My son played select/travel ball two years ago. Last season he played LL and this season he'll play LL also. I may put together a select team to play in a couple AAU tournaments but I haven't decided if it would be worth the trouble.

That select/travel team my son played on almost went to Nationals. I guarantee you that team would have gotten destroyed if a team from where we live now would have been put together to compete against them. My point is that just because a team is designated "select" doesn't mean they are better than a "rec ball" team. It depends on where you live and what kind of talent is there.

Jason

Callaway,
My son plays on our tournament team. We just play local tournaments. The competition in these tournaments ranges from select (we got crushed by a nationally ranked 12u team as an 11u team) down to fairly weak travel teams. My son would not get any opportunity to pitch on a select team. He throws low 60s tops and around here select 12u teams and the stronger travel teams have several kids throwing high 60s and above.

Our LL is fairly competitive so he enjoys that also.

Sandman

quote:

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But wouldn't that type of generalization depend upon the caliber of each local rec league?

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Reckon it would. Didn't mean to offer that type of "generalization". Sorry, Geez.

The first travel team that Boomer tried out for when he was 9 was a 10U team. He didn't make the team. Even though he wasn't skilled enough at the time (2 days after his Rec All Star game where he batted 4th and drove in the game winning run) he was buzzing with excitement to see that level of play. He and I both were giddy seeing such a talented group of kids. He didn't embarrass himself by any means, but he knew he would have to work very hard to play at that level. It was a huge motivator for him.

There clearly were no "less developed" kids on that team at any position. I don't know about other rec leagues but Boomer and I had never seen anything like that in ours. There is just no comparison here. Again, I didn't realize that there were rec leagues with that type of talent.

Rec ball just doesn't offer enough AB's for the season here because of the inflated rosters and games being run on a stopwatch. Oh no, don't get me started. Anyway I like travel ball first and foremost for the additional playing time and second for the quality of play.

JMO.
R.

Ok, I guess we've steered far enough off the course of "Player clips" w/ this one now.

Nice discussion though, which if we wish to continue, might be better in its own thread.

Thanks,
Sandman

No thanks, I'm done.

FlippJ,

I definitely like your son's tee swing. In particular, his move to and thrugh the ball. Nice tight handpath. Maybe a little more sit should be considered. He is on the right track. Are you working with a particular instrucitonal tape? Nick

NickKio,

Thanks for the kind words. You have a PM.

Been a hectic week... Plus got to see a couple D1 ball games this weekend.

MWR-VA thanks for the kind words... about the webistes I've create for my sons. Besides being a proud Dad... It seems to have a positive affect on my oldest sons' recruitment which was my original intent. But once I made one for my oldest I had to follow up with my youngest... Its a great way to share with Grand parents and friends...

Although, my oldest is sometimes embarrassed by it... (at least in front of his friends) Most others think the site is pretty neat... I've also started two different WEBsites for Rec leagues... but that was a few years ago and I am no longer involved. It was a way for me to learn web publishing and HTML coding... which helps me in my profession.

What I like is the fact that you can add Video clips and you don't have to do a FAST FORWARD or reverse to look at... with couple clicks you can get to the clip you want to see... And I (or anyone else) can do it from any computer on the internet... (How'd we function 10-15 years ago? )

I want to find out more about FLASH videos but haven't had the time recently, so the animated GIFS will have to do. I do have MPEGS also but the size too big to make Downloading over the internet practical.

Anyway, I'll share what I know... especially FREEWARE or Shareware programs... I've done everything on my son's sites without buying addtional SW packages... But if anyone know techniques for "Downsizing" video clips... PM me...

quote:

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Originally posted by Callaway:
Hey Sandman,

I've seen Kevin's swing and he will create his own "pitcher pain" this spring!!

Why don't you post it again or a new one. I love watching him swing a bat!

R.

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I finally went through the video from last weekend's clinic at Brown.

IMO, many of the areas for improvement I've noticed seem to stem mostly from his admitted fear of getting hit by the pitch. Unfortunately, his fear seems a bit exaggerated because he said he was stepping in the bucket vs. coach short toss even because he was still a bit afraid.

He skips the upper body load to save time for bailing, if necessary, then steps in the bucket, because he thinks this gets him away from the speeding pitch. But then he loses his balance during the swing because his shoulder line at launch is now pointing towards the SS. Of course, he's then given away the outside half of the plate, so anything middle-out - if he can even get the bat on it - ends up w/ a "tail" on it due to the slicing imparted as he swings across his wide open body. Anything middle-in is a dead pull.

