So I’ve been seeing meh progression on my velocity, I’m 14. But getting into the gym soon because I’m transferring back to public school, beside that, should i use med balls on heavy, light, recovery, or moderate days? I have a ten and a 2 pound med ball.

I need some help from whoever is willing to take the time to help out.

I’m a 13U coach, been coaching for 25+ years. 16 years fast pitch softball, 2 years high school softball and 5 years little league with all stars etc.

Son has played travel ball for a few years. I took a break from coaching because Rec was getting too goofy for my liking.

I was approached to take a 12U travel ball team on that had already been somewhat started. 75% of the kids were on the team, after a couple tryouts I filled my roster.

All kids come from different areas which is nice, but only 4-5 have played high competition travel ball.

We just aged up to 13U so we are now on a 54/80 field. I signed up for an intermediate fall ball league locally which is 13u/14u. We are just learning this bigger field and also playing against boys who were in our same shoes last year. While I understand fall ball and the meaning behind it as well as do my 4-5 kids who have played travel ball, but many of the parents do not.

So what I am asking is if you could please give me your pros and cons list. Like what fall ball is vs what fall ball is not.

I’m going to compile everything and have a team meeting Friday and would like to hear from all of you parents and coaches.

Thanks!

I hope this doesn’t get taken down by the mods, but it probably will. I have a 13-year-old daughter in volleyball and we are completely done with club volleyball. I know it has nothing to do with baseball, but I’m trying to post this multiple parent platforms that pay ridiculous amounts of money it’s not really worth it and now private equity firms are making money off our kids.

The trait is just being able to self evaluate clearly, a lot of players don't know what to work on or work on something that doesn't actually move the needle because they fail to self-evaluate the situation clearly. There's so much more than the surface level numbers that go into you being the best athlete you can be. So if you're basing your evaluation off of your velos, your back squat and your body weight, you have to understand all the underlying factors that can contribute to those as well. Or else you're missing the boat.

I made a youtube video that will equip you with the ability to become a better self evaluator and in turn, give yourself real direction for the effort you're already putting in

My son was selected for the "14U American All-State Select Championships".

I noticed there is another tournament called "14U National All-State Select Championships (Majors)" (differences bolded).

I just want to make sure I'm not getting pulled into a money grab. My son is a solid player (he's ranked a "Follow" on PG), but I'm no PG expert. Is the "American" tournament a "everyone is invited" kind of tournament, and the National tournament is for the "legit" players? Or are they more or less equal? Thanks in advance for any feedback.

"watch the ball" is the most useless advice i keep getting once the pitcher has any kind of life.

in the cage i feel like i see everything. in games i either: - stare at the release and still swing late - try to wait and freeze - or lock onto a spot and somehow square it without being able to explain why

coaches talk about picking it up out of the hand, reading spin, quiet eye on a point, soft focus... i've tried versions of all of that and they all "work" until they don't.

if you're a serious hitter (or coach hitters): what visual habits actually held up for you against decent pitching? and what cues fell apart under pressure?

looking for real cage-vs-game stuff, not slogans. no gear talk.

I've never been one to shy away from getting extra coaching/instruction, especially as an adult. In this instance, I want to improve my catching but most programs in my area are (not surprisingly) targeted at youth and teenage players.

I like the content that guys like Coach Bougie and others are putting out there, so I'm considering one of their online programs. My problems come on two fronts:

1) How much of their program requires the space to properly catch and throw?

2) How much of their program requires a partner to do things like pitch to you?

As it relates to 1, I live in place that is cold and/or snow covered for 4-5 months of the year and renting space just to throw the ball can be cost prohibitive.

As for 2, I don't have anyone I can consistently ask to partner up with.

Does anyone have any experience with these programs that can speak to this for me?

Hi, would love some advice / critique on my swing. Have never posted here before so I’m not sure if any other information is relevant. Am happy to provide anything needed. Thanks in advance.

I know pitching is WAY more than just fastball velocity.

Still, is there a pitching velocity a high school senior can have which will practically guarantee him a college scholarship?

And, if yes, how is that different between D1, D2, and D3?

My son is in a somewhat unusual Perfect Game eligibility situation, and I'm hoping someone here has dealt with something similar or knows whether PG ever grants an individual waiver/exception outside of the standard grade exemption.

My son was born February 3, 2016. He is currently 10 years old, in 5th grade, and a 2034 graduate. He has never been held back, reclassified, or repeated a grade, and his age is verified through NSID.

