2017 Spring High School

hshuler posted:

Rob T posted:

CaCO3Girl posted:

Kevin A posted:

They just upgraded us to 18-24 + inches.

 

i mean...COME ON PEOPLE!!!!!!

We in the south don't appreciate you sending down your cold air either!  Last week we were in t-shirts when it touched 80, this week we aren't getting into the 50's, and the night games it might be 40's!  That is sub-arctic for us Georgia folks!

Well, not sure how well you all will take this one, but our district rivalry game on Friday night had to be suspended in the 3rd inning because the plate umpire was suffering from heat stroke.

Heat stroke. In a night game. In March.

Is he okay?

As far as I know.  You could tell he was laboring pretty bad for a few minutes before he called for the trainer.  They took him into the dugout and iced him down and called for paramedics.  When I left he was getting ready to be transported to the local hospital to be checked out.

He's not a young guy, which probably doesn't help.  Working a big field 2 man is a lot more work than people give credit for.

cabbagedad posted:

Golfman25 posted:

cabbagedad posted:

Agree with the last two posts that it is case by case - lots of variables to be considered.  Here's one that hasn't been brought up... JV teams are supposed to be developmental.  Most JV teams have at least seven or eight kids who have potential as P's (our current JV squad has ten we would like to look at).  It's always a challenge to find game innings to let them develop and get comfortable against live opponents when you only play two or three games a week.  That's much harder to do when you stretch your starters out six innings.

 

But part of development is pushing the endurance, no?  Under most states rules he'll be down for the next 3-4 days.  So assuming another game or two in that period (we will average 4-5 games per week) there are innings for the others.  

So given that it's the end of their season, relatively warm, I'd say 90 is ok.  

If we averaged 4-5 games per week, it would be an entirely different story.  But, like I said, we only play two or three (two more often than three).  A couple times a year, we will have a non-league DH added in.  So for those few weeks, we play 4 and it isn't a problem getting guys innings.  But those are exceptions.  With ten guys we want to keep throwing, it becomes a difficult and delicate balance, particularly with the 2 game weeks.

With inevitable attrition, I'm usually more inclined to have my JV coach keep more guys throwing (thus fewer innings per) and arms plenty healthy and fresh rather than focus on just a few of the best only to lose them later to transfers, grades, girls, other sports, etc., and be stuck with under-developed guys.  We've been experimenting with a rotation that includes some intersquad work but it's tough to stick to regularly when there are always so many aspects of the game that need reviewed and practiced and some nights are game nights. 

Cabbage makes great points and deals with a similar schedule.  We have a Freshman, JV, and VS team.  Preseason the coaches do I great job getting kids mound time.  Come conference time it gets hard to find mound time.  The same top 2 guys get the starts every week and go as deep as they can.  Than the #3 and sometimes #4 guy comes in to close.  That leaves another 4 or 5 pitchers looking for innings.  Even with the new pitch counts a solid 3 guys can cover 95% of the games.  

District play starts today.  Son gets first district start on JV.  Beautiful day in Texas today.

CaCO3Girl posted:

We in the south don't appreciate you sending down your cold air either!  Last week we were in t-shirts when it touched 80, this week we aren't getting into the 50's, and the night games it might be 40's!  That is sub-arctic for us Georgia folks!

That pales in comparison to what we in east central VA are getting at the moment.   Thanks to Stella, we are in the low-mid 30's with sleet and freezing rain.   Points north and west are far worse.   Was suppose to be opening game last night for the local HS.  Not!

I think we are cursed...  Son pitched like crap last night, but I guess everybody is entitled to an off day.

Anyway, here's the highlight of the night - 

Runner on first.  Lefty pitcher picks over and the runner was going on first move.  F3 attempts the throw to 2nd base to get the runner but.... for some reason the field ump has drifted right into the dirt and takes the throw to the side of the head.  Literally walked right into it. Not sure where he was going, but I know where he ended up - at the hospital with a concussion and stitches.

So now there are two games in a row suspended because of umpire illness/injury. I swear that has to be some sort of record.

