Very honest and true. The parent has such a huge impact on the experience the player has. They are either a positive influence or a negative one. What is sad is many kids end up with life long regrets. They end up missing out on so much. Simply because the parent doesn't understand how much they can influence the experience.
I have seen kids who were perfectly happy with where they were. Enjoying the experience and working hard to improve. Only to be convinced that they were getting the short end of the stick by their own parent who simply couldn't understand their kids situation. Its truly sad.
When your in it you think his batting avg is so important, his role on the team is everything, this is huge that is huge. But then reality hits after the glove is put away and the game is a distant memory. It really wasn't about all that stuff you put so much value in. It was about your son learning life lessons through the game. It was about your son having an experience that he can look back on with positive and happy memories. It was about your son learning how to fail, how to get back up, what it means to be a part of something bigger than him.
Parents love their children more than anything they will ever love. In their desire to see him get what they know he wants to get, what they perceive he deserves. They end up causing him to miss out on what he needs and what he ultimately can carry with him long after the game passes him by. I don't care how good your son is. He will be a baseball player for only a short time in his life. He will be your son forever. What kind of man he is will trump what kind of player he is. What he learns through the game will always trump what he learned about the game. When he is 35 his ability to grind, man up, work as a team, fail and get the hell back up, will trump the fact he could hit a baseball at 18.