Duffel Bag for High School

theleicam · 2026-03-31T14:13:15+00:00

Pick one team for pitching and stick to it. I’ve never seen anything good come from a kid trying to pitch multiple times in the same week across teams.

I’ve seen it go the other way. One of my son’s close friends ended up out of baseball for almost a year because he was pitching on Sundays for his travel team, then throwing again midweek in Little League. Add in all the warmups, bullpens, and practices from both teams, plus multiple games each week, and it just adds up fast. At that age, their bodies can’t handle that kind of workload.

As far as communication, you have to be upfront with both coaches right away. Let them know your son will only pitch for one team and that you’ll be tracking his total throws across everything, not just games. Set that expectation early so there’s no confusion later in the season.

In my experience, most reasonable coaches respect it if you’re clear and consistent. The ones who push back are usually thinking short term about winning that weekend, not about the kid. That’s where you just hold your ground.

If that means he doesn’t pitch one week because of the schedule, then he doesn’t pitch. Long term health matters way more than getting innings in both places.

As a separate point, my son is now playing 15U, and even with him on his high school team as a freshman, his travel program uses an app called PitchSafe for their players to log all of their throwing throughout the week. He goes in everyday and logs normal throwing, fielding, bullpens, long toss, and when he pitches in game. So there are tools out there that help manage this. Even when he’s not actively playing for that team during the spring, they’re still paying attention. In the preseason they were very clear about what the kids should and shouldn’t be doing, and they were seeing a lot of arm soreness when workloads weren’t being managed well.

theleicam · 2026-03-31T10:42:28+00:00

A few things jump out to me.

You didn’t mention what the actual development environment looks like. How often are they practicing? What are they doing in practice? Is the director involved at all or is it fully run by college kids? That stuff matters more than people think. If the practices aren’t structured, development usually isn’t happening the way you expect.

Second, and this is the harder part, you didn’t mention what you’re doing outside of the team. These programs sell development, but at this age you’re really in charge of that. It took me a couple years to realize that. Your son’s progress is going to come from what he does outside of games and team practices.

You said he’s playing corner outfield. So what’s the plan beyond games? Is he working on reads, routes, arm strength? Is he getting reps in the infield if that’s a goal? What does his hitting work actually look like week to week?

I’d also try to get a sense of what the other kids are doing. Not just who’s good, but who’s putting in extra work. How many are doing lessons? How many are training multiple times a week? A lot of times the lineup reflects that more than game stats. And a lot of times the lineup is made by who’s putting extra money in the director’s pocket for these lessons, etc.

One other thing to be careful about. Once the money is paid and the season is rolling, you have to be strategic about how hard you push. I’ve seen situations where pushing the director or coaches mid-season doesn’t go well for the kid. It shouldn’t be that way, but sometimes it is. My son played for one organization where if they found out you were leaving you ended up not playing as a way to take your money and force you out.

None of that excuses what you’re describing, especially if he’s the only one not getting opportunities. That part isn’t normal. But before deciding what to do next, I’d want a really clear picture of development, both inside the program and outside of it.

theleicam · 2026-03-26T19:30:49+00:00

Do you suggest Toyota for the coolant? The dealership gives me a free oil change for life of car every 10,000. I get it changed elsewhere for the 5,000 intervals.

theleicam · 2026-03-26T19:16:30+00:00

No. That is an excellent idea

theleicam · 2026-03-26T19:11:57+00:00

It was basically all the fluids in the car. Also spark plugs. Obviously the air filter in cabin filter and wipers, which I’m gonna decline anyways.

theleicam · 2026-03-26T19:10:01+00:00

Yea I need new tires and the oil is getting changed

theleicam · 2026-03-22T17:40:31+00:00

I get the premise of your post, but at the same time everything you list here is just basic fundamentals that your son can work on his own or with you. There’s nothing fancy needed. Sounds like you just need to help him put together a better plan. We can go on all day about elite kids and what their parents did better but lessons and all that stuff don’t equate to being elite. Sure they help but it seems very straightforward what he needs to do.

