quote:He just started playing tournament baseball and has been put in center field. He is definitely better than the current short stop, but for some reason, he's out there. Granted, he's doing an amazing job as well and possibly the only one on the team who can make those hard diving catches. But he feels a tad slighted. He doesn't understand why he's out there when he's better than the current SS. Not to mention, people have told us that colleges don't scout center fielders and that's a big reason why he even wants to play.
This topic comes up at least once per month here at the hsbbweb. For starters, I would shut down the tad slighted feelings and replace them with a tad grateful feelings. It is an honor to bat lead-off for starters and your coach is showing him tremendous respect by putting him in center.
My son is a shorstop and I used to get my feelings rattled a bit when I felt he was the best shorstop on the field and not getting the opportunity there. I never let him feel that way however. For him, I always reinforced the idea that the important part was to play and have fun. The more positions your son plays the better player he will become imho and I am speaking from experience. What often happened in my son's experiences is he ended up playing shortstop in the long run because the other kids were exposed in the long run. Along with shortstop, mine has played third base, second base, and center. Huge blessing for college players to play multiple positions. Look at this as an opportunity for growth and most importantly have fun.