Right or wrong, at my son's 5A program they are expected to run a sub 6:00 mile to be on the varsity. I can't speak to the rationale other than to say it's one measure of a kid's overall condition and if known before hand, level of desire/commitment to play on the team.
As for the instructional part, it seems if your coaches want to win, they would be bending over backwards to instruct where needed. However, I can understand the hesitancy for some coaches to change fundamental approaches. Many kids playing at the highest levels do have their own hitting/pitching instructors that they've been working with for years. To have conflicting messages could result in confusion and lack of productivity. Baseball is so mental that a player needs to have a simple, consistent, clear approach and not thinking about different approaches for different coaches. All that being said, the coach fills out the lineup card and if the player wants to be in the lineup, he should be doing everything possible to please the coach.