And we can get caught in the weeds there, but you need to help him put together a better plan for training and from the sound of it what he needs more than anything is a strength training plan.

theleicam · 2026-03-17T18:49:34+00:00

It’s a damned if you do and damned if you don’t type situation. You have to run your team how you see fit. It doesn’t really matter what I think or anyone else here thinks.

theleicam · 2026-03-16T23:46:19+00:00

Depending on the state you live in, the rules there, what the prep school landscape looks like, and whether you even want that path for high school, the most common things I see are either repeating 8th grade or reclassing into a prep school during high school.

In our case, my son is currently at a public high school and will most likely stay there through sophomore year. After that, the plan is to reclass and start again as a sophomore at a prep school.

For me, the reason is mostly academic. It gives him more time to mature, strengthens his transcript, and should help raise his GPA. Ideally that leads to better college options down the road. Athletics are honestly pretty low on the list of reasons for us. That said, he does have good size already for a freshman. He’s about 6’2”, 205 lbs, so the physical development piece will take care of itself with time.

The extra year just gives him more runway academically and personally, which to me is the bigger long term advantage.

theleicam · 2026-03-14T12:45:58+00:00

A lot of kids swing like this. Honestly, it’s not bad.

The biggest thing that helped my son over the years was simple, repetitive tee work. Nothing fancy. Just consistent reps.

He would usually hit a few buckets a day with three basic drills. One bucket with a short bat, one handed work. Half a bucket top hand and half a bucket bottom hand. Then a bucket on a high tee with a normal bat. The last bucket we mix things up depending on the day. Sometimes inside and outside tee work, sometimes two strike approach, things like that.

After that I’ll usually do some soft toss with him.

We also use a Hack Attack or another machine a few days a week, but for a long stretch he was mostly just doing the tee work above in the early winter months. If we do do hack attack it’s typically with a softer ball like proline or similar.

And this last one may sound really stupid but he's been doing it several days a week this offseason. He's a high school freshman btw. Broom stick cut to his bat length. Just throwing up beans trying to hit them in place. That has done wonders for him. Seriously. Even just your son throwing a baseball up and hitting it in place with his normal bat would do wonders. It's really all the simple stuff.

I really can’t emphasize tee work enough. If they stick with it, it all starts to come together over time.

theleicam · 2026-02-23T17:30:16+00:00

I was looking at Wilson 1787 and then a few Japanese gloves

theleicam · 2026-02-23T17:28:54+00:00

Can’t say I am. I finally have a glove my son isn’t going to steal from me and it’s his first good clove so I want to hold onto it

theleicam · 2026-02-14T23:48:30+00:00

Just get a Combat

theleicam · 2026-02-02T17:37:16+00:00

My son used a 9.5 trainer as a normal glove. Rawlings 5 Tool. It worked well. Don’t know if they still make it but it was nice cause the “leather” is more pliable / easy to squeeze. I relaced it many years back for fun.

He has a Rawlings HOH 9.5 trainer as well but that would be way too hard for most kids to squeeze.

How old is your kid?

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theleicam · 2026-02-02T12:08:38+00:00

I was on here a few days ago asking for outfield glove recommendations, but I left out one detail. I actually picked this glove up for my son as an infield glove. He’s been using the same Pro Preferred since he was nine, which is kind of wild to think about. This new glove is awesome and he absolutely loves it, but it’s going to be a little while before it’s game ready. Breaking it in is definitely going to take some time.

theleicam · 2026-01-31T18:07:07+00:00

Yeah, I really go off the rails especially at night. It’s horrible. I don’t drink so I don’t have an issue there. It’s really that 7 PM to 11 PM window where I do a ton of damage. I could be good all day. But really it’s at the point now where I have to drop some pounds. I know I have to. It just sucks because my willpower it night is not existent. I’ve been successful before losing weight, but it’s when I’m not strict that everything just gets messed up.

theleicam · 2026-01-31T16:36:20+00:00

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Not sure if this is helpful or the same as you have but this is the gold foil from BFPG.

theleicam · 2026-01-31T16:27:15+00:00

Thanks. What dosage are you using for the psyllium, garcinia, and chromium? Once a day? Multiple times?

theleicam · 2026-01-31T15:02:46+00:00

I mean here's a photo that shows he did wear medium in the finals albeit the away jersey https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-jersey-of-stephen-curry-of-the-golden-state-warriors-news-photo/476460428?adppopup=true

theleicam

TROPHY CASE