My son said he is going to bring a liability waiver to the plate meeting at the next home game.

Rob T posted:

I think we are cursed...  Son pitched like crap last night, but I guess everybody is entitled to an off day.

Anyway, here's the highlight of the night - 

Runner on first.  Lefty pitcher picks over and the runner was going on first move.  F3 attempts the throw to 2nd base to get the runner but.... for some reason the field ump has drifted right into the dirt and takes the throw to the side of the head.  Literally walked right into it. Not sure where he was going, but I know where he ended up - at the hospital with a concussion and stitches.

So now there are two games in a row suspended because of umpire illness/injury. I swear that has to be some sort of record.

My son said he is going to bring a liability waiver to the plate meeting at the next home game.

Oh, that's horrible for the ump, but your son is really funny!

Rob T posted:

I think we are cursed...  Son pitched like crap last night, but I guess everybody is entitled to an off day.

Anyway, here's the highlight of the night - 

Runner on first.  Lefty pitcher picks over and the runner was going on first move.  F3 attempts the throw to 2nd base to get the runner but.... for some reason the field ump has drifted right into the dirt and takes the throw to the side of the head.  Literally walked right into it. Not sure where he was going, but I know where he ended up - at the hospital with a concussion and stitches.

So now there are two games in a row suspended because of umpire illness/injury. I swear that has to be some sort of record.

My son said he is going to bring a liability waiver to the plate meeting at the next home game.

Okay the waiver comment is hilarious...the ump walking into a throw not so much! These things do happen at games though. Last summer in two games these things happened while my son was up to bat.

1. Foul ball nailed the catcher in the side of the facemask...kid had to be removed too dizzy.

2. He hit back at the pitcher and somehow the kid threw up his free hand as he was trying to dive down and the ball got in between his fingers and split his hand...like truly split it down to the middle of his palm.

3. Long ball, CF dives, doesn't come up with ball but did break his wrist

4. Foul ball, nails the ump in the forearm, clean break. (And he was a REALLY good ump :- (

The games were back to back...we thought he was under a curse.

I'm not sure that someone could have that many unique injuries in years of playing ball let alone back to back. I would have drive home VERY slowly. Lol

Two games scheduled, two games rained out. My 2018 son was slated to start both. Yesterday, we got all the way to the field (an hour bus ride away) and all the way through warm-ups and the game was called right as we were slated to start. It's a minor-league turf field, so there is dirt on the mound and around home plate. Radar clearly showed that there would be rain all day, so I'm not sure why we went through all the motions. Oh well. I'm sure we'll have a nice day at some point and he'll will get to throw. He may have to wait until June though. 

Rob T - you may have a hard time finding umpires for the rest of your games

Game 18 tonight - 70 degrees - life is good!

hshuler posted:

Game 18 tonight - 70 degrees - life is good!

P.S.  His son's team is 18-0....not that he would tell you that

CaCO3Girl posted:

hshuler posted:

Game 18 tonight - 70 degrees - life is good!

P.S.  His son's team is 18-0....not that he would tell you that

:-/

hshuler posted:

CaCO3Girl posted:

hshuler posted:

Game 18 tonight - 70 degrees - life is good!

P.S.  His son's team is 18-0....not that he would tell you that

:-/

CaCO3Girl posted:

hshuler posted:

CaCO3Girl posted:

hshuler posted:

Game 18 tonight - 70 degrees - life is good!

P.S.  His son's team is 18-0....not that he would tell you that

:-/

:-/

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We're at 17, not 18 and I hope that you didn't put the kibosh on our winning streak. :-)

hshuler posted:

CaCO3Girl posted:

hshuler posted:

CaCO3Girl posted:

hshuler posted:

Game 18 tonight - 70 degrees - life is good!

P.S.  His son's team is 18-0....not that he would tell you that

:-/

:-/

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indifferent

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Perplexed will do.

