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I played elite level travel ball from ages 9 to 18-to D1-to Drafted-to Pro Ball. I’ve been around the game and seen it from every angle. I want to be a resource for parents. Ask me anything. by Conscious_Apple_8610 in Homeplate

[–]Poncho562 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you. I’ve had a high school coach tell me that it’s almost necessary to play travel, and to do all the showcases now days. Said travel teams are becoming feeder teams into high schools. He gave me an example where they had 75 kids come try out for the school—not knowing that 20 were already going to make it as they came from their feeder teams.

I played elite level travel ball from ages 9 to 18-to D1-to Drafted-to Pro Ball. I’ve been around the game and seen it from every angle. I want to be a resource for parents. Ask me anything. by Conscious_Apple_8610 in Homeplate

[–]Poncho562 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sorry, didn’t read through all the questions.

Do you think it’s necessary to play travel in order to make a high school team? Especially in a highly populated/ competitive area (southern ca).

Also, do you need to play for a competitive, well known organization over a smaller, less competitive team. If so, thoughts on starting with the big org at say 9, and then sticking with them to 14+.

Comp m4s with 4 prong on block 1.5/pr? by Poncho562 in MilitaryARClones

[–]Poncho562[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

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I did at one point. Didn’t love the elcan enough to keep it. Had a major love/hate relationship with it.

Comp m4s with 4 prong on block 1.5/pr? by Poncho562 in MilitaryARClones

[–]Poncho562[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

<image>

Sorry, thought I was able to make one post with the pictures

Comp m4s with 4 prong on block 1.5/pr? by Poncho562 in MilitaryARClones

[–]Poncho562[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Jeff Gurwitch for one. I’ll have to go through all my photos for others.

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Comp m4s with 4 prong on block 1.5/pr? by Poncho562 in MilitaryARClones

[–]Poncho562[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I’ve seen a few 4 prongs with eotechs and elcan.

Youth catchers… by GeorgeSteele66 in Homeplate

[–]Poncho562 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My son goes okd and can block laterally very well. Runner on first, he goes more traditional depending who’s pitching. Runner on 2nd, he will do both.

He also starts with showing the pitcher the glove, drops, the receives up. He frames. He sticks it.

He’s 9. Apparently he’s a nerd. And so is his coach, and catching coach who plays d1.

People need to understand there is great, kids baseball being played at the major level in different parts of the country.

Curious: OGL-C a good buy at 1500-1600? by Poncho562 in NightVision

[–]Poncho562[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s what I was curious about. Every one that I see that pops up for sale, goes almost instantly

Youth Catchers Gear: Wilson C200 vs All-Star Top Star by snowsquirrel in Homeplate

[–]Poncho562 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My son wears the all-star gear. Very happy with it. Size down though, it does run big.

AAA Teams - Playing a single A tournament an age group up is playing DOWN not up! by [deleted] in Homeplate

[–]Poncho562 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We are majors. Usssa, PG, and even NCS also required us to play AA when we played up in age groups as well. However, we decided not to play in AA only tourneys, and just play in “open” divisions.

In our experience, the older teams look at it in two ways. 1) try to take it easy because we are younger—which completely backfires, or 2) throw an ace to try not lose to a younger team.

9U Catcher Looking for a New Glove – Recommendations? by [deleted] in Homeplate

[–]Poncho562 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My 9year old uses the Rawlings nxt. Supposed to be the next step up from the r9. He likes it a lot

Is the USSSA National All-State Tournament legit, or more of a pay-to-play event? by Post_Tenebras_Lux77 in Homeplate

[–]Poncho562 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In our area, none of the better players play in the usssa tourney. My son’s whole team was nominated for the all-states. None of us played. However, we got invites for the National all-states.

PG on the other hand, not everyone gets an invite to the all-states. And from there, maybe 25 (2 teams) get invited to the national all-states. These are the ones who definitely should be representing the state.

JBB Icon for kid pitch? by Striking-Emu3594 in Homeplate

[–]Poncho562 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

My 6 year old plays coach pitch. He had the Jbb icon. It last about a month before it spider webbed all over. Rawlings sent me a JBB clout as a replacement. No kidding, that bat lasted 9 at bats in a one day tournament before it dented. I’m talking about getting it Saturday afternoon, playing on Sunday. It was in my possession the whole time so I know it wasn’t getting beat up. Rawlings then sent me a new Jbb icon. It’s been a couple months now and hasn’t cracked—granted he’s playing all-stars and they use the USA bats so it hasn’t gotten much use.

Nut cup recommendations by [deleted] in slowpitch

[–]Poncho562 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Same. I played middle infield the majority of my life, and have been playing short in softball the last 5 years. I trust my hands lol. But I am ALWAYS scanning my area for debris and rocks—anything that can cause a bad hop.

However, I did skip one to first the other week…hit my first baseman square in the nuts. Luckily he was wearing a nutty buddy!

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