USA Baseball Announces 36 16U National Team Trials Invites

I think it is great that utah will be represented. Marcus Littlewood is definately a great player. During the opening day there was a talk about watching the kids throughout the week. Making the best decision for the team and I am sure that it is difficult seeing how many kids there are too look at. I wanted to know why then was Marcus chosen over any other players when he only participated in the tournament for the last two games (one on friday and one on Sat.)? That just does not seem right. I feel for all the great players that were passed up even though they hussled on and off the field, pitched in the 110+ weather, got base hit after base hit, picked up the trash in the dug out ect… all that was mentioned in that particular meeting, but did not make it. I felt it was an honor having my son play there and I was excited to see him on the field, but now knowing what we know, I am not so sure that playing the entire week enduring the heat and trying to make an impression is what was truely needed. Maybe all he had to do was show up for the last two games and make the tryout team.

I?d really like to make a statement on behalf of USA Baseball regarding the feelings out there that the 16U Trials selections out of the Arizona and Florida tournaments are pre-selected. This is absolutely not the case by any means. Our scouts work very hard to find and follow players throughout the week and we could save a lot of time, energy, and money if we knew who was going to be at Trials before the tournament even started.

In doing a little research on our 36 invites, 20 of them were players nominated by coaches before the tournament started. That means we knew little to nothing coming into the tournament about 45% of the players eventually selected. There are certainly players who we know more about than others for various reasons before play ever starts. These are players who have been nominated by their coaches, players who we followed or invited to trials in the previous year, players who have come up through our 14U program, or players who have gained national recognition in some way due to their play in other tournaments, showcases, and their high school season. Once play starts, however, it?s up to the player?s performance and behavior at the tournament to get them to the next level. We?ve not invited back players who were ?shoe ins? by virtue of having been selected to Trials the year before. If we made our announcement on Thursday as opposed to Friday, you?d see some different names on the list as many of our decisions come down to the last day. Our scouts are looking for the best 36 players to bring to Trials; nothing more, nothing less.

On the other hand, to say that we have never missed on a pick would be bullheadish. The task of narrowing down the field from 2800 to 36 is daunting to say the least. It is difficult enough to make those selections within the vacuum of one site, but when you add in the conference calls with the other site and putting together the puzzle of creating two trials rosters, the task becomes even greater. Our staff does an amazing job to get our picks by the end of the week and I am confident each and every year that we have a great group of talented and deserving kids from which to mold our final team. We make a lot of tough decisions and leave a lot of good kids back at the tournaments each year, and to think that we?ve never made the wrong choice is most likely wrong.

In regards to the specific situation of Marcus Littlewood who played in two games in front of our scouts in Arizona, I?d like to point out that before coming to the 16U Championships he was participating in the USA Baseball Tournament of Stars ? the tournament by which the 18U team is selected ? in Cary, NC. He was probably scouted more heavily by USA Baseball than any other player because of this. Although he hit for the third highest batting average in that tournament, he didn?t make those Trials so he headed out to Arizona. (As a note, he shouldn?t have been there in the first place — not based on ability but rather due to his 16U eligibility, but that was a mistake by his inviting organization). We got positive reports on him from NC and our scouts liked what they saw in Arizona. This is certainly the exception as opposed to the rule, and the only other situation I can think of in recent years where a player came in for a short stint and got selected to Trials was in 2003 when Jeremy Hellickson pitched in one game due to the fact that he was in the middle of his high school season in Iowa where their official high school season is still going on into July.

We appreciate the sacrifices, financially and otherwise, that families make to participate in the 16U Championships. We hope it is an event that players feel a value in when it?s all said and done. We think it is, and it is important that it is looked upon as an event with integrity. I assure you, as the director of this program, that when an age-eligible player comes to the 16U Championships, they have a chance to be selected to the 16U National Team Trials. Those 36 players are not selected in advance and there is no political agenda we are trying to advance nor are we trying to make one group happy over another by picking or not picking a certain kid. We are merely trying to give USA Baseball the best chance to win that summer?s international tournament. Our selections can always be debated ? as they are internally much of the time ? but please feel comfortable in the fact that they are made by a talented group of coaches with international experience to relate to who put a great deal of hard work, thought, discussion, and above all else integrity into their selections.

Thanks to everyone who has participated or is considering participating in the 16U Championships, and I encourage anyone with questions or concerns about the process to contact me directly to discuss so that you can feel comfortable with the way things work. My phone is 919-474-8721 x218 and my email is jeffsinger@usabaseball.com.