[Bulldogs4Ever]

Just wondering why teams in the 14th and surrounding regions don’t play travel ball together especially after losing a big group of seniors.  I’m not Im taking about going to Atlanta and monster trips.  There’s tournaments in Lexington every weekend and in Tennessee.   Isn’t experience critical in baseball?

Baskeball teams play 40-50 games together each summer. Football does a lot of 7 on 7s.

[Radial_Armsaw]

Just wondering why teams in the 14th and surrounding regions don’t play travel ball together especially after losing a big group of seniors.  I’m not Im taking about going to Atlanta and monster trips.  There’s tournaments in Lexington every weekend and in Tennessee.   Isn’t experience critical in baseball?

Baskeball teams play 40-50 games together each summer.  Football does a lot of 7 on 7s.

The simple answer is that if you played in one of those tournaments with your high school team only you would get ran off the field. Wouldn’t be worth your time. That’s why each high school teams best players are all playing with clubs that play in these tournaments.

[Bulldogs4Ever]

Well someone has to lose. Experience is necessary for a HS team to get better. I can’t remember any trophy’s I won playing travel ball. Just played for the love of the game. If teams can hit, pitch, field they have a chance to be competitive. I think teams need some tournaments together to see what they got coming up for next year. If they go 0-3 then that’s three more games they have played.

[Bulldogs4Ever]

Just by looking at Rosters I know 6 play travel at Hazard, 3 for Perry, 3 from Breathitt: I know Jonah Little from LCC does. Only difference in Lexington schools vs our schools is almost all the kids in Lexington play travel that start on their HS teams. That’s 11/15 vs 3 or 4 here. The opportunity is there for kids here to get better. There are 2 day tournaments offered in Lexington every weekend. Don’t have to play the past time, perfect game, PBR 4 day marathons that cost parents a ton of money. You wanna compete and have a legit team, get off the couch and play. There’s several people willing you coach your high school team/travel team beside the high school coach which isn’t supposed to be legal.

[KEEPITREAL]

YOUR RIGHT.....B4E.
IT TAKES REPS AND REPS TOGETHER WOULD BE BETTER.
AND....
IF THOSE TEAMS ARE BETTER THAN YOURS YOU WILL GET BETTER.
ISNT THAT WHY WE BUILD HARD SCHEDULES TO PREPARE FOR THE DISTRICT AND REGION TOURNEYS....

[Fan of many]

All the travel baseball is destroying their arms and shoulders. For what,

[DukeBoy]

I’m not a big advocate of travelball. Baseball has pretty much became a game for the upper middle class and wealthier. I do believe that kids need more than 25/30 games a year especially if the kids not seeing good competition regularly. I think if kid wants to become a college baseball player, he needs to get out and see higher tier pitching. There’s nothing like experience and live at bats. I could go on all day long about the goods and bads of travel. I do know if I was running a SERIOUS high school baseball program I’d at least try to play 10-15 fall ball/tournament games with my team each season. If I didn’t have enough guys for fall travel then I may not go that route. Got to get out of SE KY and see better competition. Win or lose, experience matters.

[irishcard16]

All the travel baseball is destroying their arms and shoulders. For what,

For exposure. How do you think the Blevins and fugates and so on and so forth got where they are? Marshall and UK sure aren’t coming around to many 15th region games. But when PBR is blowing you up on twitter after you attend one of their events or you play in the future games in Georgia you get noticed.

[DukeBoy]

Amen Irishcard. Amen

[KEEPITREAL]

ANYONE THAT WANTS TO PLAY HIGH LEVEL BETTER BE GETTING IN SHOWCASES AND ON A LEGIT TRAVEL SQUAD.... YOU ARENT GETTING RECRUITED FROM YOUR HIGH SCHOOL. LAKEPOINT, EAST COBB, PERFECT GAME, PBR, AND A FEW OTHER TOURNEYS LIKE GRAND PARK IS WHERE THE SCOUTS FLOCK. TRAVEL 6 STATES AWAY TO SEE YOU PLAY YOUR WEAKEST DISTRICT GAME OR HEAD TO ATLANTA OR INDY AND MAKE A WEEK OUTTA SEEING 500 TEAMS. COME ON PEOPLE OPEN YOUR EYES.....

