How many A level teams?

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J.Galt

Banned
Feb 8, 2019
135
28
We might be arguing the same thing, I can't tell. From what I see, the pooling of So CAL teams starts in earnest in 14/16... Elsewhere, it seems, the pooling of Premier (PGF chasing teams, TN Mojo, et all) start in 10's and 12's. The example I gave of my DD's team, only 2 girls are from outside of 40mi area on a roster of 17.

I would have to agree with this. The 14u team my DD is on is all girls from within 30 miles of where the team practices at. Last year in Colorado I spoke to parents from opposing teams where all the girls weren't even from the same state let alone 30 miles. Same with who they played at PGF, one team had girls from 4 different states and were shocked that our girls could "practically ride their bikes to each others house"
 
Sep 29, 2010
1,082
83
Knoxville, TN
I don't think it is fair to lump the Mojo into the "pooling" group. They do not pull kids from two or three teams together to head to PGF. It's the same team they played with all year. Does the organization have the top talent coming to them to play? Yes they do but the results speak for themselves. We have gone head to head with them (2021's) since 8U. They have been extremely tough since that time and still have more than one girl playing from them from the first year. The HC is a great guy that gets the absolute best out of those kids. Would I travel 3 hours to play for a team if my daughter wanted to? Probably. You are going to play in the same tourneys anyway and many of us drive at least an hour to practice with a local team.
True, the 21 Mojo does have players from multiple states, but that is his team. They’re not running to PGF with pooled talent, or six pick ups, which makes what they do even more impressive.
 
May 7, 2015
842
93
SoCal
True, the 21 Mojo does have players from multiple states, but that is his team. They’re not running to PGF with pooled talent, or six pick ups, which makes what they do even more impressive.

This is the second time the topic of pick ups at pgf has come up. To me, the top teams really aren't doing it (at least my DD's team didn't, she wasn't on it last year it is always just a 2nd yr 12u team). For pgf, any rostered athlete on a qualified team is unable to switch teams for pgf. There's really not many of the very top level girls that would be eligible for transfer. The top teams might pick up a player for depth, but they're not going to have girls come in and start at positions, etc. Mid level teams around here, totally different story. Happens all the time because it is such a big tournament, just getting into the show is impressive let alone a decent record. Mid level teams will completely change their identity if it means more success in the tournament.
 
May 27, 2013
2,353
113
This is the second time the topic of pick ups at pgf has come up. To me, the top teams really aren't doing it (at least my DD's team didn't, she wasn't on it last year it is always just a 2nd yr 12u team). For pgf, any rostered athlete on a qualified team is unable to switch teams for pgf. There's really not many of the very top level girls that would be eligible for transfer. The top teams might pick up a player for depth, but they're not going to have girls come in and start at positions, etc. Mid level teams around here, totally different story. Happens all the time because it is such a big tournament, just getting into the show is impressive let alone a decent record. Mid level teams will completely change their identity if it means more success in the tournament.

Speaking of mid-level teams - this just reminds me of how some of the USSSA tourneys would go down. I’ve seen teams roster about 16+ players when they first register with U-Trip at the beginning of the season; a few of which it is well-known are on other teams that don’t play U-Trip, but can’t be added as “guest players” after a certain time frame. The teams go all season without anyone seeing those extra rostered players but then they magically appear in the higher-profile tourneys like U-Trip States/Nationals. Within the rules? Yeah, I guess so but I can see why it gets under the skin of other teams when they’ve made it so deep into Nationals with their team intact from the beginning just to face a familiar team which all of a sudden has a few “ringers” on the team who weren’t at any other tourneys with them.
 
Sep 29, 2010
1,082
83
Knoxville, TN
This is the second time the topic of pick ups at pgf has come up. To me, the top teams really aren't doing it (at least my DD's team didn't, she wasn't on it last year it is always just a 2nd yr 12u team). For pgf, any rostered athlete on a qualified team is unable to switch teams for pgf. There's really not many of the very top level girls that would be eligible for transfer. The top teams might pick up a player for depth, but they're not going to have girls come in and start at positions, etc. Mid level teams around here, totally different story. Happens all the time because it is such a big tournament, just getting into the show is impressive let alone a decent record. Mid level teams will completely change their identity if it means more success in the tournament.
While the players who are on a qualifying team are locked, this doesn’t prohibit these teams from picking up other players. It happens every year. There are plenty of quality pitchers, power hitters and burners who are picked up and play for teams who finish high in PGF Nationals. Sometimes deals have already been made for these pickups to join the team next year. I agree it doesn’t happen as much in the younger age divisions, you will see more of it as your DD gets older, especially 16-18U.
 
Apr 16, 2010
924
43
Alabama
While the players who are on a qualifying team are locked, this doesn’t prohibit these teams from picking up other players. It happens every year. There are plenty of quality pitchers, power hitters and burners who are picked up and play for teams who finish high in PGF Nationals. Sometimes deals have already been made for these pickups to join the team next year. I agree it doesn’t happen as much in the younger age divisions, you will see more of it as your DD gets older, especially 16-18U.

When you see teams with 20+ kids you know there are a few pick ups.
 

J.Galt

Banned
Feb 8, 2019
135
28
While the players who are on a qualifying team are locked, this doesn’t prohibit these teams from picking up other players. It happens every year. There are plenty of quality pitchers, power hitters and burners who are picked up and play for teams who finish high in PGF Nationals. Sometimes deals have already been made for these pickups to join the team next year. I agree it doesn’t happen as much in the younger age divisions, you will see more of it as your DD gets older, especially 16-18U.

There was a lot of it in 14u, you don't think Marty carried 28 players all season do ya?
 
Jun 29, 2013
589
18
While the players who are on a qualifying team are locked, this doesn’t prohibit these teams from picking up other players. It happens every year. There are plenty of quality pitchers, power hitters and burners who are picked up and play for teams who finish high in PGF Nationals. Sometimes deals have already been made for these pickups to join the team next year. I agree it doesn’t happen as much in the younger age divisions, you will see more of it as your DD gets older, especially 16-18U.
This. Key word you seized on was qualifying teams. There are a ton of good teams that don't qualify in Northern and Southern CA whose players get picked up prior to PGF nationals. For what it's worth, a lot of teams at the Dallas qualifier last year tried to grab all of the talented kids off of a Northern CA team that didn't advance, and most of them were never going to practice with the teams that wanted them.
 
Last edited:
Jun 12, 2015
3,848
83
In 10U a coach invited DD to guest play at PGF nationals. He said he was going to bring as many good pitchers as he could find. On one hand, that's not really your team that won if you have a bunch of pick ups. On the other hand, that is one expensive trip. I can see why a team would want to do everything they could to stay in it as long as possible. And he was very up front about it. I don't think I have a problem with it, but we didn't end up going.
 

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