I feel bad for me 4 years ago * turned into updates on my son's baseball

[Flasch186]

Alrighty guys, update:

Aiden has seemingly been more 'on the ball' in practice lately, in the cage mostly. He's also been pretty hard on himself because other kids are hitting their first dingers (in practice) while Aiden hasn't gotten his first in-game homer.

Anyways, this weekend the team played in a big Tournament (Perfect Game) but the local event. Aiden's team was not expected to do well against much stiffer competition.

Game 1 was versus a good team and Aiden hit an absolute bomb (240') to center that bounced off a sidewalk and landed on the other field where a game was going on. Aiden's first homer - YouTube

Aiden then got up again in the game and on the first pitch which was high, Aiden swung and muscled the ball out just clearing the RC fence. Aiden's second homer - YouTube

He was on fire. In the second game he struck out getting fooled on a curveball and then smoked a line out to the second baseman.

On Sunday they saw one of their rivals and Aiden came up after the team went down 6-0 and he hit a rocket launcher to RC 240' (no video) and the team went on to score 5 runs and finished the game with a 8-7 win!

Their next game was against nationally-ranked 5-star Flowers. Runtime Error Aiden did not hit one out but he did hit their pitcher for a smoked grounder right over second base for a single. The Outfielder misplayed it as well and Aiden ended up on second on the error.

He finished the tournament going 4-7 with 3 HR's and a single and someone said was in the conversation for Tournament MVP. He was batting 11 out of 12 in the lineup due to his struggles so maybe he can move up in the lineup and get more opportunities assuming this continues.

If I take out the tough times and just filter the stats from 4/10 until now, so about 30 days, he's batting .519, .567 obp, .926 slg, & 1.493 OPS which mostly puts him batting second in stats on the team for the past month.

Something seems to have switched on for a month so hopefully he can continue to grow it.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Niiiiice. Happiest thing I've seen in a little while.

[miami_fan]

Really cool. I am glad he is beginning to see the fruits of his labor. Is that you hootin' and hollerin' in the background? I have had to learn to move away from the camera behind the plate so as not to allow my commentary to be caught on tape

[BYU 14]

That was awesome!!!

[Landshark44]

nice

[Flasch186]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Really cool. I am glad he is beginning to see the fruits of his labor. Is that you hootin' and hollerin' in the background? I have had to learn to move away from the camera behind the plate so as not to allow my commentary to be caught on tape

Actually that was another fan that you can make the words out. My wife was the high pitched screaming and I'm somewhere between the two

[PilotMan]

Wow! That's a breakout! Fantastic. That video gave me a big smile.

[rjolley]

Congrats to Aiden! Great tourney and month, and a nice swing.

[Flasch186]

Another solid performance last night: Flied out to left, drilled a line drive single to RC and then...

Down 3 in the bottom of the 6th with 2 outs Big AF came up to the plate as the tying run. They bring in their closer. Aiden takes the first strike looking and then strike 2 looking. Oh no, is he frozen? Ball 1, Ball 2, Ball 3, Ball 4... I don't know if he was frozen or not but he got on base. The next kid lined out to left but for Aiden, if was another solid performance

It makes it a lot more fun when he isn't self-immolating all over the place.

[Flasch186]

stat line including last night for the last month

Jacob is above him and Jacob is a Man Child beast of a kid who smashes:



It's been an incredible turnaround. Last night he flew out, then drilled a single to RC and walked at the end of the game. The coach hasn't moved him the lineup above 10th but I feel like it's coming.

[Flasch186]

Big AF continued his tear this weekend.

They played the bracket of a tournament today and won the quarterfinal fairly easily.

In the semis though in the bottom of the last inning we were down by one. The first kid hit a double and then was sacrificed to 3rd. He would come home to tie the game on a wild pitch.

Aiden came up to bat with 1 out and no one on…
He went down 0-2 (which he likes to do… he sees the second most amount of pitches per at-bat on the team) and he absolutely smashed a ball to the left-field fence for a stand-up double.

The next kid bunted to move him over and the pitcher underthrew the throw to first and Aiden turned third and scored on the error the winning run to be attacked by his teammates in celebration!!