[DukeBoy]

KEEPITREAL, yeah it’s true. Better have a family with a lot of $$$$$$$ to play that kind of schedule. Only the rich can meet at all those places to play. So you telling kids that only play HS ball can’t get recruited. You are crazy. Maybe not in eastern Kentucky but what about kids in big cities that don’t come from loaded families? If you go to SHOWCASES, I will say this, you better bring something to show. Better have 88+ fastball, crazy 60 time, or something else that just is different. I think kids are better off going the small college route any more. Working on their academics while still trying to get better and better at baseball. If you do develop a 95mph with a little junk, you can get drafted. After all, isn’t getting drafted the goal? Do you really have to spend 25,000 a summer going to PBR, PG events?

---

All the travel baseball is destroying their arms and shoulders. For what,

I’d sure took my chances on my arm and shoulder to of got to play the game I loved. Not like there’s a lot to do in Eastern Kentucky in the summer. Why not be with your HS team/friends on the baseball field playing somewhere staying busy and doing something worthwhile.

[SidelineFan]

This is a very common fault all around. Money ball is a raquet and finding people truely doing it for exposure is a big issue.

I saw this past summer East Kentucky Prospectors (Alex Hamilton) had a travel ball 17u team that played PBR and Pastime all summer. His roster was loaded with kids in this area. That's what it takes is kids that want to play at the next level making a push for the mountains to be a noticed area of baseball.

According to his facebook his 17u roster accounted for these boys:
Breathitt: Andrew Combs and Isaac Bellamy
Hazard: Max Johnson and Hank Pelfrey
Perry Central: Jacob Daniels
Letcher Central: Aiden Fields and Jonah Little
Belfry: Steven Banks and Jonathan Banks

I am not sure what it costs to play with these organizations but putting those boys under one team that are committed to exposure helps get the name out there then it needs to be done. Summer ball is watered down cause all these kids want to be superstars on the team instead of just being a group and getting exposure. Your time will come.

[EKYProspectors]

I am here as sent by a good friend.

High school summer ball is very strict. Many kids in our area are 2-3 sports athletes and are shamed to not be at Summer Football or basketball.
I started my organization as a whole to openly bring light to East Kentucky Baseball. I have a great relationship with a lot of colleges from College and playing through the years post-college. I know what organizations ask for players to pay for a summer of "Elite" travel ball and it is for the rich. I take aim to not make a killing at this but give the most opportunity on the tightest dime. We had a 15 and 17u team this summer and I had 1 kid from the 2 teams that weren't east of I75.

With that, I have spent many days emailing and exchanging data, stats, and information with colleges that did not know of the kids or had no connection to East Kentucky baseball because the Lex and big city summer ball organizations take care of theirs first. I wanted to bridge that gap and have done a great job already.

As to playing as a high school team, it is super hard. An HS coach can not coach more than a specific amount of kids on an organized team during the summer. So you turn that over to a parent and things arent the way you want them. You either pick to grow as a team or take the kids that want to excel at the next level and get recruited and join them on one team. That has been my goal and I continue to push that cause.

If someone ever had questions I can gladly answer them or talk on my Facebook Page. East KY Prospectors!
https://www.facebook.com/ekyprospectors

-Alex Hamilton

[Bulldogs4Ever]

How much did Alex’s Breathitt County team benefit from his Prospectors travel team? Are there more than Bellamy and Combs on other travel teams for other age groups? Like 15u and 16u? Not knocking Alex or any thing I am glad he runs this program for the kids in our area.

[catsrule]

I'm not going to say travel ball doesn't help the players with "exposure". But I would like to see it turned more into a whole team game. Like basketball/football, where a coach would take an entire team to play in tourneys. To get the team better. Lets be honest, most of the kids that I've seen mentioned are at the top of the talent pool anyway. And no-one can tell me they wouldn't have the opportunity to play at the next level even without travel ball.

[EKYProspectors]

How much did Alex’s Breathitt County team benefit from his Prospectors travel team?  Are there more than Bellamy and Combs on other travel teams for other age groups?  Like 15u and 16u?  Not knocking Alex or any thing I am glad he runs this program for the kids in our area.

I had 4 boys playing travel ball this year. Frankly, it comes down to the boy's choice. Money is pretty easily obtained with some fundraising can get a lot of kids to that point but for me to play a tournament this season averaged about 1300 at the high school age. That does not include buying uniforms, insurance for 2 million liability and other small factors that add up. 

Personally, I do not think the passion as a whole is there for baseball as it should. Many kids start football or summer basketball so summer travel baseball is put on the back burner. Nothing wrong with that but those that want to play actually travel to play. 

