Hi - I'm new to forum. As a parent, I know I am biased, so I would love any advice on how to handle a situation with my son and his HS coach. I feel that this coach crossed the line, but again, I would love any input.
Just a bit of background - my son is 15 and will be a sophomore this year. He has played comp ball since he was 9 and has caught most of those years. He is a good catcher, but still has a way to go in his development be a really good catcher.
Last year he tried and made the HS team as a freshman. Midway through the season they brought him up to catch JV. He finished the season as the JV catcher.
Summer ball he was asked to be the varsity catcher as the actual varsity catcher was playing for a showcase team. My son is nowhere near as talented as the varsity catcher - just to be clear. The assistant head coach (who is also the catching coach) was the head coach for summer ball. The coach touted summer ball as developmental and the practices would be the games. Sounds great so far. The first few games, my son is the only one not in the lineup. OK - not going to complain - maybe there is a good explanation.
About 5 games in the coach tells my son in front of the team that he won't hit unless he plays better. This comes out of nowhere. Hasn't taken my son aside to tell him where he needs to improve and my son hadn't been playing poorly (at least in my eyes). The next game, he plays great, but doesn’t get into the lineup.
A couple games later, my son finds out everyone but him is going to a local college team camp. They invited the JV prep catcher instead. He is devastated and plays poorly in the next game. Coach brings the team together and tells them the team lost due to the catcher and he has a weak arm. He pulls him for the next game and then when they get 10 runned with another catcher playing, he still calls out my son and says we have a hole at catching and you better watch your back because someone else wants his job.
The last part of the season, when the team would be in the dugout, the pitcher would ask who was catching. Again, in front of the team, he would say, "so and so is but he better catch the ball or I'm pulling him". He would tell another fill-in catcher to be ready because my son couldn't catch (again - in front of the team). This happened multiple times.
He would walk by the plate and tell my son that if he didn't catch well, he would get pulled. There was this constant threat of getting pulled - but no other player had this threat against them every game. No other player had to earn a spot in the lineup through their play. No other player was criticized after a loss, or in the dugout. It felt like he just wanted to be cruel to my son.
We want to go to the head coach and discuss this. Am I being an overprotective parent? Again, any advice would be appreciated.