They went on to win the final and collect some hardware.





hmmm the embed from FB doesn't play...click the FB logo in the top right and that seems to go there.

[rjolley]

Nice! Congrats Aiden!

[Flasch186]

Aiden making a heads up play at first on this play:

[Flasch186]

Aiden's team won another local tournament today, this time under Cal Ripken rules and associations. Aiden had a pretty good Semi but in the final, he committed an E in Left and then quit on himself at the plate twice. Old Aiden showed up. He was stepping out, not loading, and unable to swing. He was nervous as can be and ended up crying in the dugout. We talked a lot about it this evening about the step back and that it's ok BUT that it's in the manner of 2 forward 1 back. We never focus on the results of a swing or AB but just the preparation and process and did he give it his all. He didn't so we talked about it and how that's unacceptable to himself, his teammates, and coaches. They're counting on him to make his best effort along with the rest of the team. Hopefully these 2 ABs were the anomalies and not vice versa.

[Flasch186]

Continue to have some fear in there but sometimes he overcomes it and looks the part…

They’ve won 3 tournaments in a row and are currently in their cal Ripken district tournament

He is still second on the team in OPS since 4/10 when the new Big AF showed up




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[Flasch186]

So the all star coordinator who has been an abject failure is out this fall it would seem:

Fall Camp - disaster
Home Tournament - disaster
MLB HR derby | Hit, run, pitch contest - disaster

His inability to run these finally caught up with him in addition to the garbage he was doing behind the scenes to punish people and be vindictive and it looks like I'm taking the job from him in the fall.

With such a low expectation for what was considered "doing your job" I should have no problem being better than that.

Cancelling the Fall Camp - no one wants it and they only did it to show to another org. that wanted to 3rd party it for us that they could... well they showed that they couldn't do it.

Making the MLB events a much bigger deal with tons of social, marketing, awards, maybe get a news station out, food trucks etc

Make the Home tournament better and more organized with a tourney director at each park when games are going on with table and canopy up to let everyone know where to go with questions. Try to make it special again.

------------------
I'll be reinserting the once-present parent reviews where parents can review the coach's performances from the previous season: ie. treatment of the kids, organization, communication, etc. They were removed to protect the tenured and allow the coaches to treat parents like crap without any sort of 2-way street.

I'm reinstalling a quantifiable process for kids that want to "play up" so that they're not forced to leave the organization. Currently they can only play up with a "valid reason" but who decides that? Ridiculous. Now they'll try out in the older age group and if they score in the top 15 then they'd be eligible to be selected to the A team and unable to play for the older B team. IF they don't get selected for the older age group's A team they still can play for their correct A team should they be selected there.

I'm also trying to figure out a way for the advanced kids not to have to play so much REC but that's a harder nut to crack because Rec might need them. We'll see how that one plays out.

[tarcone]

Re: Playing up.

I was watching the local news last night and the sports guy was interviewing Mike Maddox who is a Cardinals coach. He was talking about Greg and how they competed and when they picked teams in the neighborhood, Mike would always pick Greg first and the other kids asked why, and Mike would say he was the best player. Mike and his buddies were 15 and Greg was 10.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

Now they'll try out in the older age group and if they score in the top 15 then they'd be eligible to be selected to the A team and unable to play for the older B team. IF they don't get selected for the older age group's A team they still can play for their correct A team should they be selected there.

If I read that right then it's kinda like the NHL does with Juniors? If you don't want them going back to the lower level then you gotta keep em with the main club?

With the final sentence of your post, I'm assuming that the drafts are done in oldest to youngest order? (otherwise the younger team wouldn't know if the prospect would be available to play for them when drafting)

[Flasch186]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

If I read that right then it's kinda like the NHL does with Juniors? If you don't want them going back to the lower level then you gotta keep em with the main club?

With the final sentence of your post, I'm assuming that the drafts are done in oldest to youngest order? (otherwise the younger team wouldn't know if the prospect would be available to play for them when drafting)

It's not really a draft. The kid would have to try out at both levels and then the discussions begin about who is being picked to be on the A team. That's really it the coaches pick according to some rules (7 out of top 12 must be picked). If the A team above wouldn't pick him the younger coach would be ecstatic to get him certainly.

