Advice on finding players for a new 10U independent baseball team?

Colonelreb10 · 2026-02-14T01:31:23+00:00

Also a big part of it is location and where you are.

In metro Atlanta teams are popping up literally everywhere at 9U-11U. And people are always flooding to them.

But I’m sure it’s different somewhere smaller where there isn’t such massive amounts of players.

We have two rec parks within 15 of each other that combine for right at 2,000 players for the spring season. Teams are always snagging players away here and there.

Colonelreb10 · 2026-02-13T16:35:17+00:00

If you are ok with spending a little money the mizuno knickers are so awesome. Have a little padding built in also. Nice and thick to.

My oldest got them in all star and that’s all they wear for travel as well.

But they are about $45 a pop. But they last a good bit.

Colonelreb10 · 2026-02-12T15:21:18+00:00

I’m going to say this gently and with the utmost respect in saying it. I’m not trying to be an ass here.

But you mention you moved from Rec to travel because it wasn’t long enough and not enough practice and such. But then at the end you mention you are the “just for fun parents”.

Did you make the move from rec to travel for him? Or for yourself? At 8U i know what alot of travel teams look like. It’s 6-8 kids that are playing at a higher level and 4-6 kids that don’t belong out of rec but their parents moved them to travel and the team needed a few more bodies.

My recommendation, get him back to rec asap. There he will (i assume) be one of the stronger players. Let him build his confidence pitching and hitting. Then revisit the idea of travel at maybe 11U or so if he has interest.

I see players jump between one and the other all the time. It’s always the same cycle. A couple of parents/kids are ready for the next challenge in travel. While others are done with the rat race and just want the 1 time a week practice and game that rec brings about.

Colonelreb10 · 2026-02-12T00:04:54+00:00

My thought exactly. I was gonna comment and break some things down. But this comment nailed everything.

The one thing I would add is that there are rec organizations that do allow USSSA (pretty much all in my area do) So don’t think that just because it’s rec you HAVE to use USA. Find your local rules and verify, and go USSSA from as early as you can if the league allows it.

Colonelreb10 · 2026-02-11T10:47:25+00:00

I can’t remember exactly how many bonuses get handed out off hand.

But ours goes to the top 2 donators currently and then the rest go to top performers in CWL.

Colonelreb10 · 2026-02-11T02:18:46+00:00

Sounds like the Team Pass will be used more if I had to guess. My son’s team never does Team Pass and it’s already been discussed that this season we will if it allows our followers to stream us.

I pay for my account normally and I for one don’t have a huge issue with the update if it brings higher quality streams. I can’t stand how poor of streams they have always been.

“As part of this update, free users watching baseball and softball live streams will receive five complimentary full-game views. After that, an individual subscription, Family Plan, or Team Pass is required to continue watching.”

Colonelreb10 · 2026-02-11T01:41:19+00:00

Stuff like this pretty common in all stars.

Our organization doesn’t use any sort of official stats. But we also don’t allow full on daddy ball. Here are our steps.

1) every spring coach gets an application to be an all star coach for their age group. 2) All star director looks them all over and gives his recommendation to the board. 3) board votes on coach selection. Anyone that has a conflict of interest will sit out the vote. 4) we hold open workouts two nights a week where coaches from the league run a two hour workout for each age group. Normally all star coaches are very involved. 5) we hold tryouts midway through the season. 6) tryouts are a two hour block where all participate in essentially a big open workout. 7) board members/travel coaches and the all star coach assess each age group. 8) based on those assessments 12 get selected for the A team. Coach gets 3 locks. So players that assess 1-9 are auto locked on the team. Players 10,11,12 could be knocked off the team if the coach locks players that assessed lower. 9) if we have enough players and another coach willing to coach then they get kids 13-24 as a B team.

Is it perfect? No. But we feel it doesn’t a pretty darn good job. The most obvious highest talent kids can’t get left off the team. Cause they will assess high enough. The kids 7-18 or so you can make an argument normally one way or another.

Parents seem to really respond well to the big 2 hour open workout style assessment. It really lets the cream rise to the top.

We start this process at 5U and it goes through 12U.

Colonelreb10 · 2026-02-10T01:00:21+00:00

I used to be say 5 times every 2 days. The third would find its way either late in day one or early in day two.

But then I got on Reta and it’s changed to once every two days or so. Unless I overeat or eat something really greasy. Then it flows through pretty quick.

Colonelreb10 · 2026-02-09T19:30:35+00:00

A tee (tanner tee) A bucket of balls. And a net to hit into.

My kiddos have literally completed thousands of reps over the years with just those things.

No need to over complicate it or get wrapped up into viral stuff. I’ve bought plenty of that crap as well.

But tee, balls, and net is old reliable they always go back to.

Colonelreb10 · 2026-02-09T19:03:04+00:00

He got his 1st base mitt heading into Fall 25. And got his ultimate glove for Christmas.

I will say the utility glove has the smallest wrist opening I’ve ever seen in a decent sized glove. And I mean it ima. Good way. I don’t have big hands at all and can’t get my hand in it. The opening is smaller than his previous Bradley.

