Big Travel Ball Orgs - Watered Down Talent

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Feb 7, 2013
3,188
48
This past weekend we played teams from a large travel ball organization and I was a little surprised at the watered down talent among the teams. It would seem that in a rush to market their brand, big orgs are sponsoring any and all teams that have $$ and possibly diluting the brand. What is your experience and opinion?
 
Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
There is a large organization by us and this is how I think it works:

For math purposes I am going to say 10 player teams, 100 players tryout.

They have a player evaluation for all the players. Then the players will be slotted accordingly.

So 10 Teams.

10A(1) – Best 10 players
10A(2) – 11 – 20
10B(1) – 21 – 30
10B(2) – 31 – 40
Etc. down to rec level.

Generally there is a big difference between their (1) and (2) Team for the same classification.

Their 10A(1) is really good, their bottom Team in rec. is bad. Everything in between is pot luck
 
Dec 23, 2009
791
0
San Diego
This past weekend we played teams from a large travel ball organization and I was a little surprised at the watered down talent among the teams. It would seem that in a rush to market their brand, big orgs are sponsoring any and all teams that have $$ and possibly diluting the brand. What is your experience and opinion?

100% agree. One such here cannot even get players to come try out - because the softball community is small, the person in charge is well known (as are the antics), and hundreds of dollars a month to rent the name on the front of the uniform (based on who's in charge) is way too much.
 
Jul 16, 2008
1,520
48
Oregon
Here where I live, it is getting to the stupid point....

There is a big organization that this year has 4 16A Teams... and 3 of them are advertising for players needed to complete the rosters... OH VEY!!!!
 
Mar 20, 2014
918
28
Northwest
We have a different problem here. High school coaches trying to have off-season "travel ball" teams made up of their high school players. The problem is that softball is not a huge sport in this area - it takes a back seat to volleyball and basketball. So the individual HS teams have 3 or maybe at the best 4 decent players to play travel ball and the rest are rec ball level players. So instead of doing an all area team of all-star level players, nobody is willing to give up their best players or put their egos aside to do tryouts and open the teams up to players from other schools/areas...
 
Jan 27, 2010
1,871
83
NJ
IF they have more than one team in an age group it's probably going to be somewhat watered down. Our org has 3 18U and they do feed up. Sort of like baseball.
 
Sep 24, 2013
696
0
Midwest
Maybe they want to give everyone a chance to play. if that's the case theyd need to be honest with themselves and have the teams classified properly so they play equal talent.
 

marriard

Not lost - just no idea where I am
Oct 2, 2011
4,312
113
Florida
This past weekend we played teams from a large travel ball organization and I was a little surprised at the watered down talent among the teams. It would seem that in a rush to market their brand, big orgs are sponsoring any and all teams that have $$ and possibly diluting the brand. What is your experience and opinion?

I see a few types of 'big name' orgs...

1) The Cutthroat Nasty Team... 1 team per division normally starting at 14A (sometimes 12A), always a strong 'A' team. But they will cut players and pickup players at the drop of a hat. No player is safe if they can find someone better. When they travel, they are likely to pickup a local player or two who is great and sit one of their core players. Often run by a private high school who recruits. Player turn over is high. There always seem to be 3 new players week to week, often recycled through a 'as we need' them thought.

2) The HUGE big name org... as many teams as they can get players for who are willing to cough up cash. Money flows upwards to the #1 showcase team or into the owners pockets. You play their best team and they are good, but you will often run into Big Org 14U-Mauve(which is their 4th team in the age division and are awful)

3) The GAP big orgs. Lots of teams driven out of a large core rec program. They will be strong in some age divisions - but then awful in others. The daddy-ball independent teams often end up joining these orgs as they age up into 14U which means they often have multiple good teams in an age division but occasionally they wont have anything.

4) The COACH driven org. Teams that are all created out of players being coached by someone or a group of someones giving lessons.. They are often very good because to be part of this families are committed to lessons which means more time training - which means they are working hard... Even with a terrible coach leading all this, they are often good because they are spending time on their games which other players may not be.

5) the Franchisers...BatBusters, Firecrackers, etc, etc... Even in USSSA you can be a 'Pride' team (although to be fair they seem to be doing it to spread the word, not for a franchise fee). Mixed... some are great... some are... well pretty awful.

There are others, but these are the ones I see pretty regularly.
 

JJsqueeze

Dad, Husband....legend
Jul 5, 2013
5,436
38
safe in an undisclosed location
That is why we like our little boutique org. It is more like that great pizza place where you get the best pizza in town for a great price and you know the owner by name as opposed to pulling over on the side of the road to get a burger at McDonalds. Even beat up on some of those name brands yesterday at a 14u friendly (shameful recruiting plug coming- looking for 2002s-2005s for the 10s and 12s in the San Diego area if you are interested in an org that no one knows about but placed their 2001s in top 15 at PGF)
 
Jun 27, 2011
5,089
0
North Carolina
... So the individual HS teams have 3 or maybe at the best 4 decent players to play travel ball and the rest are rec ball level players. So instead of doing an all area team of all-star level players, nobody is willing to give up their best players or put their egos aside to do tryouts and open the teams up to players from other schools/areas...

Why is this distribution of talent not desirable?
 

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