I've got a 14 y.o. son who's been playing select ball for the past few years and is about to go into high school. He gets continual praise from opposing team coaches about his ability and think he could play past high school if he works yard at it. He's a workhorse and really wants to play.

We've come to learn that if a kid wants to play beyond h.s., he needs to play summer/fall ball in a showcase league like Austin Slam, Wings, ABC etc.

I'm looking for experiences, positive and negative and any recommendations you might have as we move down this path.

I've got a few connections with Austin Slam coaches, but know nothing about any of these organizations.

Thanks in advance...

[This message has been edited by Die Hard Ag (edited 3/31/2010 12:37a).]

from my knowledge abc has gone down over the last few years as a whole as its become more of the "cool" thing to do... but i think they started doing tryouts so that could have totally changed that

Good luck to you, my son is playing 10U select ball now and hopefully he'll be fortunate enough to play in PLB. I'd be interested to know how it goes with your son...

Contact Kevin Hodge at khodge @ twelvebaseball.com (no spaces)

Also see twelvebaseball.com for info.

We maybe playing against 10U White at the South Texas State Championship. Looking forward to it.

Hodge is a good person to contact (see earlier post for contact info)

K Man '82

in the Austin area..out of the orginizations you listed..Slam and Wings are good places. But Slam has gone downhill in numbers the past few years..ABC is a place to play and plays in good tourneys but not as good of a program as Slam or WIngs... Grandslam is a good program as well in the austin area.
dont waste time with Action Baseball

I know the guys that run these orginizations very well


and definatly dont waste your time contacting Hodge or twelve..believe me

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and definatly (sic) dont waste your time contacting Hodge or twelve..believe me

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DWren, please post your resume so everyone can compare your baseball background to Hodge's. Thanks in advance.

do NOT do abc. i played one game with them when i was in high school. i don't know if the coach at the time is still there. i think his name is prater or something. total *****

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DWren, please post your resume so everyone can compare your baseball background to Hodge's. Thanks in advance

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frst, insert rolling eyes icon here...I knew as I posted this it would not be very long before I saw this type of reply

second..there are plenty of people with solid baseball backgrounds...that does not qualify them as the right people to run teams..believe me.

and since you asked.and I will leave out my playing career..becasue as I mentioned..its irrelevant...but,

-coached HS and College ball in the Austin area for 15 years
-have worked with many scouts throught central Texas for the last 20 years..and was an associate scout for 4 years
-Have done work for the MLB scouting Bureau for the last 10 years
-Have worked many Perfect Games events and camps over the last 10 years all over the country and at all age levels
- my oldest son played HS ball int he Austin area and get drafted out of HS and is now in high double A..my youngest son currently is a SOPH playing at an SEC school

I can promise you I know alot more about select baseball and college and MLB recruiting than you do...it has been my life for about 20 years.

and 1 word of note about cartain select programs..select baseball has exploded the last few years..anyone and everyone wants to start up teams..in my advice, shy away from those looking to only profit from the kids and stuff their pockets with money.
these programs usually charge alot of money, the people that run it, they do it as a full time job and its their only source of income. any signed contracts..that include monthly fees and they make you sign up for a full year..stay away form these types of programs..they are money programs and nothing more.
there are plenty of programs out there that do not operate this way...find one of them
and if a coach ever promises a kid a scholarship..find a new program..all a coach or team can do is showcase the kids by playing in good events that are scouted and send info to prospective colleges...a scholarship is something you cannot promise.
too many times I have heard from unhappy parents about "empty promises" from select teams and coaches..alot should be used car salesmen..dont buy the pitch.







[This message has been edited by DWren (edited 4/3/2010 1:45p).]

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do NOT do abc. i played one game with them when i was in high school. i don't know if the coach at the time is still there. i think his name is prater or something. total

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name is Andrew Prater

I agree that there are plenty of programs that have been started with money being the primary goal. And these programs have a win at all cost mentality because they have to justify what they charge their players. Anyone that knows how Hodge runs his team or how the Twelve runs its academy knows that he isn't in that camp.

None of your 'credentials' makes you qualified to disparage what Hodge is doing and to do so with no knowledge of the situation makes you look silly.

Congrats on your kids successes.

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And these programs have a win at all cost mentality because they have to justify what they charge their players.

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just out of curiosity...please name me some programs you feel fall into this category.
and usually the only time you hear the term" win at all cost" its from a team or program that has to use it to justify why their teams dont win...as in telling their kids and parents " were not a win at all cost program"..its an easy and effective allibi some programs use

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None of your 'credentials' makes you qualified to disparage what Hodge is doing and to do so with no knowledge of the situation makes you look silly.

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I never said it did..you asked my background in baseball and I gave it



and im also guessing you have a kid playing for the 12....what do you pay for him to play??






[This message has been edited by DWren (edited 4/3/2010 2:56p).]

What's wrong with Prater? I heard he's pretty good? Anyone else with experience with him?

Kevin Hodge would be a good person to talk to just for advice and to get some insight into those programs. He might not be an expert like DWren is portraying himself to be, but Kevin is a very good guy and he is very knowledgable.

The strange thing is that no one advocating contacting Kevin about running one of these 15U and up teams, yet DWren passively disparages Kevin as not knowing anything about running a program. My guess is that DWren has a grudge or personal problem with Kevin because there's no other reason for him to say that contacting Kevin would be a "waste of time."

I don't know if Kevin played premier ball in Austin, but I think that some of his employees, including Khalid Bhallouli did play premier ball in Austin. So even if Kevin doesn't know a whole lot about the teams, he could refer you to someone who would, like KB.