We're at 17, not 18 and I hope that you didn't put the kibosh on our winning streak. :-)

You can choose to believe I had poor math skills OR that I was clairvoyant...congrats to your boys team on another well deserved win in a very competitive district!

CaCO3Girl posted:

hshuler posted:

CaCO3Girl posted:

hshuler posted:

CaCO3Girl posted:

hshuler posted:

Game 18 tonight - 70 degrees - life is good!

P.S.  His son's team is 18-0....not that he would tell you that

:-/

:-/

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skeptical

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perplexed

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huh!

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indifferent

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concerned

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The word :-/ is used in Emoticon, is a general term meaning skeptical,perplexed,huh!,lop sided smile,indifferent,concerned,unsure face,smirk

Perplexed will do.

We're at 17, not 18 and I hope that you didn't put the kibosh on our winning streak. :-)

You can choose to believe I had poor math skills OR that I was clairvoyant...congrats to your boys team on another well deserved win in a very competitive district!

Thanks!

It amazes me how much I see parents from our area complaining about high school Baseball on social media.  So and so isn't playing much, why did the coach do this or that, general complaints about the program.

Don't the parents realize the coaches see that stuff and it can reflect poorly on their kid?  Of course often the parents that complain the most have a kid with the range of a fire hydrant.  My wife & I are already dreading being around some of these parents and our kid is just an 8th grader.

3and2Fastball posted:

It amazes me how much I see parents from our area complaining about high school Baseball on social media.  So and so isn't playing much, why did the coach do this or that, general complaints about the program.

Don't the parents realize the coaches see that stuff and it can reflect poorly on their kid?  Of course often the parents that complain the most have a kid with the range of a fire hydrant.  My wife & I are already dreading being around some of these parents and our kid is just an 8th grader.

It's going to get worse as roles become defined and spots decrease.  We don't have a freshman team.  Just JV and VS.  A majority of upper class men dominate our JV team as far as players.  Our HS took 6 freshman this year.  All those 8th graders playing ball now, depending on whether or not there is a freshman team, won't make it next year.  Even if there is a freshman team, they wont be able to take all the kids.  Once parents start feeling that kind of heat, you will see plenty of negativity coming from parents.

After 4 years - it finally happened.

He had a couple of unsuccessful pinch hit appearances earlier in the season.  Last night he was in to relieve and the coach had burned the DH so the kid got an at bat...

A cutter that fooled him, but he got enough of a swing on it to send it to the fence.  Just beat the throw to third.

My wife in the background didn't even realize he was going up to bat because it's so rare. "..that's my son... "

Rob-

I was watching the video and saw him scoot to second but you really cant see second.  My first thought was....sucker isnt slowing down!

That's when I saw he hit a triple.    Nice!!!!

Kevin A posted:

3and2Fastball posted:

It amazes me how much I see parents from our area complaining about high school Baseball on social media.  So and so isn't playing much, why did the coach do this or that, general complaints about the program.

Don't the parents realize the coaches see that stuff and it can reflect poorly on their kid?  Of course often the parents that complain the most have a kid with the range of a fire hydrant.  My wife & I are already dreading being around some of these parents and our kid is just an 8th grader.

It's going to get worse as roles become defined and spots decrease.  We don't have a freshman team.  Just JV and VS.  A majority of upper class men dominate our JV team as far as players.  Our HS took 6 freshman this year.  All those 8th graders playing ball now, depending on whether or not there is a freshman team, won't make it next year.  Even if there is a freshman team, they wont be able to take all the kids.  Once parents start feeling that kind of heat, you will see plenty of negativity coming from parents.

We also don't have a Freshman team.  JV took 10 freshman this year, to round out the 21 member JV roster!  Many of the travel ball parents started yapping....so and so is a bad seed he shouldn't have made....so and so doesn't hit half as well as MY kid why did he make it.

I'm actually friends with one of the 9th grade parents that didn't make the team, she didn't complain, but she was sad for her kid.  I told her she and her son dodged a bullet.  10 freshman, 21 games, combined 6 of those freshman saw less than 10 innings of play.  If her son was already on the bubble and had made it they would have paid so he could sit.

