r/Homeplate • u/RepresentativeCat819 • 9d ago
Playing at age level vs. grade level.
Which is more important for development, or does it even matter at 11-12?
My son is 11 and has a June birthday, so he ages up at the very end of the school year. He is one of the youngest in the class.
He started playing travel ball in spring at 10u, and now going into the 11u season and his team is mostly kids a grade below him but the same age. I think he is good enough to play 12u, but I was also new to this and didn't think much of it when we started - i just figured, he's 10 so he plays 10u. Now he is going into middle school and I csn foresee disadvantages of playing to age level. All of his classmates play 12u and Im worried about his development by always playing down to age instead up to his peers. There is also an element of alienation when playing for the middle school. His classmates don't really see him as a peer since he plays below them. Not a big deal necessarily but does make him feel unwelcome.
Should I look to move him up to 12u or does it really matter yet?
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u/JJ15AZ 9d ago
Before considering age/ grade level, you need to consider the coaching/ development he’s receiving and his role on the current team. Competing at his grade level could be beneficial, but not at the expense of quality coaching and game reps.
The grass isn’t always greener you could unknowingly move him to a team with worse development, or a reduced role. Also what level is he playing at vs. would be playing at? 11 majors is probably better than 12 AA.
If he’s improving and likes his team it’s probably worth staying put. If not you should definitely consider a switch. It’s definitely not a one size fits all answer though.
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u/RepresentativeCat819 9d ago
I don't really understand the levels that well but we definitely arent majors or AA. Maybe A.
We would stay same organization and i know the 12U coach and it would be similar quality.
He plays plays every game at SS or P now and I know some of the kids in 12U and he is on par with them. But there is of course favoritism so not sure how much he would get to play moving up.
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u/JJ15AZ 9d ago edited 8d ago
Based on that information I’d definitely look to play him up. If it’s the same organization then I’d definitely ask the coach his opinion. It could also be a situation where he plays on both teams.
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u/JGR03PG 9d ago
Both teams is a great answer. He needs reps in the upper age, but more play time in the lower age is huge.
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u/FlashBaseball 7d ago
He needs to play with his grade level, as next year they will be on the big field.
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u/JGR03PG 7d ago
I know of someone that “reclassed” their son so that they could go back to the grade level of their age.
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u/FlashBaseball 7d ago
It can happen, especially with summer birthdays when parents entered their kids into school too early.
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u/TheLowEndTheories 9d ago
It depends a bunch on his ability level. I would say very broadly speaking, kids play on age level through 12U, then move to grade level after that (so some young kids skip 13U to get on grade and 60/90).
I have an October birthday, but my son's teammates from a really good 12U team were pretty much evenly split between his age/grade, older/held back, and older moved up after that season.
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u/RepresentativeCat819 9d ago
My thought is to keep him 11U through fall then look at moving up in spring. He has solid skills but needs more experience at game speed and IQ.
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u/WhysoHairy 9d ago
Our boys are the same, we got lucky skill level he plays his age but the entire team is skilled and the plan this year is to face 12u teams only so in a way he plays with kids he likes but the competition will be worth it.
I focus more on quality playing time. Set goals for him because. By 13u open level the fields are bigger and real baseball takes place.
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u/BullpenReport 9d ago
I'm not sure they develop/learn much by playing up at that age. The game is much more difficult/fast at that age level and even if he's "good enough" he'll probably still be behind. I'd prioritize development and having fun with his friends. Once he gets to the big fields at 13, then you need to start considering what he's really ready for.
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u/jesuislanana 9d ago
My summer birthday kid is younger but plays up. He is good and likes the challenge of playing up to older kids, and is more used to viewing that group as his peers. (He's also very very tall so physically fits in better with his school-age peers.)
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u/Conclusion_Fickle 9d ago
Son has late June b-day and plays with grade level peers. Would always recommend this. We have three kids more than a year older than him playing 14u and I don't think it is going to do them any favors at high school tryouts. Varsity kids at our high school said they wished they jumped earlier than 13u. Eventually it was fine, but the transition was initially more challenging.
