12u Rankings by Louie

[linedrivelouie]

Oh Mr Balls and Mr Chango, I must say patients my little grass hoppers!!! Your time will come at the top of the boards this week. Changes are coming. Great Job on the win this weekend.

[burgermeister]

1.grappettes k looked strong in asa fall classic. Good defense. Agressive base running. Timely hitting. Good pitching.
2.heat cota beat team ca and kg hitters and kept it close to grappettes in championship game. Looks like an improved hitting club from last year. Strong defense and smart base running.
3.salinas storm not sure who knocked them out this weekend. Beat hype on saturday. Good hitting and defensive team
4.breeze 00 this weekend this team looked out of sorts. One game errors all over. Next game looked decent.
5. Hype 00 lost to salinas storm and kg hitters. One and done on sunday but still a decent team.
I am sure some of these teams will continue to swap positions through fall.

[Chango15]

Updated rankings:

1. Grapettes-Kahwaty Good pitching, aggressive baserunning, very strong defense.
2. Thunder-Byers Strong team overall, several '99 players
3. Heat- Cota Solid defense, good baserunning, improved hitting club
4. Breeze '00 Strong hitting, not as strong overall as last season
5. Salinas Storm Very strong hitting, good defense
6. Hype '00 Strong catcher, solid hitting
7. KG Hitters-Concord Hitting club, average pitching, weak defense
8. Team California Good players, should be stronger
9. Foothill Gold '00 Improved coaching has made a deference, strong catcher
10. Rapids Getting better

[Stealing Home]

No way Byers gets any attention. They continue to sand bag and play for hardware. They are a 14u team playing down. Spent all year at DF and now enters their first ASA tournament only to play down. No love for them and glad they got bounced early!

Updated rankings:

1. Grapettes-Kahwaty Good pitching, aggressive baserunning, very strong defense.
2. Thunder-Byers Strong team overall, several '99 players
3. Heat- Cota Solid defense, good baserunning, improved hitting club
4. Breeze '00 Strong hitting, not as strong overall as last season
5. Salinas Storm Very strong hitting, good defense
6. Hype '00 Strong catcher, solid hitting
7. KG Hitters-Concord Hitting club, average pitching, weak defense
8. Team California Good players, should be stronger
9. Foothill Gold '00 Improved coaching has made a deference, strong catcher
10. Rapids Getting better

[uncle]

I agree with stealing home....no 99 team should be playing 12U. and Team Ca. should be lower than Rapids....ouch......did i say that...

[Stealing Home]

Maybe it's the coaching

I agree with stealing home....no 99 team should be playing 12U. and Team Ca. should be lower than Rapids....ouch......did i say that...

[uncle]

it's always the combo of both for all teams.....coaching and their moves and the talent on the team....

[linedrivelouie]

After watching the last 2 weekends. Keep in mind I try to think of the overall body of work along with the specific weekend play. 1 good or bad weekend will not throw you to the top or bottom. They are 12 I don’t care what anyone says they will have good and bad weekends. I am sure there will be many more moves between now and November.
I to agree that no 99 teams should be considered for 12u Rankings Thunder Byers is an age pure 99 TB team, Rocklin T Cats is majority 99 players with 1 or 2 00’s. These teams need to be playing 14u.

1.Grapettes Kahwaty: Moved to the top spot 2 championship weekends in a row beating who many thought would be the #1 going into the Fall in the Championship game.

2. Roseville Heat: Played well all weekend struggled against an 01 team on Saturday. Shows what happens when anything other than the starting 9 are in play. Overall about what I am sure most expected out of the Heat.

3. Salinas Storm: Like I said James always puts together strong teams. Beat last weeks #1 on Sat play, Tied the Rapids. 1 small mental mistake allowed a struggling Breeze team back in the game and got bumped in ITB Sunday.

4. Rocklin Hype: Very surprised this team looked completely different from last week. D look slow, Errors cost them and the strong hitting wasn’t there. I kept them in the top 5 because they took it to Grapes last weekend in the Championship game and have beaten every team below. One early loss will not get you bounced to far.

5 CA Rapids: Don't look past this team because they ended up in Silver. At first look BIG improvement from last season. Tied Storm 00 on Sat, Rapids and Storm had the strong teams in their pool as a result Rapids got bumped to Silver. Beat all 00 teams in Silver to win the Silver Bracket. See if the play continues or if it was a one weekend wonder.

The next 2 teams could probably flip between 6 7 either way. I based my decision off of how the teams played head to head over the last 2 weeks against other teams like Grapes, K, Hype, RR A/B, Thunder Cats etc…

6 Team CA: Combined Team CA has allowed less runs and score more runs over the above team in the last 2 weeks. Played well against the Heat first game Sat in it all the way until a few mistakes hurt them in the end. Strong line up who just looked flat this weekend.

7 CA Breeze: Had the lighter of the schedules in their pool on Sat which helped bump them in Gold by beating the 01 team in the pool. Another team with a big line up which is flat right now. The out field made some great plays to keep the score down to 6 – 0 against Grapes K.

8 KG Hitters: This team was beat pretty bad by Grapes K 2 weeks in a row and lost to Breeze last week. Had very weak teams in their pool on Sat to get into Gold. With all those new faces this team has really been hot and cold. Got past Hype with a goofy bases loaded triple play and some mistakes by the Hype D. Don’t let one win fool you into thinking they are better.

9 Foothill Gold: Runner up in Silver Bracket. Played all 01 teams Sunday until getting beat by Rapids in the Silver Final. Starting 9 and #1 pitcher can keep them in games but will need some mistakes by the other team to get past most 00 teams.

10 Easton Elite: Team played in a pool with all 01 teams on Sat #1 seed beat an 01 team first game Sunday. Ran into Heat and the day weekend was ended. Need to see them play some 00 teams to move them up.

[WhoRyou?]

Personally, I am not sure how anyone can get a good read on any of these teams. There are teams that have coaches shuffling players in and out at different positions, batting all players and not to mention usually have their established players batting at the bottom of the lineup to allow more opportunities for those new players (batters) to be evaluated. Yes, their actually are coaches who are using the fall season to evaluate rather putting the focus on winning.

I do appreciate the time that is put into putting these polls up and the conversation it generates. However, I have to ask the question...do this people actually attend these tournaments and watch the games? Or is their info based on third party info and perhaps their like or dislike for a certain organization?

All I ask is that if you are going to report information and give your opinion on what actually took place.....be accurate in what is being reported and your polls would actually hold more value.

[onlooker]

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