Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted
4 minutes ago, HOOKEM4 said:

If you fall below 8 players you have to forfeit. A team did that last weekend in 13u and ended up with a better seed (didn't play the no1 seed that smoked everyone). They ended up with a 3pm game over our 8am that we got for actually playing. They took their 0-7 scored forfeit and we lost giving up 9 runs at 11pm while they were sleeping at home. Those 2 runs cost us a late game. Just a stupid stupid setup.

Yea that was always an in game rule back in the day (say in the 2nd inning two fielders take each other out and you are down to 7) but if you just outright walked on a game....that was that.  At your age it may be about sleep, when they get a bit older it gets to be about pitching.  

Posted (edited)

Yeah I agree. I am still living with the memory of the fuckery of last weekend. We will play it straight and let shit fall where it may.

 

Edit: it is always about pitching though. 

Edited by HOOKEM4
ousux
Posted

4p and 8pm at The Rac  this weekend for us, after we got an initial schedule saying we had the 8a and 12p games at Cotton Sports Ranch.

Travel time is about the same for us but would much rather have the early 8a games, considered booking a room in Waller Sat night only to realize the 2 Sunday brackets are either Waller or BBUSA. 

Posted

10 months post TJ surgery, my son got back on the bump against live batters for the first time yesterday.  Just 3 batters.  I didn't see it, but he said it was a mixed bag.  He struggled with control, but his arm felt good.  He's slated to pitch Tuesday (20 pitch max) on JV.  

He's worked hard during recovery and followed a pretty dialed in protocol.  Big improvement in core and leg strength over that timeframe.  Got a really good pitching coach with experience in TJ rehab and a good grasp of biomechanics, so his delivery is way more consistent and repeatable.  I think he's in a better, healthier, more disciplined spot than he was prior to injury.  We're really trying to keep him from overdoing it, but he's 17 and pushing the envelope.  

  • Hook 'Em 3
Posted
On 4/6/2025 at 12:41 PM, HOOKEM4 said:

Can we talk about how stupid these game times have become? Schedule too many teams for the fields, games stack up and get later and later. Last game is supposed to start at 8:15, doesn't start until 10:15pm. Sunday games are at 8am. Really stupid. It comes down to who got to play early Saturday. We had kids that went home and ended up with 4hrs or less sleep. Bullshit scheduling. Basically we should have just forfeited the second game just so we could have clawed back 3 hours of sleep for the boys. Defeats the point of the tournament imo.

The tournament director got his $$ so that's incorrect 

  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted

One of my players lost 2 teeth at first last night in practice losing the ball in the sun. So that was fun. 

  • Haha 1
  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

It seems I have now been exposed to roster shenanigans. We beat a team handily Saturday and faced them in the semi's yesterday.  Only they had 3 players that were not there Saturday.  3 much larger players, 2 of which hit HR.  Tried to look up the team and see how they had been doing this season and they had no record aside from this tournament.  

  • Rage+1 1
Posted
1 hour ago, T’Boo Ted Marshall said:

It seems I have now been exposed to roster shenanigans. We beat a team handily Saturday and faced them in the semi's yesterday.  Only they had 3 players that were not there Saturday.  3 much larger players, 2 of which hit HR.  Tried to look up the team and see how they had been doing this season and they had no record aside from this tournament.  

So, when you go to the big tournaments, you see this quite a bit.  USA Prime, among others, has a bunch of local and regional teams, but they will cobble together a “National” team for the biggies.  As a result, there are some stacked rosters at those events that aren’t continuous teams.

  • Like 1
  • Rage+1 1
Posted

What alot of teams like that do is keep the team name the same but just change coach name.
Ballers-Jones 13u and slaughter teams. Then go to a big local tournament play down a level ( majors to aaa to aa) keep same roster but go as the ballers-Smith 13u.

Posted

Reading this makes me ponder on an upcoming decision on whether to put our youngest in select.  He turns 7 in a week and has only played LL.  We had several coaches try to recruit him for this season and we turned them all down.  One of the teams was an 8U and wanted him to play.  Struggling with the whole select world as I see all of these kids who play select and little league and most of them aren't anything special.  I also see these kids get burnt out by the end of LL and into all-stars.  I wish there was a less aggressive baseball league outside of LL to play that didn't demand so much travel and late night games.  My boy would love the extra practice and reps but I'm just not sure about the time commitment.

Posted

My son started select ball last summer.  The coach was recommended by another family at our school.  The coach is great - knowledgeable, motivating, not over the top with criticism. The other parents on the team are pretty chill - no loudmouths.  As far as the team goes, it's been good.  Going to tournaments was eye-opening though.  There are A LOT of people who take this shit VERY seriously.  I just wonder what they are all thinking.  Do they think their kid has a chance to play MLB?  My son's goal is to make his HS team.  He's going to be a freshman next year.  I think he has a pretty good chance of making the freshman team.  Whether we continue with select ball remains to be seen.  He's definitely improved because of it and has had a generally positive experience.  I just don't know how much is too much in terms of commitment by our family.

