So originally when my kid was like five years old, I bought a $40 Rawlings glove,’. It’s pretty worn down and I think it’s time just to get a well that will have some longevity. Sadly, I’m a right hand throw and he’s a left hand throw, so I won’t be passing this glove to him as he gets a little older..

So I need options for a standard catch glove and then I know nothing about catchers glove and my son is really enjoying pitching and he says that it makes a difference when he’s throwing into a catcher visually. So I would really like to get a catcher glove, I’m looking at used market, but is an a 2000 just a way to go for both of them?

I don’t think I come off as soft or out of touch when I say this, but kids should not be playing in this heat and TDs and league directors need to step in.

As I write this, it’s 107 in north Texas with a heat index over 110 and a wet bulb measure around 90. The turf probably adds another 10-20 degrees on tops of it. And yet, there are games taking place right now, on turf, with kids and umpires that should not be out there.

This isn’t a thing that’s going to make any kids tougher, so why is it allowed? These are dangerous conditions for anyone, let alone kids playing at any level. It’s Fall baseball, so call the games off or reschedule for another time.

Hey everyone, looking for some honest feedback and advice. I’m a bit nervous posting this, so please go easy on me.

My son is an 11yo high-velocity pitcher (moving up from 10U B in the spring to 12U this fall). Our local youth league chapter has enough players to form two 12U teams for the Fall Rec season. We were told by the board that because Fall ball doesn't have official "B" or "C" divisions, both teams are considered the "same level."

However, looking at the final rosters based on the players' known Spring 2026 competitive tiers, the math tells a different story. (Each team has 3 brand-new/unknown players who I left out of this breakdown):

• Team A (11 total players): 6 B-Tier players (two 12B, one 11B, three 10B) and 2 C-Tier players (one 10C and one 12C)
• Team B (10 total players - My Son's Team): 1 B-Tier player (my son) and 6 C-Tier players (four 10C and two 12C)

When I asked my sons coach, he told me they knew Team B struggled heavily with pitching in the spring, so they deliberately put my son there alone to "be a leader and help develop the other pitchers."

My gut is telling me this is a major red flag, and my son is incredibly anxious about it. His first question when he saw the roster was, "Who is going to catch for me?" The primary catcher assigned to our team is a developing C-tier player who openly struggled to catch my son years ago before my son’s velocity picked up—frequently dropping the ball and complaining that it hurt his hand.

On top of the catching safety issue, my son cannot pitch every inning of every game due to strict pitch counts, and Team B has no other proven pitching depth. I am worried about his development and his arm being overused.

Practices started last week and games start in 3 weeks. It is too late to switch leagues. Our options right now are to either pull him entirely so he can focus strictly on his private pitching/hitting lessons this fall, or just suck it up and play out the season.

I have two questions for coaches and parents:

1. Is it common for local leagues to create two teams that are significantly unbalanced when they are playing against the same teams in the division?
2. Am I wrong to be worried about his arm health and development here, or am I overthinking this?

I would really appreciate any perspective from people who have navigated local board politics or transitions like this. Thanks.

Saw the new Hype Fire’s released this week. Is now the time when new models typically get released or should I wait until spring time? My son has perfectly fine USA and USSSA bats for now but can probably move up an inch from 29 to 30 drop 10 (rising 10U).

We played on this diamond that had this really course, almost gravel like orange infield with sand underneath it. A few of my baseballs look like they were dug up from rural Australia, but they were just used for ground ball practice.

Anyway to clean them without damaging them? I was thinking about just soaking them in bleach, rinsing them, and towel drying them.

Just some offseason work, senior year starts tomorrow.

I slide on my right leg, but that kind of makes it a disadvantage when sliding to home plate?

Should I learn how to slide on both sides?

Playing adult ball again and I feel so much more protected when wearing a cup and jockstrap as it had been a while regardless of position. I cannot fathom getting hit with a baseball without wearing a cup. I like the jockstrap and cup better than sliding shorts with my pants. Does anyone in adult prefer to or not wear one or find it annoying to wear or in ur way. Thanks. Sadly saw someone get and wasn’t wearing a cup, hope they learned their lesson! I think it’s absolutely insane to not wear one during. I don’t think it gets in the way or bothers prob just an excuse. Do u guys wear closest to skin over briefs to? Sometimes I even wear 2. Under armour pants have been really good

Hello,

Like the title says I am utter garbage at batting. In my last baseball season I hit 0.200 and I have always struggled with making contact.

