2020 High School Baseball Season

2022NYC posted:

Francis7 posted:

In NJ, we're still on hold until May 15th. The NJSIAA said that they will play right up to 6/30 if the kids return to school in May (some time). For those watching the numbers, NJ is really bad, second only to NY. But, here's the thing: NJ has 21 counties and is 150 miles long. 60% of the cases in NJ are in the upper northeast corner of the state where it borders NY. For sure, most likely, trying something in those NE counties doesn't really make sense. The counties in south NJ are in much better shape. Really seems sad to paint the whole state with one brush and wipe out the season for the kids in a county where it wasn't bad and is now in control - just because a county 100 miles away is a mess.

Franny, there is a lot of intrastate travel. CNJ is a mess too.  SNJ counties is still in the 100s but hopefully the lock down will drop it more. Murph does not seem ready to partial open counties.

Yup. Murphy is not going to reopen much at the onset, that's pretty apparent. It's really sad for the kids in way south NJ. Cape May is not the same as Bergen County and they are 150 miles apart. It's like telling the Atlanta Braves that they can't play because it's raining in Baltimore.

I had never heard of Legion either, until I started reading hsbbw.  I then learned that it exists in my state, but only in a few places; no-one where I live plays it.

One thing that no-one has mentioned, which I thought I understood, is that it's free, or nearly so.  It is sponsored by local American Legion posts.  Isn't that right?

anotherparent posted:

 It is sponsored by local American Legion posts.  Isn't that right?

Correct, the local post is the sponsor.

My son played Legion for 4-5 years.    At the time freshman college players could play in Legion one final time.

I can't speak for other regions but the Legion season for son was condensed.   Something like 50-60 games in a 2 month span (June & July).   Sometimes 4-5 games per week.  It was fun for him.   Team never was able to win their district, but they were in the district championship game a few times.    Never got to the state tournament.

baseball mom2020 posted:

Francis7 posted:

2022NYC posted:

Francis7 posted:

In NJ, we're still on hold until May 15th. The NJSIAA said that they will play right up to 6/30 if the kids return to school in May (some time). For those watching the numbers, NJ is really bad, second only to NY. But, here's the thing: NJ has 21 counties and is 150 miles long. 60% of the cases in NJ are in the upper northeast corner of the state where it borders NY. For sure, most likely, trying something in those NE counties doesn't really make sense. The counties in south NJ are in much better shape. Really seems sad to paint the whole state with one brush and wipe out the season for the kids in a county where it wasn't bad and is now in control - just because a county 100 miles away is a mess.

Franny, there is a lot of intrastate travel. CNJ is a mess too.  SNJ counties is still in the 100s but hopefully the lock down will drop it more. Murph does not seem ready to partial open counties.

Yup. Murphy is not going to reopen much at the onset, that's pretty apparent. It's really sad for the kids in way south NJ. Cape May is not the same as Bergen County and they are 150 miles apart. It's like telling the Atlanta Braves that they can't play because it's raining in Baltimore.

As I posted before Francis I am on the "front lines" in South Jersey. Sure,not as many cases as Bergen, but neither is the population as large. It is bad and getting worse by the day. Our surge is just starting now. I apologize if I sound nasty, but unless you are living down here and working in healthcare you have no idea.- This is not the story of "Atlanta not playing because its raining in Baltimore."

My family lives in NJ so I look at the numbers everyday. It's not good.  

I thought we are supposed to be in this together.  It's sad for everyone. People are dying.  HS Baseball isn't really that important right now.

Stay Safe. Be Strong. Thank you.

Happened to see these today from the 1918 flu epidemic.  I assume this was a stunt, rather than a common practice.

I’m sad to see that when I look back at the 2020 HS Season thread, it will be half full of posts about this virus.  I guess we will always remember this season.  It is such a far cry from what I expected. I was looking forward to really enjoying the games, times with families that we wouldn’t get again, walking out with my son on senior night, and watching him play. He had a quiet confidence this year that I hadn’t always seen.  The few games we got to see him pitch were really a joy.  We finished the season 14-2-1.  My son had been reserved for district games so he only got to pitch twice.  Record: 2-0, 12IP, 26K, 2H, 0ER, 1BB.  It was his best start yet...

Legion is sponsored by American Legion. it is typically free but they sometimes ask parents to help with sponsors or work concession stand.   It has Junior and Senior divisions.  It is like LIttle League and plays league, state, regionals, and World Series in Shelby NC.  There are teams in every state.  I had never heard of it until I moved to SC.  Lived in Ga, Tennessee, and Missouri.  Here there 37 teams.  Minnesota has 293, Nebraska 137, Massachusetts 133, and so on.  Texas has 2.  1 in Houston and 1 in League City.  5 in TEnnessee and only 1 in Ga.  It is an option for some to play with travel, many play between their senior year and college and some play just to keep playing.  Goes to age 19.  It is definitely not travel level but there are some good players that play. Son played 2 years.  Lost in state championship.  It is good because here it draws from 4 different high schools. 

