r/Homeplate

I'm curious about something I've heard from a few different sources (first hand coaches, content creators, current college coaches etc), and that is about the detrimental effect of swimming pools on players' abilities. Essentially, the theory as I understand it, is that swimming in pools the day before a game or on a game day is more physically draining than other activities. I'm really curious about whether this holds water in any sort of validated way or if there's mostly only anecdotal evidence ("I was a .600 hitter the entire season and went 0-5 with three Ks the day after I swam in the hotel pool").

So today was my first game of my 6th season, 1st u15 season, and we played against an all girls team and lost, but im very proud of my performance

1 and 2/3 Innings/44 pitches/4 strikeouts/2 walks/1 earned run/1 unearned run/1, 3 up 3 down inning/2 hits/1 hbp

Long time listener, first time poster. Sorry in advance for the long read.

TL;DR: Son (12) played first year 13U AA travel, did not play much. Paid $3000+ to basically watch and cheer on other kids play baseball. Was invited to come back next year at 13U again and I assume likely on a different team with a different coach and mostly different kids (his team is a mix of 12 and 13 year olds, so I assume some are gonna move up to 14U). But I'm not so sure how I feel about it as I felt we were just a wallet for this team. Son tried out for other teams (still more tryouts in the next few days) and was offered to play elsewhere. Should we make the jump or stay?

Now to the long part of it.

I kind of already have an idea of what we should probably do, but I just need to vent and talk through it and maybe hear what others think as I'm sure we're not the first to go thru this.

We made the jump from Rec to Travel so is past Spring (2026) was my Son's (and our) first year of travel ball and it did not quite go the way we expected.

Some background: He was one of the better players on his LL Majors team (as he was taking private lessons with this Travel org and we were doing work on our own), but that isn't saying much as our LL isn't very competitive. Anyway, last Fall (2025) we played Fall Ball with this same travel org and they played up at 13U AAA (AA team, but vs AAA teams), he was barely 12 (turned 12 towards the end of Fall Ball). Being new to this level of competition and playing up he struggled.

Fast forward to winter and being new to this Travel environment, I wasn't aware of when tryout season was (my fault). So its Winter already and there are not many tryouts as I imagine, looking back, most rosters are probably already set for the next year. Last minute this same Travel Org is holding tryouts for some last minute 13U players. At the time I decided, well, he did struggle with 13U fall Ball but he's been thru it before, we've been working all winter, he's still taking his private lessons and were informed this is a AA team playing AA so maybe by Spring something will turn around. So we tried out and thought the worst they can say is no and we'll just go back to Rec (intermediate) or something. They ended up offering (which might have been a red flag as they just needed a "warm body").

Part of the issue (I think) is, we ended up being assigned to a team that had an established core set of players (been together for a few years). We went thru all winter workouts and practices and it wasn't until the first tournament of the season I was informed that only the "top 9 will play, with my Son getting some reps during pool play." Now maybe this is my fault for not asking this question or understanding this before signing up but I was caught off guard with that.

I won't say my Son's necessarily deserved playing time as his struggles from Fall Ball ended up carrying over to the first half of the Spring season and maybe thats my fault knowing that he struggled there, where I hoped it would be different being AA and not AAA. And while I acknowledge that he's one of the less experienced kids on the team in terms of this level of competition, I also felt that he's not the worst player on the team either. Physically, I felt he can compete/play, but honestly it felt a lot of his struggles were mental. Part of it was that he wasn't given as many opportunities or a long leash for "mistakes" like some of the others. A majority of playing time went to their core set of players and families they had relationships with. They also literally rotated 4 players (including my Son) thru RF, while the other 8 positions mostly went untouched or rotated amongst those players.

For context, 35 total games played so far. Only 21 PAs, so less than 1 per game. Some kids have 3 times as many PA. As for defensive innings. Some kids have 6 to 7 times as many innings played.

In a sense, I felt that his confidence was down at the beginning of the season, especially since he didn't get to play much. It was bad enough that after one tournament he asked me "Why didn't I get to play? Is it because I suck?"

We did approach the coach and ask what do we need to do and basically it boiled down to political talk of we're a developmental team, but that is mainly done thru practices and outside work, games are meant to give our players competition and basically to win at all cost. If your Son wants to play he needs to "essentially" be more consistent.

All in all, I get that my Son wasn't "the best" player and was inexperienced, but I also felt that they were part of what crushed his confidence (and possibly love for the game). I get that a majority of a player development is done thru practices and what work we do outside, but I also feel that you need to play games or get game reps to also get better. I felt that he got shafted on that and in a sense, his early struggles set the impression his coaches had of him throughout the season and he wasn't given a long leash to learn by making mistakes/errors as he wasn't even on the field a majority of the time. I mean, if you're "good enough" to make the team then why aren't you "good enough" to play.

