GoHeels posted:A couple of honest observations...
I'm not going to suggest that there is no such thing as "politics" in high school sports, but...in my personal experience, the majority of those who have pounded politics, were not necessarily in the upper echelon of the talent pool. At the high school level, if a particular player is good enough to play, they are going to play. Most often, there are things that may be going on that the parent may not be privy to. Examples could be attitude on the field, laziness, a lack of coachability, etc. Maybe he is asked to do things during practice, and simply can't or won't execute what is asked, which makes it more challenging to put him on the field in a game. Generally speaking, and every program is somewhat different, but JV baseball is a development program. It is designed to develop players to move on to the Varsity level. As such, JV players, even those at the bottom of the roster, would generally receive more than one at bat in an entire season. This tells me one of two things: either the player is near the bottom of this school's present talent pool, OR maybe there should more of a focus on the intangibles.
The high school coach is with your son EVERY DAY in a baseball environment. The last time most parents spent considerable time in their son's baseball environment tends to be when they are pre-high school. Nearly every high school player was the 12 year old all-star. The further you move up, the funnel narrows, and the parent only sees what happens on game day.
Being as the player was a JV player as a 10th grader, I would spend some time trying to identify his strengths and weaknesses on the field, and working to enhance them. I will disagree with an above poster and tell you that I have not talked to single college coach, EVER, at any level, who asked me what a players' stats were. They are more concerned with athleticism, fundamental mechanics; how that translates to game play and projects to the future, along with attitude and academics.
Best of luck!
Not saying coaches ask, but this is the Information Age and MaxPreps is readily available to review, recruiting websites such as berecruited.com allow players to post these numbers as well. I would say to think college coaches don't look at that would be naive, just like they look at players Instagram, twitter and Facebook profiles. That coach is thinking about making an investment in that player and will likely perform due diligence. Ultimate stat of course is the eye test, but to discount HS stats completely is not correct.