The other big reason is repetition. If high school teams played summer baseball as a whole and an incoming Freshman is behind a Senior at SS or any other position it is much more beneficial for them to play in an age group similar to theirs to get the reps and grow as a player. A lot of baseball knowledge comes from games. Once a game gets fast and tight its a chess match and kids playing at there level and speed is great for them.

[EKYProspectors]

I'm not going to say travel ball doesn't help the players with "exposure".  But I would like to see it turned more into a whole team game.  Like basketball/football, where a coach would take an entire team to play in tourneys.  To get the team better.      Lets be honest, most of the kids that I've seen mentioned are at the top of the talent pool anyway.  And no-one can tell me they wouldn't have the opportunity to play at the next level even without travel ball.

Agree, I took the best our region had to offer minus a few boys and went and showed colleges what we had to offer in this area. That was my whole goal. Juniors that are rising seniors are the only recruitable class at open tournaments. This was my team this summer and that was my main focus.

It can be a team game but as mentioned before. There are 9 positions on a baseball field. Take a team like Hazard who will be senior loaded this year. There are a lot of boys behind them that won't get reps due to the team being rising seniors. Basketball and football have JV because of the number of kids and skill levels at open positions. JV baseball is a lot different. Sometimes you are putting kids in open spots instead of developing them in a position that best fits them.

This is where the fight of going to your age division and getting 25-30 games in playing competition you arent getting blown away with. Develop your skill to bring back to your team and get ready for that 17u summer where you can be openly recruited by colleges.

[Bulldogs4Ever]

I mean what is the Overall Goal of HS baseball? To win a state championship right? Seems like they play baseball about 2 months a year in this area and wonder why nobody goes on to play in college. I don’t feel like anything is better than experience. Even the top players in this area can benefit from playing travel with their returning high school teams.

[EKYProspectors]

I mean what is the Overall Goal of HS baseball?  To win a state championship right?  Seems like they play baseball about 2 months a year in this area and wonder why nobody goes on to play in college.  I don’t feel like anything is better than experience.  Even the top players in this area can benefit from playing travel with their returning high school teams.

But it falls back on why kids in this area aren't recruited. 

Trinity starts 9 kids that can play at a high level of college. Teams in our area may have 1-2 that are eligible to be recruited. Tell me where you would spend your time as a college recruiter. Either go play with those teams with those kids being recruited at your age or play for your school and take the chance of not being seen. Self-development in baseball is a lot easier at a higher level than in basketball and football. Plus the cost to play. Who is going to pay for these tournaments and things in high school?

[catsrule]

I'm not going to say travel ball doesn't help the players with "exposure".  But I would like to see it turned more into a whole team game.  Like basketball/football, where a coach would take an entire team to play in tourneys.  To get the team better.      Lets be honest, most of the kids that I've seen mentioned are at the top of the talent pool anyway.  And no-one can tell me they wouldn't have the opportunity to play at the next level even without travel ball.

Agree, I took the best our region had to offer minus a few boys and went and showed colleges what we had to offer in this area. That was my whole goal. Juniors that are rising seniors are the only recruitable class at open tournaments. This was my team this summer and that was my main focus.

It can be a team game but as mentioned before. There are 9 positions on a baseball field. Take a team like Hazard who will be senior loaded this year. There are a lot of boys behind them that won't get reps due to the team being rising seniors. Basketball and football have JV because of the number of kids and skill levels at open positions. JV baseball is a lot different. Sometimes you are putting kids in open spots instead of developing them in a position that best fits them.

This is where the fight of going to your age division and getting 25-30 games in playing competition you arent getting blown away with. Develop your skill to bring back to your team and get ready for that 17u summer where you can be openly recruited by colleges.




I agree to an extent, but playing 25 "exhibition" games isn't really working on your skills.   Practice is where you get better.   

I also see many players playing in their "not natural" positions during a high school season.   When you only have 13-15 kids on a team, and 9 have to play the field, you are gonna have kids out of position.   
First base for instance, I usually see 3-4 kids that can play it better than the one that is normally there.   But you hae to take a natural first baseman and put him at 3rd, second, or even shortstop.  Because he is the best option you have.   Kid make 2-3 errors , and gets written off as a bad fielder, but is actually just out of position.  

And I've seen or been around travel ball for years and its USUALLY 1 of 2 things.    
1.  Daddy ball  -  dad starts a team and coaches it because his kid plays
or
2.  For profit  -   someone starts a team to make money    

Not saying the Prospectors fit into one of those 2 categories, but i would say 90% of the time, that is the case.

