Top Baseball Influencers and Websites: Who Parents Can Trust
The best baseball influencers for a North Texas select parent are the ones that are open about how they make money and honest about who their content is for. Baseball Bat Bros (bat reviews), Driveline (training), Pitching Ninja and Jomboy Media (MLB entertainment), plus Perfect Game and Prep Baseball Report (tournaments and rankings) are all real and worth knowing. Each one also sells something, and almost none of it is built for a 10-year-old. Use them for fun, for buying decisions and for questions to bring to your coach, not as a plan for your kid’s arm.
Here is the part most “top influencer” lists skip: each source’s own pages say how it earns its money. Put that next to one simple test (is this made for my kid’s age?) and the hype gets a lot easier to sort. Every fact below comes from the source’s own pages as read in late October 2026. We do not quote follower or subscriber counts, because they change every day.
The quick answer: who is good for what
| Source | What it is | How it earns (per its own pages) | Good for | Be careful |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baseball Bat Bros | Bat review site and YouTube channel | Affiliate links to one retailer, JustBats, on a flat-rate deal | Comparing bats before you spend $300 or more | Top picks skew expensive; check your league’s bat rules first |
| Driveline | Training company with youth programs | Sells assessments, training and courses | Seeing what measured, data-driven training looks like | Its marketing features big velocity gains in young players |
| Pitching Ninja | Slow-motion MLB pitching clips run by Rob Friedman | Sells merchandise at pitchingninja.com | Enjoying pitching and talking about pitch shapes | Pro mechanics are not a template for a 10-year-old |
| Jomboy Media | MLB commentary, podcasts and video | Sponsor messages in video descriptions | Fun baseball content to talk about as a family | Sponsors are aimed at adults |
| Perfect Game | Tournaments, showcases, rankings and scouting | Runs events and offers sponsor partnerships | Knowing how the events and rankings world works | Exposure marketing long before recruiting matters |
| Prep Baseball Report | Texas events, rankings and scouting reports | Runs showcases and ID events | Seeing how Texas high school players are evaluated | Mostly high school; not a 9U–12U tool |
Baseball Bat Bros: honest reviews, one retailer, high price tags
Baseball Bat Bros is a bat-review brand: a site with bat rankings and a YouTube channel whose tagline is “Honest bat reviews for the people!” They rate bats on their own “Bat Bro Scale” and publish BBCOR rankings, which is the bat standard for high school and college, not for most kids in the 9U–12U range.
What parents should know is on their FTC affiliate disclosure page. They say they may be paid when you click a product link and buy, and that they work exclusively with JustBats as their affiliate partner. They also say it is a flat-rate payment instead of commission, so they can review bats without chasing affiliate quotas. That is more transparent than most, and the page is easy to find. It is still a business, and the top BBCOR and USSSA picks they list ran about $350 to $400 when we looked.
Use it for: comparing a bat you were already considering. Be careful about: the stamp and the price. Confirm your league or tournament organization’s bat rule before you buy, and ask your coach whether a $350 bat makes sense for a player who may outgrow it in a year. More on spending wisely is in our guide to training aids that work and gimmicks.
Driveline Baseball: serious training, with a sales funnel
Driveline is a training company. Its youth page describes an assessment for ages 9 to 14 in Kent, Washington; Scottsdale, Arizona; and Tampa, Florida, using tools such as HitTrax, bat sensors and force plates, followed by lessons, group or remote training. The page says the assessment works with a player’s own team, not instead of it, and that its youth director’s goal is to make player development the priority.
The same page also features before-and-after stories, including velocity gains for pitchers aged 12 and 13 and exit-velocity gains for hitters. Those are the company’s own marketing examples, not independent research. The takeaway is not “Driveline is bad.” It is that a velocity number is a sales tool, and a big jump in a young pitcher is exactly where a parent should slow down and read the arm-care guidance below.
Use it for: understanding what measured training looks like, and for hitters, swing-data ideas. Be careful about: chasing mph at 11 or 12. If a trainer sells a velocity program for a child who is still growing, ask what the plan is for rest.