I also understand that the $3000+ is "stated" to be for paying for the "development" and not "playing time." I will state that I do believe my Son got better over the course of the Season (but that was also because we put in work ourselves) as a majority of his ABs came in the 2nd half of this season, but he's mainly been regulated as a DH or EH sometimes so no field time (even in RF).

Now, back to my question. My Son has tried out for another org, 2 teams from that org have offered and there's another tryout coming up. The main question of this is should we switch? Granted I don't think the coaching will be as good and I understand my Son should have some kind of say as this is his Journey, but I do think my Son would get more playing time with this other Org and I feel that we should go where he is wanted. But I fear that by making this jump we could be jumping into the same situation with this new org being the new kids/parents coming in. I feel that if we stay, even if its a new team and coach, I'd feel like we might get suckered again and my Son ends up riding the bench again.

So essentially when do you know when its time to switch?

Ultimately, I feel like I know what we should do, as he may not even go on to play college ball and I just want him to play and build his confidence back up. But I just wanted to vent and hear others stories/opinions.

If you made it this far, thanks for staying for my long rant.

He said my form is pretty good but I have a tendancy to lean towards the ground (which is also an issue I have with pitching) what are some ways I can fix this/mental things to keep in mind

One thing that sort of worked was swinging over the ball though most of the time I hit the top of the ball/kind of graze it, how do I work on the center

While I do not regret playing ball, I often believe I overstayed my welcome on the ballfield.

Past coach pitch, I was never a stand-out player. I was always decent, but never anything to write home about. I was tightly-wound, not particularly athletic, and undersized. Determined to improve, I began lifting weights, going from 125 lbs as a freshman in high school to a 170 pound senior. I was cut from my middle and high school teams, and eventually got an offer to a small, no-name DIII school. I was always a high-academic kid, and I can't particularly say I loved playing the game. So much of my relationship with baseball was through the perspective of work, leading me to lose the "fun" aspect. I was always a ballplayer, putting the work in, hustling, playing through injuries, you name it. My grades were probably good enough to be competitive at some real high-academic schools, but I chose to go to a pretty academically unremarkable school (which is now on the brink of closing) to play ball.

Baseball my freshman and sophomore years was hell. I got one at-bat in two years and felt completely separate from the team. We would practice twice per day, once during cafeteria lunch and once during cafeteria dinner. Most days, I would barely be eating enough calories to function. I had some buddies, but I loathed being at practice and dreaded gamedays. Everyone hated our coach. Part of our catching drills would include making us close our eyes and try to catch the ball once we heard the pitching machine shoot the ball at us. At times, he would make me pitch game one of an intrasquad doubleheader and catch game two.

I ended up getting recruited to transfer to a small branch campus of a state school. There was no student life whatsoever, most of the students commuted, and the only fans at games were girlfriends and parents. I ended up really focusing on academics at my new school. I became a tutor, became the president of a club, and began getting straight As. I became a captain of my new team, and set the single-season record for runners caught stealing as a catcher. I ended up hurting my back and was forced to take the summer and fall off.

The next spring, I got off to a slow start, but got red hot in March and saw my average shoot to .400. I ended up losing reps on the field despite this, seeing a different catcher (who was on the team last year) take my spot despite being a horrendous catcher and not a particularly stellar hitter. He happened to be a drinking buddy of my coach's, which I postulate has something to do with this, however excuses do not absolve me of culpability for a lack of playing time.

My average dropped to around .300 by the end of my senior year, and I was named academic All-American. I graduated as the valedictorian and won several research and academic awards.

Playing college ball definitely helped parts of my career. My grad school interviewer asked me tons of questions about baseball, and I was eventually accepted into an ivy league school for a doctorate program. However, part of me feels like I would have been able to get into these good schools without baseball.

Now that I'm away for the game (as of 2 months ago), I can't help but feel like I played the game too much and for too long. I can now enjoy watching ballgames, but for years upon years it was something I dreaded. I would have panic fits the night before games. I lost the fun in the game so long ago, that I truly saw it as work.

On paper, I had a very commendable career. Hitting .300+ at any level is nothing to scoff at. From an outside perspective, I was a kid who loved the game. Inside, however, it was the bane of my existence. For you parents out there, really consider whether your child loves the game or simply feels an obligation to it. No matter what, keep it fun.

It's a kids' game, after all.

Hey yall - I'm trying to pick a 33.5" torpedo to get as a bday gift for my brother, we both play in an 18+ Sunday league.

I'm hovering around the $125-175 price range but have ran into durability issues with my last couple Marucci bats. Does anyone have any good alternatives they like to use? I'll also add that he's got a good swing but a lil pop would go a long way for him. TIA

They will give other kids errors and not their own kids, Is this common? I wish we could opt out of GameChanger.

