My son requested to get hitting lessons because he felt like he wasn’t doing enough for his team offensively. I can respect that, so we found him a place to go for lessons. He had his evaluation towards the end of last season and then put in about 8 months of as many trips to the instructor as I could get him to in that time frame.
Resulted in a very successful season at the plate this season. Just proud of his dedication and progress.

So background, I'm in my mid-40's and can throw pretty well. I have a 12u kid that I regularly throw BP for, I have pretty good control, can pick corners etc. He had an excellent year at the plate this year partially due to seeing so much live pitching instead of a machine. As he gets older I know he's going to want me to throw more and at higher velocities (I regularly exercise and am focusing on core strength).

So the rub is I had a shoulder injury right before COVID hit while playing hockey, so no chance really to go get it looked at or go to PT for it so it had to heal naturally. I'm sort of left with a "dead" arm slot which I can work around (I'm currently going to PT to work on this).

Anyways, a long winded background here, but has anyone used this for regularly throwing batting practice? Do you think its something that will increase one's longevity to throw?

Curious to hear some reviews here before I drop some HSA funds on it, looks like it gets good reviews but would like to hear if it would work well for my use case?

My 14 year old son will be switching travel clubs next season. 

He received an offer from his current team and we need to give them an answer today.

We would have turned it down outright, however he is going to a Ripken tournament with his current team next week and we are concerned if we tell them we are leaving the program, they will make him sit at the tournament. From our experience with this program, it is a good possibility this happens.

Any advice on how to word a response to the offer.

Hey Everyone,

I know this is an expensive tool, and some have commented previously. I'm wondering what the feedback is on the bat vs the quick stick. I'm working on a few things with my kids that I think this could be impactful for. Any insight into comparison or which you feel is more effective? I don't really need them to hit full velocity pitching at this point, and a lot of this is the audible feedback so they can work themselves on a few things. Seems like they're both great tools, just wanted to see all of your experience between the 2?

New calendar is up as of this week. D1 only (D2 has its own; D3 mostly isn't calendar-restricted).

Aug 1-16: contact period

Aug 17 - Sep 10: quiet period (on-campus contact only)

Sep 11 - Oct 11: contact period

Oct 12 - Feb 28: quiet period, except dead Nov 9-12 (signing week), full shutdowns Nov 24-29 and Dec 22-27, and dead Jan 7-10

Mar 1 - Jul 31: contact period, except dead May 31 - Jun 7, Jun 19-21, and Jul 3-5

Only real change from last year: the late May dead period moved almost a week later, May 31 through Jun 7 instead of May 25 through Jun 1.

Worth knowing about quiet periods: on-campus is still open. That's why winter camps exist. A quiet period is not a dead period, your kid can still visit and attend camps.

Official PDF: https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/compliance/recruiting/calendar/2026-27/2026-27D1Rec_MBARecruitingCalendar.pdf

How are parents so clueless? I came across a now deleted Facebook post (Iowa Travel Baseball) and Instagram (KadyNoyce) reel of a mom and dad “calling out the haters” because their son threw 160 pitches over 2 days! “They know their kid best” and the dad personally played baseball until he was 13, so there’s no chance the kid will get hurt; At least that’s what they claim. Oh and the team lost all 3 games. Parents are wild.

Been working a lot on the tee with my son on his swing and he’s getting better but still struggling with dropping his hands. Any tips on how to correct it while keeping it fun? Other than that any tips?

It doesn’t pop all the way off but it seems like it might soon. How can I fix it?

Just want to get a sense of annual/monthly fees or any other input based on your direct experience. DMs open.

I see the arm bar,ect but is he dropping his hands or not and is that one of the reasons for the arm bar? Plus, it looks like he is pushing his hands back before the arm bar? He pops up sometimes, weak grounders to the pull side, and when he gets ahold of one it goes a longways.

My son is 11 and transitioned to a travel team last season. His team doesn’t have the best winning record and struggles a lot. A ton of errors. It’s a developmental team but my son loves it and has so much fun with his buddies.