@baseball mom2020 posted:

As I posted before Francis I am on the "front lines" in South Jersey. Sure,not as many cases as Bergen, but neither is the population as large. It is bad and getting worse by the day. Our surge is just starting now. I apologize if I sound nasty, but unless you are living down here and working in healthcare you have no idea.- This is not the story of "Atlanta not playing because its raining in Baltimore."

Sorry. I didn't mean to insult or offend. Please accept my apologies. I am only going by what is being shared by the state. For example, as of this moment:

Bergen County NJ: 13,356 positive cases and 835 deaths.

Cape May County NJ: 217 positive cases and 16 deaths.

This is why I assumed it wasn't as bad in the south as it is in the north end of the state.

@Eokerholm posted:

What is all this Legion baseball people talking about is that Little League or something? 

I've never heard of it.

Legion is dying across the country, but still strong in some places.  I'm in Nebraska and the high school spring season is short and cold.  Legion essentially picks up the day school ends.  Here its effectively a continuation of the high school season.  Same players, same teams, same coaches.  Different uniforms that are paid for by the sponsor.  But it's certainly not free.  Costs about a grand and that does not include any travel costs of which there is usually a little/some.  The boys here typically hold the Legion portion of the season in higher regard.  It's warmer, everyone is in prime shape, and there are more total games.  It's much better baseball then we see in the spring.

Having said all that, we can all see Legion dying here right before our eyes.  Travel ball is taking over and putting off a lot of the high school coaches because a portion of the top talent is skipping Legion ball in favor of travel ball in summer.  I'm sure it's no different everywhere around the country, but we have some crazy parents in the area.  It seems just about every parent and player around here believes they're cut out for college ball so more defections from Legion to travel ball keep occurring.  Parents have been shelling out $3K+ a year for their kids to play USSSA-based travel ball since the ages of 7 and 8, so there's no surprise with what is happening.

@anotherparent posted:

I had never heard of Legion either, until I started reading hsbbw.  I then learned that it exists in my state, but only in a few places; no-one where I live plays it.

One thing that no-one has mentioned, which I thought I understood, is that it's free, or nearly so.  It is sponsored by local American Legion posts.  Isn't that right?

Not around here, though costs vary. Here, it costs about 1G/season, but there are a lot of games during June and July. The quality of Legion ball in MN is going down here compared to what it used to be, but the top teams can still be very good. It can be that you'll have have the best of your HS team, the best of some guys who lived in town but went to private schools, and about 3-4 college players who were still age eligible. The coach of our team is a former major leaguer. It is not at all uncommon for a Varsity player not to make a Legion team.

    The beauty of Legion ball is that you only have to drive a short ways to play a game, and that you get to play in some wonderful old ball parks, some close to a century old, where they really know how to take care of their fields.  

   What is happening here might not be typical of what happens around the country, though. MN has, by far, the highest amount of Legion teams. A state, or region winning team will definitely give all but the best travel teams a run for their money. One problem that i do see is that the top players, especially pitchers, tend to quit the season early in order to get to their college camps, or to rest their arms for the fall season. Kind of sucks to lose your best arms going into the playoffs.

I grew up and played Legion in Bartlesville, OK in the 80s and Legion was huge back in the 70s and 80s. And even before. Especially in OK, KS, MO, and other states. Many Legion teams had sponsors and combined multiple HS teams so there was a lot of great talent and many future D1s and MLB players. Many of the best teams were like an All-Star team and was a real honor to make the team. Most also traveled. Played a college type format. Mid week game then 3 game series on weekend either at home or on the road. We played in an old minor league ballpark in a small city and was not unusual to draw a 1000 fans for home games. Parents helped out with tickets, field and concessions. Nobody paid a dime. For the most part the best players made the teams and played. Always a little controversy on the last few roster spots. Organ music like old Wrigley. It was pretty pure baseball. Fast forward, with all the travel/club ball Legion has fallen way off in talent over the last 30 years. Travel ball these days has many advantages and more kids can play. Legion will probably never come back like before but was great for those that got to experience and watch it. 

@baseballhs posted:

I’m sad to see that when I look back at the 2020 HS Season thread, it will be half full of posts about this virus.  I guess we will always remember this season.  It is such a far cry from what I expected. I was looking forward to really enjoying the games, times with families that we wouldn’t get again, walking out with my son on senior night, and watching him play. He had a quiet confidence this year that I hadn’t always seen.  The few games we got to see him pitch were really a joy.  We finished the season 14-2-1.  My son had been reserved for district games so he only got to pitch twice.  Record: 2-0, 12IP, 26K, 2H, 0ER, 1BB.  It was his best start yet...