Pitching Ninja: great clips, wrong template
Pitching Ninja is the account of Rob Friedman, known for slow-motion clips of MLB pitchers. It has a YouTube channel and a merchandise store at pitchingninja.com. It is an entertaining way for a young pitcher to see how a slider or a changeup behaves.
The caution is simple. A major leaguer’s arm slot, hip rotation and velocity come from years of physical development. Copying that on a 10-year-old can teach habits his body is not ready for. Use it for: fun and curiosity. Be careful about: trying to rebuild a kid’s delivery from a clip. Leave mechanics changes to a coach who watches your child throw in person.
Jomboy Media: entertainment, not instruction
Jomboy Media is a video and podcast company built around MLB commentary and highlights. For a baseball-obsessed kid, it is a way to learn the game’s culture and stories. It is not a coaching channel. When we checked, the video descriptions carried sponsor messages, including a sportsbook and a ticketing service. That is normal for a media company and fine for adults, but worth knowing before a 10-year-old watches alone.
Perfect Game and Prep Baseball Report: the exposure world
Perfect Game says on its about page that it hosts amateur tournaments and showcases, keeps a player database and rankings used by college coaches and MLB scouts, and runs the PG Super25 for ages 9U through 17U. Prep Baseball Report publishes Texas events, rankings and scouting reports, and its Texas page is mostly high school showcases and ID events at sites such as Denton, Weatherford, Rockwall and Euless.
Both are useful for learning how evaluation and recruiting work. Both also run the events they publish about. For a family with a 9- to 12-year-old, the honest read is that rankings and showcases are years away from mattering. If anyone pushes exposure on families of very young players, check the cost and the real benefit first. Our reality check on the numbers is in the real odds of making it to the MLB, and our tournament calendar is in the North Texas tournament guide.
Where influencer advice goes wrong for kids ages 9–14
- Sponsored or affiliate reviews. A review can be honest and still be paid for. Look for a disclosure page, as Bat Bros has, and treat a missing one as a reason to be careful.
- Advanced mechanics. Elite hip-shoulder separation, long-toss programs and weighted-ball routines are built for older, bigger athletes.
- Velocity and gadget content. Radar guns and sensors are fun, but chasing a number is how a young arm ends up overused. Compare any plan against MLB Pitch Smart, the youth arm-care guidance from MLB and USA Baseball.
- Recruiting hype. Social media makes college commitments look routine. Most select players in North Texas will not need a recruiting plan until high school.
What Pitch Smart actually says
MLB Pitch Smart is the guidance MLB and USA Baseball publish for youth pitchers. One of its core points is that young pitchers should take at least four months off from throwing each year, including two to three consecutive months of rest from overhead throwing. Read the full guidelines on the Pitch Smart site, and ask your coach how your team applies them. If an influencer’s plan has a young pitcher throwing year-round for velocity, it does not match this guidance.
A three-step test before you trust any baseball influencer
- Check the credentials and the business. Who is this person, what have they actually played or coached, and how does the channel or site make money? A disclosure page is a good sign.
- Check the age. Was the advice made for a 9- to 14-year-old, or for a high schooler or pro? If it was not made for your child’s age, treat it as entertainment.
- Talk to your coach. Take what you saw to the person who watches your player every week. If they disagree, have the conversation. For in-person help, see our guide to choosing a baseball instructor in North Texas and the 12 questions to ask a coach.
How to use these with your kid
- Watch together for ten minutes, then talk. Ask what your child noticed, not what he should copy.
- Pick one idea at a time and bring it to practice. Do not stack five tips from five channels.
- Use bat and gear reviews before you buy, not after, and check your league’s bat rule first.
- Treat velocity numbers, exit-velocity charts and ranking lists as information, not a grade.
- Keep it fun. If your kid starts dreading the videos, close the tab.
Disclosure
NTX Select Baseball is not paid by Baseball Bat Bros, Driveline, Pitching Ninja, Jomboy Media, Perfect Game or Prep Baseball Report. We have no affiliate arrangement with them, and every link above goes to the source’s own page. Prices, event dates and sponsors change, so check each source’s current page.
For the bigger picture on teams, training and costs, start with our ultimate guide to select baseball in North Texas.
