What is Travel Baseball? FAQ with Pros + Cons of Travel Ball

What is travel baseball?

Travel baseball is a more competitive and serious form of organized youth baseball where kids try out for a team and usually go outside their local area to play in weekend tournaments.

There are 9 key differences between Travel Baseball vs Little League (or Pony) but here are the main ones:

How I Got Started in Travel Ball

I got started with travel baseball in 2018 when my oldest son was 8 years old and first got “recruited” to join a team.

If you’re not sure what age group your child belongs to, refer to our travel baseball age calculator.

It can start as early as 5 years old (way too early) all the way to 18 years old.

How Does Travel Baseball Work?

Here’s a quick outline of how travel baseball works.

What is a Travel Team?

Travel baseball teams are for profit and require monthly fees.

Anyone can start a travel ball team anytime and recruit kids to join.

Traveling teams do not belong to any league and you play against other travel teams in weekend tournaments.

3 Types of Teams

There are three types of travel teams

1) Single Team

These are run by one coach who has only one team.

2) Local Organization

These teams have multiple teams per different age groups but exist in only one geographical area

3) National Program

These programs have multiple teams for various age groups across the country.

Examples are Canes, Wow Factor, US Prime, ZT, etc.

When is Travel Baseball Season?

The travel ball season is year round and depending on what part of America you live in, it can go for months or an entire year.

The new travel baseball season starts on Aug. 1 to July 31 of the following year.

Overlap with Little League / Pony League

Because the travel baseball season is year round, it can conflict with Little League and Pony Leagues which start in the spring.

Some lower end travel teams take a break during the rec. league season while most top teams keep playing and in that situation it’s up to the kids to decide which is a higher priority.

Tryouts

There is a tryout and not every kid makes the team unlike Little League or Pony where every kid gets to play on a team.

May Have to Pay to Tryout

In recent years, travel baseball teams require you to register and pay in advance in order to tryout.

This was implemented because some parents who had no intention to join a team were signing up their kids to all these tryouts as a way for them to get a “free baseball workout” for 2 hours.

Longer Tryouts

Some of the top teams may have week long tryouts where a kid gets to attend multiple practices and even get invited to play in a scrimmage or tournament so that the coaches get to see how they perform in games.

Kids Can Get Cut During a Season

If a kid is not doing well, some teams may cut kids during the season or move them to a lesser competitive team.

An example is if a team moves a kid from the “A” team to the “B” team.

Practices

There are generally 2 – 3 practices a week, and they can be anywhere from 90 minutes to 3 hours long.

Tournaments

Instead of playing the same teams in the league, you travel to weekend tournaments to play against teams from other areas.

These tournaments can be anywhere near your city or even in other states.

That’s how travel baseball got its name because you have to “travel” to play baseball.

Benefits of Travel Ball

There are many benefits of travel baseball.

1) Better Training and Development

The main benefit of travel baseball is your son participates in better baseball training and plays in more competitive games against players who are better.

Little League Can’t Even Compare

An average travel baseball team would easily beat a typical Little League All Star team.

Out in California many Little League All Star teams enter travel ball tournaments in late May and early June to prepare for Little League All Stars and the travel teams that my boys play on would easily beat these teams 15 – 0 within 3 innings.

2) Your Child is Around More Serious Players

If your child is serious about baseball they will enjoy the fact that all the other kids are also serious.

They no longer have to play with teammates who lack the commitment to baseball such as the ones you have in Little League or Pony League.

This kid named Tyler, who is the son of one of my best friends had a blast at his first travel team tryout and the first words that came out of his mouth was, “Wow, every kid out there could throw and catch like me!”

3) The Team Stays Together Longer

When my boys played Little League I found it sad once the season was over that we had to restart again the next year with an entirely different team.

I felt that just as the team was bonding and jelling and then it would be all over.

With travel baseball, the teams can stay together for years and this makes it more fun for the kids and families.

Of course there are kids that come and go but generally there are always a few core kids that played together for years.

Even if they switch teams, they switch teams together.

4) Thrill of Winning Every Weekend

Your child also gets the thrill of having a chance to win a tournament every weekend instead of playing in a rec. league season that can lasts for months.

This is a big advantage especially if your son is on a bad rec. league team because in travel ball you can switch teams anytime.

5) You Can Switch Teams Anytime

I don’t recommend to constantly switch teams but if your child is somehow on a travel team that isn’t a good fit, you can quit and find another team anytime.

6) Exposure to College Coaches and Pro Scouts

Travel baseball plays an increasing importance when your child gets to high school.

Times have changed and unless your child plays at one of the top ranked high school baseball teams in your area, high school baseball really does NOT MATTER anymore.

You won’t be seeing any college coach nor scout in a typical high school game.

It has been replaced by travel baseball and you’ll see tons of college coaches and pro scouts at one of the elite travel baseball tournaments such as Perfect Game’s WWBA.

7) Priceless Memories

If you love baseball and are passionate about the sport, travel baseball will create precious memories with your child that can’t be replaced.

That’s the main reason why we love travel ball!

Disadvantages Parents Should Know

Here are some of the drawbacks and why travel baseball is bad if done the wrong way.

1) It Is Expensive

You have to be aware that travel baseball costs can be anywhere from $300 to $800 a month so it can get very expensive!

2) Huge Time Commitment

Travel baseball also takes a lot of time.

If you think Little League is intense, travel baseball is way busier!

You have to be willing to make the sacrifices.

3) May Burn Kids Out

The main disadvantage of travel baseball is that sometimes it is so intense and the schedule is so busy that you may burn your kid out.

If your child does not have a real passion for baseball, they can easily get turned off and want to quit baseball forever.

4) Arm Overuse and Injury Risk

If not careful, your child may throw way too much.

This definitely applies to kids who are good pitchers at a young age because if you are not careful, they will get overused because they are good.

5) Less Time for Other Sports

The hectic schedule may make playing other sports very difficult.

I always had my three boys play rec. league basketball and swim, but it definitely made the schedule very hectic and stressful.

6) Family Vacations Revolve Around Baseball

Because of the cost and time commitment, there’s very little time or budget for most families to have a real vacation. All your travel and vacations are based on the baseball tournament schedule.

Next Steps

By now you should have a better understanding of what travel baseball is.

I love travel ball but you have to decide for yourself to see if travel baseball is worth it for you.

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About Simon Chan