General Travel Baseball Information
Travel baseball is played in the spring and offers the opportunity to play against teams from other local communities. Travel baseball represents a more challenging and advanced level of play in comparison to the in-house program. WYB’s intention is to have 2 travel teams at each age-level (8-12) each season. In 2013 the Suburban Travel Baseball League began play at the 7 Year Old Instructional level. WYB will enter a team in this age division each year based on the interest level of the families in that age group. Our ability to offer a 2nd team for each age group is contingent upon sufficient player interest, a volunteer coach and sufficient field availability to meet the Suburban Travel League Requirements. It is important to understand that tryouts will be held and not all players will be selected to a team.
For WYB’s travel program, players are encouraged to play to their highest level of ability, which means that players will be allowed to tryout for travel teams at a higher age level. A player who successfully makes a travel team at a higher age level will need to continue to try out for and make the higher age level travel team in order to “play up” for subsequent years. A player who is “playing up” may return to their true age group at the beginning of any season, as a result of personal choice or because they did not make the travel team at the higher age level (or in the case of 12 year olds, because there is no 13 year-old division for Suburban Travel or Cal Ripken Baseball).
A travel player will only be allowed to “play up” to a higher age level’s “A” team and will not be eligible to make the higher age level’s “B” team.
For players who are selected to a team, there is a travel fee in addition to the typical in-house fee to cover uniforms, umpires and other program costs. In addition, each player is expected to participate in their team’s weekly winter workouts (10 weeks) – which are typically held at an indoor facility. The cost of the winter workouts will be in addition to the in-house and travel team registration fee.
While travel baseball is an excellent opportunity for developing young players to enhance their skills and compete at a higher level of play, it does require a significant commitment by both players and parents. All players who participate in the travel program are also required to play in-house baseball. The typical week will include 2 travel games (Friday evening and Sunday afternoon), 2 in-house games (1 weekday and 1 Saturday), and one or more practices – resulting in at least 5 days of baseball each week of the season.
In addition, travel and tournament team parents (Both Blue and White Teams)are required to work during the tournaments that are hosted by Warrington Youth Baseball during the summer regardless of whether your son’s team is involved. WYB typically hosts an Invitational Memorial Day Tournament, as well Cal Ripken District and State Tournaments in June and July, and from year to year may host Cal Ripken Regional Tournaments. Proceeds from these tournaments benefit both the travel baseball program and the in-house program.
For additional information please send an email to [email protected].
What is Travel Baseball?
SUMMARY
What is Travel Baseball – Travel Baseball is played during the Spring, as is in-house baseball, except the games are on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons, usually starting the first week of April and ending by the first week of June. When playing travel baseball your son must also play in-house baseball. Thus, your son, if selected, would play on 2 teams in the Spring – his in house team, and the travel team. The purpose of the Travel team is to offer a more challenging level of baseball than can be seen in the in-house league. The intention of the Travel League is to have many players with similar talent levels competing with each other on a weekly basis. The Travel team will play against their counterparts from, Warwick, Pennsbury, Council Rock, Lenape Valley, Doylestown, and other surrounding area teams. Playing travel baseball is an excellent opportunity to further develop the talents of all the boys on the team.
Player and Parent Commitment – Playing travel and tournament baseball will require a commitment by not only the players, but also the parents. As mentioned above, the season runs concurrently with the in-house season. With that said, by mid April, the Travel team players will play Friday and Sunday, plus an in-house game on Saturday and one weekday. Additionally, expect to practice at least once a week, which will result in at least five days of baseball per week for your son. This is stated so as to inform you prior to tryouts, and not have you be surprised later.
In addition, Travel and Tournament team parents are expected to work during the tournaments hosted by Warrington Youth Baseball. Tournaments hosted by WYB include the Memorial Day Invitational, Cal Ripken District, Cal Ripken State and Cal Ripken Regional Tournaments. Each Travel team player’s family is required to work at least 1 day during each of these tournaments. The proceeds from these tournaments are ear-marked each year to defray Travel team and Inhouse Team Costs.
Our local league participates in the Suburban Travel Baseball League (STBL) to provide a more competitive environment to those youngsters that just can’t get enough baseball.
Players voluntarily register for Travel Baseball. Tryouts are held and not all players will make the team. This is a reality that all parents and players MUST understand. There is no guarantee that your child will be selected to be on a Travel Team Roster.
Once on the team roster, there is a separate fee per player. This fee covers uniforms, insurance, umpires, and equipment. In addition, a separate fee is required of each player for 10 indoor winter workouts.
All Travel players are expected to participate in the intramural (in-house) baseball program. History has shown that a large percentage of Travel players try-out for Post-Season Tournament teams in the summer. A player must play intramural (in-house) baseball to be eligible for a Post-Season Tournament team.
Travel Baseball is a serious and rewarding commitment for both the players and parents. Travel games are scheduled on Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons so as to not interfere with intramural baseball.
A few important differences exist between Travel Baseball and Intramural Baseball. These differences are found in the Suburban Travel Baseball League Rulebook.
- Travel permits unlimited base stealing, Intramural limits the number of steals per inning.
- Travel pitchers generally throw harder & faster than those in most Intramural programs.
- Travel players are not guaranteed to play every inning or even in every game. Intramural programs focus on instruction and equal playing time for all.
Travel players should understand that belonging to a Travel team is a unique opportunity and places that individual among the BEST Baseball players in the Bucks County region. There is no other venue where so many talented youngsters play competitive baseball at these age levels.
Our local league attempts to field two Travel teams per age group whenever possible based on participation requests and coaching volunteers.