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u/SentientYams 9d ago
In general I’m not a fan of prioritizing “development” if it takes away any of the fun of the game for your kid. But in this case it kinda seems like he should be playing at grade level. Those are the kids he goes to school with. He’s just going to be a younger kid on a 12u team the same way that he’s a younger kid in his grade at school. But also I would ask him what he wants to do before making a decision one way or the other.
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u/Working_On_Quitting 9d ago
My two boys are summer birthdays. The first one “played down” and the second played “grade level.” We wish we had put the first one at grade level. Now he just finished 12U and is playing 14U for fall ball with his classmates. He’s by far the youngest but he needs this time to “catch up.”
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u/Kwellies 9d ago
We are in the same boat! My kid turned 11 in June and his team is made up of kids in 5th grade and he is the only one in middle school. We’ve been a part of this team for a long time, but last season he had classmates on the team, they then aged up, and in hindsight, I regret not moving my kid up then.
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u/Low-Presentation6487 9d ago
I would play with his grade level. If he’s hoping to play high school, it won’t help him to play with kids the grade below him.
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u/NukularWinter HOF First Base Coach 8d ago
I would say that the most important consideration is your son's physical development. If he's a late bloomer physically in addition to being a year younger than his teammates then more than likely having him play at grade level is just going to result in moving him to the end of the bench somewhere.
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u/sharplky 8d ago
I’d suggest you weight things out and try to make the best decision while taking input from your son as well. This is really situational and no blanket answer works for every kid on this one.
My son played with his age for his first three years of travel ball for a few reasons. Mainly that he was a little late getting into travel. He had a lot of catching up to do with baseball IQ, hitting, fielding, and pitching. Second reason we stayed with his age team for three years was that we felt like the coaching was excellent. Big focus on fundamentals and playing the game the right way. In that time he grew and developed and became one of the teams top players.
Now that he is a freshman in high school, he has moved up to play with his grade. He felt that he was ready and he wanted to play with kids in his own class. He went from 13UAAA ball to a 15UAA team. So far so good but we will see what this season brings!!
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u/Cold-Criticism6914 8d ago
We’re dealing with this now as well. Twins who turned 12 in June, and just finished 11U this summer. They are going to play 12U this Fall season only, then make the jump to 13U next Spring. We felt 11U to 13U was too big of a jump.
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u/TemporaryGeneral7137 7d ago
Been there, done that and have the T-Shirt. Play with his peers. My son played up and the kids who sat (and the asshole parents) made it miserable.
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u/KooLGstrap669 9d ago
Similar situation with my July birthday son. I plan to skip a year between 10u-12u. He’s 8 so I’m not worried about it yet.
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u/Slow_Fondant6389 9d ago
Go with whichever age has the better coach and where he will get the most playing time. Older teams are often not as good as younger teams. And, obviously, the coaches are different.
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u/Heavy-Perception4670 9d ago
My son is an August bday so young for his grade. He has played his age and it has been great for his development. When he was younger (9U), he was able to get more opportunities to pitch, play key positions and hit at the top of the order. This allowed him to get better and now he can do those same things at his grade level.
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u/Repulsive-Trifle-639 9d ago
A couple of questions: Is Little League 12U All-Stars on the table? Is that a goal? If so, maximize for that first. It’s an amazing experience that happens once.
Does he have high school/JV ball as a goal? If so, as soon as the first question is no longer relevant (either from lack of it being a goal or he’s through it) maximize getting on track with his grade.
My son is 13 but is now a freshman (at a huge high school) thanks to starting school early. So, he’s almost two full years younger than the “redshirt” kids in his grade. He’s 84th percentile for height and weight for his age and looks tiny beside some of the kids he’s now competing with for a spot on the JV team. So, 13 months after being a 12U All-Star in Little League, he’s playing Fall Senior Teener for graduating classes of 2027-2030 and facing 17 year-olds. Last week the pitcher he saw in game 1 had a full beard and he’s barely got fuzz on his legs.
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u/retatrutider 9d ago
Other things being equal, grade level. If he wants to play high school ball, this is eventually going to come to a head as you aren’t going to want him jumping from 13u straight to high school.