[Flasch186]

Got knocked out of the district Tournament where the odds somehow got stacked against us:

Dbl elimination...
one team drops out the night before the tourney starts
the administrators say F it and don't do anything but give the 2 teams that had drawn them as their opponent forfeit wins. There's only 3 teams left in the damn tourney so guess who didn't get a win? Yup
In our 2 games guess who drew the "away" team in both? Yup
We win both and head to the finals as the "home" team, finally and we lose so we play again Saturday morning.
We had asked in regards to the paper bracket on the wall if we would be the home team again based on the (H) and were told yes...
Show up Saturday and the administrator above the one we talked to said, "Oh no that was a misinterpretation of the H" it must've stood for "Hodor" or some such BS... who is the home team? The host facilities team we play again at 9:00.
We lose on a walk-off single in the bottom of the last frame.
Shocking - not.

I get it, we shouldn't have left it in their hands but it just sucks to enter a tourney and get shafted repeatedly along the way from either dumb luck, administrative laziness, and then potential sleaziness if not misunderstanding the bracket.

Ah well, we have a dbl header Saturday. This afternoon the kid is getting his knee looked at for a possible minor Osteochondroma and then we go to the Cal Ripken LL World Series in end of July early August in Ft. Pierce. Should be fun.

After that we'll have tryouts again for the teams and hopefully Aiden can stay on the A team. If they only look at how he's been since the April 10 reveal we should be good. If not then it'll depend on tryouts etc. I think he makes it easily but I've seen stranger things happen. IF he does drop back down to B team he'll be a star on that team now but I'm hopeful it wont break his spirit.

[Flasch186]

Anyone willing to donate to the boys and their trip this summer to the Cal Ripken World Series, this is where you go to give $5 or $10:

https://www.facebook.com/donate/5566...9464328573739/

[Flasch186]

So the Organization is in turmoil:

The president has made some poor decisions that have resulted in most of the All-Star coaches having lost faith in him.

The Parent organization over our league and the sister strictly Travel Organization is examining our organization's operations as to whether or not we remain the REC alternative or are we truly a competing Travel organization.

I removed my name from the hat as an All-Star coordinator for a few reasons:
1. To avoid so much drama and get caught on the wrong side
2. To avoid having to expend way too many hours in a volunteer position whereas I could spend that time with family/work/team
3. I don't love the way people are behaving (unethically when it comes to trying to exclude people from running for positions [I think they should all be able to run and let the votes count for whatever the people want])

I just want to bury my head into my son's work and team and forget the drama at the executive level as they try to fix whatever they broke that really I have nothing to do with.

It's possible though that in 6 months the organization looks very different than it does today including the possibility of it not existing to it losing many families and whole teams. SMH

---------------------
My son's knee - yes it's an osteochondroma... not requiring surgery yet but if it begins to bother in the future it is possible.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

I just want to bury my head into my son's work and team and forget the drama at the executive level as they try to fix whatever they broke that really I have nothing to do with.

This is the crux of your entire involvement. It's about your son, and his ability to have fun in a well run organization. You've tried to be as much a part of that as you can, but knowing where to draw the line is just as important. Good call on your part. You aren't going to lose any sleep over it and you'll be a happier dad in the meantime.

[Flasch186]

I spoke with the VP and apparently, there's a large push for the July elections for a basic mutiny through a vote (which I'm not against - that's what elections are for). The All-Star guys want to take the executive positions and remake the hierarchy within the league. I'm a REC guy but apparently have earned credit as a temperate truth talker which I appreciate. However, I also believe the All-Star division only exists due to a healthy REC AND a Healthy rec only exists when there's an All-Star division that kids can strive to be a part of and earn.