  • Hook 'Em 1
  • Like 1
Posted

I think I noted it above but this is our first go-around in select and the tournaments are crazy.  Every family has a cart full of a ton of shit.  A bunch of tarps and boomboxes with pre-game and walk-up music.  The parents (98% of whom are morbidly obese and shit-faced by late afternoon as they sell booze which is crazy to me) are nuts -- yelling at the umps, their own players, other players, other parents, their coaches, other coaches.  This was our fourth tournament and last weekend I saw my first near fight.  A bunch of country rednecks v a bunch of hispanic folks. I don't know what happened (was on the field next to us and wasn't paying attention) but a bunch of the parents (dads and moms too!) got into a shouting shoving match, screaming f-bombs, gonna kick your fucking ass, etc. Rednecks got tossed and promised to be waiting in the parking lot for the other group after the game.  I'm not sure if that happened.  A bunch of 11 and 12 year olds just standing the whole thing.    

  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted
2 hours ago, Ojo Rojo said:

My son started select ball last summer.  The coach was recommended by another family at our school.  The coach is great - knowledgeable, motivating, not over the top with criticism. The other parents on the team are pretty chill - no loudmouths.  As far as the team goes, it's been good.  Going to tournaments was eye-opening though.  There are A LOT of people who take this shit VERY seriously.  I just wonder what they are all thinking.  Do they think their kid has a chance to play MLB?  My son's goal is to make his HS team.  He's going to be a freshman next year.  I think he has a pretty good chance of making the freshman team.  Whether we continue with select ball remains to be seen.  He's definitely improved because of it and has had a generally positive experience.  I just don't know how much is too much in terms of commitment by our family.

Yes.

  • Like 1
Posted
I think I noted it above but this is our first go-around in select and the tournaments are crazy.  Every family has a cart full of a ton of shit.  A bunch of tarps and boomboxes with pre-game and walk-up music.  The parents (98% of whom are morbidly obese and shit-faced by late afternoon as they sell booze which is crazy to me) are nuts -- yelling at the umps, their own players, other players, other parents, their coaches, other coaches.  This was our fourth tournament and last weekend I saw my first near fight.  A bunch of country rednecks v a bunch of hispanic folks. I don't know what happened (was on the field next to us and wasn't paying attention) but a bunch of the parents (dads and moms too!) got into a shouting shoving match, screaming f-bombs, gonna kick your fucking ass, etc. Rednecks got tossed and promised to be waiting in the parking lot for the other group after the game.  I'm not sure if that happened.  A bunch of 11 and 12 year olds just standing the whole thing.    

Merica!
Posted (edited)

Yeah, well, my first experience watching my son in select ball—10U—was watching two of his teammates getting in a fight.

 

 

IMG_6620.gif

Edited by UTexasFight
Posted

My 11 YO just went deep for the second time in LL last night. No doubter off the best pitcher in the league and then threw 4 IP for the win. He’s hit bombs in select and won games on the mound in select plenty. Still, doing it in the playoffs in LL with his buddies is a whole different thing. It’s insane watching kids throw around 70 from 46 feet and then watching another kid turn on it. 

  • Hook 'Em 3
  • Like 1
Posted
39 minutes ago, Jshep34 said:

Houston area baseball community select on Facebook is always entertaining on Mondays with parent drama.

It's @Mez2 talking shit to losing teams huh 

  • Like 2
  • Haha 1
Posted

Booze sold at tournaments? Which one is that? Most of the places we play have nice amphitheater seating so we just roll up with cooler and snacks but imagine some sneak in booze in there Stanley mugs.
No walk up music on our team. I don’t like it since I’m old school but meh.
My only real complaint about is letting it go on too long while the pitcher is trying to work.

Posted
11 hours ago, T’Boo Ted Marshall said:

Booze sold at tournaments? Which one is that? Most of the places we play have nice amphitheater seating so we just roll up with cooler and snacks but imagine some sneak in booze in there Stanley mugs.
No walk up music on our team. I don’t like it since I’m old school but meh.
My only real complaint about is letting it go on too long while the pitcher is trying to work.

Black star and league of dreams in dripping sell alcohol as well. 

Posted
8 minutes ago, BrazilHorn said:

Black star and league of dreams in dripping sell alcohol as well. 

League of dreams- or as we all know it “Field of Screams” 

 

Posted (edited)
7 minutes ago, n64ra said:

Booze sales at kid tournaments blows my mind, but I've seen it too. 

same here.  I am 15 years removed from our boys playing youth sports; but that blows my mind.