Better to sit the bench as a freshman and work hard and gain as spot in the future than to just get cut, though.

A majority of high school players that I've seen don't really work that hard at the game.  They barely do anything outside of team practices and if they do it is usually just some lazy batting practice.

The kids that do work really hard end up being the starters, the difference makers, and the ones that get a shot at continuing to play after high school.  It really is a pretty simple formula.

I would maintain that even in Baseball hotbeds, any kid with a reasonable amount of athletic talent can outwork their peers and at the very least be a role player on a high school team.  It is a matter of wanting it bad enough and good old fashioned work ethic.  And I just shake my head at the lazy kids, and the parents of lazy kids, who don't put in the work and then wonder why they sit the bench or get cut.

CaCO-

That's one thing I hate about travel ball.  ANYONE can put together a team and instantly someone's kid is hot stuff cause he is on a travel club.  Its almost like false hope.  

Big JV roster.

We did 18 with 7 freshman but one of those plays with the middle school team. Varsity is 17 players but a handful of the JV guys are double rostered.  With only two games in the books for JV we have a small sample to go off of.  But rumor has that our JV doesn't like to start Fresh.  T got the start on game 2 and 'should" get game 3 behind the plate.  Game two saw a fresh DH for my son (0-4 with two looking strike outs).  Another fresh got into the game at SS after we had a 10 lead. Another fresh started at third who has a strong arm but struggles with fielding it cleanly.  Big kid and is a cage monster but struggles mightily to put the ball into play.  So game two saw some freshman action.  Wasn't a strong team.  We will see how it plays out when we face better teams.

T was almost sad himself during cuts when kids he calls friends were cut. He is realistic but a few he said were pitching or playing good in his opinion.

3and2Fastball posted:

Better to sit the bench as a freshman and work hard and gain as spot in the future than to just get cut, though.

A majority of high school players that I've seen don't really work that hard at the game.  They barely do anything outside of team practices and if they do it is usually just some lazy batting practice.

The kids that do work really hard end up being the starters, the difference makers, and the ones that get a shot at continuing to play after high school.  It really is a pretty simple formula.

I would maintain that even in Baseball hotbeds, any kid with a reasonable amount of athletic talent can outwork their peers and at the very least be a role player on a high school team.  It is a matter of wanting it bad enough and good old fashioned work ethic.  And I just shake my head at the lazy kids, and the parents of lazy kids, who don't put in the work and then wonder why they sit the bench or get cut.

3and2, it was an interesting JV year for sure. I can honestly say I didn't see lazy kids.  There was some insanity going on...if it didn't work the first 5 times not sure why they are still trying it...and there was some inexperience in the coaching staff.  

A great coach can turn a mediocre team into a winning team.  A bad, but well meaning and confused, coach can have a lot of wonderful pieces but if he doesn't know how to use them the team doesn't do well.

JV is about development.

You know for a fact that none of the kids were/are lazy?  Everyone of them is working on Baseball 3-4 times a week outside of team practices & games?  Working on swing mechanics and fielding techniques?

3and2Fastball posted:

JV is about development.

You know for a fact that none of the kids were/are lazy?  Everyone of them is working on Baseball 3-4 times a week outside of team practices & games?  Working on swing mechanics and fielding techniques?

Nope, no outside baseball apart from the school.  Batting cages are open, they all had a code, but no travel ball and no private lessons from January-April.  Head coaches rules.

CaCO3Girl posted:

3and2Fastball posted:

JV is about development.

You know for a fact that none of the kids were/are lazy?  Everyone of them is working on Baseball 3-4 times a week outside of team practices & games?  Working on swing mechanics and fielding techniques?

Nope, no outside baseball apart from the school.  Batting cages are open, they all had a code, but no travel ball and no private lessons from January-April.  Head coaches rules.

Yeah, OK.  But my point is they need to put in the time on their own.  Not at Travel Ball or lessons, on their own, working on their hitting and fielding, getting their reps in outside of team practice.

