jkates

If you don't mind answering. PM if you want. I'm curious. What school? Who is the coach? Sounds like a good setup. You should ask about the future. Will the coach be looking to recruit over the bottom of the roster? Or is this a long-term commitment (say, through age 11 or 12) and these kids will be the team unless they leave voluntarily?

Day baseball today. Chance to quickly get back in the W column.

He has some nice building blocks. I hope it all clicks for him in the org.

Yeah, I don't understand why the coaches are afraid to roster bat, even if just on Saturdays. Being the #1 seed on Sunday isn't some sort of accomplishment, especially considering that many teams won't throw their top arms on Saturday anyway. My son is not the star, but he's plenty capable of contributing. Oh well. We are where we are for now. My son wants to work hard and earn ABs with this squad and I'm happy to help him.

He's a buddy of mine. Good dude. He'd rather fish than fight though!

I'm in this boat right now. My son is currently the 11th man on a roster of 11. I'm sort of one of the coaches. I was one of the coaches last year and this year I'm in the dugout and helping every bit as much as the 2 previous years, but my input is largely ignored as 3 of the 5 coaches have sort of become the decision-makers. Saturday - 2 pool play games for seeding - we batted 10 in both games. He was not in either lineup. He did get 1 inning in RF (caught the only fly ball hit to him and threw home to prevent the tag) and 1 PA (HBP after a couple of foul balls). Sunday - 2 bracket games (1st round bye) - we batted 10 in the semifinal and 9 in the championship game. He didn't enter either game. So we did baseball from 7:30 am - 2:00 pm on Saturday and from 8:30 am - 1:00 pm on Sunday......for 1 PA and 1 inning in RF. It's tough right now. But the little man is committed to working hard and fighting for ABs. I'm committed to not being a moron about it all. We like the organization. I like the coaches. I value the practices and development he gets with this group. I want him to learn how to work for something he wants. The only tricky part is that the coaches may or may not reward him. Time will tell....

Any of you Houston area guys played at Katy National Park before? How is it? We've usually played at Baseball USA (good) or West Little York (crappy). Never played in Katy but we will on Saturday.

I'm fine with more netting. It's still my responsibility to protect my family. Both can coexist.

That's where I come down on this. I have 3 kids and a wife who is likely not going to be paying close attention to every pitch/batted ball. When we go to the game, my primary responsibility is their safety. That starts with my sitting closest to the action. I can't imagine allowing a ball to hit my daughter. I've caught several foul balls over the years. It's just a matter of paying attention. (Playing middle infield all my life probably doesn't hurt!)

Of course, fans and children at baseball games need to be protected, of course. The netting could be extended, without significantly interfering with the game experience, and at a relatively low cost. Of course. But maybe... Maybe if you bring your kid to a game, sit in a rocket zone, and don't pay attention, it's a tiny bit your fault.

That's mostly fair. It depends on the specific team/org, of course. Our 2 main daddy coaches played D-1 college and pro ball, so they know a ton. And we've played against plenty of organizations that have a putz at the helm.

It's the perfect thread for it. Due to how the team my son is on formed, I'm not the most knowledgeable of the process. For our group, a couple of guys decided to coach and invited 10 kids out for the team. There are several select teams like that from our local rec league (SBMSA). Most of it is done by word of mouth, coach invite, etc. I know there are organizations like Marucci Elite, Houston Warriors, Dynasty, SBA, etc. that will hold tryouts at different times in the year in order to put together teams. What I don't know is when, how you get registered, cost, etc. What part of town do you live in?

Meh, why not separate this from the LL thread. Lil Kates' 9AA team won a tournament last weekend and got bumped to 9AAA. We'll see how that goes starting this weekend!

I miss the old Jake's Philly Steaks.

That made me laugh.

Victory! Back for more on Saturday.

We canceled Friday and Saturday, although it's possible we could have played on soggy fields on Saturday. My son's 9/10 team has a playoff game tonight. I'm at the point in the season where I can't decide if I want them to win or lose.

I can't recall the last time, if ever, I noticed or recognized a doormat.

This probably isn't the forum or thread to get into that. I don't want to crap on the RIP, RHE thread with theological disagreements.

I believe RHE's theology and influence were massively harmful to the Church, but I was still praying for her. I hate that 2 little kids are left without their mother. 37. Sucks. We're not guaranteed tomorrow, boys.

I definitely agree with you there. The pressure on parents to put their kid in select is ridiculous. The coaching at the lower levels of select is often just some fat dudes yelling at kids and looking for wins. I'm thankful that we found a spot with good coaches (dads who played pro ball) and a lighter schedule. I believe our schedule will ramp up around 12U, but I'm OK with it then.

I think it depends on what the select organization is and what the goals are. My son has been playing select since 7U. However, it's not year round. They play 5 tournaments between May 25-July 1 each year. It's after our local league wraps up. We sneak in some practices during the local league. It's an organization that values the development, the practice reps, etc. Sure, we want to win tournaments, but we don't play enough to be worried about all the points/rankings, World Series stuff. Americans overemphasize games. A kid can go an entire tournament and get just a few defensive chances. The same kid in a quality practice with a good coach can get hundreds of reps in a variety of drills.

Took too long to get here (Brewer was executed in 2011). Hopefully, he doesn't receive any stays.

Take it to PMs, darlings. The Twins are so screwed tonight. I'm pissed that I can't go. My tix are on StubHub.

Richard Hidalgo hit 171 MLB HRs. I think he made it.