The saga continues....
On Monday the coach told son he would try to give him a chance in Tues game. It was a close one and that didn't work out...that was fine with son, he understood. He spoke to coach on Wed and asked him to watch his bullpen...coach came over, but watched and interacted with another pitcher who was also throwing. After, he told son he needs to prove himself and convince him he can pitch. On Thurs, son asked coach if he would get a chance to pitch on Fri...coach said he'd give him an inning, even though he said "I told player X I was going to put you in tomorrow and he said 'really?'". So, score is 6-0 in our favor, 6th inning coach puts in the catcher to pitch, then puts in the closer for the 7th. During the 7th inning my husband heard the coach tell son "you want to bat? never mind player x go in"...son was the only player on the team to not step on the field tonight. It is just so demoralizing and hard not to see it as personal. Coach cannot give clear way son can "prove himself" without stepping on the mound. I have never seen this kid so dispirited...I wonder about a coach who is basically a bully, sets up a catch 22 so son can never meet his expectations, pretends he's going to give him a chance and then "oops, not you". Is this acceptable behavior? If son is never going to get a chance, I'd rather he just cut him loose...this constant hope and failure without opportunity is incredibly difficult to watch without saying anything. We are thinking about son asking for mound time on the JV team just to get some opportunity to pitch. Is that ridiculous? This guy is poison.