My 13 yo got to play "up"

[tradosaurus]

My 13 yo was picked up by some volunteer coaches of a high school team (17U) to play out the rest of the summer season.

His first games was yesterday and I had a few observations:
1) The expense of competitive tournament ball for my son is paying off. :flow:
2) My son thought he had more reaction time at the plate coming from a 54 ft pitching distance to 60 ft.
3) 90 ft is a long way to run to each base. LOL

My son has 2 more years to worry about 60/90 field but I thought the exposure was good for him. :gt

[NY1]

Man I wish I lived where ever it is that you live! (13yo and still 2 years before moving to 60/90)
Around here during fall ball of your 12 yo season everyone is forced straight to 60/90 where they must use -3 BBCOR bats!

[tradosaurus]

Man I wish I lived where ever it is that you live! (13yo and still 2 years before moving to 60/90)
Around here during fall ball of your 12 yo season everyone is forced straight to 60/90 where they must use -3 BBCOR bats!

I would think, for the majority of kids, that moving to 60/90 at 13 yo could hurt their confidence.

But my son will have one more year of pony league and tournament ball at 54/80.

[Bolts-Baseball]

We played 60/90 at 13 years old, and the kids took to it very quickly... We had the option of playing 54/80 but never did...

Personally, I think the 54/80 field should be used for 12u... Today's 12u players playing on 225-250 ft. fields and 50/70 basepaths are a joke...

At 12u we averaged around half a dozen+ homers a game... I remember one game we hit 14...

[Bolts-Baseball]

Man I wish I lived where ever it is that you live! (13yo and still 2 years before moving to 60/90)
Around here during fall ball of your 12 yo season everyone is forced straight to 60/90 where they must use -3 BBCOR bats!

That's the way it should be!!!

Except, like I mentioned above, I really feel that 54/80 is perfect of 12u players... Great transitional field.

[tradosaurus]

We played 60/90 at 13 years old, and the kids took to it very quickly... We had the option of playing 54/80 but never did...

Personally, I think the 54/80 field should be used for 12u... Today's 12u players playing on 225-250 ft. fields and 50/70 basepaths are a joke...

At 12u we averaged around half a dozen+ homers a game... I remember one game we hit 14...

At tournament level (12U, 50/70) there were a few homeruns here and there but for the most part the pitching was good enough on all sides that I just didn't witness that many.

I like the distance transition from 12 - 13/14 - 15U in our area of East Texas.

[Bolts-Baseball]

At tournament level (12U, 50/70) there were a few homeruns here and there but for the most part the pitching was good enough on all sides that I just didn't witness that many.

I like the distance transition from 12 - 13/14 - 15U in our area of East Texas.

In 2010 we played in the AAU national championship (Orlando), NABF National Championship (Memphis) and the SuperSeries National Championship (Dallas), and yes, when we got to national level the HR's went down because we were facing the best pitchers in the nation (80+ mph from 50 ft) and the fences were moved back to 275-300 on the 50/70 fields...

But in USSSA, AAU, Nations, locally in here FL in regular tournament play, the 225-250 fields we played on normally were normally a launching pad...

[Kevin7273]

Man I wish I lived where ever it is that you live! (13yo and still 2 years before moving to 60/90)
Around here during fall ball of your 12 yo season everyone is forced straight to 60/90 where they must use -3 BBCOR bats!

Agreed. Where I am they go to the 60/90 field at 13 for LL and fall of their 12U season in travel. However they are not required to go to BBCOR bats until 14...at 13 they can still use LL senior league bats.

At least the travel kids have a couple of seasons of 50/70 unde their belts. The LL players are going straight from 46/60 to 60/90...that's a big transition!!!

[tradosaurus]

Personally I see the dangers of going to 60/90 with the pitchers.

Unscientifically I don't think kid's arms are mature to handle the 60 ft distance and I would wonder if more arm injuries could be attributed to moving kids to 60/90 before age 15?

Also the catchers throw to 2nd base increases by about 14 ft going from a 54/80 to a 60/90.

[CircleChange11]

I would think, for the majority of kids, that moving to 60/90 at 13 yo could hurt their confidence.

But my son will have one more year of pony league and tournament ball at 54/80.

I completely agree.

Our 12yo play LL Majors which is 46/65 with 200-220 fences. It's appears to be little more than a "True Three Outcomes" (TTO) league --- walk, strikeout, or home run.

12yo, IMO, should be on the 54/80 field. There's NO good reason to pitch from the same distance at 12 that you did at 9.