That is a heck of a stat line to start the season! Where do you guys live that you were able to get in 17 games already?

Sorry you guys won't get to experience the senior traditions. I hate to hear about the seniors missing out on so many things. My son's team is doing a "senior night" on Zoom Friday night. 

@anotherparent posted:

I had never heard of Legion either, until I started reading hsbbw.  I then learned that it exists in my state, but only in a few places; no-one where I live plays it.

One thing that no-one has mentioned, which I thought I understood, is that it's free, or nearly so.  It is sponsored by local American Legion posts.  Isn't that right?

Legion posts are dying out. A lot of Legion teams are sponsored by businesses now. Our local team was $200 for a 21 game season plus playoffs. Games are regionalized like high school.

@TerribleBPthrower posted:

That is a heck of a stat line to start the season! Where do you guys live that you were able to get in 17 games already?

Sorry you guys won't get to experience the senior traditions. I hate to hear about the seniors missing out on so many things. My son's team is doing a "senior night" on Zoom Friday night. 

We are from TX. We got in 3 Thursday-Sat tournaments and a couple district games. Our coach usually uses the tournaments to give a lot of pitchers work and see who he has.  He told my son at the beginning that he wasn’t pitching any tournaments because they would throw him Tuesdays for district at the beginning   We didn’t really mind but we thought we would have a lot of district games. Wasn’t to be.  

We are trying to put something together for our senior night.

South Carolina schools are cancelled for the year.  No spring sports.  Now they figure out graduation.

@Chico Escuela posted:

Happened to see these today from the 1918 flu epidemic.  I assume this was a stunt, rather than a common practice.

 

Love that headline above the team picture.  Good thing George Suarez and Mike Tyson don't play baseball.  We'd have to change the phrase "bench clearing brawl" to "bench clearing gnaw".

So last week the Hawaii HS Athletic Association cancelled all spring sports and today American Legion cancelled its local summer season, too. Gonna be challenging getting any summer events (camps, show cases, etc.) in.  

Since the virus is depends on dates just as much as we do, I can't wait til this all clears up on September 1.

What a relief that will be. 

@baseball mom2020 posted:

As I posted before Francis I am on the "front lines" in South Jersey. Sure,not as many cases as Bergen, but neither is the population as large. It is bad and getting worse by the day. Our surge is just starting now. I apologize if I sound nasty, but unless you are living down here and working in healthcare you have no idea.- This is not the story of "Atlanta not playing because its raining in Baltimore."

My (adult) kids live on the other side of the river. It’s all metro Philadelphia. My daughter said what didn’t look too bad is now bad and getting worse. She said they’re now shut in until at least 5/31.

@Francis7 posted:

Sorry. I didn't mean to insult or offend. Please accept my apologies. I am only going by what is being shared by the state. For example, as of this moment:

Bergen County NJ: 13,356 positive cases and 835 deaths.

Cape May County NJ: 217 positive cases and 16 deaths.

This is why I assumed it wasn't as bad in the south as it is in the north end of the state.

Cape May isn’t where southern NJ is heavily populated. It doesn’t represent what’s occurring on the Jersey side of metro Philadelphia.

Both of my sons played travel ball and legion, one was good enough to play legion part time for 2 years and then full time his last season. The other not as much but still played his last season at an 18 year old. 

From a development and recruitment perspective in our town the travel circuit is far superior however the legion season is awesome and much more team, program, town based. Our program is deep enough that the top players do the travel circuit thru 17u and come back to legion for the summer before college, there is enough depth that it works but it is difficult balance at times. Most of the teams in our league are similar, it is strong league and not typical from what i can tell. 

@RJM posted:

Cape May isn’t where southern NJ is heavily populated. It doesn’t represent what’s occurring on the Jersey side of metro Philadelphia.

South Jersey on the west side is just an extension of the NE and South Philly...

CIAC - the CT sports overlords - met today and have decided not to cancel spring sports yet.  The new language appears to tie sports to schools reopening.  There had been some talk that perhaps baseball could be played if the school's stayed with e-learning.  If return to school there would be no season end tournaments.   The earliest schools can open is May 20th, graduation is June 11.  So it's very hard to see why they would open school but still a possibility.  I think my son is numb to it all at this point.   If it happens he's good with it, if it doesn't he won't be crushed at this point.   I have mentally moved onto hoping colleges open in late August.  Oh and summer ball.....

A Washington Post article today with info about some mid-Atlantic and midwest colleges' current thinking on holding in-person classes this fall.  No big surprises, but gives a sense of where administrators are right now:

https://www.washingtonpost.com...cfce1c7c7_story.html

I think most colleges and universities will do everything they can to bring students back for the fall.  They need the money.

