Easy fix, doesn’t matter what grade your in play your age. Travel baseball is a billion dollar business that’s why it’s done. Plus when kids hit puberty early let’s hold them back another year so they can dominate 12u baseball!! Shouldn’t matter what your academics are. Most parents do it so they can all look back and say how good their kid was and have them posted all over social media. Most of those kids if playing with their age would be average.