And, another thing - Kevin and the Twelve Academy aren't quite on the level that the OP is asking about. The oldest group of boys are 14U, but I don't know much about them. I do know that the top Twelve 12U team and the top Twelve 13U team have been recently ranked in the top 5 nationally for their age group. So, regardless of whether or not you agree with how Greg, Kevin and KB has set things up at the Academy, they are having success, which seems to me points out that they do know at least a little bit about running premier level teams.

DWren - congrats on your kids' success...a lot of us will only dream of seeing our kids play high AA or D1 college ball. I know this is only a random, anonymous message board, but give some thought into not coming across as such an a-hole in the future.

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there are plenty of people with solid baseball backgrounds...that does not qualify them as the right people to run teams..believe me

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DWren - I respect your baseball background. Can you expand on the quoted statement? What qualifies someone to run a team? What would you be looking for if you had a 9U player? 12U? 14U? 16U?

I'm geniunely curious, and I'm not asking to be an ahole. We can disagree about Hodge, but I'd appreciate your thoughts here.

Thanks a lot for your replies. Some really good info here.

Found out this morning that one of my h.s. buds is a coach with Austin Wings. Garrett and I went out and watched one of their 14U practices. Had a great time.

The 14U Black Team (their premier squad), looks solid and very well coached. There were maybe a dozen, or so coaches on the field all night. At any given time, no kid was less than 20 or so steps from a coach, it seemed.

Another observation is that beyond coaching quality fundy's, they put a large emphasis on respect and etiquette. For example, if a kid draws a 4th ball, they lay the bat down in front of the plate...they don't toss it behind them. They walk around the plate and pitcher's mound...not across them. No slouchy uniforms or cocky attitudes are tolerated. I think they really teach these kids to have respect for the uniform they wear. Cool, IMO.

Reflecting on what we saw tonight, I definitely think Garrett could come in and compete at this level.

Anyhow, probably going to check out a couple more org's and make a decision.

Interesting comment above regarding Action Baseball. I met their founder/owner at our varsity game Tuesday night. Seemed cool, but don't know anything about them either.

Thanks again for your input.

Donnie

Thought I would insert an update from my above text. My son is now playing with the Austin Wings. Organization as a whole is outstanding! Everything that Die Hard says is true. He's on their 13U Black team and loves it! Kids and families are great! Given their connections with local D1 teams, he's played tournaments on Disch-Falk and Texas State's field. Still loves the good guys and is waiting for his day on Blue Bell

If he's fortunate enough, he's already made his list:

1. A&M
2. LSU
3. Arkansas
4. Rice
5. UTSA

I'll update you in three more years . Die Hard any updates?

Austin Wings = feeder program for Hyde Park private school

ABATT, lol can't argue that, use to be Georgetown...

OP...not sure how you go abut contacting me one-on-one, but I have personal experience with Austin Slam and would be glad to fill you in on what we experienced.

Bump.

My son goes to 13U in the spring and we are looking to move on to another select baseball organization. He's been playing with a small organization for the past couple of years. They played at the AAA and Majors level. Good baseball and good people, but it's time to move on.

Teams in consideration: Wings, Slam, Boom.

I'd appreciate any input for any of those or other organizations. Also, please pass on any point of contact information if you have any.

Thanks in advance!

Forgot to mention - Austin area.

My son has played Wings for a few years now so I'll try to answer any questions that you have.

In my son's age group (freshman) the Wings teams have typically been quite a bit better than the Slam, but there is no doubt that the Boggs family knows baseball and the connection with Concordia provides a good practice location.

Almost all Wings practices are held at Hyde Park high school however they do have a connection with Georgetown high school (they helped pay for Gtown's turf) so there are some activities held there.

Wings has always brought in a good group of coaches with a mix of tenured coaches paired with young guys.

It is mentioned above, but I'll reinforce the comment that the Wings really focus on little things like not throwing bats, and walking behind the dirt. Some people find this silly and unnecessary, but I appreciate it because it is the way I was taught.

No organization is perfect, but any of the Premier group teams (both Slam and Wings are part of Premier) offer quality baseball competition.

Interesting thread bump.

Over 5 years has passed since this thread was started, and it's always interesting to go back and read old posts that I've made.

My son is now a HS freshman, but we don't live in CS any more so he doesn't play for the Twelve. He played with a Premier League organization last year, and we played against Wings, Slam, Twelve, etc.

If we moved to Austin, I would pursue Wings. I have been very impressed with their teams the last two years. They are talented, well-coached and well-behaved for the most part. Their Black team - would be 15U this year - is very good. Their Red team is solid and their Gray team, if they still have one, needs more development.

My son has played the Slam team in the same age group, and while I can't find any behavioral faults with their group, they just aren't as talented and don't seem to offer as many options.

Lastly, I defended Kevin Hodge and the Twelve 5 years ago and the Twelve organization has really developed into a powerhouse over the last five years.

In the class of 2015, the Twelve had 27 players sign to play college baseball - some high D1 including the Gatorade National Player of the Year.

In the class of 2016, the Twelve has 25 players currently committed to play college baseball with several high D1 players.

The years that my son played for the Twelve were really great years and we miss those coaches and players greatly.

Die Hard Ag, just curious what yall decided to do years ago, and how did it all work out? Some of us here are right where you were in 2010 so I'm sure you could give us some advice or insight.

I think we're going to give Wings a try in the Spring. Seems most people I've talked to have favorable opinions. I was hoping Twelve would start an "Austin branch", but I don't see it happening soon. We played Twelve's 12U Maroon team twice last spring. I was impressed with them and we played them very close.

Any updates on Action? Years ago, there was a post critical of the organization. Just wondering if there is a recent update?