***Update***
Looking back, lots of great advice that has truly resonated with me through my sons HS baseball experience. Having never gone through this as a parent, I now absolutely agree that it’s best to stay out of any interaction with HS coaches if at all possible. For those that politic, it will ultimately blow up in their faces at some point. If your son is good enough, he will find the field on his own. If he’s not, dedicate your time and energy to helping him get better outside of the HS baseball team.
Quick recap: Son enters HS as a young, undersized freshman (14 years old, 5’5”, 115lbs) who’s season start was delayed from off season surgery on his throwing arm and further delayed due to on going PT. Still made varsity, as the school didn’t have a JV team. Didn’t get much playing time and when he did, he didn’t do much to help his cause. Hindsight, he had no business getting playing time on any varsity team given our situation.
The good news, he spent his summer getting playing time. Hit well, so he worked his way up in the lineup with his travel team. Worked his butt off in the gym and trained a ton with his coaches. He also grew. Heading into his Fall season, he was 5’10, 135. Still undersized, but big enough to compete. His HS coach welcomed him back for Fall and he actually split time behind the plate initially. When he wasn’t catching, he was filling in nicely all over the field as a utility player. All was pretty good until he started to widen the gap in skill set with the other catcher. Opposing catchers parents started to pad and falsify their son’s stats again. In addition, the opposing catcher started to try to turn teammates against my son by trash talking him behind his back and attempting to bully him on the field. I’ve known this family since T-ball and this had become par for the course over the years. I let it go for awhile, but it escalated and after about three weeks of nonsense, I against my better judgment, requested a meeting with the coach with the hopes that he would resolve the situation. In short, the meeting was a waste of time. The coach acknowledged that the stats were being padded as it was part of their plan to boost the profile of the other catcher. Also he had no intention of changing things for spring. Did commit to addressing the bullying so that was going to be enough for me. The funny part in all of this is, we didn’t care about catching time for his HS team. Devised a plan to get that time in during summer and fall ball with his travel teams. Pretty clear that things were not going to improve so we decided it was time to move on and my son transferred to a new school in the middle of fall ball. I let the coach know that he’d be changing schools and left it up to him on the remainder of fall ball. He suggested that we just cut ties so we did.
Still a little fall ball left, so my son reached out to his new HS coach and he agreed to find him a spot. Much bigger school that carried multiple fall teams. My son bounced back and forth between the JV and varsity teams and had a great time the rest of fall ball. Fall ended with a round robin tournament at a local college against some of the best teams in our area. My son went off in the tournament going 7 for 11 at the plate and played well defensively behind the plate and in several other spots. Tryouts are at the end of this week so the future is bright. I don’t know which team he’ll play on nor do I care. His hard work and dedication have served him well as he’ll enter his sophomore season bigger (5’11”, 150lbs), stronger (mid 80’s on the mound, throwing program went well), and ready to help his team wherever his coach needs him.
We’re doing it differently than a lot of you suggested, but in most situations I would absolutely agree that having your child work their way into starting spots is best. If you do find yourself in a toxic situation, there are other options. Hopefully in a couple of years I’ll be able to report great news of him having success at the HS level and continuing on to an opportunity to play at the next level too. Thank you all again for your insight and guidance. This has been a learning experience for me as well. I haven’t spoken with the new coaches nor do I plan too. I’ll find myself a seat off to the side where I can quietly enjoy the games. Best of luck to your sons in their respective seasons.