I know of one school that has considered splitting each course into 1-month increments.  They would begin mid-August, the second segment would begin mid-September, etc.  That way, if they have to send kids home in say mid-October, two courses would have been completed.  This is a possible option and has not been adopted.

As the article notes, this may weed out some of the less-endowed institutions.  

https://www.cbssports.com/coll...ayed-at-all-in-2020/

If colleges are up in the air about the fall season who believes there will be summer sports? 

Spring 2021 people. That is when the first sports will begin. No basketball/hockey/college football/NFL this year. Online school only until 2021 or fall 2021. 

Let's start a new thread if we want to debate Fall Sports.  This thread is 2020 HS season, I don't want to see it turn into a debate that gets shut down over Covid19...we have plenty of those.

With all of the restrictions being lifted in several states, are any high school or travel teams back on the field for games or practices? What states?

@Los Angeles 2021 Parent posted:

With all of the restrictions being lifted in several states, are any high school or travel teams back on the field for games or practices? What states?

I know of one travel team in FL that started as soon as HS stopped. The coach's brother is the mayor, so the cops don't stop them from practicing.

A few teams in the Palm Beach area said they were starting summer ball practices today. I don't know where they will do that since all the parks are still closed. Maybe they can use someone's cage at their house. 

@Los Angeles 2021 Parent posted:

With all of the restrictions being lifted in several states, are any high school or travel teams back on the field for games or practices? What states?

Restrictions aren’t being lifted. The stay at home order is being eased in some places. People are still going to be urged to distance. How does a hitter, catcher and umpire distance?

MN officially cancelled the 2019-20 school sports season yesterday. It was not a surprise. 

@RJM posted:

Restrictions aren’t being lifted. The stay at home order is being eased in some places. People are still going to be urged to distance. How does a hitter, catcher and umpire distance?

 

@Los Angeles 2021 Parent posted:

With all of the restrictions being lifted in several states, are any high school or travel teams back on the field for games or practices? What states?

Our program director emailed the entire program yesterday to say boys should be working out however they can, but that we wouldn’t be returning to “normal” summer schedule for recruiting.  He also said the coaches he’s talked to don’t  actually know what this summer is going to look like recruiting wise (for what it’s worth, although he does seem to know everyone on the west coast) So he’s waiting to see what we’ll be doing  as the possible paths forward come into focus. Said, once allowed, we’ll start in small groups first. It will be interesting, he said the state of recruiting is a “disaster” and many of the boys are going to have to readjust their thoughts/plans. We are in So. CA (Orange County) for perspective where we’ve been super lucky with our numbers but will go with LA who hasn’t been as lucky. 

Sent out by our program Wednesday.  Our first two tournaments have been canceled and we will begin playing in mid-June at the earliest.  We do not have team practices.

I'm sure you all know that because of the cancellation of college seasons, the NCAA gave all college players their year back.  Because of that, it'll be years before college baseball programs get back to normal.  For example, [SEC program] had 20 freshmen in the fall.  All those kids will be freshmen again and they will also have around 20 more in coming freshmen in the class of 2020.  There are only 35 on a roster.  Only 27 are allowed to be on scholarship.  As you can see, the math doesn't add up.  With that being said, it's going to be much harder to find homes for our kids.  I've talked to many college coaches about this and they all say that their class of '21 will be very small.  [Non-power 5 good D1] has 7 committed and will most likely not commit anymore.  Some schools say they'll only commit 3-4.  But, there is no reason that our kids can't be one of those 3-4.  Please remind them how important it is to email coaches and to be very persistent.  I'm not going to slow down on trying to help them and neither are our other coaches!  I know this seems scary for the uncommitted kids and their families but I believe when it's said and done that everything will be ok.

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker declared schools will not reopen for the remainder of the 19-20 school year. MIAA declares spring sports seasons over.

NC private schools league announced today that spring seasons are officially cancelled.  My son's school also announced today that it won't hold any in-person classes this spring (no surprise) and that graduation, which was scheduled for the last weekend in May, is now tentatively planned for late June.

@Los Angeles 2021 Parent posted:

With all of the restrictions being lifted in several states, are any high school or travel teams back on the field for games or practices? What states?

A local travel team org here in GA is starting up practices on their (private) field as of today.

I I thought that my son’s team would likely start up in the next week, but I forgot that they (and a lot of teams) use HS facilities. With those closed due to school closure, I‘m not sure when/where they will get started. 

Do most coaches usually meet with players/families to talk about their individual performance and what they need to work on? I know a couple of high schools around here do, but my son's coach does not from what I've heard. 

