My son is an ’09 who has expressed an interest in playing on one of the East Cobb teams for ‘07. I have a number of questions I hope can get answered before the August tryouts.

How does the tryout process work? I am told there are approximately 200 players and there are very few repetitions. Also told that 98% of the roster spots go to returning players, so it is very difficult to make a team if you are an unknown at the 16u level.

How does the selection process work? I am told that the top team (Astro’s) selects their entire team first. After that, how are the other teams selected? Any carpool / geography concessions made when the teams are selected? (We live 55 miles away from the ECB complex.)

I assume the season starts after completion of the high school season next spring. But do they do anything this fall, after the August tryout? Any winter workouts prior to high school tryouts? Do the 16u teams practice during the spring and summer, or just play tournaments? Any out of state travel? When does their season end? Are the players allowed to participate with their high school summer teams?

You sound pretty well informed. I can tell you that there are alot of kids already selected for that number one Astros team, but Guerry will seek to find the best players he can for his team. If your son goes throught the process and stands out and is a top player he has a chance.
After Guerry has picked the top players all the other coaches have their list of players and in many cases try to call the parents to go ahead and commit to their team. The coaches meet and pick.
Players on these teams are from every area of Georgia and even out of state players. These players sometimes stay up at the house at the field or with one of the other players on the teams family.Guerry will make it very clear that he wants the players to finish high school baseball before reporting and starting practice.
I will tell you that it is a very good program but the talent pool gets diluted just a bit outside that Astros team. The Titans at East Cobb are in the same aged group and also have very good coaching with Coach Beam.
Keep in mind at the end of the day what I have learned is for your son to play on a team which will give him the opportunity to play and get better, but also participate in key events such as Perfect game showcases and World Wood Bat events. These events will give him good exposure to colleges and scouts. You also as parent these days have to learn to market your son to the schools he may want to attend,in the old days they would come find you now it's 50-50. Good Luck! Love this game!

Good questions and great answers. Chillidog, how do you know which teams will be participating in those showcase events up front? Are they the same ones everytime or do they vary from year to year?

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Guerry will make it very clear that he wants the players to finish high school baseball before reporting and starting practice.

What about the high school summer programs that play during June? In our county, a number of the high school coaches are upset that their top talent plays with East Cobb and other travel teams in June. They are stating to their players that participation in the High School Summer/June program is "mandatory". From looking at the current East Cobb rosters, it looks like those players are cut loose from their high school teams after the state playoffs in May, and are not expected to play with the school in June.

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Keep in mind at the end of the day what I have learned is for your son to play on a team which will give him the opportunity to play and get better, but also participate in key events such as Perfect game showcases and World Wood Bat events.

My son played in the Perfect Game WWB 17u last week, so I was able to see first hand what you refer to. His team played the eventual winner All-American Prospects, and the place was crawling with D1 scouts from SEC and ACC schools. In another game, he got to hit against a LHP being scouted by 3 MLB teams.

I think it is wrong for high school coaches to expect players who want to get better to stay and play summer ball at the high school.
If you look at the quality of ball being played in those summer high school leagues it is not the kind of baseball that is BEST for the player to advance. Those coaches are being selfish and should be focused on helping those maybe moving up from JV or those that can't afford summer travel teams(it is not cheap).
It is unfair to a kid that has dreams and aspirations to be the best he can be and not let him follow that dream!!
Playing time, exposure,marketing your kid, positive reinforcement and hard work from the kid is what will help him succeed.
To answer the question about which teams will be participating just go to Perfect game.org and look at the WWBA Championships click on the age group it will show the teams and rosters of upcoming events.

I love this game !!!!!!!!!!!! GOOD LUCK!!!

I have heard tales of this kind of thing going on and the situation mystefies me. Happily, it hasn't happened to my own son. If it did, I would raise cain over it. I am pretty sure these coaches' "requirements" are in violation of state high school rules and any coach who intentionally violates those rules, or intimates that a player will be "punished" in the future if he doesn't go along, should be fired.

Everyone is in agreement that an individual boy playing the highest level of ball available is in his best interest. However, our coaches feel that having all their players together in June will improve the entire team/program. (In fact, our high school played almost as many games in June as they did the entire spring season). There have been some instances in Atlanta where a high school kept their team together throughout the July tournaments, practicing regularly, and the program did in fact improve from year to year. So it can be a positive. The issue most of our parents have is that they believe the level of teaching and instruction in the high school June program does not compare with what their son can get at an East Cobb team. (This is one reason I am wanting to know if the East Cobb teams practice.)

