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My oldest son will be six in December. Next spring, I think I want him to play in the 7-8 year old league. He has three seasons under his belt (I cannot believe that we started him at 3.5 yrs old, but he wanted to play tee ball). We will be going from coach pitch to machine pitch around 30 mph. I am going to purchase a pitching machine since I have another son that loves baseball and I can use it for at least 5 years. As long as he can hit the machine decently and catch and throw, is there any downside to moving him up? There are three divisions of the 7-8 year olds and we will start off in the rec league, lowest level. I do not want him to get discouraged if he does not do good, but I am afraid that he will get bored in the younger league. He loves baseball and wants to practice in our yard about 5 times a week without me asking. I do not want to burn him out, so if he does not ask to hit, we do not right now. I just wanted peoples feelings on moving up. Thanks in advance
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I would let him play with his friends. He is only 6.Originally posted by brandtb1 View Post -
Baseball at six is 99% fun and 1% development. It's half about playing on the playground after the game with your friends. Have him play with his friends. I don't see the value of playing organized ball at age three. My kids started at seven.Comment
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Thanks for the answers. He is starting Kindergarden next year and his cousin and two good friends are moving up because of age. All of the kids he has been in preschool with are going to different schools next year. As far as starting at three, he had more fun getting the uniform on and looking like a baseball player and I would not really consider it organized. I do not have to decide right now and will let him make the call when sign ups roll around next year. I was just getting ahead of myself since our season wraps up this week.Comment
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Let him play in his own age group. Let him dominate
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Being really "into it" is a plus, but maturity level is what makes it work or not. My son "played up" in the classroom and started school early, so playing up came with the territory for him. He played LL 12U minors as a young 8. He was still 8 when fall baseball started that year. Most of the rest of the fall team was the 11 y/o majors all star team that were going to be coming back as 12s (a lot of them were 12). He held his own until he broke his arm. He saw some time on the mound in their first game and his coach loved telling people he was just 8. The opposing coach asked if his name was Danny Almonte? It was all smiles and fun because he played ok. Had he struggled more, then I could see it going different.Originally posted by brandtb1 View Post
Having a friend that was in a similar school situation and of the same physical maturity for the age made all the difference. They both made the league at 8 and both played quite a bit and it seemed right. It's a game changer for the kid. There's no doubt about that. After my son broke his arm, he still went to every practice and every game in uniform - eye black and wrist bands and the whole 9 yards. He felt pretty good about himself and wanted to stay in that situation as much as was possible.
At 12 his league put together a quasi-all star team to play some tournaments in addition to the regular LL season. They couldn't wear LL uniforms, so they wore the same uniforms from that fall season when he was 8. The #s correlated with the size of the shirt. My son wore 25 (the highest number). He asked me, "Dad, remember when I was #7?" I was thinking - "what's he talking about?" He had worn that jersey....wow it looked small! But, I could tell he still had some good memories of that year.There are two kinds of losers.....Those that don't do what they are told, and those that do only what they are told.Comment
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Without know your son or the environment he would playing I can really only speak in generalities and ask questions.Originally posted by brandtb1 View Post
Kids do develop physically and mentally at different rates and this may provide a challenge for your son. For many kids there is significant difference in development between 6 and 8. That would at least make me hesitate a minute. Do you know any of the parents and/or kids that already play in the 7/8 year old league? Do they play a lot more games at the higher age group? Do they practice a lot more? Are you and your son up for the additional commitment, if req'd? Will he stay in 7-8 group through the age of 8 or keep moving up? At some point will you "hold him back", because he might get left behind skill wise because of puberty? What impact would that have? Perhaps I'm getting too far ahead.
Rats... I was going to put in plug for the pitching machine I use.Originally posted by brandtb1 View Post
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Thanks for the thoughts on this. A little more background, the 4-6 year olds everyone bats each inning and most coaches do not even pull runners off base when they get out. He is usually asking me why they are still on base. I try to teach him the rules of baseball when we go to games or watch them on TV. With the three levels in the 7-8 division, he would be playing against a lot of first time players at 7-8 in the rec division and he could play on a team with his cousin who is ten months older. As far as games, it would be one more per week, so only about 1.5 hours more per week than now. The length of the schedule is pretty much the same as we play now. I thought that if I started him early, I could hold him back at some point to get in the correct age group. My brother coached his other son in the 7-8 division, so I have watched the talent and am sure he can hold his own out there next year. I will leave it up to him to let me know what division he wants to play in and go from there.
We use the louisville slugger UPM 45 machine in the league. It was told to me that it is fairly cheap and holds up pretty good since all of the coaches load and use the machine each game.Comment
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My son is playing up on a rec team, but only slightly up. Instead of being the oldest on the team, he is the youngest, but he's still playing with kids who are in the same grade as he is. He's also still one of the tallest on team. There are a few guys who are much stouter than him, though...
