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re: The reality of travel baseball
Posted on 5/28/26 at 12:37 pm to supatigah
Posted on 5/28/26 at 12:37 pm to supatigah
Some of the most fun I had as a kid was playing summer league ball, maybe all stars… then being done with it till the next summer.
I can’t imagine playing baseball 12 months a year as a 10 year old. It just sounds horrible. I liked video games, sleep overs, riding bikes, football…. But now these parents have their kids in baseball or softball all year around and it sounds miserable for everyone.
I can’t imagine playing baseball 12 months a year as a 10 year old. It just sounds horrible. I liked video games, sleep overs, riding bikes, football…. But now these parents have their kids in baseball or softball all year around and it sounds miserable for everyone.
1
Posted on 5/28/26 at 12:37 pm to jdd48
quote:
Are some parents seriously saying shite like that about their kids before they even make it to double digit ages?
I've seen posts of "signing days" for eight year olds with whatever travel team they just joined
Posted on 5/28/26 at 12:41 pm to Jenious
Would imagine quite a bit of those are kids from immigrant parents. Just seems every time I turn on a game there’s a Sanchez or Ramirez on the mound or AB. We may have a majority still but we do not dominate the sport at all. We can barely even win the WBC or little league World Series anymore.
It’s also a dying sport too among American kids imo. Baseball is like watching paint dry. Football and basketball are way more fun to play as a kid.
It’s also a dying sport too among American kids imo. Baseball is like watching paint dry. Football and basketball are way more fun to play as a kid.
This post was edited on 5/28/26 at 12:56 pm
Posted on 5/28/26 at 12:46 pm to supatigah
Travel ball is a symptom of the decline of America
Used to be a guy that was good in high school or played some college could move back to his hometown and get a job at the factory or sell insurance to the factory workers or whatever. There was an adult ball league where the factories played each other or played the plumbers union team or the electricians local etc
Now with offshoring of all the good jobs middle America is dead and the college ball guy can’t find a job so he has to become a traveling baseball lessons salesman to pay his bills
Used to be a guy that was good in high school or played some college could move back to his hometown and get a job at the factory or sell insurance to the factory workers or whatever. There was an adult ball league where the factories played each other or played the plumbers union team or the electricians local etc
Now with offshoring of all the good jobs middle America is dead and the college ball guy can’t find a job so he has to become a traveling baseball lessons salesman to pay his bills
Posted on 5/28/26 at 12:47 pm to supatigah
The toughest part of it all is finding something between hardcore travel ball where it’s intense practices year round and the rec leagues where half the kids aren’t really interested in baseball but signed up because their friends are playing.
Around 2nd or 3rd grade the options for your kid getting to learn a lot of baseball while still getting to be a kid drop bigtime.
It absolutely sucks that it’s like that now.
Around 2nd or 3rd grade the options for your kid getting to learn a lot of baseball while still getting to be a kid drop bigtime.
It absolutely sucks that it’s like that now.
Posted on 5/28/26 at 12:48 pm to Darth_Vader
quote:
He went from being a normal kid who you’d see playing outside with the other little boys in the neighborhood on typical afternoons to hardly ever playing with the other boys. Instead he’d either be gone to a tournament in some town in Arkansas or at practice.
The little girl across the street that my daughter is friends with is the same except with tennis. This girl has been on family trips with us. Her parents trust us with their daughter and I trust them with our daughter. She has been on a family vacation with us.
But she joined the middle school tennis team at age 11 and has pretty much disappeared from our life entirely in the 2 years since. The girl is either at the gym, at tennis practice, gone to a tournament with the school team or the travel team she plays with during the offseason, or is too tired from the previous stuff that she doesn't come outside with the other neighborhood kids. I have seen her more at school the past month for awards day and choir performances than I have across the street where she lives. I talked to the dad and he seems to absolutely hate it and suggested his wife is pushing the daughter really hard. Seems to be a living vicariously through the daughter type deal for the mom just looking from the outside.
This post was edited on 5/28/26 at 12:49 pm
Posted on 5/28/26 at 12:50 pm to Rip Torner
quote:
You are either 6’2” with the ability to throw in upper 80’s to low 90’s with movement or you aren’t. That can’t be coached and the reality is even if you do have that natural ability but aren’t smart enough to outthink most hitters you still won’t make it.
Brandon Woodruff grew up mere miles from me. I know his dad, Richard, well. Really good people.
Brandon and his brother (RIP) would go to the small auto body shop where Richard worked during the summer and play on the grounds around it when they were kids. Richard would take used masking tape and roll it into a ball for Brandon and his brother to throw around and hit with some kind of fashioned bat.
Brandon Woodruff is now making millions in the starting rotation of the Milwaukee Brewers.
Posted on 5/28/26 at 12:53 pm to Mushroom1968
quote:very competitive. Even middle school sports. Shits crazy.
5A school in Louisiana
Posted on 5/28/26 at 12:53 pm to funnystuff
quote:
I mean… that sounds genuinely healthier for a kid’s development than micromanaging every aspect of their “career” at 9 years old. By kind of a lot.
