Laguna Youth Baseball 11U All Star Tournament Team

Jack and I went to an organizational meeting for the Laguna Youth Baseball 11U All Star Tournament Team. The team will be playing in the pre-state tournament in the middle of June and the state tournament in early July. If the team won the state tournament, it would advance to the regional tournament in Utah in late July.

Jack was offered a spot on the team in 2008 and then played with the 2009 team. It is interesting to me how much the team has changed over the last three years; this year's team has only five players who played on the team two years ago.

2008 9U Laguna Youth    2009 10U Laguna Youth   2010 11U Laguna Youth
    Tournament Team         Tournament Team         Tournament Team

     Josh Congress           Josh Congress           Josh Congress
       Niko Dugay              Niko Dugay              Niko Dugay
    Cooper Renteria         Cooper Renteria         Cooper Renteria
     Jeremy Wackman                                  Jeremy Wackman
    Trevor Zscheile         Trevor Zscheile         Trevor Zscheile
                             Breyton Borja           Breyton Borja
                             John Heringer           John Heringer 
                             James Kitchell          James Kitchell
                             Jordan Linford          Jordan Linford
                                                      Jacob Lopez
                                                   Greyson Pulsipher
                                                      Mikael Shaw
                                                     Joseph Walker
    Cameron Johnson         Cameron Johnson
    Matthew Logoteta        Matthew Logoteta
     Patrick Stahl           Patrick Stahl
      Jason Jones
      Ian Madison
      Amaury Reed
      DeAndre Wilt
                              Louie Hosmer
                              Wesley Lopez

2010 Laguna Youth Baseball 11U All Star Tryout #2

Jack went to the second tryout for the 2010 Laguna Youth Baseball 11U All Star team on Sunday afternoon.

After the first all star tryout last weekend, someone asked me what I thought of the quality of the kids. I noted that since March 2008, Jack has played in about 120 baseball games.  About 60 of those games have been travel ball tournament quality games. Of the 30 kids at the first tryout, probably ten of them have as much or more experience.

My point with this rambling is that it is very difficult for boys who only play a couple months of rec baseball games in the spring to match up with the boys that substantially more game experience under their belt. Galdwell makes the point in Outliers that opportunities and repetitions make people successful. While there were half a dozen boys at the tryout who probably have the physicial tools to compete at this level, they just have not had enough repetitions to compare with the players who in some cases have played tournament baseball for more than three years.  This gap will only continue to get bigger over the next couple of years.

After the tryouts were over, I rolled the pitching machine out and Jack hit about 200 balls. With Breyton hitting one over the fence off of Scott during the scrimmage at tryout, Jack was determined that he was going to hit one out too. Much to his dismay, he was only able to hit about half a dozen off the centerfield fence.

2010 Laguna Youth Baseball 11U All Star Tryout #1

Sunday afternoon, I took Jack to the Laguna Youth Baseball 11U All Star Tryout. Every year Laguna Youth Baseball is represented by an All Star Team that participates in the Cal Ripken Norcal State Tournament. This is the third year that Jack has participated in the tryouts. Starting at 1 p.m., we got there about 12:30 p.m. to sign-in. With Jack helping to drag the field afterwards, it was after 4:30 p.m. before we left.

I counted 28 boys. Like last year, I was surprised at the number of players I did not recognize. There must be a large number of boys who are playing in the Minors. Jack plays in Majors.

I dragged along the pitching machine and spent almost two hours feeding balls to the kids. We set the pitching machine to only about 52 mph, but the majority of the kids had trouble getting their bat on the ball.

Jack showed solidly, but not spectacularly. The biggest benefit was that he got to take probably 45 throws at first base during the infield workout. He needs all the work he can get digging the ball at first base.

2009 Laguna Youth Baseball 10U All Star Tryout #2

Jack went to the second tryout for the Laguna Youth Baseball 10U All Star team. The first tryout was last Sunday morning. Starting at 1 p.m., the tryout lasted more than 3 1/2 hours in the 100 plus degree heat.

Jack did very well fielding the ball both in the infield and the outfield. He was the second to the last kid to bat. After standing in the outfield for an hour and a half while the other kids batted, Jack was fried. He did not hit as well as he did at the try-out last week.