---

I mean what is the Overall Goal of HS baseball?  To win a state championship right?  Seems like they play baseball about 2 months a year in this area and wonder why nobody goes on to play in college.  I don’t feel like anything is better than experience.  Even the top players in this area can benefit from playing travel with their returning high school teams.

But it falls back on why kids in this area aren't recruited. 

Trinity starts 9 kids that can play at a high level of college. Teams in our area may have 1-2 that are eligible to be recruited. Tell me where you would spend your time as a college recruiter. Either go play with those teams with those kids being recruited at your age or play for your school and take the chance of not being seen. Self-development in baseball is a lot easier at a higher level than in basketball and football. Plus the cost to play. Who is going to pay for these tournaments and things in high school?

I understand that recruiters are gonna go watch Trinity play over any team in the 14th.       Trinity has studs at every position.    Their 9 is as good or better, than anyone in this region.

[EKYProspectors]

I'm not going to say travel ball doesn't help the players with "exposure".  But I would like to see it turned more into a whole team game.  Like basketball/football, where a coach would take an entire team to play in tourneys.  To get the team better.      Lets be honest, most of the kids that I've seen mentioned are at the top of the talent pool anyway.  And no-one can tell me they wouldn't have the opportunity to play at the next level even without travel ball.

Agree, I took the best our region had to offer minus a few boys and went and showed colleges what we had to offer in this area. That was my whole goal. Juniors that are rising seniors are the only recruitable class at open tournaments. This was my team this summer and that was my main focus.

It can be a team game but as mentioned before. There are 9 positions on a baseball field. Take a team like Hazard who will be senior loaded this year. There are a lot of boys behind them that won't get reps due to the team being rising seniors. Basketball and football have JV because of the number of kids and skill levels at open positions. JV baseball is a lot different. Sometimes you are putting kids in open spots instead of developing them in a position that best fits them.

This is where the fight of going to your age division and getting 25-30 games in playing competition you arent getting blown away with. Develop your skill to bring back to your team and get ready for that 17u summer where you can be openly recruited by colleges.




I agree to an extent, but playing 25 "exhibition" games isn't really working on your skills.   Practice is where you get better.   

I also see many players playing in their "not natural" positions during a high school season.   When you only have 13-15 kids on a team, and 9 have to play the field, you are gonna have kids out of position.   
First base for instance, I usually see 3-4 kids that can play it better than the one that is normally there.   But you hae to take a natural first baseman and put him at 3rd, second, or even shortstop.  Because he is the best option you have.   Kid make 2-3 errors , and gets written off as a bad fielder, but is actually just out of position.  

And I've seen or been around travel ball for years and its USUALLY 1 of 2 things.    
1.  Daddy ball  -  dad starts a team and coaches it because his kid plays
or
2.  For profit  -   someone starts a team to make money    

Not saying the Prospectors fit into one of those 2 categories, but i would say 90% of the time, that is the case.

---

I mean what is the Overall Goal of HS baseball?  To win a state championship right?  Seems like they play baseball about 2 months a year in this area and wonder why nobody goes on to play in college.  I don’t feel like anything is better than experience.  Even the top players in this area can benefit from playing travel with their returning high school teams.

But it falls back on why kids in this area aren't recruited. 

Trinity starts 9 kids that can play at a high level of college. Teams in our area may have 1-2 that are eligible to be recruited. Tell me where you would spend your time as a college recruiter. Either go play with those teams with those kids being recruited at your age or play for your school and take the chance of not being seen. Self-development in baseball is a lot easier at a higher level than in basketball and football. Plus the cost to play. Who is going to pay for these tournaments and things in high school?

I understand that recruiters are gonna go watch Trinity play over any team in the 14th.       Trinity has studs at every position.    Their 9 is as good or better, than anyone in this region.

Oh, I agree 100 percent. I didn't start it for daddy ball cause that's what I wanted to get away from. I started it because I felt that we as a geological location are looked over. Our boys go to Lex teams and are still in the shadows of Lex kids. 

Practice does make these kids better. But colleges don't come to watch practices. They can sit at a tournament and see 100 kids in 3 hours. That's the sad reality of us East Ky folk but that was the goal of my organization. Be a connection point between colleges and players. Whether they play for me or not. 