They attempted yesterday to sway me to reinsert my name in the conversation for All-Star Director but whoever takes that role is going to get bulldozed, make a lot of enemies and eventually even have their reputation burned down which those ripples can go out beyond the org. I'm not interested in playing my cards in that game. I said I'd be willing to help out in any capacity unofficially and give advice when asked but I simply don't have the time to formally be in a role with that much responsibility. It's going to take 20-30 hours/week trying to play the games that are going to be involved with that shit. I'd rather just chalk and drag the fields before kid's games whichever team and age it is, I don't care. The Kitchen v wait staff stuff just isn't something I want to pick sides in.

[Ksyrup]

This kind of crap is why we avoided any kinds of league structures/hierarchies, created our own travel team, and had a mostly drama-free 8 years of competitive softball. We had one major flare-up when the guy who started the team decided to leave with 2 others because - at age 14 - he was afraid his kid, who was a year younger than our kids, was going to get left without a team when she was 18. But even that turned out for the best as we took the opportunity to better balance our team, add a third pitcher, kept a great player who was going to leave because she was blocked at the position the coach's daughter played, and got way stronger in the process.

[Flasch186]

Here's something cool in the BigAF file. I got an invite from Perfect Game, a traveling tournament organization and one that sanctioned the tourney wherein Aiden hit his 3 dingers and they've invited him to tryout for the PG all state team. It's a full weekend in August and if he should somehow make the eventual team of 12-13 players he'd travel to GE in November to play in some sort of Nat'l tournament.

In signing him up I also see that he was named to that tournament's all tournament team!

[miked]

It's a pay-for-play racket, good luck with that. I had a buddy who sent his kids to one of their "scouting" sessions. The fee includes like 5 swings, and a few throws at 1 position. They wanted to charge him $500 to let his kid catch (he was a catcher/3B) and that meant taking 5 pitches and throwing down to 2nd. Another friend of his was a great pitcher with a nasty change and slider, the organizers only let them throw fastballs because the hitters needed to hit.

They are borderline predatory, convincing parents that they need to start their kids there at 10-12 because they won't let them in when it is actually time to start being scouted. Read the reviews and beware. It exists to bleed your money dry by thinking your 10 year old can make it.

[Flasch186]

I was afraid of that. Perhaps we just use the One Time combine as a confidence booster for him and then move along.

Edit: spoke to the wife and we think we'll skip it. Tell him he's too young and it'll be detrimental.

[miked]

Ask around and don't just take my word for it, perhaps somebody else had an amazing experience. I have a friend and their kid is 12U and plays on the tourney team. Not a big hitter, he is tiny (like 70 lbs) and a good fielder. But they send him to these events for big $$ because he gets a profile and they track his stuff, etc. I just think that their model is to attend some of these tournaments and find above average kids and sell the parents on the scouting dream.

I hear they preference the younger kids because it is more $$ to string along. They won't make much money by bringing a 16 year old in who maybe has 1-2 years.

[Flasch186]

Today was the last tune ups for the Cal Ripken World Series event the team goes to this upcoming week. Here's Big AF's stat line since he flipped a switch on April 1. Incredible turnaround. From worst to almost first... 3rd based on OPS




trying to get the photo to show,,,,

Jeez, how do I get a photo to show from my laptop uploading? the link above works to take you right to it but I cannot get it to upload an img here.... I can do it through Tapatalk but I wanted to filter the stats and can't do that from my phone. First-world problems.

[Flasch186]

Aiden had tryouts today for the next year's all-star team which will go to Cooperstown. There were about 5-7 graders, I don't recall exactly but at the end of the day, Aiden scored #1 in the Age group and #1 overall for the whole organization!!!!

[JonInMiddleGA]

Nice. Very nice even.

Great job.

[miami_fan]

I really hope he remembers the journey he has gone on so far to help him overcome the next bump in the road when it comes.

Great job Aiden.

[Flasch186]

So Big AF tried out for his MS team and the coach before the second day called me over and asked if I wouldn't mind helping out on the field as he's short-staffed today. I said sure no problem. He then asked if I wouldn't mind during the season being a base coach.... I paused and said, "assuming Aiden makes the team." He laughed and said, "Don't tell anyone but he's definitely on the team." As we chatted a bit more I stole a glance at his clipboard where there was a list of names and at the top of one block (I assume JV since he's 6th grade) was Aiden, ranked #1. That might've meant nothing but it might've meant something too.