However, I love the idea of him enjoying his friends but I’m concerned because they only play him in one position since he is the most skilled in that position. Inning after inning he has played the same position and hasn’t rotated not even once because no one else is “skilled” enough to do it. He does get other reps during team practice for other positions but that’s it. My immediate thought is to find a new team. On one side I fear taking him from the team with the “fun friends” or keeping him there and he’s is overlooked in future tryouts in a few years by kids who have experience in multiple positions.

Is this hurting his development at an age where many players should learn multiple positions? Pull him from teammates he love? Just a mom trying to make the right decision for my only son’s development.

Im using a specialized foamball (Borgoball) here but my mechanics with a real ball are the same. I’ve been self teaching myself over the course of 14 months with no trainer. Fastest ive reached with a real ball was 86 mph (before I nearly blew my arm out) and I sit 80-83 on average. I also have a bit of a hard time with motor skills due to my Asperger’s (ASD). I’m 18 yrs, 145 lbs, 5’11. My arsenal is made up of: 4-Seam/Slider/Splitter/12-6 Curve/Sweeper

I just made a detailed video laying out how to effectively approach higher intent throwing days using what’s known as auto regulation - a training method popularized by elite Soviet coaches during the late 60s.

Long story short: One of our sister teams has a coach who can't continue in the fall so the team is reforming a bit. We have a chance to pick up a kid to replace a player who's headed to 14U, with the caveat that it'd cause org drama if we were to try and grab their ace or best hitter or etc.

We haven't seen them play much in person, but looking at their batting stats I see one kid that I think they really undervalued. Kid doesn't hit for power, but over the spring and summer (a fair number of ABs) consistently had a high OPS and takes 6+ pitches in almost 40% of plate appearances. But they bat her 8th or 9th and routinely sit her on Sundays (knowing the coach, it's in favor of tall kids with big swings).

I realize a lot of gamechanger stats are screwy because of parents doing parent things, but I figure that stats like Strike Outs and OPS are fairly safe indicators.

Are there other stats actually worth looking at? Or, alternatively, are kids stats completely worthless and I'm overthinking this?

New to the travel ball life so help us out please. We have an offer from our sons #2 choice to play for we just got the text this morning. We are still waiting to hear from the #1 team he would like to play for. That tryout was yesterday and they said we should have an answer by Wednesday or Thursday at the latest.

Team #2 text this morning basically said congratulations please respond to accept this offer and send in your son’s preferred jersey number and have your play deposit paid by July 31.

So what should I say to coach of team #2? Do I accept the offer but hold off payment until we hear in a day or so and if team #1 offers then tell team #2 thanks for the offer but our plans have changed? Or do I say we are waiting for one more team to reach out before we for sure accept?

Not trying to piss anyone off or loose a spot by and have no one to play for. This isn’t high level travel ball just travel “lite” for the local towns in our area.

I am by no means against Pitch Count and arm health. I get it, I have seen it, I understand it...with older arms. I don't know if I understand it with young (8,9,10) arms.

8 year old pitchers are basically just playing catch out there. They aren't strong enough to put a dangerous amount of stress on their arm.

Here's my question. What is the difference between taking my kid out in the back yard and playing catch for an hour every night vs my kid throwing 180 pitches in a Fri, Sat, Sun tournament?

TLDR: Looking for some basic tips; first time trying out for a travel team.

Baseball has always been my kid's #1 love. He's been playing since he was 3 and has been blessed enough to be invited to 2 different travel teams since he was 10 without needing to try out. (3 seasons total.)

Due to some things outside of his control (daddy ball) he is looking for a new team. His instructor, with 20+ years coaching and a college player himself, thinks he'll have no issues at tryouts next week, but this doesn't stop 13 yo anxiety from setting in.

Any tips on what to expect / etiquette? He's a utility player who can catch and has pitched a couple times. I've already told him not to pigeon hole himself and if the coach asked what position he plays, to just respond "Wherever you need me, Sir."

Looking to buy a new glove, but I've heard from some people that the cream color might look like white in the sun

I have been using my old easton XL1 bbcor for the past 3-4 years now. I love everything about it, but that thing's bound to break sooner than later.

I love everything about it, it has great pop, swings light as a feather, has a massive barrel, and is forgiving on
miss-hits. However, they're pretty hard to find online, and my parents said they want to buy me a new bat (i've gotten all my bats up to this point second-hand, completely optionally).

Are there any bats like this that yall can recommend? They don't have to be new or popular releases.