@Texas1836 posted:

Sent out by our program Wednesday.  Our first two tournaments have been canceled and we will begin playing in mid-June at the earliest.  We do not have team practices.

I'm sure you all know that because of the cancellation of college seasons, the NCAA gave all college players their year back.  Because of that, it'll be years before college baseball programs get back to normal.  For example, [SEC program] had 20 freshmen in the fall.  All those kids will be freshmen again and they will also have around 20 more in coming freshmen in the class of 2020.  There are only 35 on a roster.  Only 27 are allowed to be on scholarship.  As you can see, the math doesn't add up.  With that being said, it's going to be much harder to find homes for our kids.  I've talked to many college coaches about this and they all say that their class of '21 will be very small.  [Non-power 5 good D1] has 7 committed and will most likely not commit anymore.  Some schools say they'll only commit 3-4.  But, there is no reason that our kids can't be one of those 3-4.  Please remind them how important it is to email coaches and to be very persistent.  I'm not going to slow down on trying to help them and neither are our other coaches!  I know this seems scary for the uncommitted kids and their families but I believe when it's said and done that everything will be ok.

this is tough one, I don't see any good coming from it quickly. I do think the economics will sort out the players sooner rather then later for the 21 class it is going to be slim pickings.

I would think by 22 it will be much less and 23 the pipeline cleared. For anyone who is a current college player concerned about scholarship money the 5th year will only be an option for the absolute top players who don't get drafted. For the rest even though they may have eligibility they would have to pay the full freight, that is going to shrink the numbers quickly. 

the whole thing is a damn shame. 

Saw quite a few P5s added to the transfer portal.

@old_school posted:

this is tough one, I don't see any good coming from it quickly. I do think the economics will sort out the players sooner rather then later for the 21 class it is going to be slim pickings.

I would think by 22 it will be much less and 23 the pipeline cleared. For anyone who is a current college player concerned about scholarship money the 5th year will only be an option for the absolute top players who don't get drafted. For the rest even though they may have eligibility they would have to pay the full freight, that is going to shrink the numbers quickly. 

the whole thing is a damn shame. 

Well, IMO, I agree with YOU.  Most players except for this last senior class will not see a 5th year, except for injury.  

@TerribleBPthrower posted:

Do most coaches usually meet with players/families to talk about their individual performance and what they need to work on? I know a couple of high schools around here do, but my son's coach does not from what I've heard. 

Good HS coaches meet with their players and discuss those things. No HS coaches meet with parents to discuss those things. 

I would say most meet with players,  or let players set up meetings with them.  Ours, ask to come to our house once to meet with all of us, I think that was usual.

@adbono posted:

Good HS coaches meet with their players and discuss those things. No HS coaches meet with parents to discuss those things. 

So if a coach does not initiate these meetings should the player reach out to the coach?

@TerribleBPthrower posted:

So if a coach does not initiate these meetings should the player reach out to the coach?

Absolutely 

The problem this year is they did not play enough to talk about anything 

I met with my returning players to tell them what to work on and expectations but never parents. 

If they boys are curious and want to know, they should bring it up and seek feedback.

Anyone in high school is old enough to be responsible to reach out and discuss with the coach on their own.

The coaches have seen them in Baseball class, workouts and practice.

We were playing in early Feb here in Texas and "coachless" workouts were in Jan. 

@TerribleBPthrower posted:

Do most coaches usually meet with players/families to talk about their individual performance and what they need to work on? I know a couple of high schools around here do, but my son's coach does not from what I've heard. 

My son’s coach met with every player about specific skills to improve and baseball and physical metrics they would like to see met by the beginning of practice the following season. Players were expected to show up ready to go 100% when tryouts start.

Our HS coaches at all levels(we have 4 teams, sometimes more) have a final individual meeting with all their players. It can be as short as 3-4 minutes, and as long as 20. Parents are not welcome to those meetings. That way lies madness.

   As one Legendary HS hockey coach said, after giving out his private # to all his player's parents, " If your player has any problems with school, socially, or at home, please don't hesitate to call. Just don't talk to me about hockey."

Same as everyone is saying... when I coached, there was regular feedback to the players.  At least a few times during the practice season and game season, I would make rounds and discuss where each player stood at that point in time, strengths and weaknesses, expectations, what to work on, what their role is, etc.  End of season, there was a detailed write up on same plus an off-season plan.  We meshed this with the dialog that occurred during the normal course of instruction.  

There was zero reason why a player wouldn't know where he stood and what he needed to do to change that.  Even with that, teens are teens and one or two each season still had some distorted perception but overall, it worked well with the players.  

We had the same pre-season speech with parents as others mentioned as well... making it clear that the players would know exactly where they stood and it wasn't to be discussed with parents unless there was a safety or other major concern.  It is amazing that the very minority problem parents would somehow be the ones not make that meeting or otherwise deny that was ever stated.   Then, of course there was the "lost in translation" issue that was inevitable between player and parents.  Still, this was the right way to do it.