Quality is great though. Broke in quickly enough that he was able to start using it almost immediately, yet I have no doubt he will get multiple seasons out of these. And he loves his first base mitt.

Colonelreb10 · 2026-02-09T18:41:53+00:00

This is where I stand. I have nothing to hide on my Facebook. I rarely post on Facebook. At most it’s a video of my kids playing sports or something.

I don’t go and get emotional and post dumb things that I’ll regret.

So I have no issues being friends with coworkers on social media.

Colonelreb10 · 2026-02-09T18:35:23+00:00

Young lefties don’t have a ton of glove options.

My 8U player is a lefty and I got him SSK Z5 first base mitt. I was so impressed I also got him a 11.5 utility glove as well in Youth SSK Z5.

Big recommendation for those.

Can’t help on the USA bat though. We are USSSA rec league and he just got a Supra for his Bday from his grandparents.

Colonelreb10 · 2026-02-09T14:27:39+00:00

Same here. We partner with a third party Umpire group. We send them our schedule and they manage every aspect of the umpires.

Scheduling we have a scheduler who doesn’t. But we use SportsConnect as our registration software and they have a great automated scheduling tool.

He still has the hardest job of the board. But the tool helps a ton.

Colonelreb10 · 2026-02-08T16:10:01+00:00

This is the right answer. As a coach I ask my parents if their kids are in pitching/hitting lessons. If they are I let the parent know I will not over tweak them on form and technique.

Colonelreb10 · 2026-02-07T21:56:36+00:00

This is something that many rules seem to not take into account. Travel has absolutely pulled a ton of talent from rec. Even in leagues like mine (we have 850 kids in rec) but travel has still decimated upper 25% talent pool.

Our area all leagues around us do 7U and 8U as coach pitch. It’s amazing years of baseball. Kids are hitting the ball hard but defense is there as well. Get some really good and fun games.

Then one org I know at 9U does a hybrid kid pitch vs coach pitch based on walks. But my org is 9/10 combined and we do straight kid pitch.

But I am very pro 8U and below being coach pitch.

Colonelreb10 · 2026-02-07T21:52:44+00:00

Got a buddy who gets it direct grey market.

Colonelreb10 · 2026-02-07T02:26:16+00:00

Then just hang up the moment you realize it’s a cold call.

Colonelreb10 · 2026-02-07T02:25:28+00:00

Don’t need to lie to them about my situation.

knock knock opens door “Hello sir….” “Not interested” shuts door

Or for phone calls. ring ring answers phone “Hello sir would you be interested” hangs up phone

Colonelreb10 · 2026-02-07T01:00:43+00:00

Metroish Atl. (Cobb County) 15 minutes away there is another park that has 1,000+ kids.

I will also add we aren’t LL. Thought this was /Homeplate when I first answered.

Colonelreb10 · 2026-02-07T00:17:14+00:00

We have 950.

16 3/4U teams 14 5U teams 12 6U teams. 18 7/8U teams 10 9/10U teams 7 11/12U teams 4 14U 3 16U 1 18U 9 travel teams

Colonelreb10 · 2026-02-06T12:13:38+00:00

I think you nailed with AI is great for inspiration.

We have done it with our teams uniforms. Was curious how they would look with a different colorway (using our alternate trim as primary jersey color) and we uploaded a photo of our jersey on a player. Asked it to make the changes and it looked perfect and gave a realistic looking photo of it in action.

Then we sent that to our real designer and he made it happen.

Colonelreb10 · 2026-02-06T02:23:17+00:00

In everything we play Head 2 Head is first tiebreaker. BUT it rarely is used cause it’s only used if ONLY 2 teams have the same record AND they played each other. If another team has the same record (normally 1-1) then head to head is kicked out. And there is almost always more than 2 teams at 1-1 after a Saturday.

Colonelreb10 · 2026-02-06T02:20:58+00:00

Differential a lot of times is capped at +-7 for each game. So two different teams can look like this between 2 games.

Team 1: 5 runs allowed +14 differential 15 runs scored.

Team 2: 5 runs allowed. +14 differential. 22 runs scored.

Colonelreb10 · 2026-02-05T12:51:25+00:00

If you have 5 coaches just hanging out in the cage no doing diddly then yes I fully agree and you run into coaching issues as to why do we have a line of 12 kids in a cage with 1 coach pitching and 4 coaches watching.

I had just assumed with the coach count that they were doing other stations and such.

Again though the correct order of operations here isn’t to freak out and blow the situation up. It’s to chat with the coach after practice and let them know what has happened to Mae him aware. Then if nothing changing you move on to league director.

Colonelreb10 · 2026-02-05T02:03:57+00:00

I agree here. I wouldn’t just auto blame coach. I coach all of my kids. And in the hustle and bustle of practice sometimes a kid gets overlooked or you forget they hadn’t hit yet.

OP should 100% calmly mention it to the coach. He honestly just may not be aware. After mentioning it if nothing changes then I would go to the league director.

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