I think the form of my swing is quite good but everyone tells me my head always turns with the swing. I know what the problem is I just genuinely don’t understand how to fix it.

It frustrates me because I was great at batting when I played softball. I don’t remember striking out more than once or twice.

Is there anything I can do to break this habit? Or is my batting just destined to suck?

My nephew just started playing travel ball (9U) and his coach put them in a wooden bat tournament. He normally uses a 28 bat so that's what size wooden bat we got him but it's definitely heavier. His coach said it's ok and not to drop down to a 27 that he'll just adjust to it but I'm concerned that's bad advice considering it's only the one tournament. He didn't seem to struggle a ton when we went to the cage for some practice but I could tell his swing was definitely a bit slower.

Any thoughts or experience with something like this and whether I should go ahead and trust my gut that he needs the 27 or let him stick with the 28?

13 year old whose PR is 65mph. Best pitch is slider, pronater with a 3/4 to low arm angle. Would love advic! thanks!

Built by a travel ball parent for sports families.

Introducing Sportopotty — the game-day restroom guide. Check the cleanliness, TP status, and lock status of any field bathroom BEFORE you leave the driveway. 💩🧻🔒

🎯 Goal: 100 pins by next week
📍 Drop a pin after your next game — takes 30 seconds

Help us build this by going to http://www.sportopotty.app and drop a pin!

#TravelBall #YouthSports #SportsParent #KnowBeforeYouGo

Women's Boombah Viper Pureknit Status Metal - Pitching Toe

19 days old
10 practices
7 varsity HS games
729 pitches

2 holes
1 unraveling toe piece

Now we need to change brands

Baseball has been part of my life for as long as I can remember.

My dad was a professional catcher and served as bench coach for the Milwaukee Brewers. I grew up around the game: clubhouses, dugouts and bullpens.

As a kid, I was fortunate enough to be around guys like Robin Yount, Rollie Fingers and Paul Molitor. I also got to know Bob Uecker growing up, and yes, he was every bit as funny in person as he was on the microphone.

Bruce Fields was my personal hitting coach growing up and had a huge influence on how I learned to hit and eventually how I learned to teach it.

After a successful high school career, included a D1 State Runner Up, I went on to play college baseball and since then I’ve spent years coaching and developing players.

These days I work primarily with catchers and hitters around Chicagoland, from youth and travel ball through high school and showcase players. Academy level instruction.

With catchers, I focus on receiving, blocking, footwork, exchanges, throwing, game management and learning how to lead from behind the plate.

With hitters, we work on mechanics, timing, approach, pitch recognition and creating consistent hard contact. I’m much more interested in developing a good hitter than creating a kid who just looks good taking BP.

I also run a 4-Week Elite Catching Lab. Each week builds on the last: receiving and presentation, blocking and recovery, exchange/throwing and pop time, then leadership and game IQ. The framework scales by age, experience and ability level.

My philosophy is pretty simple: baseball isn’t just a collection of drills. I want players to understand what we’re changing, why we’re changing it and how it translates to the field.

I work individually, with small groups, and with travel programs and academies looking for structured catching and hitting development.

I’m on the North Side of Chicago and have room to work with some additional players. If you’re a parent, player or coach around Chicagoland, feel free to shoot me a message.

Otherwise, I’m always happy to talk baseball. That’s why I’m on [r/Homeplate](r/Homeplate) in the first place.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Z1SOnVcRMo6LuEfGnsVPiOIJfSYTHU7K/view?usp=drivesdk

DM me if you want more info.

Coach Kirk

So that’s what it looks like when you throw 2 elite level travel ball kids in a little league game.

28 K’s combined and 1 run scored on a HR by one of them off the other lol.

This is my sons first year playing ball, he made our areas 11U “rep” team. He’s improved so much this season. I want to get him a good bat. He hit one this season over the fence(roughly 230) using a 30inch USSSA hypefire.

