What are the top travel /select teams in the Washington & Oregon area? Which teams will provide real national exposure. I hear about all these powerhouse teams in FL, CA, TX and just wondered what team from around here are the best for getting noticed outside our area. Do some of our local players play for teams based outside the NW?

Well, you might be opening a can of worms here, but I'll bite
My feeling is the BEST "travel" teams in the area are probably Taylor Baseball and Poulsbo RV.
BUT, your question about exposure outside the Northwest brings me to the Seattle A's. A very good team, with a coach who believes in promoting players outside the NW area. They are a true "Traveling Team". I believe they are heading to Indiana and other points far right of the left coast this summer.
Good luck finding the right fit!

I have to aggree, this is definitely a can of worms. No Oregon team will be mentioned. Which, I really don't think they should cause after playing summer ball in both areas, the legion ball teams cannot compete with the unrestricted teams in Washington.

Why are the Oregon teams so restricted? There are Legion teams in Washington that travel and play outside their leagues. Just curious.

My son is still a few years off from playing on any of these teams but this information is very helpful. Thanks.

Beaverton Ringor, an Oregon Sr. Babe Ruth team compromised of 18/19 years who will play college ball next year, or have already played a year in college. Compromised of Portland area players. Last year finished 5th in the World Series held in Texas.

seattle stars

a lot of talent for a 15 u team playing in 16u and 18 u tournoments. lot of big leaguers sons on that tema. won 2 out of the 3 national 15 u tournoments. won caba tournoment.

Legion teams are restricted by zoning rules. They are restricted in the sense that they can't recruit players to be on their team like the Washington select teams can. They can travel as much as they wish. I'm just saying that there are enrollment restrictions to legion ball, therefore limiting who can play for what teams.

Legion players in our area don't have to pay anything to play. Either the legion post or the sponsor pays for travel. Consequently, they may not travel too far. The local team went to Idaho or Southern Oregon for the furthest trips until they went first to the regionals in Montana and then the World Series in Oklahoma. Also, because of the zoning restrictions, most American Legion teams may only have 5-6 really good players whereas the Connie Mack teams we've seen in Washington has a fairly deep roster of good players. Nonetheless, baseball 37, while a sophomore LHP on the American Legion team, was able to perform well against some Seattle area teams when they came to a tournament at OSU. And he did even better when supported by the excellent defense and hitting on his Seattle team. The travel teams around Seattle are generally better.

Should HS players play legion or Connie Mack...assuming they have the talent to choose.

-S

If you can get on a good Connie Mack team, you will see better opposing pitchers and MAY have better coaching than you will ever see at the Legion level. My son plays on a team this summer that would rival any junior college team in the state. He has faced a number of draftees and future D1 pitchers, which he would never do in Legion ball. Plus, he has coaches that are a huge improvement over what he would have on his local legion team. I have seen a lot of players that play Legion ball under their high school coaches, and they never really learn how to play the game.

All generalities are erroneous, and I am positive there are great Legion coaches out there. I know for a fact there are very strong legion teams that will rival most Connie Mack teams. Conversely, there are some Connie Mack coaches and teams that are worse than most of their Legion counterparts. But overall I still would have to recommend Connie Mack over Legion, if you have the chance. Connie Mack will offer you more opportunities to face tougher opponents and to improve your game.

Harbormom, if you don't mind sharing, I'm just curious which team your son plays for. I played for Chaffey last year and I'm playing this year as well.

Both Chaffey and Taylor are great clubs...my high school coach is the head coach for the Wave so I'm never allowed to talk about them at practice or it's running for me. I play for Dow Baseball Club.

I thought Poulsbo RV morphed into Baden.

They did. Baden Baseball (formerly Poulsbo RV) is how they bill themselves. Still the same great ballclub, though!

What does everyone think about the Pepsi team out of Olympia? How do they compete with all of these other teams?

quote:

everyone think about the Pepsi team out of Olympia? How do they compete with all of these other teams?

Pepsi competes with all these teams. They aren't usually talked about as much, but they are good.

I believe at the Pepsi tryouts they have a blind taste test. So you better practice and know the diff between coke and pepsi.

just kidding.