BMTbball09

We wanted to invite everyone to play in the Southeast Fall Baseball League @ Ford Park.  The league will be open to everyone ages 7-12, as of April 31, 2011.  All games will be Sunday DH's starting Sept 12th and ending October 24th.  All games will be played on the artificial grass fields at Ford Park.  We will try to start all games between 1-5PM to accomodate church.  There is a one time registration fee of $75 which includes 10 games, shirt and MLB replica hat of their team.  We will provide all game balls, professional umpires and team insurance for everyone.  There is not going to be a gate fee to get in to the park.  Your registration fee is the only fee. Response has been tremendous.  Based on current registrations, we expect to have 30+ teams.  The league is open to everyone, including kids who's league has a fall league.  If you would like more information or to register your son/daughter, please go to our website at www.setexasbaseballacademy.com .  If you are interested in coaching or trying to put a league team together, please contact me directly at [email protected] . Again, we will not allow Select teams in this league.  I really see no point in allowing select teams to come in and run kids off the field.  It serves no benefit to either team.  We are striving for as much competitive balance as possible to allow the kids to get the most out of this league. We will have 3 divisions:  7/8 is coach pitch.  9/10 is kid pitch with 46' mounds & 65' bases.  11/12 is 50' mounds & 70' bases.  I will be hosting a free preseason coaching/players clinic covering all the rules, leading off, hitting, pitching & baserunning to help everyone out. We will play regular baseball rules with a few additions:  Every team must roster bat.  There will be a 5-run rule per inning in all divisions (this is to help competitive balance and encourage coaches to let more kids pitch).  Kids will be limited to 15 outs pitching per Sunday.  Coach pitch: you get 3 swinging strikes or 6 pitches total.  If a kid fouls off the last pitch, he gets to continue the at-bat. And finally, we have decided to allow all bats.  After much debate, we came to this conclusion mainly because we don't want anyone to have to go out and purchase a new bat for the fall league. Everyone is welcome to contact me with questions or suggestions at [email protected] . Thanks. Jason Tyner

The Gate fee question has been coming up a lot.  There will not be a gate fee to get into Ford Park for the fall league.  The county & SMG will run the concession stand just like they do for tournaments, so they will probably not allow outside food & drinks except for energy drinks and water for the players.

We will be trying to keep everyone with their leagues, unless you request otherwise. The registration deadline is August 17th.  Registration has gone very well thus far and we expect to have a lot of teams, with kids from every league represented.

We will do our best to accomodate church when doing the schedules.  There will be kids traveling from from baytown, jasper, etc & we will help those traveling with schedules as well.  We will not be allowing select/all star teams to register.  Parity is how we will make the league fair and fun which will allow everyone to get the most out of it.

Official registration forms are online now, you can download them with this link www.setexasbaseballacademy.com/fallregistration.doc .  Most of the leagues in Southeast Texas will participate, if you would like to know if your league is in, please email me at [email protected] or talk to your league president & board members.  If your league doesn't participate, you can sign up online or at the baseball academy & you will be placed on an open team.  There is also more info about the league on the website www.setexasbaseballacademy.com . Registration Deadline is August 17th, 2010 thanks. Jason Tyner

That is correct.  There will be several west end teams out at Ford Park this fall (based on pre-registrations), they are just going to sign up through the baseball academy.

For more info or to get your league affiliated, please contact me at [email protected] .

There is a reason, no Major League team uses them.  Yes, i'm sure there are a few Major Leaguers that use them.  Scott Kazmir is a name that commonly comes up.  He is a grown man, that trains everyday to be able to go out and throw his 90 pitches a week.  Not to mention, he has had very few injury free seasons.  You can not compare the body of a grown adult, to the bodies of high school kids and younger.  Weighted balls are dangerous for adults with good mechanics which is why these teams that pay these guys money to be healthy don't endorse them.  Mixing weighted balls, with poor mechanics, to many pitches & still developing bodies is a Tommy John surgery waiting to happen.  Tubing and long toss can accomplish the same results. Recovery time for Tommy John to be anywhere near 100% is 2 years.