I drink plenty, but I would not do it in those venues.  I'm old( and respectful) though.

Having had a few friends whose kids went on to play in college, after playing the select circuits growing up, I have witnessed it being a good experience for the kids; but holy shit there are some freaking psycho parents.  That goes along with almost any other activities though too.

I have a friend whose son is currently in that select age, can pitch and hit with power- and if other coaches find out he's available on a weekend, my buddy's phone is lighting up.  I tease him that his boy needs to sign some NIL deals.

Edited by Iceman
  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted
10 hours ago, Jshep34 said:

The rac in waller, league city fields and others sell booze at the park

I think Premier in Tomball and I am certain Scrapyard in Spring/Woodlands sell beer.

 

10 hours ago, Mez2 said:

Every park is byob

^This. There's no policing it. A couple of our parents bring a community cooler in case the games are going really well or (more often) really poorly.

  • Like 1
Posted
On 4/29/2025 at 10:55 AM, Cody2422 said:

Reading this makes me ponder on an upcoming decision on whether to put our youngest in select.  He turns 7 in a week and has only played LL.  We had several coaches try to recruit him for this season and we turned them all down.  One of the teams was an 8U and wanted him to play.  Struggling with the whole select world as I see all of these kids who play select and little league and most of them aren't anything special.  I also see these kids get burnt out by the end of LL and into all-stars.  I wish there was a less aggressive baseball league outside of LL to play that didn't demand so much travel and late night games.  My boy would love the extra practice and reps but I'm just not sure about the time commitment.

The core of our team had been together since 6U (usually 0.500 type seasons, but all the kids developed at 3+ positions). We won the rec ball league for spring 7U and fall 8U last year. Several parents (moreso than the kids) wanted to try select ball. We kept 8 players so it's basically the same team, and I don't know if their development this season is much better than it would have been if we stayed rec at this age. We are sitting at a 3-12-3 record as the kids are still getting used to the speed of select ball, playing against much better competition, and we didn't add any studs (and the 3 kids the paid coach put on our team are all bottom 4-5 players on the roster). Houston Select Facebook parents (maybe select parents in general) are mostly hypocrites as they say "prioritizing winning" is acceptable at their kids' age but all younger ages should be for development...but it's a sliding metric based on whatever age their kid is at. 90% of the 8U teams are playing the same kids in set positions even on the Saturday pool games. That strategy is definitely better for their record and seeding and getting those key kids more Saturday reps in prep for Sunday, but it sucks for the kids assigned to RF, 2B, C, bench/EH. It also sucks for us since we are moving kids around every inning and we lose a lot of 12-8 score type games that we could've won if other teams played the way we do. I considered jumping back to rec ball for fall 9U, but my son wants to play football and I think the Sunday select schedule for fall is the only way football+baseball will work.

Another thing about select is the birthday calendar. I don't understand why they don't adopt the LL calendar and have kids play with their "grade" (grade they are supposed to be in, no B.S. holding a kid back for sports). Select ball goes by May 1 cutoff, so kids with summer birthdays are supposed to play "down" with kids the grade younger. My sons are both June, and the select coaches all want them to play in their younger legal age, because it's all about dem rings! I pity parents that have their genetically huge kids with May birthdays play the younger age and just dominate. Hooray your kid is the MVP! But how about challenge him a little more and let him play with kids in his grade? We've got several kids barely 4'0 and regularly come across 8U kids who are 5' and thick.

  • Like 2
Posted
35 minutes ago, TejasPedro said:

League of dreams- or as we all know it “Field of Screams” 

 

No doubt, that place is constant head on a swivel with foul balls raining down non stop. 

Glad my youngest has aged out of that place

Posted
On 4/29/2025 at 8:55 AM, Cody2422 said:

Reading this makes me ponder on an upcoming decision on whether to put our youngest in select.  He turns 7 in a week and has only played LL.  We had several coaches try to recruit him for this season and we turned them all down.  One of the teams was an 8U and wanted him to play.  Struggling with the whole select world as I see all of these kids who play select and little league and most of them aren't anything special.  I also see these kids get burnt out by the end of LL and into all-stars.  I wish there was a less aggressive baseball league outside of LL to play that didn't demand so much travel and late night games.  My boy would love the extra practice and reps but I'm just not sure about the time commitment.

Do what you think is best for your kid, but there was no chance I would put my kid in at 7. 

He started travel ball at 10u but his coach was also his little league coach and they didn't really have games during little league season. Also, they didn't really do weekend tourneys. Just scheduled single headers with other local travel ball teams and it was awesome. But it is also rare.

Assuming two games and at least a practice or two a week for LL and then a practice for travel then tourney on the weekend.... My kid would have hated baseball in about a month. 

I know many do it, but I honestly don't know how. 

