Godzilla: If the Coach is serious about winning, and your kid made the team, WHY would you even consider pulling him off the team? Unless you're saying you have the choice of going to another school and another team with better coaching, better facilities etc., do you really think NOT playing at all is better than "lowering" yourself to let your son play lowly Freshman ball?
I just don't get people some time! Your son has proven exactly NOTHING at the high school level. Let him make the team, beat the heck out of the ball, play great "D" and maybe he'll move up. But if he comes in with the perception of high school ball that you have, he will struggle every day with the gigantic chip he has on his shoulder.
The other thing is: baseball, more than a lot of sports, allows you to play on a poor team, but still exert your excellence. The team may not win a whole lot, and they may make a lot of errors. But your son can still have a pitch by pitch battle with the Pitcher EVERY at bat, he can play great defense, he can pitch his A** off even if they're making errors behind him, and he can LEARN something about himself AND his teammates. And maybe, just maybe, he can grow as a teammate, and he can make some of those players around him better. If he is so good that he should be on varsity and isn't, he should be able to assist some of the other Freshmen with their game.
jolietboy - so your answer to having teammates who are uncommitted is......quit? Sorry, don't get that. If it is about winning, then you STAY and do everything you can to make your teammates try harder. If these are guys you might be playing with for 4 years, you want to do THAT! I gues, or, just give it up and walk away for good.
it's 2015 we have choices. So many people look at choices as if one is good and the other is bad. It is simply a choice. A value judgement. If you place that high a value on 'staying true to your school' who am I to say you are wrong? If another person wants to opt out and play travel ball that is their v value judgement and also not wrong. For the record I am not sure yet what my son will do the only thing I can tell you is it will be his decision and I will respect it either way. And I get what you are saying about still having your individual time to shine even on a bad team but also you have to keep in mind you will get less at bats over the.course I f a season and less games played due to early elimination in tournaments (if your state allows any) and of course at the end of the year.