Recently, the CIF adopted a new rule that high school athletes can now play both high school sports and travel ball or AAU at the same time. This means that players can go to showcases during the weekend and play a high school game the next week.

     For baseball players, this will not benefit them at all, as a baseball player, you can’t pitch in a game on Saturday and then pitch in a game on a Monday or Tuesday too, because that will cause too much strain on your arm.

     Baseball is the one sport that will not be benefited by this rule, it will cause players to get persuaded by their travel teams to not play high school baseball because they have a better chance to get them committed. This could be true, but if you are good enough they will find you.

     Sports like soccer and basketball can benefit, by at least attending a showcase on the weekends and then playing a high school game on a weekday. Yes, you would be sore and it would not be ideal but this is the only way that this should be beneficial for players to do both.

     Another sport that could pull this off is softball. This is because in softball they do not have any pitching limits, sometimes they will have the same pitcher throw three games in a week because the underhand motion is supposed to be natural.

     Some baseball programs will be making their kids sign a commitment agreement, saying that they will be at the high school stuff and that they can’t play travel ball at all, or that if it interferes with the high school team they will be kicked off.

    As a baseball player, I would never even want to do both at the same time, because I have dealt with arm pain before and I know overthrowing can cause many problems. I see how it can benefit you but for this, there are way more negatives to it than positive.  I can get scouted just as much through high school baseball, but also through Twitter, which is one of the biggest ways baseball players are getting scouted nowadays. 

     Quickly sending a video of you playing to your twitter feed or to a few college coaches can be just as beneficial to you as paying big costs for events and showcases.