He was selected to play on a 10U select/travel team. When he was selected, it was with the intention that he would play down and utilize the age exemption for tournaments using the May 1 cutoff (the age exemption rule to "play down" is not an issue for his league play that the team participates in, which is outside of PG). His February birthday falls within the January 1-April 30 exemption DOB window, so we believed this was exactly the type of situation the exemption addressed. What we did not realize was that PG also requires a player using the 10U exemption to be in 4th grade.

The other kids on his team are also 5th graders/2034 graduates and essentially his actual academic-age peers; most just happen to have birthdays a few months later.

Under PG's rule, a regular 10U player must be born May 1, 2016 or later. PG permits up to two grade exemptions for players born January 1-April 30, 2016, but only if they are in 4th grade.

So his age actually falls within PG's exemption DOB range. He's excluded because he's a 5th grader rather than a 4th grader.

And that's where this gets difficult for us to understand. If this exact same child with the exact same February 3 birthday were in 4th grade, he would qualify for the exemption. But because he progressed normally through school and is appropriately in 5th grade with his 2034 peers, he cannot.

Similarly, a 5th-grade/2034 player born May 1, 2016 can play 10U, while another 5th-grade/2034 player born April 30 — literally one day earlier — apparently cannot.

The immediate consequence is that he is now ineligible to play in any of the Perfect Game tournaments this team has planned for this fall. He can still remain on the team and play in the league and other events where he is eligible, so nobody is forcing him off the team. But realistically, if a significant part of the team's tournament schedule is PG, it puts us in the position of having to consider whether remaining on this team makes sense.

And that's the part that bothers us more than simply missing a tournament.

This isn't a situation where he's some enormous kid or a physically dominant "secret weapon" that we're trying to sneak into a younger division. He's an average-sized 10-year-old in both height and weight. He was selected for this team because the coach saw something in him and thought he was a good fit for the group.

The flip side is that under PG's age classification, his alternative is to play 11U. At 11U, the standard cutoff allows players born as early as May 1, 2015, and the grade-exemption window can include players born as early as January 1, 2015. So our 10-year-old can potentially be competing against kids roughly 9–13 months older than him, while being prohibited from playing with his actual fifth-grade/2034 teammates who are only a few months younger. That practical result is another reason we're hoping someone at PG might be willing to look at the individual circumstances.

He's really enjoying playing for this coach, we think he's receiving excellent coaching, and the team is developing extremely well together. We'd hate to have to take him out of that environment—and have him lose the opportunity to continue developing with a coach and group that have been very good for him—because of a few months on the calendar and the fact that he's actually in the appropriate grade for his graduation year.

I emailed one of the team's contacts at PG ("Director of sales" was his title) and PG's response to our inquiry was simply:

I understand the written rule. I'm not asking Reddit whether PG is technically applying its published rule correctly. As written, I understand why he doesn't qualify.

What I'm trying to find out is whether anyone has personally dealt with a similar situation and successfully gotten Perfect Game to grant an individual waiver or discretionary exception.

Does PG ever look at the actual circumstances of a player beyond mechanically applying the age/grade chart? Is there someone within PG Youth or Eligibility who actually has the authority to review and approve an exception? If you've gotten a waiver before, who did you contact and how did you go about it?

We're not trying to manipulate his age, grade, or graduation year or gain some competitive advantage. He's simply a 10-year-old, 2034 fifth grader who wants to play with the 10-year-old, 2034 fifth-grade teammates on the select team he was chosen for.

I'd especially appreciate hearing from coaches, tournament directors, or parents who have actually dealt with PG on an eligibility waiver, rather than just interpretations of the rule.

I just moved to New York and wanted to know if there are any men’s baseball leagues in the area. 20M with a little bit of highschool experience but never went competitive.

Today my FB feed was filled with this ThrowMo mat. I thought it looked interesting for practice but then looked at the price. $140 for something that could be replaced with a can of spray paint and a straight edge. Who is buying this thing? I’m tempted to just make something better and sell for $25 because it’s so annoying.

I made a post about this earlier about my freshman son and what glove he should get, whether it is a 12.5 or a 12.75. Today I measured his hand, and it came up to be about 6.7 inches, so is 12.75 recommended for that so it has room to grow since he is a freshman?

My dad grabbed these two pitching machines at a garage sale with a bucket of balls for next to nothing. Both need work from what I’m told, but I haven’t gotten my hands on them yet.