As expected, schools cancelled in NYC. RIP 2020 baseball season, it's like taking a foul tip to the cup. Putting all my hope to summer travel now.

CT followed MA, NY and NJ today and finally cancelled in-person school for the year.  That is the end of high school baseball for son.   They held out in CT as long as they could and that's all that I could have asked - follow the data and make an informed decision.   The good news here is 12 straight days of declines in hospitalizations, so about to meet a federal guideline.   Things to start opening up on May 20th.

I hope this doesn’t come across as bragging, but I want to be a proud dad for a minute.  Texas just released the final 2020 season stats for 6A and my son (Senior) ended up pretty good in several categories:

2896 qualified player entries

AVG: T70  (.460)

Hits: T5 (23)

Runs: T46 (15)

RBI: 1 (24)

Doubles: T3 (8)

SB: T22 (11)

Where do yousee The stats for 6A? 
my son started the season strong. 

17IP-31K-10H-5W. 1R 61 batters

ERA .412

.882 WHIP

Here:

Eokerholm, Doesn’t look like they had WHIP as a pitching category.  .412 would put your son in the top 50 however.  Somewhere around 32.  Didn’t have OBP or SLG for hitting either.  

Luckily here in New Jersey the lack of a season didn't prevent NJ.com from naming an All State team.  Certainly a bit of fuel for those of us who snark that those articles are written before the season even starts.

Don’t know how you could possibly do that when no games were played.  At least my son’s team got in 17 games (so maybe a little less than half) before the plug was pulled.  I will say, on the topic of “All State Teams”, it was interesting to look at the Perfect Game 1st and 2nd All Area Teams for my area and see how the PG ranked players did versus how the actual game performance stats showed.  I noted one kid in particular that made first team at my son’s position that didn’t even hit his weight (something like .150 Average) and was named a PG 1st team kid.  He didn’t do any better last year.  Gotta love baseball politics.  What other plausible answer could you conclude? 

@DBAT-DFW posted:

Eokerholm, Doesn’t look like they had WHIP as a pitching category.  .412 would put your son in the top 50 however.  Somewhere around 32.  Didn’t have OBP or SLG for hitting either.  

yep, not sure they got all the stats correct or reported, but good to see him #35 in Ks and #50 in ERA by their book.

@Eokerholm posted:

yep, not sure they got all the stats correct or reported, but good to see him #35 in Ks and #50 in ERA by their book.

Stats were reported by the coaches of each team.  

@Eokerholm posted:

yep, not sure they got all the stats correct or reported, but good to see him #35 in Ks and #50 in ERA by their book.

Also, our summer team may need some extra arms if you’re interested.  We are already confirmed for the Connie Mack that’s been moved from Farmington, NM to Joplin, MO.  We won a lot last year and are tying to go out with a bang in our final summer together.  

@DBAT-DFW posted:

Stats were reported by the coaches of each team.  

One thing I can tell you with 100% certainly is that HS stats are not accurate. They are often kept by a parent with an agenda, a bench player who doesn’t give a sh$t, or an Asst Coach who is daydreaming about football formations. Not the mention the huge disparity in talent (especially pitching) from district to district, classification to classification, and state to state. That’s why college coaches don’t give much weight to HS stats. They depend on what they see with their own eyes. 

Yeah, around here, HS "stats" available to the public are a joke. At best, they are incomplete. The team does keep internal stats that are usually pretty accurate, though. At a big public like ours, they are usually kept by a non playing student manager , and corrected by the one of the coaches.

   My 2018 had quite a bit of interest from colleges, and was never once asked about his stats. AFAIK. Most colleges never talked to his HS coaches, either...maybe a bit more to his travel coach.

Agree. Fortunately for our team we have a parent (and a back up) that does Gamechanger. I'm sure there is stuff they miss and that's expected and just appreciate the time they put into showing up to games and broadcasting for times when parents can't make it to games. 

It's HS ball, y'all.  No one is getting an offer out of HS stats or season alone. Thankful and Nice to be included and recognized. Some good news to share for a change.

Nice to look at it and life "Glass Half Full", when you can....

Let's hope the TX "reopen" continues to go smoothly and the tourneys take off without a hitch and safely.

@adbono posted:

One thing I can tell you with 100% certainly is that HS stats are not accurate. They are often kept by a parent with an agenda, a bench player who doesn’t give a sh$t, or an Asst Coach who is daydreaming about football formations. Not the mention the huge disparity in talent (especially pitching) from district to district, classification to classification, and state to state. That’s why college coaches don’t give much weight to HS stats. They depend on what they see with their own eyes. 