My son's Louisville Slugger USSSA -10 cracked today. He has 2 more games left this season and tryouts. It is less than a month old and we have never made a warranty claim. Does anyone know how Louisville processes their warranty claims. Do they send the exact same bat in the exact same colorway you have (the supra also just came out in a new colorway and dicks actually did allow me to get the price adjustment)? Would they allow replacement with a drop 8? If anyone has been through the warranty process with Louisville could you please describe how long they took and if they required replacement be with the exact same colorway and size.

Hi. My kid has been using a Bonesaber Hybrid USA bat for fall and spring rec ball. The bat started to make a dull thud sound when hitting baseballs. It longer makes a higher pitch sound. No visible cracks or separation. Possible internal structural damage? He’s still able to hit the balls a good distance into the outfield. Is his bat dead? This is our first hybrid bat and only previously owned single piece alloy. Anyone else have a similar experience?

Anyone know if there’s any kind of training ball that has little to no bounce off a wall that isn’t weighted?

I see a bunch of weighted balls on Amazon but I’d rather not throw a pound of ball in to a wall…seems less than helpful.

I’m at a loss. My 13 year old has been working really hard. He’s played consecutively the last 4 years and for 2 until Covid hit and everything shut down.

He’s good, but not great by any means. Hitting is great, stealing is great, but regular base running just isn’t. He’s working on it with a few drills his coach this year have him.

He did take the last week off of catching and batting because I’ve been working so much, but that’s coming to an end.

Up until two weeks ago, he’s been saying that his dream is to go pro. Now do I think he’ll make it? That’s iffy, but I won’t tell him that. I’m as positive as I can be with him.

Mainly afraid that he’s just going to give up completely and I know deep down, after he gave me a long term life goal, he doesn’t want to.

So, any suggestions?

untucked jerseys during a game …. drives me crazy. I’m just a lowly assistant dad coach for 10u but it seems to me that the details matter. if you can’t keep your jersey tucked in, then who knows what other details you are missing. and the untucked jerseys … it’s always the same 3-4 kids, some of them good players. I assume that once you get to a higher level,be it travel or high school, the coach isn't going to just let it pass.

I tried to help some of the kids, told one of them to pull down his pants and tuck the whole bottom in, not just the front, but 360 degrees. 20 minutes later the whole thing is untucked again.

any tips for helping thee kids keep their jerseys tucked in? Or am I just crazy for focusing on this?

My child (age 11) has been on a team for several years that does all stars and occasional tournament. My child has friends on the team and it is kids from our local league. I have been resentful pretty much most of the time because they only seem interested in developing the coaches or Board of directors kids and several of the "favorites". Those kids never sit while a few of the kids including mine they treat as "fill ins" have to sit and just play wherever. My child pitches but they never have him pitch despite doing well the few times they have let him. If my child makes one error he will sit but the "favorites" can make errors and still play entire games. This puts tons of pressure on my child to be absolutely perfect or he knows he will sit. The favorites can strike out a lot and stay at the top of the lineup. The team does not do well so the method they are using isn't working either. it is nauseating and outright infuriating, I am a single mom and not in with the "dad" or "coaches" club. Despite how angry I am it is hard to leave the team but I know it is not benefiting him and honestly they won't even care if he leaves I don't think. My child is a very social and sincere person and loves his teammates, he is a solid baseball player that can play any position. Anyone else faced a similar situation and decision and how did it turn out?

edit: thanks to everyone for the feedback

I think a good chunk of you parents could relate to this.

Help! I feel like I've done my son a disservice.

He has never had proper hitting instruction. He's done winter group classes, but not really any one-on-one, and it's starting to show. He's 15, and up until recently, he's had a great batting average every year, often leading his team. But the past year or so he's really starting to struggle. He plays open/major, so I think the pitching and fielding are just getting better and better, and he can't keep up. But everyone else on his team seems to be adjusting just fine while he continues to drop.

He's had some one-on-one hitting instruction this year and it's helped. He really changed his swing (it was ugly before) but he's struggling with timing. I don't think he's ever been taught how to get his timing, even off of a machine. At his last lesson, his hitting coach called him out for not finding his timing even after 25 pitches off the machine.

I think he really needs someone to break everything down for him, to the basics. Timing, pitch selection, studying the pitcher while he's warming up, having a plan when he goes to bat. He is incredibly book smart and very analytical but doesn't have a ton of natural instinct. His coaches and his dad are all pitchers, so he doesn't get any real hitting instruction from them during games.

What are your suggestions for helping him in this area? More private coaching? Videos?

So I’m sure we all know that Canes Baseball has multiple tiers under the same age group, but what are they ?
Just wanting to know because I hear all the time from some coaches that they are all the same level/tier 😅.
A -
AA -
AAA -
Majors -
???
I hear, “ Prospects, Futures, American “