From more of a 30,000' view, he does often manage to hit the ball hard and that's a definite good thing.

I know I need to be patient on him growing used to faster pitching, but I'm just afraid that some of the habits he's developing in the meantime will be hard to unlearn.

At any rate, here are a few swings. The coach who was short tossing (first swing) was standing and at about 30', so the downward plane of the pitches was quite severe. For the 2nd/3rd pitches, the coach was seated.

4.2 mb QuickTime movie

Free QuickTime Player download

Sandman

After reading all of that and then viewing the clips... I STILL LIKE HIS SWING!! There is a lot right going on. I can see him stepping out a little bit, but I wouldn't sweat it. He just needs lots and lots of cuts!

He shows great athleticism and beautiful rotation. I'm sure that some will be able to pick it to death but, what I really appreciate seeing is his "intent" to hit the ball hard. I really like that about his swing. I look forward to watching him develop. Thanks for posting that clip.

Ross.

PS He looks like he has grown some since the last clip?

Sandman,

Kevin looks much better than those living room shots I saw a while back. I too like his rotation and agree with Callaway about the fear thing... He just needs more reps. He'll grow out of it. My son had a little fear from time to time when he was younger. He'll be fine.

He definitely has "intent". That's been a battle with my son, Brandon, both at the plate and on the mound. He's getting better though.

I have something to show you... Check your email.

Tell Kevin your friend from Minnesota and his 12 year old son think he's doing a super job and to keep up the good work.

Jason

P.S. Got signed up for the Epstein seminar here in March. My son and I are looking forward to it.

Thanks guys. That's why I'm trying to regularly take a 30,000' view - to appreciate things like athleticism, intent, etc..

As Doug recently said (paraphrased)... "it's fun to dissect mechanics". But I think we all know that, at some point, ya gotta take the swing you have up to the plate w/ you.

IMHO, getting the confidence to be greater than the fear is a far more important - and likely rewarding - nut to crack than tweaking the mechanics to the n-th degree. Don't get me wrong; I will continue to help him hone his mechanics, but the 80:20 rule seems in order. If to achieve that last 20% bores him to tears w/ lectures/demos/drills, then that time is probably better spent increasing his confidence in the 80% he has. (numbers are meant to be an example; not saying he represents 80% of a perfect swing)

Yes Ross, he may have put on 5 lbs or so in the last 2 months, but I don't think he's grown in height. Fingers crossed!

Jason, I agree on him looking better in these than the tee work in the LR that we spoke of. With the tee, his head stays down a bit much and balance problems are just exacerbated. Plus his natural instincts/abilities take kind of a "back seat" to digesting the cues for the session, while just trying to make good contact w/o clobbering the tee. With live pitching, it's much more "see the ball, hit the ball".

There's a place for both though and I will try to continue to strike a good balance.

Glad to hear you got into Mike's seminar. You might ask him his thoughts on the collapsing rear foot issue we've discussed?

Thanks for checking in guys. I too look forward to our little guys progress, and being able to share it thru this medium is great stuff!

Sandman,

I'm watching man....his competence is becoming unconscience. Play ball.

Sandman,

Have you ever taught him how to properly get hit by a pitch? and how to get out of the way of a pitch?

Sure have redbird. We've spent a lot of time w/ tennis balls in our cage.

[IMG]http://members.cox.net/msanda/Kevin - avoid pitch.gif[/IMG]

Oops, had a little FTP issue w/ Cox.

Sandman,

His swing looks great! I wouldn't change anything. Just keep giving him the opportunity to take a lot of quality swings.

Lots of ways to attack the fear issue, but ultimately he will have to decide for himself to hang in there. Nick

Wow! A lot of fear. I was expecting him just to turn away.

Has he been plunked badly before?

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Originally posted by redbird5:
Wow! A lot of fear. I was expecting him just to turn away.

Has he been plunked badly before?

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Yes, he got DRILLED in the back in Minors a couple years ago. Then in fall ball this past season, he took one on the elbow, that left stitch marks.

I don't wanna say he's a "sissy", but I'll admit that he (like his father) isn't necessarily the most daring kid.

I agree that the amount of "getting out of the way" was excessive on this pitch - seeing it was lobbed in so slowly. But I think it at least shows that he knows how. But on this pitch, he probably had plenty of time to just jump back.

Would it be cruel of me to convince him to just let ME plonk him a few times? Like once or twice per practice session? Learn to realize that it just doesn't hurt THAT much?

Sandman,

I would encourage you to plunk him a few times with tennis balls and work your way up to hard balls from 10-15 feet.