A vast majority of the players that are playing high level D1 or getting drafted were doing that in high school.  They didn't get to where they did just from "talent".

It is one of the things that drives me crazy about high school players.  Here's just one example:  a friend of mine's son started on Varsity at Shortstop as a Junior, made a bunch of errors, got moved to right field.  Dad is complaining to me about how the kid doesn't get enough Grounders at practice and how could the coach expect him to do better if he isn't getting the practice reps.  

I'm thinking, well how many grounders are you hitting him after practice?  How bad does he want it?  Baseball is a skill sport, requires lots of reps.  Now as a Senior the kid is playing 1B

Geno breaks it down here.  He's talking about women's college basketball but the same thing applies to Baseball.  50 games a summer and 5 practices

http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=15110307

 

3and2, some kids are just wonderful athletes.  They might get by without extra reps and still go D1.  Some kids will work on their game 20-30 hours a week and never get a sniff from a D1.

Whether or not a player is practicing 3-4 times a week, aside from their 15-20 hours of school practice per week isn't how I would define lazy.  Guess we all have different definitions.

CaCO3Girl posted:

3and2, some kids are just wonderful athletes.  They might get by without extra reps and still go D1.  Some kids will work on their game 20-30 hours a week and never get a sniff from a D1.

Whether or not a player is practicing 3-4 times a week, aside from their 15-20 hours of school practice per week isn't how I would define lazy.  Guess we all have different definitions.

Just about every contributing player in our program works on their game outside of school practice.  Our rosters are large.  There is just not enough time or man power to get enough reps in at school practice.  It took my son a couple of school seasons to understand his drop in performance during school ball was a reflection of his practice time.  Travel ball he would end the season much stronger than the beginning.  School ball he would start strong and drop off.  It took us a while to figure it out.  

Travel ball had 2 practices a week plus 2-3 weekend tournaments a month.  Off days he would get reps in the cage and at the field with a few friends or I would throw BP, hit grounders etc..  LOTS of REPS when you are only dealing a few guys or one on one.  

School ball 5-6 days week school practice and/or games.  All work outside of practice would stop.  He is getting plenty of work 5-6 days a week.  WRONG   Twenty man roster 2 coaches.  Games 2-3 days a week.  We started to look at how many reps was he getting during school ball and the reality was very LITTLE.  

Started spending extra time at the school getting in work and I was shocked at how many players were doing the same thing from throughout the program.  Guess what, it wasn't the kids sitting the bench.  They were key players.  D1 commits.  Underclassman VS starters.  Rarely would you see bubble kids.

 

There is a kid from around here named Corey Ray.  He is by what anyone would define as a natural athlete.  Coming out of high school he was a 6.7 sixty runner, fast twitch athlete, super quick.  Played for Louisville in college.  Drafted in the 1st Round, now in the Brewers organization.

That kid worked on Baseball all the time.  Could he have made it to D1 just on high school activities and travel ball experiences?  Probably, but no way would he have advanced as far as he did without a ton of extra work.

Look at Hunter Greene.  I bet if all Hunter did was team practices he'd still throw 90.  He is taking his game to another level.  Some kids want it more than others.

"Lazy" is relative.  Yeah, any kid playing high school Baseball is not lazy compared to the fat kid sitting on a couch eating Doritos.  And not every kid who works night & day is going to play D1 Baseball, but again my point is that any kid with a modest amount of athletic talent can work their way into having at least a role playing spot on a high school team.  It is how much they want to work at it.

And the work ethic is the reward, ultimately.  It carries over to the rest of life.

CaCO3Girl posted:

 

 

3and2, it was an interesting JV year for sure.... There was some insanity going on...if it didn't work the first 5 times not sure why they are still trying it...and there was some inexperience in the coaching staff.  

A great coach can turn a mediocre team into a winning team.  A bad, but well meaning and confused, coach can have a lot of wonderful pieces but if he doesn't know how to use them the team doesn't do well.

Caco, I'll give you a different perspective on JV and JV coaches... I know you have heard some version of this before.

