Brian Satterwhite

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Baseball players love baseball. They love to pump up their teammates, especially when their backs are against the wall. If you show your teammates how confident you are in yourself, that confidence is infectious and hopefully transferrable. You see it all the time. But it doesn’t always result in a win. Still, coaches love this “never say die” attitude. Fight on till the last pitch. It’s what makes baseball beautiful—especially in college.

Anyone know the story behind this? Did something happen earlier in the game? Was he hit by a pitch? Is this a rivalry? Does this position player behave like this all the time? Do the Texas coaches condone these type of antics?

This is so cool! Way to go Max, Jake, Mason, and Tommy! ⚔️💪⚾️

Way to go Max!! ⚔️💪⚾️

Totally. Travel ball is NOT a monetary investment. And it has nothing to do with the MLB. To call an investment like this a “failure” overlooks everything that is rewarding about travel ball. The relationships, the traveling time, the bonding, the memories. Jesus, I’d pay 10x what I did for all that.

@bmsatter @incredibleholt @blocht574 @CoachSwit Him only able to reference college as the end game lets me know he’s never done it a day in his life lol kids grow up and have friends until they die. Godfathers to their kids. Playing with the same team for 10 years creates a family outside of the home.

Travel baseball has turned into: Pay tons of money to play. Pay to travel. Pay to stay. Pay to watch your own kid. And somehow… this became normal. Will it ever change or just get worse?

@incredibleholt @kadenkeith0023 @blocht574 @CoachSwit Maybe you don’t understand what they are investing in. Travel ball has been the single greatest ROI of my lifetime. I can’t believe I’m part of the 1%.

@kadenkeith0023 @bmsatter @blocht574 @CoachSwit The point is travel ball is a bad investment for 99% of parents. If your kid is on the B team or the C team they aren’t getting a scholarship to college. Instead, let your kid play rec and invest what you would have put into travel sports into a college investment account

@kadenkeith0023 @incredibleholt @blocht574 @CoachSwit It’s gotta be way more than 90%. Not gonna claim there are zero rec-only players in college, but I’m not totally uncomfortable saying it out loud.

@incredibleholt @bmsatter @blocht574 @CoachSwit That 1% that you are referring to is made up of I’d say 90% travel ball players. And I’m probably being conservative with the %

@beach_life0406 @josh200396 @CoachSwit Somebody is angry in this thread. Good lord. lol Fair enough.

@bmsatter @josh200396 @CoachSwit I’m not angry at all. I’m having a conversation with you. Just because I disagree with you doesn’t make me angry. You wouldn’t say that if we were in person lol.

Yes, that's my point. Rec ball still exists (and I'm a huge proponent of it). Playing baseball if full of choices. Looking back, I made the absolute right choice when my kid jumped from 12u to travel ball. That was perfect for him. A year earlier would've been too soon, a year later, too late. I love that I had ALL those options to make the right choice for him. But I would never in a million years counsel another parent that they too should make the jump from 12u to travel. I would have no idea what the right time for their kid is. Maybe 9U? Maybe not at all? But I'm going to be glad they have all those options.

@bmsatter @CoachSwit You can do that without having to pay travel ball and spend an ungodly amount of money on it. Especially before the age of 13. That’s a cop out

@brian_aussieker @RIGol1010 @CoachSwit I wish I were exceptional, but no, all of us did that.

@bmsatter @RIGol1010 @CoachSwit Yeah good for you but you are by far the exception I am confident in that.

@brian_aussieker @RIGol1010 @CoachSwit Sometimes. Not always. The kids who played the best during the season were picked. Yeah, the best kids were going to make it every year, but every team I picked there were at least a couple who made it for the first time because of their play during the season. That was awesome.

@bmsatter @RIGol1010 @CoachSwit All stars is not a “reward” lol it is coaches handpicking kids already in most cases predetermined to play.

@orchazsm @CoachSwit Parents can still choose that for their kids in 2026.

@bmsatter @CoachSwit When I was playing 20 years ago. You paid to be on the team, and then played local tournaments against towns within 1 hour of you. Then you went home. You drove there and back and didn’t pay for anything other than food.

@TheCantoneZone @crimsonace @CoachSwit See, parents can pick and choose their experiences based on what they want and what they love. No need to get all angry at travel ball teams just because they offer another option.

@bmsatter @crimsonace @CoachSwit That's great i'm glad for you. but you do travel baseball is not then only way to have hotel stays. driving time, sight seeing excusions. My family was lucky enough to have those experiences growing up. We had weeekend tourneys spent at the field all the same

@Ctravi578290 @CoachSwit Kids can still do that.

@bmsatter @CoachSwit We just travel around the state (Massachusetts). No need to stay overnight. It didn't cost anything other than equipment. This was in early 90's

@PomiDDS @CoachSwit If you had applied that logic to selecting travel ball teams, you may not be so bitter about it.

@bmsatter @CoachSwit I had two kids go through this already. Obviously I have the experience of both situations. It was better prior to Perfect Game buying out other local tournament hosts. It is my opinion from experience. No need to continue this cause we have different background knowledge.

All-stars was never, and currently is not about player development. It’s a “reward” for playing an exceptional season, extending your season, and having fun in the summer. I coached many all-star teams and development was never a part of the formula. If you want real development, you have to seek it out elsewhere.

@bmsatter @CoachSwit Played house league in town. If u were good enough got called up to all stars that played in summer. No extra cost. Light travel

@TheCantoneZone @crimsonace @CoachSwit That’s too bad. The hotel stays, driving time, and sight-seeing excursions my entire family participated in during our travel tourney days were some of the strongest, most memorable family-bonding experiences. Best ROI I will ever know in my lifetime.

@bmsatter @crimsonace @CoachSwit I don't think i ever stayed at hotel for a tournament. They used the same helmets every yr. Screen printed tshirts. We sold candy bars as a fundraiser to pay umps/uniform. And we all played ball at the same local colleges as todays travel ballers, without spending thousands

And that’s largely true. A kid is very unlikely to succeed in high school baseball (outliers excluded) if they stay with rec ball their entire development. Go to any high school tryout and you can tell the rec from select players instantly. If you are in favor of educating parents on when the right opportunity is for their child to make the jump from rec to select then I am 100% in agreement with you. I do this as often as a I can. But it’s not “one size fits all.” Some kids will jump sooner than others. Yes, let’s teach the parents, but we don’t have to burn down the product to do so.

@bmsatter @incredibleholt @CoachSwit It isn’t the travel teams it’s the parents that say … your kid won’t make the HS team if they don’t play travel …

@Ragingcyclone22 @CoachSwit Still exists.

@bmsatter @CoachSwit Yes. It was called Little League.

@PomiDDS @CoachSwit Parents have the power to join a team that plays only local, single-site tourneys. Nobody is forcing them to travel.

@bmsatter @CoachSwit That's not how it works. You join a team and the team decides. You can absolutely change teams but there are other factors at play there. Single site tournaments are cheaper and normally have all teams in same bracket. It was in general a better experience IMO.

How have travel organizations sold them this “lie” you are referring to? I’ve NEVER heard an org say that—even the less-reputable ones. I’ve heard them promote “we’ll prepare them to play in high school,” or “we’ll prepare them to play at the next level.” And guess what? They do a pretty damn good job of that. Go to any high school tryout. You can tell the travel ball players from the rec ball players pretty instantly. With a few outlier exceptions, it’s pretty obvious.

@bmsatter @blocht574 @CoachSwit Local rec leagues are absolutely not doing great. There is a ton of data on this. Travel organizations have sold parents the lie “We can develop your child into a college athlete.”