Football, Basketball, Baseball, or underwater basketweaving takes self-discipline to get better. You showcase your skills in a game and your work on your craft in practice. This is what separates D1 from NAIA. I'd love to see a lot of things done differently with baseball but the simplicity of it is we are the red-headed stepchild in the KHSAA to Basketball and Football.

Glad to formally chat about this as it is a light that I think needs to be addressed. But when you can't control the current of the river, grab a paddle and go with it.

[Bulldogs4Ever]

“If” for instance let’s say your complete returning HS team went to Lexington for just tournaments at Versailles and an occasion PBR/Past Time tourneys and played KBC Prime, Vipers, and just some random out of state team and you played them close, wouldn’t the HS teams kids get the same exposure playing those teams? Scout may see a kid on Hazards travel team and say, wow I love that kid. KBC beats Hazard 15-8. Experience gained and exposure as well. 2 hours from home.

Don’t get the wrong idea Prospecters, I love what you do. Just think if more kids were ALL IN, we’d have much better baseball here. I’d just play 17/18 with my returning team, take my lumps, and at the end of the day most of the parents with any sense is going to be happy because their kid got the opportunity to play against good competition and improved.

Doesn’t Estill County do this for their softball team?

[catsrule]

“If” for instance let’s say your complete returning HS team went to Lexington for just tournaments at Versailles and an occasion PBR/Past Time tourneys and played KBC Prime, Vipers, and just some random out of state team and you played them close, wouldn’t the HS teams kids get the same exposure playing those teams?  Scout may see a kid on Hazards travel team and say, wow I love that kid.  KBC beats Hazard 15-8.  Experience gained and exposure as well.  2 hours from home. 

Don’t get the wrong idea Prospecters, I love what you do.  Just think if more kids were ALL IN, we’d have much better baseball here.  I’d just play 17/18 with my returning team, take my lumps, and at the end of the day most of the parents with any sense is going to be happy because their kid got the opportunity to play against good competition and improved.

Doesn’t Estill County do this for their softball team?

Exactly my opinion.    


And I'm sure the Prospectors are a good organization and will continue to grow.  But if East Ky kids are getting overshadowed by the Lexington players, then they aren't getting much attention anyway.    I just don't see a huge return on spending $5,000+. I feel if a player has next level talent, college coaches will find them.

[EKYProspectors]

“If” for instance let’s say your complete returning HS team went to Lexington for just tournaments at Versailles and an occasion PBR/Past Time tourneys and played KBC Prime, Vipers, and just some random out of state team and you played them close, wouldn’t the HS teams kids get the same exposure playing those teams?  Scout may see a kid on Hazards travel team and say, wow I love that kid.  KBC beats Hazard 15-8.  Experience gained and exposure as well.  2 hours from home. 

Don’t get the wrong idea Prospecters, I love what you do.  Just think if more kids were ALL IN, we’d have much better baseball here.  I’d just play 17/18 with my returning team, take my lumps, and at the end of the day most of the parents with any sense is going to be happy because their kid got the opportunity to play against good competition and improved.

Doesn’t Estill County do this for their softball team?

I agree. I would take Breathitt down to Lex and play in these if I knew I could get consistent effort. It would put my team in its position during the summer to get more reps. But getting that many bought in is a battle of its own. 

All in is the issue. Most kids play baseball for the uniform and to hang out with friends. Football and Basketball run the roost in the mountains. 

I appreciate the comments tho. I hope that one day it comes that way but for now, I take those that are committed and offer the highest level of competitiveness and go play. 
Long term I would love to take 14th region kids by grades and go play in these tournaments to showcase each years talent but ALL IN! Hard battle to fight.

---

CATSRULE

I agree. I dont ask mine to spend 3k plus as some of these "Elite" programs ask. Colleges will find them but i have found most colleges show up on Sundays to the tournament cause thats when the big arms are throwing and they can see what talent looks like versus 85+.

I am half to more than half the price to most summer programs and try to promote players through emails, coaching exchanges and their game play. It is just one of the aspects you cant run from. Colleges are going to watch the best play to maximize their time recruiting.

[Fanman]

Back in the day, American Legion was a way of keeping your players playing together during the summer. That unfortunately faded out, and now there are 1 million different travel teams that promise to provide your son exposure and competition. While that may be the case in a way, most of it is a money racket, that takes advantage of the fact that college coaches can't always go watch kids play during their HS seasons, b/c they are playing themselves. This is ruining HS baseball, b/c the kids that do play for these organizations, see HS as a "preseason" for travel ball, thus don't have the HS teams' best interests in mind. I > WE