2026 youth & HS baseball/softball thread

1,298 Views | 12 Replies | Last: 5 days ago by mneisch
TarponChaser
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New year, new thread.

Oldest is now a 6'2" 215# HS sophomore. Still growing and sitting 82-83 on the bump and touching 85. He got contacts this fall and has been raking since so we'll see how the HS season goes.

He'll be on JV because the guys who play 1B and 3B are seniors who are juco commits (Panola and Wharton JC) that 10 years ago would have D1 offers out of HS. And there are 7 arms in front of him on the bump who sit anywhere between 88 and 94. Oh, and his HS team will still probably finish 3rd in their district behind the defending 6A-DII state champs and 6A-DI state-finalists.

Committed to play this summer for Wildcatters- he played with Banditos this past summer and it wasn't a great situation. They had him on the Scout team that finished the summer nationally ranked but he really didn't get to play much because every tournament they went to they were flying in kids. Then they made a stink about him playing football in the fall. So he played with Twelve in the fall and we liked it but because of their partnership with The Bennett School (look it up) they can hardly find a HS who will rent them fields for practice and we'd have to go from the Atascocita area down to Manvel & Alvin CC for practice. Plus, his coach from Twelve joined Wildcatters so we followed him.

Coming into the home stretch with him. He's busting his ass working to play after HS so hopefully he can get there.

Younger son is now a 5'4" 105# 11-year old playing 11U and his team is trying to jump from AAA to major after a strong fall. We'll see how it goes.
alvtimes
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Enjoy!!! I miss this time of year with my kids! What I dont miss is Feb/March. 40 degree
games.
Farmer1906
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AG
We're supposed to play our first tournament Jan 31. Not looking like it'll happen based on the forecasts.
docb
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AG
Banditos flying in kids to play while you are paying for your kid to sit on the bench is absolute trash.
TarponChaser
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docb said:

Banditos flying in kids to play while you are paying for your kid to sit on the bench is absolute trash.


Even worse is that those kids didn't perform worth a crap either.
evestor1
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I have the little league blues! This will likely be last year of rec ball for my family. According to my 12u kid...last year for him b/c he is ready for school sports.


Playing 12u AA ... he can hit on any level, but even as fast as he is ... just makes dumb mistakes in field ... at AA he gets to pitch and catch. way more fun for him!


9u rec player. first season for kid pitch!


docb
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AG
Yep last year for my son to play baseball in high school. It goes by fast so I hope he has a great final season. He could probably play college baseball at a smaller school but I think it's time to focus on school and not baseball. He is not going to make a living playing baseball and he is way too smart to not focus on school from here on out after high school.
mneisch
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AG
3 kids playing Little League this spring, head coach for 2 of the teams. Oldest is also playing Majors in addition to 50/70. Think we are basically going to be living at the ball fields.
Benny the Jet Rodriguez
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AG
And that's a blessing....enjoy it!
mneisch
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AG
Oh I love it. Coaching the kids is something I really enjoy, maybe even a hobby.
redline248
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AG
One of our 12U rec league teams had a spot open, so we didn't have to hassle with being drafted. They also are going to try a handful of 11U tournaments, and this will be our first foray into that life. I'm interested to see how my son handles it. Every freaking season he tells me he wants to quit, but I keep signing him up for stuff. I know he likes baseball, but it's getting harder for him, and he doesn't like feeling like he's not good at stuff. He can hit and pitch ok, but needs to build up his arm strength. I keep telling him he has to play at least through middle school, but really, I'm hoping as his body matures a little and he gets more reps he'll start really figuring the game out.

The thing that really makes me proud is that he busts his ass off at practice and tries to get better.
Billy Baroo
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AG
Quote:

The thing that really makes me proud is that he busts his ass off at practice and tries to get better.


This is the most important thing! I coach both of my girls' softball teams and am constantly preaching the most important things are attitude and effort and those are two things they always control. Mine are not always the best at either of those, but hopefully when they're older, they'll look back on it as a positive experience.
mneisch
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AG
Lots of long toss for arm strength. My oldest son (10) and I do it every day for 10-15 minutes during the season. The amount of velocity he will gain from that alone is impressive. He's by no means big at all either, but develops all the right muscles.
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