So the last 2 months Aiden empirically ranked #1 in the Entire All-star and Rec organization AND was scribbled as a "#1" for something at MS....

This kid doesn't know how good he is or how good he could be

[Flasch186]

Here we go again with the mental fucking gymnastics… he’s too smart I think.

Preseason and he’s not loading or swinging

Just striking out looking while standing too far from the plate in fear again

It’s as if we’re back at square one

I just pray he gets over this quickly because last time he did this shoot he self sabotage for about 6 months before deciding to try positivity and self belief to end the season doing great and being 3rd statistically in hitting from 4/1-8/15

It’s almost as if it’s a show strangely enough for attention… I don’t want to believe that but I find it so incredible that he knows that 60% of the time he’s going to be out anyways so why not load and swing? F me. I hope this bs ends quickly. His all stars coach seems to think it will since he hasn’t seen live pitching in about 6 weeks but I already think he’s blown the trust with the coaches with the bullshit at the plate.

Last year he batted 7-9 in a 11/12 hitter lineup and I think they were going to put him at 3 but now there’s no chance. That quick he’s spotlighted on their memories of what he was a year ago and it’ll be that much harder for him to show them that’s not him (if it isn’t). It stinks

In the mean time he’s still getting straight As and seems well adjusted. He works hard. I just think he thinks a lot… he’s so smart. Sometimes in sport I wish he were dumber.


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[Flasch186]

Well he’s swinging the bat again but not attacking really but progress is being made again

Stinks to have reset but what can ya do


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[Flasch186]

Aiden has turned it on

Went 4-6 yesterday and leads the team in avg

Struggling with power as he’s leaking a bit but that’s an easy fix

I’m just glad his confidence is back

On the political front it’s just too much to write at the moment but I’ll try because last night and this morning was brutal with a parents tantrum on the team.


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[Flasch186]

He continues to be Jekyll and Hyde at the moment, Stats Wise he's on point for his A-Team All-Stars:

.450 avg
.522 obp
1.222 ops

4K's 2 looking but 3 were from the 1st 2 games of the season

He's just not close enough to the plate though by about 6" so we're working on that. HE's leaking a ton of his power by being too far away and having to slap and reach now. It's all mental according to his hitting coach.

Here's his 1st HR of the season:

https://sidelinehd.com/CpSh01-aid-yX...292_2_20_2?s=0

[Flasch186]

yesterday in his Middle School game which plays on the big field (reg infield 90' bases w/ 300' fence) AF hit an absolute bomb to RF. It went over the outfielder's head and rolled to the fence and Aiden had a stand-up triple. The coach held him from going home much to the crowd's dismay but it was an absolute tank. An MLBer, shoot even a college kid would've caught it but for an 11yo kid about to turn 12 it was crazy. Went around 260' and one parent in the crowd thought 275' but I still stick to 260'. The camera wasn't working unfortunately.

[Flasch186]

Big AF was barreling the ball today... unfortunately to the OFs. However, in the second game, we were down 1 with 2 on and 2 out when he came to the plate:



https://www.facebook.com/Flasch186/v...07551940976501

https://sidelinehd.com/CpSh01-aid-yX...9_4.5_40_0?s=0

[Flasch186]

BIG AF finished his Middle School Season leading the team in hitting:

.455/.520/.1020
25 Plate appearances
7 singles
2 doubles
1 triple
5 runs
5 rbi's
3 walks
0 K's
5 stolen bases

it was rough baseball though. The team really struggled to adapt to the big field. It's a good transition for him though and it was a confidence booster.

He struggled to pitch and find the K zone but we keep workin' at it.

https://sidelinehd.com/CpSh01-aid-yX...6_1.5_10_3?s=0

[Flasch186]

So we started in on a couple winter tournaments for the all star team and ran into a buzzsaw last night… we got no hit. Run ruled 10-0

But there’s a good thing that happened:

After the game Aiden wasn’t upset that his 1 AB a in a k.

He just got in the car and said, “it wasn’t our night, wasn’t my night.”

