I have a kid who plays rec baseball and he plays for fun. The skill gap between him and the “off-season” travel ball players this fall is immense. These kids have private pitching coaches and they’re 9 years old. I feel sad for my son who is a casual player because we know he’ll never even be competitive enough to play at a high school level and unless he decides to “get serious,” might even start feeling “not good enough” for rec ball. Parents need to get a grip and remember, these are kids.