It's worked out great for us. He's one of the stars of the team, he gets to pitch and play infield (yeah, I know it's not fair). At first -- at coach pitch, he was one of the few kids who "knew how to swing", but since then most of the other kids have figured out how to whack the ball pretty hard too. You might have a similar experience -- your kid might dominate for a few years over kids who simply don't know what they are doing, but eventually that gap will narrow.
So it worked out well for us... could he play up another level? Probably, but I wouldn't recommend it! Confidence is so important to baseball success, why not leave him at a level where he can succeed regularly?Comment
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Moving him up sounds reasonable to me. This doesn't sound like dramatic change. In some areas they go right from t-ball to kid pitch.
I love my UPM45. We've had it for 4 seasons now. Very versatile.
We gave up on our Atec Jet machine with plastic balls... a slight breeze and balls would go way off course. (In the UPM45 they make for great rising fast balls.)Comment
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My experience has been that at this age letting him play with his friends and his age group lends itself to better future growth. Your job right now is to let him develop a love for the game not be the best on the field. at this age who cares?? If he's good he'll get his opportunities to play up when it matters... right now it does not. JMHOOriginally posted by brandtb1 View Post"He who dares to teach, must never cease to learn."
- John Cotton Dana (1856–1929) - Offered to many by L. Olson - Iowa (Teacher)
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When does playing up matter?
1) 7th grade in middle school on the 7/8th grade team rather than sitting on the bench or not making the team.
2) High school making the JV over the freshman team and varsity after that.
Once on the big field it's time to start looking at how far up the ladder a player can successfully compete. On preteen, small fielders play with your age group and friends.Comment
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It sounds to me like he'd be just fine. You've gotta remember that most of the 7/8yo's are just starting to play ball and probably know less than your kid already does. The coach on our travel team has a 6yo son (little brother to the coach's son) and the kid is stinkin' GOOD! He understands the game. He can catch almost anything you throw to him. He has no fear for getting in front of, and under balls. He's even played one tournament with us when we were short a kid. He hit the ball off of 9yo pitchers reaching close to 50mph. The funny thing, he looks every bit of 6. He would trounce most of the kids in our local 7-8yo rec league. After seeing him and another younger bro to one of our players, I have no doubt there are 6yo kids out there that could easily handle the 7-8yo league. Only you know if he's one of them. If he understands the game though, it sounds like he is.Comment
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Please ignore the "play with his friends" people. When my son was your son's age, he played with so many different people on and off the field. His "best friend" was a different person all the time. Now that he's 14, he has settled in with a small group of people even though he is always meeting new people. Your son will do the same thing. He'll make new friends if he moves up. My point is that he's always playing with his friends.Originally posted by brandtb1 View Post
Based on what I've read here by you, I'd move him up.Comment
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deja vu.........well, almost. (last year) I have 2 boys, 8 and 5. last season would be their first year playing organized ball. My 8 year old was set to play Pony Pinto 8u while my 5 year old was getting ready to play tee ball. I was coaching my son's 8u team. Right at the time when League practices were getting ready to start, my daughter was born. It was very challenging trying to keep my commitment to my son's team that I was coaching while at the same time attend my 5 year old's practice and giving him the attention that he needs and helping out around the house and my wife with the new baby. The only way baseball and baby was going to work was if my boys played on the same team. After going to a few tee ball practices, it was obvious (at least that's what I thought then) that my 5 year old was not going to learn anything that I haven't already taught him. At this point I had my 5 year old running through the same drills that I had my 8 year old doing. Although it was their first year, we practiced a lot in the backyard and they had very stronger baseball fundamentals. I convinced the board to allow my 5 year old to play for me on the 8u team. My 5 year old definitely held his own and fundamentally was one of the stronger players. During the season, my 5 year old had some ups and downs, played a lot of middle infield and took a lot of hard grounders to the chest. While my 5 year old was in the dugout, the older kids would talk about what other 8 year old's watch on TV while my 5 year old talked about barney and Diego. My 5 year old worried a lot about fitting in, striking out, making errors and letting his team down. It was a lot of pressure for a 5 year old. After the season my 5 year old told my wife that he didn't want to play baseball next season. Well, the season came and I told him that he would play with his age group 6u. He loved every minute of it!!! it was great to see him make friends and relate to everyone on his team. There was no worry about striking out, making errors or letting his team down. My youngest son (now 6) went on beast mode and had an awesome season. He was the top pick for the traveling All Star team. He has regained his love for baseball, but no thanks to me.
My advice would be to work with him on your own time and develop him as a player, but let him have fun with his own age group.Comment
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