What's the point of this? It seems like just another group of tourneys to me.

Also, why the different age cut off (1/1)?

Any way to find out what teams are involved in it?

International play uses a calendar year standard for determining age eligibility for tourneys.

The story does not indicate that there is any international tourney in the works at the 14u level. However, I wonder if this may represent USA Baseball's trying to gather information on players at a younger age so that they can generate a better database on prospects for their 16u and 18u teams. Right now, they are pretty much dependent on the two Junior Olympics events to fuel the 16u team, and even as many as they see there, they only see them for one week and that small of a window can be misleading (if a player is unusually hot or cold that week).

Midlo dad and others, do you have more infomation on how the 16u team is picked? a link perhaps?

Sounds interesting. There is one only 20 miles from our place. Too bad my son turns 14 one month too early.

For years it's been on the USA Baseball web site, but for about 6 weeks now their site has been drastically pared down with a promise that a new web site is "coming soon".

Note to USA Baseball: You don't take the old site down until the new site is ready. Then you make the switch overnight.

The 16u team (Youth National Team) is picked by intensive scouting at the two Junior Olympics tournaments in late June in FL and AZ. 18 players are picked from each venue as finalists for the YNT. The 36 finalists go to a week of workouts and scrimmages and from that they cut down to the final roster of 18. Check back on the USA Baseball site in a few months and maybe they'll have it posted up there again. Surely it'll be up in time for you to plan ahead for a trip to one of the Jr. Olympics tourneys.

Some on this site -- one constant carper in particular -- have whined at length that USA Baseball doesn't do enough to identify the nation's best at the younger ages. I couldn't help but feel that USA Baseball might well be trying to develop a broader database of top players with this 14u program.

But I don't care what you do, you have to stop at some point. Frankly from my personal experience, the best at age 14 are not often the best at age 16. With a few notable exceptions, most of the top 14's are usually just guys who got their chest hair early. By age 16, things like that even out and the cream rises to the top, so to speak. I would predict that the scouting from a 14u event will be largely worthless two years later.

How can you ID kids through a tourney of 8 teams in a region?

Especially since most teams do not play fall ball. The better athletes at 14U are playing football or playing with teams other than their main teams. The tournaments should be in the summer to find the best players.

I respectfully disagree.

First of all, just because it starts at 64 teams (not 8) in its first year doesn't mean that's the end game. They may well plan to plant a seed and let it grow over time. Junior Olympics didn't have 144 teams its first year, but it does now, and the only reason there aren't more teams is because the logistics of something that big are darned hard as it is. If they took every team that might enter, they'd need several 72-team sites, not just the two they have now!

Secondly, it all depends on how you get in to the tourney. If they take any team that pays a fee, maybe you don't see the best. If they force teams to qualify in some manner, the talent level will be more cream and less milk. The release indicates they will screen the teams to some extent, though exactly how is not stated. I suppose it will all depend on how many teams come forward.

Thirdly, the days when the multi-sport athlete was the norm are gone. Yes, some still do it, but I'm amazed at how many kids pick one sport early on and focus on just one thing. On our travel team at age 14u, we had 12 players and only 2 played football at the time, and one has since given it up to focus on baseball. On our 16u team last year, only 1 guy plays football.

Fourth, if they are using this to ID kids -- and we still don't really know USA Baseball's purpose at all -- then this will permit them to ID more than they are now. They don't have to have a plan that finds everybody to realize that finding more than they do now would be better than doing nothing at all.

Finally, maybe this isn't about scouting at all. Maybe it's just about USA Baseball trying to be more of a unifying force in national travel baseball. Lord knows we have enough groups out there sponsoring tourneys and competing to be top dog. It would be great to have one entity that could grow to be recognized as the primo association. I don't know who would be in a better position to do this than USA Baseball. Certainly AAU and USSSA have had their chances and muffed it.

Here's a link that explains a little more what they are trying to do although the specifics apply to my area only.

http://www.rmsbb.com/Main/Files/USA%2014U%20BASEBALL%20REGIONAL.doc

This indicates there is going to be a 14u Team USA. Wonder where/whom they will play once that team is picked?

I spoke with the Regional Tourney Director for my regiona and he indicated there would by 8 teams in this tourney. Already 2 from PA and 1 from CT.

I may not be doing the math properly but it says its a 14u tourney. But comparing what constitues a 14u player in USSSA versus the USA Baseball International cut-off of January, you eliminate 8 months (May - December) so it's really more of a 13u tourney (in relation to USSSA), right? For example, my son has a 9/92 birthday but the attached says "NO PARTICIPATING PLAYER CAN TURN 15 BEFORE DECEMBER 31, 2007" but he would turn 15 on 9/07 so he's too old. So only the youngest 14u's (birthdays in Jan -April) and oldest 13u's (birthdays in May - December) would be eligible.

quote:

Originally posted by Midlo Dad:
Thirdly, the days when the multi-sport athlete was the norm are gone. Yes, some still do it, but I'm amazed at how many kids pick one sport early on and focus on just one thing.

This seems to be more of a regional thing. It (specialization) seems more common in the south and west coast versus the midwest and northeast.

quote:

Originally posted by Beezer:
I may not be doing the math properly but it says its a 14u tourney. But comparing what constitues a 14u player in USSSA versus the USA Baseball International cut-off of January, you eliminate 8 months (May - December) so it's really more of a 13u tourney (in relation to USSSA), right? For example, my son has a 9/92 birthday but the attached says "NO PARTICIPATING PLAYER CAN TURN 15 BEFORE DECEMBER 31, 2007" but he would turn 15 on 9/07 so he's too old. So only the youngest 14u's (birthdays in Jan -April) and oldest 13u's (birthdays in May - December) would be eligible.

You are correct.

Beezer, word to the wise, if you were thinking of heading to the Junior Olympics when the time came, beware of this distinction between US "standard" date cutoffs and international date cutoffs. Every year you get 16u kids heading to JO's only to find out after they commit that they are too old to be considered for the Youth National Team.

If your son has thoughts of being considered, he would need to head to JO's in his 15u year, since he will be 16 by international standards at that point. If he waits until his 16u year to go to JO's, he'll be too old to be considered.

Mildo - good point. Let's hope he's good enough then we can worry about it! I wasn't really looking at this 14u thing as much as just trying to figure it out.