Yep, the RC at the University when my son committed (signed his NLI) didn’t ask about his stats at all.  Actually, none of the schools recruiting him asked, and he was a late signee.  The published stats are more of a reward for the hard work than a recruiting tool.

@DBAT-DFW posted:

I hope this doesn’t come across as bragging, but I want to be a proud dad for a minute.  Texas just released the final 2020 season stats for 6A and my son (Senior) ended up pretty good in several categories:

2896 qualified player entries

AVG: T70  (.460)

Hits: T5 (23)

Runs: T46 (15)

RBI: 1 (24)

Doubles: T3 (8)

SB: T22 (11)

 

 

 

 

 

You are.   But that is why I started this thread.  Congrats to your son.  Great season, even though a short one. 

@PitchingFan posted:

You are.   But that is why I started this thread.  Congrats to your son.  Great season, even though a short one. 

Thank you PitchingFan.  That's a relief.  It is a fine line between humble-brag and an outright brag.  I figured my post had a 50/50 chance of being perceived as one of the two.   LOL.  

Life is Half Full! Share the good news!
#ProudDad

My 2020 graduated from high school yesterday via vehicle parade through the high school campus.  He starts travel practice today (in small groups).  We may get in some games in Georgia soon.     

@HomeField2020 posted:

My 2020 graduated from high school yesterday via vehicle parade through the high school campus.  He starts travel practice today (in small groups).  We may get in some games in Georgia soon.     

My son graduates a week from tomorrow.  It’s being held at Texas Motor Speedway.  Chairs spaced 6-feet apart on the front stretch.  With 700 kids graduating (had close to 80 tryout for his Freshman team - they took 20, ended up with 8 seniors of which 4 were starters - Making a Texas 6A varsity team ain’t no joke) there will be a lot of chairs.  We have to watch it on the giant “Big Hoss” TV screen on the backstretch and are not allowed to leave our cars.  Think of it like a drive in movie only during the day and with 1400 cars.  He has to wear a mask when receiving his diploma.  Summer collegiate league starts the second week of June.  I hope you get some real games soon in Georgia.  You guys actually started opening up before us.  Good luck!

@DBAT-DFW posted:

My son graduates a week from tomorrow.  It’s being held at Texas Motor Speedway.  Chairs spaced 6-feet apart on the front stretch.  With 700 kids graduating (had close to 80 tryout for his Freshman team - they took 20, ended up with 8 seniors of which 4 were starters - Making a Texas 6A varsity team ain’t no joke) there will be a lot of chairs.  We have to watch it on the giant “Big Hoss” TV screen on the backstretch and are not allowed to leave our cars.  Think of it like a drive in movie only during the day and with 1400 cars.  He has to wear a mask when receiving his diploma.  Summer collegiate league starts the second week of June.  I hope you get some real games soon in Georgia.  You guys actually started opening up before us.  Good luck!

That is awesome. I'm glad they get to actually walk!! That's a huge accomplishment to pass up on!
Congrats!

@DBAT-DFW posted:

My son graduates a week from tomorrow.  It’s being held at Texas Motor Speedway.  Chairs spaced 6-feet apart on the front stretch.  With 700 kids graduating (had close to 80 tryout for his Freshman team - they took 20, ended up with 8 seniors of which 4 were starters - Making a Texas 6A varsity team ain’t no joke) there will be a lot of chairs.  We have to watch it on the giant “Big Hoss” TV screen on the backstretch and are not allowed to leave our cars.  Think of it like a drive in movie only during the day and with 1400 cars.  He has to wear a mask when receiving his diploma.  Summer collegiate league starts the second week of June.  I hope you get some real games soon in Georgia.  You guys actually started opening up before us.  Good luck!

Down here north of Houston, they are going to have graduation for several of the area high schools at the big football stadium that the schools share. The bigger schools are having their class split up. They are having an 8am graduation session and 8pm session, giving them time between to come in and do some house cleaning. They are allowing 4 tickets per graduate in the ceremony and each family has to social distance from the others. The graduates chairs down on the football field will be at least 6 feet apart. It was pretty cool how this all came together very quickly. 

And another note, the group in Texas trying to get high school sports to resume since youth sports can resume practicing on May 31st, is presenting their outline to the governor and the UIL with the backing from several state senators and reps. I am not sure if it will get anywhere, seems like presenting weeks ago may have been better, but there is a small outside chance they may be able to convince the governor and the UIL to put together an ending to the high school season. They have like 22,000 signatures on a petition that they are also providing with their game plan.

not sure how UIL is going to work for us in TX to continue HS season into Summer. We will definitely choose Summer Travel Team over local High School.....as will most. HS baseball doesn't even come close to the caliber or quality of summer travel and competition.....