So we celebrated that attitude with a smoothie. 😀


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[Flasch186]

Big AF hit 2 Homeruns today one of which was his first-ever Grand Slam!!!

[JonInMiddleGA]

Twice to the deepest part of the ballpark, nice.

Nothing cheap about either of 'em.

[Flasch186]

So the vote is in and the team is NOT going to Dream's Park / Cooperstown and instead going to baseball America in Branson, Mo.

The Ultimate Youth Baseball Exerience - YouTube

It wasa tough thing for me to swallow as the word "Cooperstown" has been bantered about since Aiden started this process 2.2 years ago. However, once I struck the word and just allowed Aiden to weigh apples to apples AND then also removed MY desire to see the HOF and asked Aiden if he cared about the HOF it became clear that he didn't (or not as much as me)...

So we voted for Branson and a majority of the team did as well.

If we would've had All Star Village as our assigned tournament in Cooperstown and NOT Dreams it may have been different. Dreams is not getting great word of mouth around our org. with bad dorms, bad food, bad fields, bad scheduling, bad timing, bad showers, bad situation for parents re where they have to sit for games, no photography from parents, etc etc. AND Dbl the price of Branson. It just didnt make sense from my POV and then Aiden threw his weight behind Branson so not Cooperstown. Sounds sad in a way since its always been the right of passage.

[spleen1015]

When my daughter was 13, her team received an 'exclusive' invitation to the Jenny Finch tournament at the Cal Ripken park in Myrtle Beach. They tell you your kid gets to meet and hangout with Jenny Finch and all of that jazz.

The first day before games started, teams got to take a team picture with Jenny Finch. She stayed in the tent, they marched teams in and out. The kids got to see her for about 45 seconds.

They next day she posted pics from another money making scheme on Twitter.

I bet Aiden will have a lot of fun in MO.

[Flasch186]

So Aiden finished the preseason which is a mix of 11u/12u all star kids split onto 4 different teams. They play each other in a kind of Round Robin style where fun is first and foremost, kids do the coaching too.

He ended up going 10/14 with no K's. .714/.750/.929

He's not hitting dingers right now as I think he doesn't have a steep enough launch angle BUT I'm not even bringing it up since he's not stepping out and making solid contact (50%LD, 21% FB, 29% GB). I am having to focus on him swinging harder. That sounds crazy but I feel like he's just swinging at about 75% most of the time in a contact kind of way but again, I'm being sensitive to not hurt confidence as he's floating right now.

Yesterday he played in some preseason scrimmages against other teams around the league with his own 12u All Stars and he was doing great with a great attitude. He even pitched and while his Velo is not there (low 50's) he finally is beginning to hit the K zone and not getting upset when things don't go his way. The coach says once he's confident about being around the plate they'll work on adding velo.

https://sidelinehd.com/CpSh01-aid-yX...pDu4uTf3iX?s=0

[Flasch186]

Big AF is playing really well at the start of this season. He's batting .600 (6/10 + a HBP and BB) at the moment. He's hitting mostly LD's and no FB's yet (a few grounders) but he's making solid contact and really seeing the ball. He's playing his positions well. Where he's now currently struggling is on the basepaths. He's too aggressive at times and then not aggressive enough at times. It's odd but he gets picked off leaning the wrong way and other times doesnt get a good enough jump and gets thrown out. He's super fast but needs to figure that part out for sure.

https://sidelinehd.com/CpSh01-aid-yX...ANzvxrcBrS?s=0

[Atocep]

Catching up after not checking in on this thread in quite a while. The swing looks good. The progress from the first homerun to the 2 homer day is noticeable.

It's always great to see kids develop and start to have confidence in their ability.

[Flasch186]

Aiden's playing well and has started to pitch some. The team is trying to grow him on the mound but it's pretty tough and he struggles not to ride the emotions of every pitch. Currently he leads the team i8n AVG but he's leaking his power out by striding towards firsta nd has minimal shoulder load. I'm not sure why that is and it's not present in the cage but when he gets to the plate it's mostly an arm load and striding towards first. So he's hitting most everything oppo and can even get it to the fence but his power is down.

.476/.571/1.131