As a V coach, top priority in placing a JV coach is that he can develop (and allow development) as many players as possible.  I set guidelines, depending on the year, like no P throws more than 4 IP in a week (so that we are developing at least 5-6 P's.  I want every player to get a start and 3 AB's at least every 3rd game.  Yes, the best players will get the most innings but I want it spread out.

The one thing that I can 100% count on with HS baseball is attrition between JV and V.  I will lose players to transfers, grades, girls, other sports, cars, jobs, parents, behavior issues, peer pressure, unsatisfied with PT/role, etc., etc.  Some will be the best players, the ones we envision as key contributors down the road.  As 3and2 mentioned, JV is largely for development for V.  If my JV coach is focused primarily on winning, which means he will likely focus on best 7-10 players, I could very well end up losing most of those by the time they can contribute to our V program.  Not good for the program.  I want the mentality to be development of every player and try to win with a set of PT parameters without feeling the need to alter those parameters when games are close.  Parents won't understand this.  But that's what the program needs him to do.  Kid is throwing a no hitter thru 4 IP and is fresh?  ... don't care, pull him and put in the next guy.  3 hitter is 3-3, due up next inning in a close game but it is his turn to take a seat in the rotation?  ... don't care, pull him and put in the next guy.  Win with the next guy.  Develop all who show any degree of potential.  Now, I do give some leeway but my experience is that if you give much leeway on this, the coach caves to the pressure to win that JV game and to not look stupid to the parents.  I'm not saying play the kids who flat out don't care or don't work hard enough to earn opportunity but DEVELOP and DEVELOP as deep as possible.

Also, I may see something in a kid, some combination of work ethic, throwing action, athleticism, swing, game awareness, whatever... that I think will play out down the road.  So, I ask JV coach to make sure he get's his share of innings even though his immediate results don't warrant.  Parents won't see that at all.  This will sound harsh, but I have a few kids this year that have shown me that they have the physical ability (a few of the "better jv players") but not the mental capacity to contribute for us later.  So, I cap their innings at JV.  Why take away PT from someone else that potentially may help us next year?  No way parents see or understand that.  And JV coach is not going to share this type of stuff with parents.

No idea of whether any of this applies at all to your situation but sometimes it's not always what it seems.

Cabbage you can pm me if you want the whole story but needless to say it was a horrible year.  Most lived through it, some quit.  Kids lost faith pretty early on with contradictory instructions and instructions that made no sense, even if they were clarified, often times they weren't.

Major shake up across the Varisty coaching staff resulted in New JV coach, new JV assistant coach, new third coach.  None had worked with head coach, it was an unmitigated disaster. Both top coaches already said they won't be back next year, third coach will take over.

I would have been fine with your plan.  I expected your plan, what happened was very different.  Oh well, onto travel ball and try again next year with high school ball. 

3and2Fastball posted:

CaCO3Girl posted:

3and2Fastball posted:

JV is about development.

You know for a fact that none of the kids were/are lazy?  Everyone of them is working on Baseball 3-4 times a week outside of team practices & games?  Working on swing mechanics and fielding techniques?

Nope, no outside baseball apart from the school.  Batting cages are open, they all had a code, but no travel ball and no private lessons from January-April.  Head coaches rules.

Yeah, OK.  But my point is they need to put in the time on their own.  Not at Travel Ball or lessons, on their own, working on their hitting and fielding, getting their reps in outside of team practice.

A vast majority of the players that are playing high level D1 or getting drafted were doing that in high school.  They didn't get to where they did just from "talent".

It is one of the things that drives me crazy about high school players.  Here's just one example:  a friend of mine's son started on Varsity at Shortstop as a Junior, made a bunch of errors, got moved to right field.  Dad is complaining to me about how the kid doesn't get enough Grounders at practice and how could the coach expect him to do better if he isn't getting the practice reps.  