Posted

Someone help me understand this one.

My youngest plays rec league. On a normal, good weather Saturday, the fields are in use all day. If his game start time is around 4, it generally starts around 4 to 4:15.

My oldest plays select. On a normal, good weather Saturday, the fields are in use all day. If his game start time is around 4, it generally starts AFTER 5.

How can Five Tool or Perfect Game get so far behind when rec league keeps things on track? Both leagues have time limits, and both allow ties on Saturdays. 

Posted
2 minutes ago, n64ra said:

Someone help me understand this one.

My youngest plays rec league. On a normal, good weather Saturday, the fields are in use all day. If his game start time is around 4, it generally starts around 4 to 4:15.

My oldest plays select. On a normal, good weather Saturday, the fields are in use all day. If his game start time is around 4, it generally starts AFTER 5.

How can Five Tool or Perfect Game get so far behind when rec league keeps things on track? Both leagues have time limits, and both allow ties on Saturdays. 

My experience: pitching changes. Mound visits. 
I miss that about rec league. Just letting the kid throw, score be damned. And damn sure no coach walking out to the mound after 2 or 3 straight walks.

  • Like 1
Posted
13 minutes ago, UTexasFight said:

My experience: pitching changes. Mound visits. 
I miss that about rec league. Just letting the kid throw, score be damned. And damn sure no coach walking out to the mound after 2 or 3 straight walks.

Oh, and bigger than that, typically more blowouts/run rules in rec that allow for things to get back on schedule. 

Posted

The umps have a huge part in keeping the game rolling. We played at Rocker B earlier this year and they were a well oiled machine. 5 pitches to warm up pitcher, no field warmups between innings. They keep it moving. 

Then you got 2 college umps that go get on their phones between innings, pitcher has thrown 20 warmups and you have to call to blue to get the game back going. On top of this are the shitty strike zones. Squeezing a 10u pitcher causing a shitload of walks that just drag the game on.

  • Rage+1 1
Posted

If there’s anything worse than your kid getting a stomach bug during the playoffs I’d like to hear it. He’s recovered just enough that I can’t justify sitting him again but now he’s rusty and still isn’t 100% and there’s no way I’m getting a quality game out of him. 

  • Rage+1 1
Posted

Lilshep with number 1 today. Asked that I text his buddy Phil and post it here. Kid has busted his butt. He is a very high average hitter. 5bfb75633d0c6c07f135a77d464bd3fe.jpg

  • Hook 'Em 3
  • Like 2
Posted
8 minutes ago, Jshep34 said:

Lilshep with number 1 today. Asked that I text his buddy Phil and post it here. Kid has busted his butt. He is a very high average hitter. 5bfb75633d0c6c07f135a77d464bd3fe.jpg

Monster! 

Posted



Hitting over .500 on season. Struck out once in 130 plate appearances. When I got to dugout after chasing down the baseball he was in tears. Crazy things is team he hit it off their coaches were his first little league all star coaches.
  • Hook 'Em 3
  • Like 3
Posted
4 hours ago, Jshep34 said:

 

 


Hitting over .500 on season. Struck out once in 130 plate appearances. When I got to dugout after chasing down the baseball he was in tears. Crazy things is team he hit it off their coaches were his first little league all star coaches.

 

That is awesome. Love it! Thanks for sharing.

  • Like 1
Posted

 New 10u team this year but 5 tournaments in,  they finally fought through and got to a championship. Ran out of steam, but gave it a game. My son pitched a 9k no hitter. Another of our pitchers had a 7k complete game and gave up one run. It is wild how up and down they can be at this age but that's what makes it so much fun. When you get pitchers who do what they are capable of, you win. Who would have thunk? On to the next!

  • Hook 'Em 3
  • Like 2
Posted

After a rough first season, we went 2-0 on Saturday. But the park/umps were so far behind, our 6:00p game started at 7:15 and our 8:30 game started at 10:05. We have five 7 year olds and the game didn't end until 11:15pm...then PG gives us the 8am game in Waller on Sunday morning when two other gold bracket play-in games could've taken the 8am slot. Those kids were zombies, hit like trash and several silly errors. Unfortunate way for their season to end.

  • Rage+1 2
  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

Just got travel ball schedule for this summer and FML. First 7 weeks or so of summer youngest (15) will be playing in the laps of luxury in: Waco, Lubbock, Melissa, Tomball and other prime locations. 
 

Jeez. 

Posted
8 hours ago, BrazilHorn said:

Just got travel ball schedule for this summer and FML. First 7 weeks or so of summer youngest (15) will be playing in the laps of luxury in: Waco, Lubbock, Melissa, Tomball and other prime locations. 
 

Jeez. 

Lubbock and Waco are nice this time of year. Kidding - they both always suck, but you already knew that.

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...