re: If the travel baller in your life has a birthday coming up

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"Travel" ball parent here. I'll echo the statements of a few here who are actually in it... there really isn't much travel. At least 90% of tournaments are played within an hour of home. And there is no expectation to be playing all year round either. Softball definitely plays more than baseball though in my experience.

My kids are a little older than some posters here so maybe I can give some further insight. I have a junior baseball player who is 17 and will play 17u on his summer team and a freshman softball player who is 14 and plays 16u travel.

You absolutely DO NOT have to play on a Majors or AAA team at 12u to play a major role on your HS team. Neither of my kids have ever been on a team above AA (B level in softball) and we are at a 6A "blue blood" baseball school in Oklahoma. My son played a small varsity role as a soph and is the starting catcher as a junior. My daughter started every game her freshman year (HS softball is in the fall in OK) between catcher and CF.

The most important thing for parents to look for in a travel team is the team plays against good competition, and has coaches who can actually develop your player. It does not matter whether that is at the Majors, AAA, or AA level.

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This is just patently false. Yes, kids work out more than ever before but puberty is still the big equalizer. There are so many 12u beasts (both baseball and softball) that my kids played with and against that are nowhere to be found. It doesn't matter how much Majors ball you played if you're 5'6 140 lbs as an upperclassman.

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