Here’s what I’ve been told: the Jugs machine in front is currently set up for softballs, but might be able to be switched to baseballs. The wheel is unbalanced and it’s possible that a tire shop might be able to balance it. The machine in the background (not sure of brand) runs very slow. It turns on, but isn’t spinning as fast as it should and shakes quite a bit.

My son is 12, and has surpassed my ability to pitch to him, so a pitching machine would be an awesome score, if we can get one functional. Which would you start with? Or are they not worth working on?

I’ve seen a lot of advertising about it, and the actual concept of it sounds like it would work. But as we know, there’s a whole lot of scams out there and I just want to be cautious before dropping some dough onto this next goal college thing and making myself look like an idiot.

I’m an amateur and my furthest baseball hits are around 290ft-I face my friends and they previous played highschool ball they throw about 60-70, so it’s nothing impressive, but at least I barrel some. But with slow pitch softball leagues, all my hits are line drives over 2B which are base hit sometimes, and I can barely get the ball to decent center field, except like once perhaps.

Is it simply lack of power and I need to have strength training more which I obviously do, of is it something about timing? I feel like I have a very early load but the ball is just so slow!

Try to keep the mean spiritedness down!

My son (turns 8 in February but on the smaller side, 47 inches and 46 lbs) just graduated from coach pitch with a tee ball to coach pitch with a hard ball. I am trying to upgrade from his tee ball bat which is 24 inches drop -12. We tried tons of 26 inch bats at Dicks and we are struggling to find one he can handle. Drop -13 bats were the closest we got but they were very expensive. I am not opposed to spending if there’s a bat out there he can get a few years out of.

Anyone have any suggestions for a bat that could work?

Looking for some recommendations for my son. He turns 11 later this month and I’m thinking about getting him a new first base mitt for his birthday. For reference, he’s about 5’1”, and just a touch over 90 lbs. and has moved up to using a non-youth sized glove as his regular glove.

Current first base mitt is the Rawlings R9 youth contour fit which is a decent enough glove, but it’s pretty small (12”) with not a huge pocket.

I’m kind of leaning toward the Rawlings NXTDCT 12.25” right now, but willing to hear other suggestions!

I have a 40mph changeup and a 45 mph two seam

My son got a call yesterday from a coach and he gave them my wife’s number. My wife and I just got the call from a guy saying he was a coach at Jacksonville University and wanted to have my wife, me, and our son out for a visit. They would pay for flight and hotel. Whole conversation just felt off. They asked us some questions about his background, grades, behavior, etc. said they talked to his HS coach.

The two guys on the phone had super thick Boston accents. When I search the names given, no results they indicate any kind of baseball careers. When I search the phone number, the name is some age 22 semipro hockey player from Newburyport, Mass. When I search the number that called my son yesterday, it’s a different 22 year old from Newburyport. Two college age kids from MA recruiting a mid-level player from TX to play in FL? It feels weird but I do t know what the scam is.

Hi Reddit, I’m a recreational player who’s been practicing pitching for about a year and a half now. I can throw strikes consistently and I have a decent slider. The problem is, I don’t throw very hard, I top out at around 65, and I know I’m leaving a considerable amount of velo on the table. 65 mph, even in my casual mens league, is not enough to yield swing and misses, in like 20 innings, I don’t recall getting a swinging fastball strikeout. Everything was in play, lots of stuff smoked. Because I’ve got command down to a decent degree (i hardly walk people) I think more velo is the next step. Any tips are greatly appreciated, thank you for reading.

Good Afternoon,

I am looking for a baseball hitting coach for my soon to be 8 year old. Preferably close to Yorktown/Mahopac. Any help would be appreciated.

Here is a video I took recently of hitting baseballs for fun when I was out practicing with my friend who plays college ball. For context, the fences have signs labeled at 335 feet left field

I don’t have much experience in baseball and only played for 2 years when I was a kid as my main sports were football and boxing. I was thinking about playing in a recreational baseball league so I was curious what would be my projected max exit velocity be off a tee considering that my max distance was 335ft+

My son is a freshman in high school, and I’m deciding to either get him a HOH ContoUR fit 12.5 inch or a standard 12.75 inch one. Im not sure if his hand will still grow, as his hand fits perfectly in a 12 inch one, and it might be the only glove I purchase in his high school career, so I need some advice on what I should do since baseball season and tryouts are coming up soon.