Obviously i'm biased, but Jeff Moye does an outstanding job.  Anyone that played professional baseball (at any level) is going to be well trained. I have always made my opinion very clear on the weighted balls & even asked numerous Major League pitchers & pitching coaches.  They are a Tommy John surgery waiting to happen.  Will they strengthen your arm? sure, but at a high risk of injury.  You can achieve the same results with tubing and other arm excercises.  You will not find a professional organization that endorses weighted balls and in my 12 year professional career, I have never seen one guy throwing them.    Jason Tyner [email protected]

Just wanted to touch base with everyone and update you guys on the fall league progress.  Feedback has been tremendous from leagues, parents & coaches & I think everyone is excited for the kids to have to opportunity to play against kids from all over the area.  It will be most of these kids first time to play on the artificial grass fields at Ford Park.  There will be No Select/All Star teams in this league.  Open to ages 7U-12U (as of 4/30/2011) & kids can play up if they want.  All games will be Sunday DH's. Here are the leagues that we anticipate bringing teams this fall so far: Little Leagues: Buna, Kountze, Lumberton, FHWS, Nederland, Port Neches Pony:  Jefferson County (Groves), Orange, Port Arthur, Twin County, Vidor Dixie:  Chambers County Still waiting to hear back from:  Amelia LL & Bridge City LL Not participating:  West End LL (they will be joining the fall league next year, this year WELL kids will need to sign up for some of the open registration teams & I will place them on teams). Please let me know if there are any other area leagues that I have not contacted yet.  Feel free to forward this to any other league & have them contact me if they want to get involved.  For more information or to download a registration form online, go to www.setexasbaseballacademy.com .  If anyone needs copies, let me know & I will get them to you asap. We will play regular baseball rules for the most part (7/8 is coach pitch with 4 outfielders).  All teams must roster bat & I would like to encourage leagues to try to keep the teams at 11 players when possible.  There will be a 5 run rule per inning in all leagues, to encourage coaches to let more kids pitch.  The last weekend, will be broken down into 4 team mini tournaments based on seeding.  Seeds 1-4, 5-8 & 9-12 will play each other.  Again, the goal is for teams to play as many games as possible against other evenly matched teams.  The league will not be affiliated with any organization so we have no restrictions.  Any suggestions that will further increase parity would be greatly appreciated. Thanks & feel free to contact me if you have questions. Jason Tyner [email protected]

Just wanted to add to an earlier post that Jefferson County Pony (Groves) is also going to be bringing their teams out to Ford Park for the fall (along with Twin County, Vidor & Orange).  Thanks again to all those involved. Jason Tyner

Official registration forms are online now, you can download them with this link www.setexasbaseballacademy.com/fallregistration.doc .  I will begin distributing the forms to all the leagues this week.  Most of the leagues in Southeast Texas will participate, if you would like to know if your league is in, please email me at [email protected] or talk to your league president & board members.  There is also more info about the league on the website www.setexasbaseballacademy.com . thanks. Jason Tyner

If they are 6U right now, they will be 7U in the fall and old enough for the coach pitch division.

The directors tournament sounds like a great event & hope it goes well.  It looks like Orange, Twin County & Vidor will all participate in the fall league out at Ford Park.  Jefferson County (Groves) hasn't gotten back with me, but i know that they do have their fall league that they run.    I would appreciate any assistance you can, in spreading the word to all the parents & coaches that they will be able to play out at Ford Park this fall. Its going to be a fun/low pressure fall environment open to everyone.  No select/all star teams.  All games will be sunday DH's and i will recommend to coaches that practices be optional, so kids can play football & soccer as well.  We are hoping to have 10-15 leagues participate. For more info, please email me at [email protected] . thanks. Jason Tyner

Fall League Update... Still finishing my rounds of phone calls.  The response has been great & most of the Little Leagues, Pony Leagues & Dixie leagues in the area are going to be affiliated.  I'm in the process of getting the registration forms finalized and to the leagues so that they can get them to the kids before the spring seasons end. Again, this is not going to be Select/All Star teams.  Its an open fall league for everyone in Southeast Texas to play out at Ford Park.  All the leagues will play interleague play against each other.  Kids will either sign up with their leagues or out at the Baseball Academy (if their league doesn't participate or want to handle the registration). Any league presidents or board members that haven't been contacted, please email me if you would like more information.  I have probably been trying to contact you, but may not have updated contact info. Thanks. Jason Tyner [email protected] 

Not sure why they haven't called you yet, all of the guys do coach on the weekends though.  If you don't hear from them today, can you email me direct at [email protected].  thanks. Jason

Here's a link to all the Southeast Texas Baseball Academy instructors & their bio's www.setexasbaseballacademy.com/bios.htm The Baseball Academy is located next to the Ford Park Fields.  You can email me at [email protected] & i can get you more information or set something up with one of them. Thanks. Jason Tyner

any parent, coach or league member, please feel free to contact me directly if you would like more information on the league.