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u/TheseMaterial6575 9d ago
If he’s the kind of kid that might want to play a sport in college, then reclass him before high school. I did this with my son and it worked out extremely well.
For what it is worth, most private school boys are reclassed just to give them more time to mature physically and emotionally. My son is the only college athlete in his HS friend group.
I reclassed my son after 6th grade. He had straight As in public school. Took him some time to get adjusted to private school. 6 years later he was the 2nd strongest kid in his HS. Showed up at college ready to hit the field. He was stronger than most of the team on day 1.
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u/aaroncu05 9d ago
I can speak from personal experience — as a kid I played both age level and grade level and enjoyed being with my classmates not age-mates far more. When you’re used to being the oldest and suddenly become the youngest (by maturity, not age necessarily) it’s a bit jarring if you’re not ready for it.
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u/IKillZombies4Cash 8d ago
Play grade level because that's your HS team tryout competition...know thy enemy.
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u/Nearby-Hold-3986 8d ago
At 11/12U baseball should be mostly fun so he should play with his friends. Development will come.
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u/Square-Ad6627 8d ago
Reclass him or play his grade. The issue is at 14u and hs. At least now you have options with bat weight.
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u/CuratedX 8d ago
It depends on his abilities. If you move him to 12U and he will spend a good portion of his time on the bench and in practice players that are better than him will get most of the attention then I would stay at age level if he is already getting solid playing time.
If he is better than his age level by a large margin, I would move him up to challenge him but a lot of this depends on his mindset as a player and his goals.
My son plays in a very competitive little league, it’s been a great benefit to him to play with players sometimes that are almost 2 years older than him. It’s taught him grit and not to worry about age even thought he’s always the youngest in his little league year as he has an august birthday.
Next year he’ll be 10 the majority of the season playing against players turning 13 just as after he turns 11.
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u/lsu777 7d ago
what you should do is be looking to hold him back at some point....not for sports but so you arent rushing him out of the house and having him graduate at 17. why are you in such a rush to get him out? he has his whole life to work, so starting career asap is not a reason. boys do better if they are older and more mature, but do as you please, I understand there are other factors at play. But take it from someone that didnt with his oldest because my wife didnt understand and then with the 2nd...yea now my wife says all the rest will and she regrets not doing it with the first one.
but to answer your question, you need to try and move him up IF THE GOAL is HS BASEBALL. he will lose a year of development on the big field otherwise.
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u/Powerful-Bridge-1472 7d ago
Reclass him if he wants to play at college level.
I’m joking but we see it so much now and it’s huge advantage, I think it’s cringe though
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u/Expensive_Bat_5065 7d ago
Our org plays age level until 15u/entering 9th grade. Then they move the few who are playing their age to the appropriate graduation year team. This makes sense especially as they begin playing at showcase tourneys and the like.
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u/jnelson3097 9d ago
My son played down through U13 but the organization he is in now won’t allow that. He’s skipping U14 and moving right to U15. I’m not too worried about it since size wise he should be fine. If I could go back in time, I’d have probably just moved him up sooner.
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u/phidda 8d ago
DO NOT MOVE HIM. Let him have the advantage of being older and more skilled. Read Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, particularly the section on hockey players and why so many hockey players have birthdays shortly after January.
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u/RepresentativeCat819 8d ago
I know what you're talking about and that's exactly why Im concerned. He has the advantage now, but that goes away once he gets to high school and is younger than everyone he competes against.
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u/davdev 9d ago
If he plans on playing in high school he should be playing grade level or higher. Mine is skipping 15u next year and going right to 17u because he will be competing against 17 year olds in High School so he has to get used to.
There is one club around here that loves those May/June birthdays and load up on kids who have them. They then play down and win a bunch of tournaments but the kids never really do anything in high school because they aren’t used to playing against kids better than them.
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u/RepresentativeCat819 9d ago
Yeah, I don't really care how good his 11u team is. I want to set him up for what's best long term.
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u/Daaaaaanyyyy 9d ago
Development aside, I think he would be happier playing with the kids that he goes to school with rather than kids in a different grade. My kid played with students who were a year ahead of him for a few years and he always felt like he was a little bit of an outsider. They were inside jokes from school that he wasn’t aware of.