If you had a boy who could either move up from an AAA team to a majors team and stay in his age group, or play up on another AAA team, what would you pick?
Majors within his age group - but only if the team seeks out good competition regularly that will challenge him. He's only going to be 9, 10, 11 or whatever age once. They grow up fast enough without pushing them to be older.
I would prefer to play major at my age and face the best pitching at major tourneys. NIT, type events. IF they are a legit major and not just in name only. Most good major teams are already as good as AA/AAA teams at the next level as many kids are of same age within a few months. Most are also physically as big as the kids at next age.
If you want to stick close to home and not venture out to big events then moving up may be your answer.
My son played up for 4 and this year (10) we moved him back to his age. My biggiest reason had nothing to do with baseball. The older boys were starting to go through some changes (puberty) and I didnt feel he was ready to be around that.
From the baseball stand point.. Man there are some great kids out there that he gets to play aginist every weekend so I i know we made the right move.
I think playing up same age group to Majors , would be more beneficial to the player. He will face as good or probably better talent in Majors then he would in the next level AAA . You should also base on which team he feels more comfortable with. I would think it would be with kids his own age.
Thats a loaded question with very little info...I would say that AAA or Major is not as important as many other factors. I would not make my decision based on the label that a team chooses to play under.
I will use the experiences that we have had with my son. From the time he started to play baseball which was 2 years ago he has played up one age group every year along with playing his own age group. The results have shown to be beneficial. I can tell you from 11u to 12u the game moves at a much faster pace in 12u than 11u or at least it does here in Florida.
One would have to assume that the teams one age group up would be played at a higher level than an age group below. Because of playing up we have seen tremendous improvements in my sons abilities in a short time. My son himself has even made the comment that since he has played 12u major that the game at 11u looks so much slower. This in my opinion is a good thing. Any time a ball player can say the game looks slower it means that they are seeing the ball better. So in short I would say let them play up because in the long run its going to pay off when they have to play their own age group.
Playing up: Majors or age?
Posted - 04/27/2010 : 13:10:24