We have posted info for the Southeast Texas Fall Baseball League @ Ford Park on our website www.setexasbaseballacademy.com .  The league will be open to ages 7-12 (age on 4/31/2011).  You will be allowed to register through your participating little league/pony league or through the Southeast Texas Baseball Academy if your league is not affiliated.  All games will be played on artificial grass fields at Ford Park. Cost will be $75/player: which will include 10 games, a jersey, hat, 2 professional umpires/per game, game balls, trophies to winners & everyone will be covered under a team insurance policy.  We will prepare the fields and the concessions will be run by SMG/County officials.  Parents will not need to volunteer, other than coaching.  There will be a free parent/coaches clinic before the season starts open to everyone.  There will not be a gate fee to get in. For more info, email me at [email protected] or go to the website to register your team or league. Thanks. Jason Tyner

Reminder to all senior baseball/softball players: The Juliet Tyner Memorial Scholarship awards 4 $1500 college scholarships to local baseball/softball players aspiring to play college athletics each year.  Applications are in the counselors offices & must be completed and post marked by April 1st.  Please contact me if your counselor doesn't have any applications. Scholarships will be awarded on Mothers Day, May 9th. In 11 years we have awarded over $63,000 in college scholarships to local athletes. Thanks. Jason Tyner [email protected]

Just wanted to address the number 1 concern with the league that keeps coming up from coaches and parents.  How are you going to balance the teams?  Several parents have said that in their previous fall leagues, the teams were always very unbalanced.  There is no perfect solution to this problem, but the more balanced the teams are, the more fun the kids will have & the more they will all improve.  Nobody benefits from a 15-0 game, not the kid striking everyone out or the team getting steam rolled.  This league is not going to be select teams. Again there is no perfect solution, some teams are going to be better than others.  However, i will work with every league president & their coaches to make sure every team is divided up as fairly as possible.  Assuming we have enough teams, each team will only play each other once.  We will play an 8 game (4 Sunday DH's) regular season.  Teams will be seeded for the end of season tournament based on their records.  Rather than have one big end of season tournament, teams will split into mini 4 team championships. For example in a 12 team division: Seeds 1-4 will play for a championship; 1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3 Seeds 5-8 will play for a championship; 5 vs. 8 and 6 vs. 7 Seeds 9-12 will play for a championship; 9 vs. 12 and 10 vs. 11 Winners will play for 1st place trophy, losers will play for 3rd place This guarantees everyone the opportunity to play for a championship, guarantees two more games vs. even competition & it doesn't penalize the kids that have never played with big league rules (leading off, etc.). Again, we are still in the brainstorming phases & nothing is set in stone.  Any feedback or ideas to improve what we have come up with are greatly welcomed.

As of now, no.  One day soon, we hope that the county will approve larger fields.

Initial discussions with several of the little league presidents have been very positive for this league.  I'm still in the process of collecting all the leagues contact info.  I would appreciate anyone interested in their league being affiliated with the fall league, to pass along their league presidents contact info (Little League, Pony, etc).  Rather than post it, please email it to me at [email protected] . Thanks. Jason Tyner

Tommy John is generally an 18 month process to get back to 100%.  I'm sorry that it happened, but atleast it happened when it did & he is not missing his senior season.  If he wants to play college baseball, he needs to work harder now than he has ever worked in his life.  I played with many guys that had the surgery.  The hard working guys generally came back 100% and in some cases stronger.  I played with other guys that didn't work as hard & most never got back to the same level.  Fransico Liriano's name comes to mind.  He was the best pitcher in baseball in 2006 with Minnesota (would have won the Rookie of the Year & Cy Young the year he hurt his arm).  He gained 40+ pounds during his rehab & has never even got close to being the same pitcher he once was. My best advice is to work as hard as the doctors will allow you to do & then get back on the same program you were before the injury.  Find a select team & play as much as you can all over Texas.  He has plenty of time to be seen, but he has to do the work. Good luck. Jason Tyner

We will play with real baseball rules.  I believe the kids get a lot more out of playing that way.  The 7/8 division will be coach pitch, which i also believe is more beneficial.  There is not enough kids that throw strikes at that age for the kids to improve the way the will in coach pitch. We will have a preseason coaching clinic after we organize all the teams to make sure all coaches & interested parents, know the basics.