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Reply to "Football and baseball"

TerribleBPthrower posted:
CollegebaseballInsights posted:
TerribleBPthrower posted:

I was wondering this myself, but with baseball and basketball. My son is a catcher and worried about the hoops schedule in January interfering with his ability to catch bull pens and work with the pitching staff. He's a freshman and will most likely be JV for hoops and varsity for baseball.

The coaches seem supportive but the baseball coach seems to change his demeanor when we ask about January. I get the feeling he would prefer my son only play baseball but that he doesn't want to tell him. 

Read the thread on catchers and showcasing.  Your son is a freshman, will he get playing time on varsity baseball or  will he just be a bullpen catcher?  How much playing time does he expect as a freshman?  It is all about reps. Let him enjoy school and sports. Save his knees for the summer.

His coach told me he is going to be the starter for varsity. He’s asking for his gear sizes so he can order the custom team gear for him

This is a tough one.  I am usually in the camp with Collegebaseballinsights as a proponent of multiple sports and the full HS experience when possible.  But you are correct about the issue of catchers working pitchers.  As a HS coach, we would conduct pen ramp-up sessions for the pitching staff, starting several weeks in advance of position player work and then separately when the whole group started working out.  Having multiple catchers to catch pens is essential to efficiency for these workouts.  But far more importantly - while it is certainly feasible to find guys to step in and catch pens, having the catchers that would actually be catching those pitchers in-season is particularly valuable for all involved.  It is great work for P's and C's in many ways.  Pitcher benefits are obvious.  C's get good receiving and blocking reps, learn all the P's ball movement, personalities, tempo, pitch preferences, pitch strengths, they start to get their legs conditioned for the season, etc.

A few of our recent C's played soccer (same time as basketball) and while I always supported our guys playing other sports, this was particularly challenging and somewhat detrimental.  Just something to be aware of so you may be more understanding of the coach's reservations.

Last edited by cabbagedad
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