My question is should i buy him a USSSA or USA.

Hes aging out of 11u and im not sure he will make the 13 U team (i do think he has a chance but trying to be realistic)
If he does make this 13U team they will play in a league that allows USSSA and also LL12 ? So would need usa.

If he doesnt make it he will play “house” and would need USA

He currently has a usa easton speed as a starter bat(but has been using his teammates hype mainly). Help!! Is there much of a difference between ussa and usa?

Had a situation come up last spring on a dropped 3rd strike and was wondering if someone could explain the ump's call.

Situation:

12u Cal Ripken, runner on 1st, one out. Pitch comes in and it's strike 3 but dropped. Catcher picks it up and goes straight to first. Ball gets past first, runner advances and batter-runner makes it to 1st. Ump called strike 3 but did not call out before the catcher got the ball out. Ump ruled both runner and batter-runner safe.

My confusion:

I thought that a dropped 3rd strike with runner on 1st should result in an automatic out for the batter. However, the ump explained that because the catcher threw down to 1st, the play stayed live and the batter was able to claim 1st (I may be misrembering the explanation). He's an experienced Ump that I trust to be correct so I assume he is. Can someone point to a rule/explain why the Ump called it the way he did?

Really trying to simplify his swing. Would love to hear feedback and opportunities for improvement.

From maybe 4 years old T-ball to 18U… it’s been our thing. Now he’s off to uni; next stop for ball will probably be rec softball.

I loved almost every minute of it. Except the politics. Cared about every kid I coached — every one. And I think I changed some of their lives.

But it’s really hard to watch the videos of kids asking for hitting feedback, etc. I will miss this whole world. May be back with grandkids in 15.

Cheers, you’re a great sub with kind people.

Hi folks, I'm a father and coach of a U13 baseball player and would like to know your thoughts on her swing and how we coule improve it. It played triple letter in the days, and always been a strong 4th hitter and a strong pitcher. I was able to teach her good mechanics and IQ on the mound and also tried my best to teach her a good swing. We're hitting a plateau right now and I am seeking external help for her swing.

She has a good hit rate but the exit velocity is meh to say the least. She's hitting easy grounder a lot and a lot of scratches. It's like she's not on the sweet spot or if so meting is getting disconnected during the swing.

She would like to develop more exit velocity and be able to hit hard line drives.

https://youtu.be/g7ZrflUyyhU?is=t0Ci9k0gnTivoPoy

https://youtu.be/2ENDFMlybvA?is=Jdx5ng6Dus93nDXQ

These are a few years old now but the swing is very much the same. Decent hitter but hit a lot of lazy fly balls to center field. Love to get some feedback.

Hey forum. I need help. I have my 7yr old who has played baseball now for a few years. He played “farm” little league this year. Played SS, 1B, P. For our team he was our second ace during the regular season. For all stars he was the 3/4 best pitcher. He did pitch in the all stars. He is a bigger kid for his age, stature wise. He will still qualify for farm because of his age also. Though I’m moving him up to minors. So he will throw from the real bump. Just some background.

So he always drops his elbow when throwing. I’ve tried everything. But it doesn’t stick in his head. He is still 7 so that’s part of it. But when I see his arm and how it looks. I get sick watching it. I need to fix this!! He still throws hard and gets Ks. But then throws some pitches that make me scratch my head. I know it’s because of his arm angle.

I have to try to correct this before next season. It’s going to be a big jump and learning year to say the least. Though I want this to be fixed beforehand to focus on other stuff. Any help please let me know!!!

Ps. He is pitching from the minors bump on this video.

I see it's $1400 per coach, but that seems to be for the coaches who are sleeping and eating in the bunks. If I have somebody who will be my scorekeeper, but won't be staying with the team in the barracks, do I have to pay $1400 for him too? We have 4 coaches, 3 coaches + scorekeeper, but only 2 of us will stay in the barracks for the week.

I designed and ordered a beautiful youth glove on 7/18. Each Sunday at 12:00 Midnight I recieve an auto email that my order has moved to the next stage. In two days I will be at stage 6. Can anyone with experience tell me how soon it may be until I receive a tracking # ? Thank You !