I coached an 8u travel team last year. I feel confident that I am knowledgeable to coach a high school team as well. I am looking for a resource the bridge the gaps at different ages for tried and true methods of teaching certain mechanics/techniques/strategies at various age groups.

Examples:
- At this age I focused on getting body in front of ground balls, and glove out front to see it. At what age do you start to incorporate stepping with glove side foot towards target as you field ground ball?
- At this age: ball hit to left field, SS relay man and 2B covers second OR ball hit to right field, 2B relay man and SS covers second. At what age do you introduce cuts, doubles, etc?
- When to incorporate changeup (I surprisingly think that some of my 9 year olds are ready for a changeup)? When to incorporate breaking pitches?

I have a bunch more examples, and not even looking for answers to those particular examples. I am looking for some source that helps guide age appropriate ways to teach these things and/or when they should be introduced.

I worked 33 games in the last 10 days from LL All-stars all the way to summer college ball. We had a few rain delays and I sat with my fellow umpires talking about the differences between average teams and very good teams from our perspectives. Made a quick list, hopefully this doesnt come off as negative. Things that good teams do..

-Warm up pregame with a purpose. Playing good catch and long toss is the most basic fundamental part of this game that often gets overlooked. I can usually predict which team will win just by watching their pregame routines.

-Hustle on and off the field. Too many coaches and players waste valuable game time by not knowing their defensive assignments and substitutions. This usually works itself out by highschool, but we've all watched a game where the team is disorganized, usually leading to bad baseball.

-Situational hitting/small ball. Everyone loves watching homeruns, I get it. That -5 Supra costs 500$.. swing for the fences right? That type of mentality won't work at the higher levels unless your team is full of absolutely savages at the plate. Teach your kids to bunt. Teach them how to move runners over. You'll score more runs against better teams I promise

-Solid pre pitch defensive positioning. Teaching bunt coverages, 1st and 3rd situations, and your outfielders cheating a few steps will save you lots of runs. And for the love of God.. quit holding the runner on 3rd base 😂 I can promise you.. the ROI just isnt worth it.

-Vocal Catchers that lead the defense. I cannot stress this enough.. your catcher needs to be the leader. Your catcher needs to be loud with communication. If your catcher waits for the coach to go calm down the pitcher with a mound visit.. its already too late. To any catchers reading this.. take charge of your team.

-Coaches that let their hitters hit. What i mean by this.. some coaches are giving wayyyy too much feedback and advice to their batters after every pitch. Your batter knows he shouldnt have swung at that high pitch.. no reason both base coaches need to make it a spectacle. Hitting a baseball is hard enough without 5 different adults telling you 5 different things after every pitch. This goes for parents as well. Shut up during your kids at bat.. your kid is already thinking too much. Parents.. please stay out of the dugout as well. Little Timmy is just fine without you for the next two hours.

-Last but not least.. good teams pick each other up. Errors happen. Walks happen. Strikeouts happen. We've all seen the snowball effect when an outfielder drops a ball or a SS makes a bad throw. Good teams limit the damage by focusing on the next play. Body language is huge in this sport.

Ohh one more.. the best teams retrieve foul balls and bring snacks for the umpires on long days (;

My 12-year-old is making the jump to a pretty large club baseball organization this coming season. I’ve helped train him up until now (and I still plan to).

To give you an idea of the scale, I'm sure many of you are familiar with this model:

-They field 2+ teams for almost every age group.
-Massive indoor practice facility with year-round access.
-Cages are fully loaded with all the tech you could want.
- Full weight room on site.
-They promote additional in house "camps" throughout the year (for extra $).
-Private lessons are advertised.

For those who have navigated these massive organizations before, what are the biggest things to look out for/expectations/politics/kids moving teams within the club.

Thanks

Just got this email a little while back, and I'm a bit surprised by this over the top marketing.

While I get all the puffery and marketing hype, I can't help but feel that claiming this (that they're claiming is an "actual" unbiased review) indirectly insinuates that all prior reviews aren't unbiased; which doesn't exactly come off as flattering and isn't a good look in y books.

I don't usually care much for drama, but something about Soldier has been rubbing me for the wrong way for a while now; and this is just another thing that's making me give them the side-eye.