10 and up hitting off live pitching, machines, coaches, anything you can find to swing or hit is good for hand eye coordination. Bottle caps, peas, broomsticks, tennis balls, acorns, wiffle balls, racket balls, wiffle ball bats. My dad hated when we would play stick ball or wiffle ball in the streets, always saying it would ruin our swing, I think he was dead wrong on that. Variety is good, more fun and increases confidence. |
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SMASH
253 Posts |
Posted - 01/19/2010 : 11:55:37
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I've got to agree with Rocky. Repetition at an early age is the key to developing good hand eye coordination. Swinging a bat at a moving object beats playing video games anyday. I also believe that using a pitching machine can be a valuable tool if done properly. It does not replace seeing the ball out of the hand, but its great for repetition when practice time is limited. Of course it should be closely monitored. Good quality swings; "stay back, trust your hands, don't let them cheat by trying to get out in front of everything. Machine pitch in a game? I dont see the benefit of that. Dads do a fine job of "layin it in there" with coach pitch which develops the tracking of the baseball out of the hand. By 9u they should be ready for kid pitch both on the mound and in the box.
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bmoser
1633 Posts |
Posted - 01/19/2010 : 21:42:06
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I'll agree coach pitch is better than machine pitch, but I see both as better than kid pitch for younger ages due to the number of balls put into play. Coach pitch easily puts 3 times the number of balls into play than kid pitch at ages 7,8,and 9. Its not all about the pitcher and the hitter, there are 8 other boys on the field trying to have fun and learn the game too.
I've never seen a machine that throws consistently. Some coaches are more consistent than the machines. Most coaches also throw much easier than the machines are set for. Coaches also know where the holes are in a boys swing and can avoid them. |
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baseballpapa
1520 Posts |
Posted - 01/20/2010 : 07:53:00
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moser said that he had never seen a machine that throws consistently. Papa invites him to come up to the Bandits training headquarters located in North Georgia to see what I think might be one of the better pitching machines out there. It took us 2 years to raise the money to buy the Home Plate Pitching Machine. This pitching machine is pricey but does a great job for what we use it for. It has been a tremendous asset and one of its major strengths is its ability to throw a different pitch into any pre programmed spot every 7 seconds.
It goes from a 70 mile per hour fastball to a 53 mile per hour change up. We are not pro pitching machine and do not use the machine much but this is the time of year that it is used and it seems to give the kids a maximum amount of swings and they have to be alert and react to each pitch versus knowing approximately where the ball is coming and at what speed. |
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BREAMKING
323 Posts |
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dirtdawgs
58 Posts |
Posted - 01/20/2010 : 14:52:13
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| You guys missed the point I was making. I loved the machine pitch game. Games lasted one hour and it wasn't unusual for us to play 6 games in a day. The machine made us a great defensive team. The problem is there is no running game. The kids are lost when it comes to pickoffs, leads, stealing, running game defense, catcher developement. At the age we play we kill all local teams on the bases both on offense and defense. The other negative is the kids do devolope longer swings on the machine. They can only hit the ball right down the middle. Watch a game where the machine is off just a bit and watch them struggle adjusting to pitch location. Moser we have no Little League in this area either. There is talk of some starting this year. This area is controled by GRPA and it's pitiful. The point I was making was that kids that play only machine pitch can't step in and help a top notch kid pitch team right away. |
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baseballpapa
1520 Posts |
Posted - 01/21/2010 : 09:43:22
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| BreamKing: Thank you for the link. Guys you have got to check that site out. I don't know if the rankings are correct but the way they present it is the bomb. One of the nicest things leaguelineup could do for the kids. Papa gives them a big Thank You. |
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bmoser
1633 Posts |
Posted - 01/21/2010 : 11:50:08
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Cool! I think this type ranking is what USSSA originally had in mind with their Coaches poll. I don't think these rankings were done by 1 person, I think they were accumulated from a group voting process. I think the results came out pretty well. Thanks to whomever did it. Hopefully it will updated throughout the season. I recall Stan doing that last season towards the end.
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Originally posted by BREAMKING
Looked up georgia 11 under rankings in league line up and this is what I found. Is this just somebody doing it for fun. The ranking look pretty good for no games played yet.
http://www.leaguelineup.com/welcome.asp?url=11urankings
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BREAMKING
323 Posts |
Posted - 01/21/2010 : 14:57:21
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I saw where you could vote for your top ten also in the comments section. I wonder if he later will do it by different classes also.
quote:
Originally posted by baseballpapa
BreamKing: Thank you for the link. Guys you have got to check that site out. I don't know if the rankings are correct but the way they present it is the bomb. One of the nicest things leaguelineup could do for the kids. Papa gives them a big Thank You.
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BatChipper
52 Posts |
Posted - 02/10/2010 : 12:28:37
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| Looks like this Blue-Gray tournament will give one of these N. Georgia/Chattanooga "unknown" teams a shot at the big boys! |
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PumknHead
81 Posts |
Posted - 02/10/2010 : 18:10:22
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| I like the link and I think it's accurate, for now! |
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