re: Kirk Herbstreit slams Travel Ball culture

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That's kind of amusing. Before Kirk left Columbus, I would occasionally run into him and his kids at an indoor baseball/softball training facility. What was he doing? Paying for his kids to getting private batting/hitting lessons.

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His kids didn’t play rec ball in Tennessee either.

People just think there is rec ball or year round baseball

Truth is there is a shite ton of options on the middle

It's not just travel ball, it's all youth ball.

A guy I work with has a kid that's playing 8u rec. The rec program in his town is actually still going strong, there's hardly any travel ball. They had enough to make 3 all star teams in his age group.

All stars rolls around and here it comes, fundraising left and right. New bat bags, new uniforms, swag packs, necklaces, etc for each kid. Trying to raise enough money to cover parents hotel rooms.

Central Alabama, they played state and world series in Baton Rouge. They spent more in one month on baseball than I do for a season of travel softball.

People are nuts everywhere.

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every single D1 college baseball team is 100%

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Thats not 100% accurate.......lots of D1 teams are made up with kids that went to JUCO, CC, or D3 or NAIA schools which are just glorified travel ball teams

They go to those school to chase their dreams of playing D1, very small % of those kids make into the big leagues....especially when the Dominican, PR, Cuba etc. kids start showing up bc they dont have to go to college

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None of this shite until kids are pitching and I can tell my son really wants to do it.

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We're the same way. However, BR sports culture is absurd here. My 10 year old, when he was 5, played on a basketball team with other 5 year olds (kindergarten). He was cut the next year, from his team. I shite you not. Keep in mind, that this team also expanded to form 2 teams, and even though he was on the team last year, the a-hole coaches cut him because they were trying to build a super team....at 6 years old. I still see these people at school and it still pisses me off.

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Right now he’s not one of these kids that eats baseball up 24/7 and I like it that way. He also likes to draw, play drums and build shite. Put him in the backyard with some basic supplies and he’ll build you the best damn backyard rollercoaster you ever saw.

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My 10 year old is the same. Has started playing drums, and loves anything to do with engineering. We have been subscribed to crunchlabs which is a monthly build kit where they teach you how to build mechanical things, and then teaches you why it works. He plays baseball for a rec league type place and we love it there. The hyper-competitive assholes at travel, for the most part, aren't there. However, those teams have creaped into my 7 year olds league. Played against a team that hit 5 over the fence home runs....in coaches pitch. We found out that A) the kids were 1-2 years older than our kids and b) they play travel tournaments (at 7 ) and signed up for this league "for the reps". My 7 year old has a great imagination and we just don't think our kids, or any kids for that matter, needs to have their ridiculous parents put that much pressure on kids sports, and are of the mind to let the kids be kids.

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99% of travel ball kids finish early June, don’t play again until September, and are off November through February as well

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Tryouts are in July. After that it's batting cages twice a week until the season starts back up. So yeah, it's year round.

Which hey, if your kid loves it, great. However, i suspect it's the parents pushing them because they are worried their kids will be cut if they aren't practicing year round. Which is what travel ball culture is. Keeping up with the Jones'.

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What percentage of current American born mlb players played travel ball vs didn't? Paying travel ball won't get you to the mlb but they all did it....

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I think it’s a chicken and egg thing.

Travel ball didn’t turn them into major leaguers. These were just the most talented kids, thus they were recruited for these travel ball teams.

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So, 38,850 NCAA baseball players and 100% of them are travel ball kids? Interesting...

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I wouldn't say 100%. But the numbers are up there. Above 80% if I had to guess. Kids aren't showing up to high school ready to play baseball with no experience or just rec ball experience.

I will say that I do believe that every American born MLB player within the last 10 years has played travel ball at some point.

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99% of travel ball kids finish early June, don’t play again until September, and are off November through February as well

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Dude, travel ball season doesn't end until the end of July, just look at the USSSA website and the Cooperstown schedule....... the new season officially starts August 1st......then there is Fall Ball until Thanksgiving......and they take a break until March

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best kids from what I see all are studs on the Flag football leagues

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???

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Why can’t you just say that the players are more talented

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Because that’s not what he said