Best size squad for a 11U Travel Ball Team?

[baseballdad]

I am assisting in putting together a fall ball travel ball team for 11U. We have had tryouts and have 11 players selected with 5 players that we are choosing between to make a squad of 13. This is a skill development orientated team that will be practicing 2-4 nights a week and playing games -most likely doubleheaders- one day of the weekends. So we will probably end up playing around 40 games (Aug-Dec). The team is mostly 10 year olds and we hope to keep them together to evolve as a team and players. Winning is not the primary goal but we hope to be competitive. Right now we have 6 pitchers and 3 catchers and none of the 5 players play those positions at the moment.

My question is how many players do you find works best on a travel team like this? Is 13 a good number or could we go up to 15 or 16? What is the experience of others?

[AgentX]

Thirteen is a good number as it means you'll have 4 sitting at any given time. The more you have on the bench, the less kids mind sitting. It's when you have just one or two on the bench that those kids tend to feel singled out.

Since you're doing doubleheaders in what I assume is a hot climate (otherwise you wouldn't be playing to Dec), you might want to go to 15 so that you can start a fresh squad in your second game.

15 can be a pain when you're playing single games though, as it's hard to be competitive and get everyone in the game. It does give you more options and a bigger buffer for when kids can't make games, but the fall travel season is less likely to have players with rec commitments to work around.

I do think I should point out that 6 pitchers is not really enough. Since you're focused on skills development, I suggest you give everyone some practice to see how they will do on the mound in a pinch. You need to find 3-4 kids you can get an inning out of.

[benz99]

If you have any thoughts of being a full time team next year 8-10 pitchers would be helpful. Tournaments kill a pitching staff at the so called travel level. Don't listen to the whole 10 innings a tournament set fourth by the league. If you have 10 or so pitchers you can give the kids proper rest not by not throwing 3 kids 10 innings each weekend. Also as far as kids on a team keep in mind if it is a continous batting order which we use or if only the 9 kids playing actually bat. If you had 14-15 kids on the team & it was a continous order your 4 or 5 hitter may get 2 ab's a game if that matters to you.

[Bolts-Baseball]

13 should be fine... Especially if you're just doing DH'ers...

We did it on 11, 10 and sometimes just 9... :ughh... and we did tournaments that way too!

I don't recommend it...

Like Agent X mentioned, Having more guys on the bench is NOT a bad thing...

-Good luck!

[shake-n-bake]

13 is just about right, but I'd get a feel for how many of your kids are playing football and what schedule conflicts could arrise. We had 13 last year. All was well while the games were just double-headers on Sundays. Once some weekend long tournaments came around we were short-handed on Saturday. We had a couple kids that we called up to fill in and stayed on the team for the remainder of the year and it just happened to work out very well.

You should be able to go a little heavy on the roster though if you want to. Move the kids around a lot. I've always heard that fall baseball is "instructional" (thought all baseball @11 was instructional), so with kids playing a lot of different positions and playing double-headers, getting a good rotation isn't hard. Excellent time to take a look at a lot of kids on the mound.

[bbb3601]

I am with everyone else. 13-15 is nice with football/basketball conflicting with some schedules. If you want to keep them all for the spring some parents may complain then due to lack of playing time. I am not saying yours will, but it has been my experience. Watch out for those "daddy-ball" parents and you will have a great time!! Good Luck to you.

[songtitle]

13 should be max.

6 is plenty of pitchers. Any more and they won't get enough innings.

Pick hitters from the 5.

[AgentX]

13 should be max.

6 is plenty of pitchers. Any more and they won't get enough innings.


I strongly disagree.

This isn't an elite team. It's an 11U instructional team.

You might have one or two pitchers that can pitch a full 6-inning game, but in general, you shouldn't expect to get more than 2 innings from any of them. And that's your doubleheader, right there. If one or two can't make it, you're stuck trying with having to push kids beyond what they are capable of, or else sticking some kid out there who has never had to hold runners before.

Find a few kids you can get an inning out of in a pinch and give them some situational practice on the mound.

[DerekD]

I strongly disagree.

This isn't an elite team. It's an 11U instructional team.

You might have one or two pitchers that can pitch a full 6-inning game, but in general, you shouldn't expect to get more than 2 innings from any of them. And that's your doubleheader, right there. If one or two can't make it, you're stuck trying with having to push kids beyond what they are capable of, or else sticking some kid out there who has never had to hold runners before.

Find a few kids you can get an inning out of in a pinch and give them some situational practice on the mound.

I agree with this. I would take the opportunity to turn some of the 'non-pitchers' into pitchers. Since there was a tryout, those guys have the ability to learn it I'd assume. I'd keep it going through the winter with some indoor practices then come out in the spring with 8-9 kids that can get on the hill.

[baseballdad]

I agree with this. I would take the opportunity to turn some of the 'non-pitchers' into pitchers. Since there was a tryout, those guys have the ability to learn it I'd assume. I'd keep it going through the winter with some indoor practices then come out in the spring with 8-9 kids that can get on the hill.

Absolutely. There isn't a player on the team that will not be trained and encouraged to pitch. Heck I'm hoping for 13 pitchers by the end of the season.

Thanks for passing along your experience and encouragement!

[shake-n-bake]

13 should be max.

6 is plenty of pitchers. Any more and they won't get enough innings.

Pick hitters from the 5.

6 really is plenty of pitchers. 6 pitchers could potentially throw 480 pitches in a weekend and no one pitcher throw more than 40 at a time.

If you've got a team of 13 11U kids and have more than 6 servicable pitchers - you must be living right.

If so, throw them all by all means. Every one of them are playing fall league to keep their skills sharp and improve their game. Anyone interested in pitching and can throw strikes should be allowed the chance to see some live hitters.

What I would absolutely NOT do is take kids that haven't spent sufficient time in practice, throw them in a game just because they want to give it a try, and bring down the overall competitive level of the entire game for everyone. That is unless you're prepared to possibly go out and give him the hook before he finishes even one inning.

[songtitle]

Absolutely. There isn't a player on the team that will not be trained and encouraged to pitch. Heck I'm hoping for 13 pitchers by the end of the season.


After a couple of "2 and done" double elimination weekends, you might change your mind.:happy: