Reply to "Is baseball declining?"

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Originally posted by 06catcherdad:

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Originally posted by PWREDS:
There are many contributing reasons for the decline in high school baseball here in Northern Virginia.

But the four factors which I think contribute the most are (1) travel baseball; (2) showcase baseball; (2) high school baseball politics; and (4) money.

Travel Baseball:
The typical travel team is formed around the sons of the team’s coaches. Most teams tend to have a core of four or five players (the coaches’ sons) who are not necessarily the most talented players on the team. These players are typically surrounded by more talented players though the ‘core players’ (i.e., coaches sons) receive the bulk of the playing time and thus the bulk of the exposure.

My son was involved with travel baseball between the ages of 11 and 14. From his experience with travel ball I would generally say that my son had better competition than what was offered by the local Little League or the local American Legion program – in fact the local American Legion program has not been able to field a team for the past ten years because the local baseball players play on travel teams or ‘elite’ baseball teams in a hope to be ‘seen’ by college coaches.

I noticed that most travel baseball players are predominantly white and financially from upper middle class/upper class families. When helping out with my son’s teams I coined the phrase, “Country Club Baseball”, this because only players whose parents can financially afford to pay are playing travel baseball and the talented players from lower income families are left out of the mix, not exposed to college coaches, not known to high school coaches, generally overlooked and thus look into less expensive sports and/or just stop playing baseball altogether.

Of the sixteen travel players on my son’s 14U team whose parents invested large sums of money, seven are now playing college baseball as freshmen.

Showcase Baseball:
My son was involved with showcase baseball at the age of 17. And again it was predominantly for only baseball players who were from financially upper middle class/upper class families – again there are very few Black or Hispanic players attending these showcases. Though my son was able financially to participate in the showcase experience it seemed that most players attending were already being ‘touted’ by the scouts in attendance who typically did not veer from their lists of prospects.

In my opinion many of the ‘touted’ players were not all that talented, but the scouts in attendance typically only tracked players they were told to watch. Many talented players are overlooked at these showcase tournaments.

Politics:
In the county where I reside it became clear to me during my son’s freshman year of high school that two local high school coaches dictated who was worthy of the local high school baseball accolades.

In my son’s four years of the high school baseball I saw many talented players go unnoticed and then leave baseball when they graduated high school while less talented, but highly ‘touted’ players moved on to college baseball.

At my son’s own high school many of the players who make the team are those whose fathers have influence with the high school coach. In the past years many talented middle school players have opted to play other sports because they know that the chances of them making the high school baseball team are not as much about baseball ability or potential, but more about if they are well connected in the local baseball community and ‘touted’.

Today most high school baseball coaches can’t or will not take the time to develop raw baseball talent and especially if that talent is not connected in some way to the local baseball community.

For example: My son graduated from high school in 2009. He has the size (6’ 0” / 220 lbs), the statistics (BA .461; HR 3; and RBIs 21), the grades (GPA 3.5 with 7 AP Courses) and a passion for the game and he was named to the All-District 1st and 2nd Teams and the All County Team.

But still with all of this he received no real attention for college baseball with the exception of D3 programs which offer only academic scholarships, if any. The reason he did not get heavily scouted was solely because he was not ‘touted’ by the two local high school coaches who are the self appointed clearing house for high school baseball talent in the county. My son wanted to play at VCU but was told that unless he had an inside connection with the VCU baseball program that he need not apply.

It was not until he discovered a D2 college with a new baseball program did he get the opportunity to really play college baseball and major in what he wanted.

Money:
As with the rest of our society, money is the driver of the current baseball development system and scouting system. Only those players who can afford to market themselves through travel ball or baseball showcases will have any real chance to get noticed and move on. Talented players without the finances needed to attend showcases or play travel baseball already know this and typically can’t compete politically against their peers in high school because the high school coaches do not know who they are or do not take the time to develop baseball talent any more.

Unless young players are well connected to the local baseball establishment and 'touted' these players are not usually given the chance to play and develop and these players usually give up on baseball long before they ever become baseball players.

Playing baseball in college seems to be less about baseball talent these days and more about getting your name 'touted' with or without talent. The days of finding a diamond in the rough are over – it’s just not cost effective any longer.

Long, and very opinionated, for someone's first post. I must say, this is one of the most cynical posts I think I've ever seen from a first time poster.

PWREDS, welcome to high school baseball web, it's a great site, one where you can exchange ideas and opinions with many experienced people from all walks of life who have a passion for baseball. That said, I don't think you're going to find a lot of sympathy for your viewpoint, or Coach Milburns. Are you one and the same, or brothers? The impression I get is that the grapes taste pretty sour to you.