I'm thinking, well how many grounders are you hitting him after practice?  How bad does he want it?  Baseball is a skill sport, requires lots of reps.  Now as a Senior the kid is playing 1B

My kid basically admits HS practice is essentially a waste of time.  Very inefficient.  So I agree you need to work on your game outside of practice.  I am just not sure when.  Monday thru Friday is school and then either a practice or game.  If practice he may be home by 6:30-7.  Game day will be after 8-8:30.  It's still getting dark by 7:30, so outside isn't doable, yet.  And weather is still an issue.  Getting to an indoor facility is expensive and closes at 9.  They don't let the kids stay at the high school -- everything is put away, locked up and they have to vacate.  So realistically, all you have is Saturday - after the game and Sunday.  We make due, but it's not like everyone has a practice facility outside their back door.  It's a challenge. 

We live in a cold weather state.  In our basement we can do hands progressions, simple glove/footwork reps, tags for middle infielders on steal attempts, catchers receiving & blocking drills, band work, double play footwork and transfers, pitcher's pickoff moves, drills for first baseman including footwork around the bag and receiving the ball on pickoff throws, underhand flip drills for MI's and 1B's, plus hitting drills including tee work and front toss with indoor nerf type balls.... In our backyard we can do all of that plus simple route work for outfielders, footwork on popups

The list is probably endless.  Point is, if there is a will there is a way.

Golfman25 posted:

3and2Fastball posted:

CaCO3Girl posted:

3and2Fastball posted:

JV is about development.

You know for a fact that none of the kids were/are lazy?  Everyone of them is working on Baseball 3-4 times a week outside of team practices & games?  Working on swing mechanics and fielding techniques?

Nope, no outside baseball apart from the school.  Batting cages are open, they all had a code, but no travel ball and no private lessons from January-April.  Head coaches rules.

Yeah, OK.  But my point is they need to put in the time on their own.  Not at Travel Ball or lessons, on their own, working on their hitting and fielding, getting their reps in outside of team practice.

A vast majority of the players that are playing high level D1 or getting drafted were doing that in high school.  They didn't get to where they did just from "talent".

It is one of the things that drives me crazy about high school players.  Here's just one example:  a friend of mine's son started on Varsity at Shortstop as a Junior, made a bunch of errors, got moved to right field.  Dad is complaining to me about how the kid doesn't get enough Grounders at practice and how could the coach expect him to do better if he isn't getting the practice reps.  

I'm thinking, well how many grounders are you hitting him after practice?  How bad does he want it?  Baseball is a skill sport, requires lots of reps.  Now as a Senior the kid is playing 1B

My kid basically admits HS practice is essentially a waste of time.  Very inefficient.  So I agree you need to work on your game outside of practice.  I am just not sure when.  Monday thru Friday is school and then either a practice or game.  If practice he may be home by 6:30-7.  Game day will be after 8-8:30.  It's still getting dark by 7:30, so outside isn't doable, yet.  And weather is still an issue.  Getting to an indoor facility is expensive and closes at 9.  They don't let the kids stay at the high school -- everything is put away, locked up and they have to vacate.  So realistically, all you have is Saturday - after the game and Sunday.  We make due, but it's not like everyone has a practice facility outside their back door.  It's a challenge. 

It's funny how much you resent high school coaches. 

real green posted:

CaCO3Girl posted:

3and2, some kids are just wonderful athletes.  They might get by without extra reps and still go D1.  Some kids will work on their game 20-30 hours a week and never get a sniff from a D1.

Whether or not a player is practicing 3-4 times a week, aside from their 15-20 hours of school practice per week isn't how I would define lazy.  Guess we all have different definitions.

Just about every contributing player in our program works on their game outside of school practice.  Our rosters are large.  There is just not enough time or man power to get enough reps in at school practice.  It took my son a couple of school seasons to understand his drop in performance during school ball was a reflection of his practice time.  Travel ball he would end the season much stronger than the beginning.  School ball he would start strong and drop off.  It took us a while to figure it out.  