But how else will little braxton be a big league contender?
Posted on 5/28/26 at 12:53 pm to supatigah
quote:
Roughly 7% of high schoolers play in college. About 1.5% of those get drafted.
Every parent, every middle and high school athlete, every coach should be reminded of this and decide early on if this is for fun of competition or if there is true talent to possibly have a chance of playing on the next level.
How many kids future dreams of playing college or pro sports came to an end on the last snap, the last out, the last possession on a bb court in high school?
There are only so few opportunities that come with absolute guarantees. A lot of parents lose sight of this early on.
Posted on 5/28/26 at 12:54 pm to supatigah
More young arms are ruined before it really matters
Posted on 5/28/26 at 12:55 pm to caro81
One of the biggest issues with baseball is all the sports academies that convince parents their kids are college prospects and with the right coaching they could go pro.
Posted on 5/28/26 at 12:55 pm to CleverUserName
My son is a rising 8th grader. He has 35-40 kids in his class playing travel ball still. There are likely 6-9 of those kids making the high school team (K-12 school). If you are on the fourth best travel team you are just supplementing the best team with financial resources. It is a joke. Yet all the D team parents think the new batting cage in the backyard will make the difference.
Posted on 5/28/26 at 12:55 pm to HarryHoudini
quote:
Sanchez or Ramirez
There's currently one US born Sanchez on a roster. Aaron Sanchez of the SF Giants. I'm seeing three US born Ramirez.
Posted on 5/28/26 at 12:56 pm to HarryHoudini
Somewhere along the way travel ball started being run by 300lb, bearded flat bill wearers or roided out dudes trying to build the next Gunner Henderson. There seems to be no inbetween.
REC ball is shite, for the most part, because 95% of the good players are on travel teams. If you have a kid that's somewhere in between and just likes playing baseball there is no place for you. The travel shite, especially 10 and under, is obnoxious. The REC teams are filled with kids who show up to practice with polo shirts and running shoes. You used to be able to bury those kids in RF and at the bottom of the line up but still able to field a competitive team. Now it's a chore just to teach fundamentals to little kids because you're a glorified babysitter.
The current model is garbage but there is no turning back now. These parents are hooked on the shite like a drug.
REC ball is shite, for the most part, because 95% of the good players are on travel teams. If you have a kid that's somewhere in between and just likes playing baseball there is no place for you. The travel shite, especially 10 and under, is obnoxious. The REC teams are filled with kids who show up to practice with polo shirts and running shoes. You used to be able to bury those kids in RF and at the bottom of the line up but still able to field a competitive team. Now it's a chore just to teach fundamentals to little kids because you're a glorified babysitter.
The current model is garbage but there is no turning back now. These parents are hooked on the shite like a drug.
Posted on 5/28/26 at 12:57 pm to danilo
quote:
Are other sports just more cut and dry: you sooner realize you aren’t very good and just move on? With baseball do you keep pursing this false hope by jumping around to different travel teams and paying for hitting coaches? Do the mental gymnastics end quicker for football and basketball?
Well yeah it’s easier for baseball players to be shorter and smaller than in the other sports
Same thing with soccer
Posted on 5/28/26 at 1:00 pm to Tigerdew
Even when k was a kid 25 years ago it was bad. I was the only one of my friends didn’t play baseball and they all hated it bc it took up so much of their time.
Posted on 5/28/26 at 1:02 pm to The Eric
quote:
I can’t imagine playing baseball 12 months a year as a 10 year old. It just sounds horrible. I liked video games, sleep overs, riding bikes, football…. But now these parents have their kids in baseball or softball all year around and it sounds miserable for everyone.
You don't have to imagine it cause that's all made up crap to drive twitter engagement.
My son played "travel" ball, we rarely played more than an hour from home.Crazy enough he still played video games, had sleep overs, rode bikes, played football and everything else you can think of.
He also never played fall baseball at all, first fall baseball he's ever played was his first year in college. I can tell you though he had zero chance of even making his HS team through rec ball.
I also have a younger son who is 11 who plays rec ball. He likes baseball and has fun with it but he is not competitive in the same way his brother is. So we aren't pushing him into travel ball because ultimately I just want him to have fun and enjoy the game. He also has little chance of playing on his HS team unless he gets a little more serious about it in the next 2-3 years. Its just the reality of it. If he wants to do it, cool and if not thats okay too.
Posted on 5/28/26 at 1:04 pm to Burt Reynolds
quote:
If you can’t afford travel ball for your kid; you’re a brokedick poor. simple as that Are yall coping because your parents didnt give a frick about you enough to invest in your athletic future? My son has a D1 scholarship and NIL deal after playing years of travel ball. So keep coping Rec-tards while your son accomplishes absolutely zero
Congrats and all, but not sure why you have to attack my wealth. Sorry for being poor. I’m trying
Posted on 5/28/26 at 1:06 pm to Burt Reynolds
Nice troll but still needs work.
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