As for the "violation of state high school rules", we are pertty sure if push came to shove, we could raise cain with the school board and get such a policy overturned. However, we do live in GA, our baseball coach is also a football coach, and my son plays football. So my intent is not to raise a stink, but to determine what my son's options are. Tryouts at ECB are not for 4-5 more weeks, and he may not even make one of those teams. If he doesn't make it, the decisions become easier. But if he does decide to tryout, and makes it, we want to maintain a good, positive relationship with his coach.

Any ECB parents out there who can fill in some more of the details on how the program is run?

You might try going to www.nwgabaseball.org and look at their disscussion board under "players looking for teams". Although they cater to a 14U and below group, under some of the posting you will find a list of ECB coaches emails listed who might in turn give you contacts of other coaches to talk with them directly.

I have been involved for three years with the program, but somewhere different now. The team my son is on now does practice about three times a week. At ECB pitchers and catchers worked maybe twice a week unitl the season starts but once it does they mostly play. These kids need the practice as well because baseball is about muscle memory and playing live games. So practice to me is as important as playing, but with the the schedule they play it's hard sometimes to get more practices in. The one thing that is now different for us is more practice same events.

Chilidog, how is the recruiting going right now. Who's calling? Any decision yet?

If you live on the south side, you may want to check out the http://www.homeplate1.com/. I don't have personal knowledge of them, but they play in most of the big tournaments. They're closer to you. You could avoid alot of the East Cobb b.s. If your not on the Astros or the Titans, then consider going elsewhere. One persons opinion.

We do live on the south side, but almost all the tournaments are on the north side. Hence the question about practices - if ECB teams don't practice, the travel is a non-issue.

Re: Home Plate - this year they did not organize their summer program tryouts until May, whereas East Cobb tryouts are in August (so we have to make a decision now). You are correct though, they have been playing in a lot of good quality tournaments.

As for your reference to "the East Cobb b.s. If your not on the Astros or the Titans" can you be specific as to some of the issues? I don't want this thread to be for East Cobb bashing, but would like to have as many facts as possible, as we try to figure this out.

Tantrough, I will send a private message later with more info.

The Georgia Roadrunners are one of the top teams in Atlanta as well. They just completed their 15u season and will be moving up to 16u this fall. You can go to http://eteamz.active.com/georgiaroadrunners/# if you want to check out thier previous sucess. Several of our players are from the southside as well.

Agree that there are other quality teams in Georgia that do not play out of East Cobb, such as your Roadrunner team. But you have to agree that ECB has an excellent track record. One advantage they have is holding public tryouts, for multiple teams per age group. And those tryouts are well-publicized. Tracking down other teams in Georgia to determine 1) if they will even be fielding a 16U team next year, 2) when they will hold tryouts, and 3) how many roster spots are open, is somewhat difficult (your own Roadrunner site is an example: no mention of if there will be a public tryout, or how many roster spots you are looking to fill.)

At East Cobb, I am told that most of the roster spots will be filled with returning players, or dropoffs from last year's 15U Astros team. So I know it's possible he will not be selected. But I know when the tryout is, how to register, what the tryout format will be like, the cost of the tryout, and in some cases who the coaches will be. And since the tryout is in August, if he isn't selected for a team, he can make other arrangements for next summer.

Another question for you 15U-16U ECB parents: How many tournaments did you play that required out of town travel? For those, how was the competition?

The 16U Georgia Cougars, is a 16U Tournament Team. In the fall, the main objective is to give players the opportunity to maintain and improve their skills in preparation of the 2007 High School Season through playing against some of the top 16U teams in Georgia.

We will practice at Alexander High School in Douglas County each Tuesday & Thursday and compete in 3 tournaments and a few scrimmage games.

We are looking for talented, experienced and dedicated ball players to join our roster. Try-Outs will be Saturday August 26 starting @ 12 @ AlexanderHigh School in Douglas County.

Team website and schedule can be found at @ http://eteamz.active.com/16UGeorgiaCougars

Georgia Cougars Website