Travel ball had 2 practices a week plus 2-3 weekend tournaments a month.  Off days he would get reps in the cage and at the field with a few friends or I would throw BP, hit grounders etc..  LOTS of REPS when you are only dealing a few guys or one on one.  

School ball 5-6 days week school practice and/or games.  All work outside of practice would stop.  He is getting plenty of work 5-6 days a week.  WRONG   Twenty man roster 2 coaches.  Games 2-3 days a week.  We started to look at how many reps was he getting during school ball and the reality was very LITTLE.  

Started spending extra time at the school getting in work and I was shocked at how many players were doing the same thing from throughout the program.  Guess what, it wasn't the kids sitting the bench.  They were key players.  D1 commits.  Underclassman VS starters.  Rarely would you see bubble kids.

 

Yes, kid has 5:30 practices in the morning, and several of them are going in earlier and on weekends voluntarily to get more reps in the cages.  They want it that bad.

Leading up to the start of the season I didn't know what to expect from the kid or the team. The kid had an OK HS season last year. Lowest numbers but that was a combination of pitchers throwing around him and big strike zones. Summer ball was pretty bad. Him and the coach were not a fit and I'll leave it at that. He also fell in love for the first time. Great girl, great family, hard to complain but it distracted him from baseball. As for the team we lost ten seniors, so...

So as to the team first. 4-0, 48 RS, 4 RA. Granted we haven't seen a lights out pitcher yet but still, taking care of business when they should. I don't know how long they can keep this up but for the monument it's pretty impressive to watch.

As for the kid it's his senior year. No more girlfriend, back to baseball first. I won't quote stats, but I could. What I will say is it's nice to see the confidence and command at the plate again. Umps are also being a little more reasonable in regard to balls and strikes.

A couple of games ago we played a team that had a catcher the scouts are looking at. Were 6 or 7 of them at the game (one did contact son's coach to let him know he'd be there watching the kid). First at bat the kid hit a ball that went over the fence, the right of way, the road, the front yard, and landed on a roof. One of the scouts told a local collage coach the ball went 480'. IDK if that's the case. It wasn't the longest HR the kid has hit. It was however the longest he's hit in front of people that matter. 2 for 2 with 2 HR's and 3 walks isn't a bad stat line. Whats the saying, timing is everything.

SomeBaseballDad posted:

Leading up to the start of the season I didn't know what to expect from the kid or the team. The kid had an OK HS season last year. Lowest numbers but that was a combination of pitchers throwing around him and big strike zones. Summer ball was pretty bad. Him and the coach were not a fit and I'll leave it at that. He also fell in love for the first time. Great girl, great family, hard to complain but it distracted him from baseball. As for the team we lost ten seniors, so...

So as to the team first. 4-0, 48 RS, 4 RA. Granted we haven't seen a lights out pitcher yet but still, taking care of business when they should. I don't know how long they can keep this up but for the monument it's pretty impressive to watch.

As for the kid it's his senior year. No more girlfriend, back to baseball first. I won't quote stats, but I could. What I will say is it's nice to see the confidence and command at the plate again. Umps are also being a little more reasonable in regard to balls and strikes.

A couple of games ago we played a team that had a catcher the scouts are looking at. Were 6 or 7 of them at the game (one did contact son's coach to let him know he'd be there watching the kid). First at bat the kid hit a ball that went over the fence, the right of way, the road, the front yard, and landed on a roof. One of the scouts told a local collage coach the ball went 480'. IDK if that's the case. It wasn't the longest HR the kid has hit. It was however the longest he's hit in front of people that matter. 2 for 2 with 2 HR's and 3 walks isn't a bad stat line. Whats the saying, timing is everything.

Sounds like he's off to a great start! Best wishes on continued success. 

hshuler posted:

Sounds like he's off to a great start! Best wishes on continued success. 

Thanks.

Last night jumped on a team for 3 runs first inning, thought "here we go". Then came an hour rain delay and when play resumed we weren't the same team. Ended up winning 6-3, but it was 3-3 until late in the game and the thought crossed my mind I shot my mouth off on line and the first game after we lose, LOL.