Travel Ball is over. What now?

The transition from travel ball to High School summer ball AKA “Showcase Baseball”

“Travel ball” is over once the player turns 15.

For most, the travel ball portion of their playing career will end the summer between 8th and 9th grade.

QUICK POINT OF CLARIFICATION ON 14-YEAR-OLD 9TH GRADERS THAT MAKE THE HS TEAM

A few 9th graders who are still 14 years old in the spring of their 9th-grade year will be eligible to play travel ball as a 9th grader AFTER the HS season is complete (assuming they made the HS team).

I emphasize AFTER the high school season is complete because, the way I understand the Arkansas Activities Association rules, players are not supposed to have contact with non-affiliated teams during the spring high school season.

Having said that, I highly recommend they DO NOT play 14u baseball after their respective HS season is complete.

There is just nothing productive that comes from a player who has been in a high school dugout going to a 14-year-old dugout and playing eighth graders.

They need to find high school-aged summer baseball options. I am about to explain those.

Before I explain high school-aged summer options, just for clarity, I should say: a ninth grader who is still 14 years old and DID NOT make their high school team can just play travel ball one more year. They are not bound by any of the Arkansas Activities Association rules.

Ok, now high school-aged summer baseball options.

There are basically three options.

High School “Extended” season: This is their respective high school’s coaches playing an extended season. Basically, they will scrimmage other schools that are also doing an extended season. The length of this season will vary from school to school. In most cases, they will only play a few weeks into June. Just get with your high school coach and see if they are doing that. If so, I highly recommend doing it because you want to build a relationship with that coach. In most cases, the extended season schedule will still allow for the player to play a “showcase” schedule, which I’ll explain as well.

American Legion: Long story short, there are good Legion programs and bad Legion programs. They typically practice a lot more than showcase baseball teams do. It’s a much more community-based deal because you can’t have kids from all over the state playing on a particular team. Just check with your particular community’s Legion team and see if that is an option for you.

“Showcase” baseball: This is basically the high school version of travel ball. Places such as EAP will offer private-market teams that will play showcase tournaments throughout the summer. Just like everything else, there are good programs and bad programs. There are people who know what they’re doing, and there are people who have no idea what they’re getting into, so buyer beware. Regardless, they will all play what are called “showcase tournaments” in some capacity.

❗️EXTREMELY IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE: It is really important you understand this side note. Even though tournament directors will say this is not true, I’m telling you it is. Showcase tournaments exist so teams can showcase themselves, not the players. College coaches will seldom be at the games, if ever. And I don’t care what anybody tells you—that is the truth.❗️

Some will play more local-type tournaments. Some will travel regionally like EAP does. Some will get into national tournaments that are all over the country. It’s really a matter of what you want to do, how much money you want to spend, and what your player needs. I understand that I could be considered biased, but I do want to caution you to be very careful playing for individuals in this setting. This is not travel baseball. Showcase tournament directors do not check ages the way they do in travel baseball. It is not uncommon at all for kids to pay to be on the roster, and then a bunch of kids who are better, who never paid anything, get all the playing time. Pick-up players who are older are really easy to sneak in. So like I said earlier, buyer beware.

What does EAP offer?

Obviously, I can’t speak on other organizations or teams. I can only tell you what we offer.

We have two main teams:

EAP 16u Easterling, coached by Logan and Caleb Easterling

EAP 18u College Prep, coached by Michael Richards. This is our “select” team. It’s the flagship of our program. I run it very similar to a college program, meaning I develop the talent that I have in-house, and I recruit the talent that I need from across the state.

15u players will be placed on the 16u team. There is no point in having separate 16u and 15u teams because the tournaments we play will be split into “15/16u” and “17/18u” divisions.

If we were to have an exclusively 15-year-old team, they will inevitably play some teams full of 16-year-olds, so there’s no point in differentiating.

We are always willing to add more teams, particularly in the 16u range, if there is demand and I have a coach available.

EAP’s high school-aged summer baseball, or “showcase” teams, play a five-week season starting the last weekend of May. We will play five weeks in a row and be done by the month of July.

I know it doesn’t sound like a lot, but believe me, at the end of it, you will be exhausted. Tournaments go from Thursday–Sunday in most cases, with 1 to 2 games per day. Our teams play in the Memphis area, Central Arkansas, and Fayetteville. That is as far as we travel.

IS THERE A TRYOUT FOR THESE TEAMS?

Not really.

The preferred way for us to choose players for these teams is for them to play fall ball with us. But I am also a big believer that guys who are playing football should not play fall baseball—it just never goes well.

If your son wants to play for us but also play football and can’t play fall ball, just make sure to reach out when we are building our rosters for the fall. This takes place in July and August. We will put his name on the non-player roster so that he does not slip through the cracks when we are building the summer teams. In other words, make sure we don’t forget about him after fall ball.

Playing for the 18u team is invite-only. That team is the only money we spend on advertising for our program, so it has to be extremely competitive.

If you are interested in playing for one of our summer showcase teams,

please email

Michael@EAPerformancellc.com with the subject line “Showcase baseball”