Bobblehead: Exactly. It's just another 'thing'.
In a big school (small pond in the grand scheme), to compete with the bigger fish, you have to be a big fish. The 4'2" kid better do something REALLY well to get noticed at the tryout.
The 6'2" LHP throwing in the mid 80's with control, poise and competing gets a look. When coach throws him out there in varsity tryouts against the meat of the senior ladden varsity order starting with a 2-1 count and he retires 6 out of 7 and coach asks him, 'how did that feel' and he says, 'I missed my location on that one pitch to the D-I signee & he burned me for the double to right center, but it won't happen again coach. I was throwing under his hands because I've seen the ink that he can't hit that pitch, but I missed by a 6" and he drove it. Got the next guy on a pop up to end it. I won't do that again, sorry coach'.
This was a true story...
It sounds better than from the 4'2" RHP younger freshman, 'ummm Good?', after displaying a below average arm, speed, power, average and defensive ability.
Maturity on the field comes from competing against great players, getting humbled and coming back. Baseball isn't easy and you have to compete against the best to discover where you really are and where you have to grow. Jr could easily have gone out this season and thrown fastballs by other freshmen, but that isn't growth. That's dominating marginal competition.
There are lots of fish in the sea. In our little pond, JR stands out, yet when he plays against the best in the West, the water gets deeper and JR stops throwing fastballs and starts pitching. In HS this past season, he pitched to 3 draft picks and 16 kids who signed D-I. Don't blow many FB by those guys...
You've got to play against the best to be the best. You have to be perpared to NOT succeed all the time to take those next steps.
Just my 2 cents.