My 12yr old flame thrower.

[GrayStangGT]

Comparing bats with a 12 yr old = not so hardcore.

That 12yr old is the same size as me. I have a cousin that was the same way and he was a damn good first baseman/slugger just couldn't keep his grades up enough to continue playing college ball.

[BMCSean]

That 12yr old is the same size as me. I have a cousin that was the same way and he was a damn good first baseman/slugger just couldn't keep his grades up enough to continue playing college ball.

No doubt the kid is going places, however; Blakeski is not.

[davbrucas]

Thanks for the kind words...and yes, he's a big boy. Colby is like me when I was a kid...never study and make all A's on report cards. I am not concerned about his grades. My only concern is if he loses interest or let's girls help him lose sight of his goals.

[Sean88gt]

Big kid, how is his competition?

[mstng86]

My only concern is if he loses interest or let's girls help him lose sight of his goals.

That happens to all of us. Well the straight guys anyways. Elvis wouldn't know.

[davbrucas]

Big kid, how is his competition?

He plays 12U Premier so he faces the best in Texas. Last year his team was one of the top 32 teams in the country and got to play in the Elite 32 at Disney. Colby put out the top seed (team from country of Panama with 24 kids on the roster) but we lost in the semis to the eventual winner. His team took 5th overall.
That team split up due to too much drama from parents wanting to run things so he is playing with his friends on this new team. Good group of parents/kids from what I can tell. All the kids on this team think highly of Colby as when we played them last year he hit 2 HRs against them (one was a grand slam) and pitched a no hitter in the same game.

[Sean88gt]

He plays 12U Premier so he faces the best in Texas. Last year his team was one of the top 32 teams in the country and got to play in the Elite 32 at Disney. Colby put out the top seed (team from country of Panama with 24 kids on the roster) but we lost in the semis to the eventual winner. His team took 5th overall.
That team split up due to too much drama from parents wanting to run things so he is playing with his friends on this new team. Good group of parents/kids from what I can tell. All the kids on this team think highly of Colby as when we played them last year he hit 2 HRs against them (one was a grand slam) and pitched a no hitter in the same game.

My son likes motocross, but loves baseball. He's going into his 4th season, 3 of coach pitch (modified tball essentially) and was asked to go up to the machine pitch 7-8 yr olds, he's 5. He's a stout kid, hope he continues to progress.

As to the drama, we're already dealing with that horseshit.

[Chas_svo]

My son likes motocross, but loves baseball. He's going into his 4th season, 3 of coach pitch (modified tball essentially) and was asked to go up to the machine pitch 7-8 yr olds, he's 5. He's a stout kid, hope he continues to progress.

As to the drama, we're already dealing with that horseshit.

Strange ages for coach pitch, etc.

[davbrucas]

Yup...Colby raced MX with me for a couple years. He got very good but his size kept him from progressing in the sport. He was at the track with me just about every weekend from about a year old until he was 7 or 8. Here are a couple pics from when he was 5.

[juiceweezl]

I've swung the S3 and liked it, I actually see the S3 on fields and where I do my BP more than any other bat. My little cousin swings the S3 and he is a opposite field yard hitter...runs in the family lol

Mako and S3 are completely different. I've seen kids swing both. For 90% of the kids out there, the S3 or the Marucci team bat or One series are the best bats for the dollar. The S3 is the one I see most, and my son has owned 2 of them. It's a thin wall alloy and good balance, so it helps with bat speed. Jordan has squared them up like 4x4's in no time at all, but he's a different animal.

The Mako is a full composite, much like the CF series from DeMarini. I think the Mako is a better overall bat than the CF's. It has a much larger sweet spot/extended barrel, but it adds some weight to the end and most of the ones I've put on a food scale come in heavy. My personal opinion on full composite bats is that they aren't worth the coin unless you have a big, strong kid with incredibly fast bat speed (reference Colby here). Most big kids have long, slow, softball swings.

My kid (more about him in the next post) swings a Marucci Elite which is the carbon fiber/alloy hybrid. He hit a line drive that hit the base ump with it in the face last spring. It's the hottest bat I've ever seen for youth baseball, but it has to be a big, strong kid with fast hands to make it work. I've seen small kids swing it and get nowhere despite great bat speed. I've seen big kids swing it and get nowhere because they just try to muscle the ball. Combine the two though and it's a different story.

[Sean88gt]

Strange ages for coach pitch, etc.

Yeah, I agree. Mckinney runs beginner tball, advanced tball, machine pitch, then coach pitch, then kid pitch.

Kids have the choice of pitch or tee at this level. But my kid can rip it. As a left hander his course is already being charted (1b or P) so I focus a lot on his hitting.

[Sean88gt]

Yup...Colby raced MX with me for a couple years. He got very good but his size kept him from progressing in the sport. He was at the track with me just about every weekend from about a year old until he was 7 or 8. Here are a couple pics from when he was 5.

Jump him up to a 65, or perhaps bigger.

[mstng86]

Dave, my son is starting tball in the next few weeks. He is only 4 and he is a normal size kid that probably is going to be average size when he grows up. As a parent that didn't play organized baseball, what should I do to help him? I mean, I plan on going out back and practicing throwing and catching and fielding rollers, but is there anything else I can do?

[juiceweezl]

He plays 12U Premier so he faces the best in Texas. Last year his team was one of the top 32 teams in the country and got to play in the Elite 32 at Disney. Colby put out the top seed (team from country of Panama with 24 kids on the roster) but we lost in the semis to the eventual winner. His team took 5th overall.
That team split up due to too much drama from parents wanting to run things so he is playing with his friends on this new team. Good group of parents/kids from what I can tell. All the kids on this team think highly of Colby as when we played them last year he hit 2 HRs against them (one was a grand slam) and pitched a no hitter in the same game.

Glad to hear Colby is back to crushing it again, Dave. I love this time of year when the kids that work at it all the time really shine. Congrats to him and good luck on the season.

Jordan has settled in nicely on his new team. He's playing for the Dallas Patriots 10U premier team out of North Richland Hills. He's up to 5'5" and 130 pounds now. I should have you start sending me Colby's hand me downs!!! All they've done thus far is practice and intersquad. He finished the fall throwing 61/62 consistently from the mound with the 80% effort that his instructor wants and has run it up to 64/65 from time to time. It's almost impossible to hit from 46' away.

I let him swing his good bat during BP the other Friday on the field when it was almost 70 degrees out. He responded by hitting 5 balls into the parking lot into a stiff wind. The next morning he took a teammate deep in intersquad in the cold using his $20 Academy special bat. That kid throws upper 50's. He followed that up by going yard 2 more times this past Sunday in intersquad. His team is ready for some real games soon. They open play the first weekend in March and then we'll see how it goes. I know they're heading to San Marcos and Atlanta along with possibly a trip to Arizona. We were looking at a trip to Puerto Rico, but the team decided to wait a year. I'll get some pictures the first time they're on the field for real.

We should start a new thread and get a sticky where we can all post our kid pics from their activities.

[Sean88gt]

Dave, my son is starting tball in the next few weeks. He is only 4 and he is a normal size kid that probably is going to be average size when he grows up. As a parent that didn't play organized baseball, what should I do to help him? I mean, I plan on going out back and practicing throwing and catching and fielding rollers, but is there anything else I can do?

Don't get frustrated. He's going to suck at first and be more interested in the dirt than the game.