The only thing that would make sense why it was handled this way is since he don't hold tryouts and evaluates and cuts in the fall, maybe he just does base it off JV numbers and figure that whatever those numbers were lacking at the JV level will really look bad on varsity. This is assuming that January, he's had the team since fall and can get a head start with all the projected varsity players during January. In our area, tryouts are every March and players are evaluated each year. Some players have made it as freshman only to get cut soph and junior years and make it their senior year and another was a four year soccer player who never played HS baseball but played travel went out for the team his senior year only, made the team and started most of the games. He was always a good hitter and athlete in general so he must've showed that in the tryouts. Since your baseball program don't hold regular spring tryouts, I guess if he wants to play that bad is to get on a good travel team, work on the game and pester that coach in whatever way he can. Why a coach wouldn't hold formal tryouts yearly is odd since you never know who you might miss out on. Bottom line is in coaches eyes some players will have to play themselves off a team while others will have to show they belong.