Playing V as a freshman isn't all it is cracked up to be. It has not been a great experience for my son. In fact, he probably will skip HS season altogether his next three years and play in a HS alternative program because the coach has so soured him on this team. He is a catcher also and gets some playing time--an inning here or there, but he mostly catches bullpens during practice and at games. He's not getting quality reps in practice, as far as I can tell (I'm not there, but that is what it sounds like), and he's definitely not getting them in games. It is a tremendous time suck--6 days a week of practice or games. Last week, he played 6 games, Monday-Saturday, due to rain make-ups and dropping down to play JV (and I use the term "played" loosely; he plays the whole JV game but only warmed up pitchers for V). He has very little time to study, and it shows. Unlike the upperclassmen on your son's team, the upperclassmen on our team are not nice to him. As the only freshman, he is the brunt of all of the hazing, shall we say, and he has no one to commiserate with. The team is losing a lot of seniors to graduation, so my son would probably start most games next season, but this one has just about done him in. I am grateful that there are alternatives in our area. He is not the only talented player at his school who won't play for this coach. I know of at least one other, and this other kid is a real stud. He won't play because of his older brother's experience with this coach. The team's loss, I guess! But, yeah--upperclassmen get seniority rights here, too, and freshman are told they're lucky to get to crouch in a bullpen for 3 hours. (Upperclass catchers don't catch bullpens.)