re: Tournament Baseball is a scam

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doing anything before puberty doesn't really increase or decrease a chance of success

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i don't know who said this, but what a crock of shite.

Tell me the fact that Tiger was teeing it up at 2 and playing full rounds before he was 5 didn't help him when he became a teenager. It's all about work and hours put into it. Success isn't an accident.

I umpired at one of the more expensive leagues in Baton Rouge that has already been mentioned...and it made me sick how much some of the coaches rely on the "game clock" and passed balls to get runs in.

An average game would consist of a walk, several pick-off attempts (one of which could be an errant throw leading to more bases), and then an easy steal because the catchers there have trouble getting the ball to 2nd in time. Then when the runner gets to third, a passed ball would almost always get the run in.

I saw too many games decided like this, especially in one of the more "big money" leagues.

I moved back to South Texas, and work in an area where money is EXTREMELY hard to come by. The fields and facilities for the youth leagues over here are in rough shape to say the least. Travel teams are few and far between. But when these kids make it to high school, their local school is routinely making state tournaments and ranked nationally in the Baseball America polls.

The difference is coaching, plain and simple. In Texas, it's nice to see this school go out and whip the high income places near Katy/Houston/The Woodlands, the north portions of San Antonio, etc.

And the kids' parents forking over dough has nothing to do with it.

It's a shame that it goes down like that...and as someone mentioned, all for fitted caps and uniforms that aren't screenprinted t-shirts.

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i don't know who said this, but what a crock of shite.

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i did, but it's been taken out of context

your reply to the discussion from months ago

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there's just too many people who are sold this idea that you can buy your kid's athletic success. Personal trainers, position coaches,...etc.

It's all nonsense. When your body is done developing then it's time to get to work, until then it's about enjoying playing.

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that's what we were talking about

i wasn't saying NOT PLAYING was fine and you'd magically develop

i was talking about this "learning the game at an advanced level" before puberty was not necessary

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But the physical hours on the field honing baseball skills are necessary to a large degree.

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Depends on the position. If you're a pitcher, playing on all these tournament teams along with a full schedule of other ball will probably kill your arm before you ever make it to college.

ETA: For a large part, pitching is about winning the genetic lottery and being blessed with a live arm.

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there's lots of Dominicans who make it who don't get their first glove til they're like 12+. Equipment and all the rest is nice but by no means necessary. It's about hrs on the field.

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I agree 100%. They are just now starting to get some nice baseball academies down there, but it's thanks to all of the former major leaguers that want to go back and help out. I think Sammy Sosa mentioned something about using a milk carton glove, but then again he wasn't know for his fine leather.

Yeah because teams think if they open their own academies they'll have the inside track at signing any prospects they might discover. I think it's good because it brings money to these shitty countries that need it, but it's also making it harder for Americans to get drafted because teams are watching these Dominican kids at a much younger age.

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nah. If you're good enough, you make it. The draft is 50 damn rounds, it's too big as it is.

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AGREED!!! We have over 10 kids a year drafted and out of those only 3 probably have any business being drafted. If you are decent in Arizona its not hard at all to get drafted.

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Oh i realize this. There are still tons of Americans getting drafted, but the number is going down each year. It doesn't effect the top guys but more the kids that would be drafted in the later rounds

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there's still 50 rounds and internationals aren't part of the draft (outside of PR and Canada), so this still doesn't affect how many Americans are drafted.

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I call it the Pujols effect

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even though your original premise was wrong, this is even more wrong. Pujols came and played American college baseball and was actually drafted. He wasn't part of a Dominican Academy.

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To me this seems to be a new business that targets parents who all think their kid will play shortstop for the New York Yankees someday.

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I can tell you that baseball is a sport in which you really hone your skills by playing against top competition.

Will every kid in the East Cobb program go on to a great collegiate, minor league or even major league career? No.

Does the East Cobb program produce an extremely high per capita percentage of players who play past HS? Yes.

Elite baseball requires facing elite competition.

Some of these elite teams are sponsored and the kids are able to play at a substantially reduced rate.