I have been encouraging Cunningham to bring Cole to the tryouts. I was pleasantly surprised to see them show up today. I continue to believe that within a year or two Cole could be the best pitcher in his age group in the Laguna Youth Baseball.

2009 Laguna Youth Baseball 10U All Star Tryout #1

I took Jack to the Laguna Youth Baseball Travelers 10 and under All Star Tryout. Every year Laguna Youth Baseball is represented by an All-Star Team that participates in the Cal Ripken Norcal State Tournament. Starting at 8 a.m., the tryout lasted more than three hours.

After playing summer ball and with the Gunners tournament team over the last ten months, we know the coaches and probably more than 10 of 25 plus kids at the try-out. This was a much different experience than last year when we did not really know anyone.

Jack did very well. He looked good fielding the ball in the outfield and the infield. He looked comfortable at the plate, driving a number of pitches and hitting his last pitch in deep left center.

I was surprised how many of the kids I did not recognize. A number of the kids must be playing in the AAA division, rather than the Minor division. There were a number of kids who looked lost and overmatched at the plate.

And now for the rest of the story

Jack went to three different trials for the 9U Laguna Youth Baseball Traveling All Stars on April 27, May 4 and May 7. He played very well at the last try-out and I thought that he had a chance at the team.

Sure enough, the coach called last Thursday and offered Jack a spot on the team. Unfortunately, the team starts practices a week earlier than I thought and several months ago we planned a vacation for that time. As a result, Jack would miss a number of the practices. The coach indicated that he needed to think about that overnight. Calling on Friday, the coach indicated that the three coaches had talked it over and did not feel that was going to work and that they would have to go in a different direction.

Sharon and I spent some time on Friday trying to see if we could move the trip, but that quickly became a logistical and financial disaster.

I finally told Jack on Saturday morning that he had been offered a spot on the all-star team, but because of the timing of our vacation could not participate. He was not pleased...

2008 Laguna Youth Baseball Travelers All Star Tryout #3

Jack went to his third try-out for the U9 Laguna Youth Baseball Travelers All Star team. On Sunday April 27, he attend a 4 hour try-out. On Sunday May 4, Jack went to a second 3 hour try-out. The coaches asked five boys to come back tonight for one more look.

I am very proud of how well Jack did. They had the kids take infield for about 20 minutes. Jack played extremely well at both first and third. He handled about a dozen grounders and line drives cleanly and made some great throws and catches. The boys then took about 5 fly balls in the outfield. The session finished up with each kid hitting for about 5 minutes. While Jack was not the strongest at the plate, he made a lot of contact.

The coaches said that they would post the team on the web site on Thursday or Friday.

2008 Laguna Youth Baseball Travelers All Star Tryout Update

We got a phone call last night asking Jack to come out on Wednesday night for a third tryout for the U9 Laguna Youth Baseball Travelers All Star team. The coach said that they were going to bring back four or five kids for one more look. I am not surprised; there is a group of kids with solid skills that are going to be difficult to select between. Jack's still feeling under the weather and is supposed to have practice with his team tonight and another game tomorrow. As he said to me this morning, "baseball six days in a row..."

2008 Laguna Youth Baseball Travelers All Star Tryout #2

Still feeling under the weather, Jack went to the second try-outs for the Laguna U9 Travelers All Star Team. Sharon said that he did well, looking good at the plate and making some nice plays in the field. As I told Wallen and Nooter, there are probably 10 or more kids who look over matched and at least four kids who look very strong. With two coaches sons and a team of 12 players, there are probably more than a dozen kids competing for six spots; Jack clearly falls into this middle ground. From watching the first try-outs, I would have a hard time making the selections. We will know by the end of the week.

2008 Laguna Youth Baseball Travelers All Star Tryout #1

I took Jack to the Laguna Youth Baseball Travelers 9 and under All Star Tryout. There were about 25 kids trying out for 10 spots. It was a long hot afternoon; the tryout lasted almost 4 hours in 90 degree weather.

Split into three groups, the kids took infield, caught fly balls, took a turn at the plate and got timed running the bases. Jack did solidly. It will be interesting to see how it turns out. There were clearly a number of other players that the two coaches knew pretty well.

There is a second tryout next Sunday.