I think a lot of districts have done a fantastic job of thinking outside the box to make graduation happen.  Sadly, ours seems to have done very little planning.  Our kids get a virtual graduation on Friday.  They gave us a day and a half to turn in their info and pictures and they are sending the link to the virtual graduation a few hours before it starts.  It's a stark contrast to what other Texas districts are doing.

@Eokerholm posted:

not sure how UIL is going to work for us in TX to continue HS season into Summer. We will definitely choose Summer Travel Team over local High School.....as will most. HS baseball doesn't even come close to the caliber or quality of summer travel and competition.....

I’m sure the smaller 4A school and below this is definitely true.  In my son’s 6A district you don’t even get to see mound time unless you’re 86+.  I think there was one starter last year in the entire district under 85, and he was a lefty.  Summer ball is a let down compared to our district. 

@ARCEKU21 posted:

Down here north of Houston, they are going to have graduation for several of the area high schools at the big football stadium that the schools share. The bigger schools are having their class split up. They are having an 8am graduation session and 8pm session, giving them time between to come in and do some house cleaning. They are allowing 4 tickets per graduate in the ceremony and each family has to social distance from the others. The graduates chairs down on the football field will be at least 6 feet apart. It was pretty cool how this all came together very quickly. 

And another note, the group in Texas trying to get high school sports to resume since youth sports can resume practicing on May 31st, is presenting their outline to the governor and the UIL with the backing from several state senators and reps. I am not sure if it will get anywhere, seems like presenting weeks ago may have been better, but there is a small outside chance they may be able to convince the governor and the UIL to put together an ending to the high school season. They have like 22,000 signatures on a petition that they are also providing with their game plan.

Wouldn’t count on it. If there is an organization that is more ridiculous than the NCAA it’s the UIL. 

@adbono posted:

Wouldn’t count on it. If there is an organization that is more ridiculous than the NCAA it’s the UIL. 

Spot on.  This x1000  

@DBAT-DFW posted:

I’m sure the smaller 4A school and below this is definitely true.  In my son’s 6A district you don’t even get to see mound time unless you’re 86+.  I think there was one starter last year in the entire district under 85, and he was a lefty.  Summer ball is a let down compared to our district. 

Same here. My son's high school team was nationally ranked and expected to make a run for the state 6A title. Before the draft was cut to 5 rounds, they were probably going to have 3 draft picks. Now probably only one. But I think most on our varsity team would definitely come back, especially since there was a bunch of seniors. 

@adbono posted:

Wouldn’t count on it. If there is an organization that is more ridiculous than the NCAA it’s the UIL. 

That is what I am finding out from the limited time we have lived in Texas. 

@ARCEKU21 posted:

Same here. My son's high school team was nationally ranked and expected to make a run for the state 6A title. Before the draft was cut to 5 rounds, they were probably going to have 3 draft picks. Now probably only one. But I think most on our varsity team would definitely come back, especially since there was a bunch of seniors. 

I agree.  I’d much rather play out the Region 1 5-6A district which includes  the 2018 and 2019 6A state champ returning all starters than play summer ball.  Throw a rock in a random direction and you’ll hit a D1 signee / commit in our district. 

@DBAT-DFW posted:

I agree.  I’d much rather play out the Region 1 5-6A district which includes  the 2018 and 2019 6A state champ returning all starters than play summer ball.  Throw a rock in a random direction and you’ll hit a D1 signee / commit in our district. 

The district with Southlake. My son has some friends on that team. They are/were stacked once again. 

You guys are fortunate to play in some great HS baseball districts but elite level highschool teams are not the same as elite level summer teams.  Simply because the elite summer teams are made up entirely of those one or two D1 commits on any given HS team.  There are 2021 and 2022 summer teams, regional teams just in the DFW area, that would smack any high school team in the state.  Now condense that down and take the top one or two kids from those regional powerhouse teams and put them on a summer national team.  

@22and25 posted:

You guys are fortunate to play in some great HS baseball districts but elite level highschool teams are not the same as elite level summer teams.  Simply because the elite summer teams are made up entirely of those one or two D1 commits on any given HS team.  There are 2021 and 2022 summer teams, regional teams just in the DFW area, that would smack any high school team in the state.  Now condense that down and take the top one or two kids from those regional powerhouse teams and put them on a summer national team.  

Here are a couple of my son’s summer teams (for reference to my opinion) and where the players committed, but I disagree that they would “smack any high school in state” for a couple of reasons.  1. The high school teams actually play as a team.  2. Some of these committed kids were 4A and below and dominated at that level and then struggled greatly in summer ball when the competition actually got stronger for them.  For my son, most of the time (not always) the competition in the summer actually went down.  Again, just my opinion.

I think the high school baseball ship has sailed in Texas. We would’ve likely made a run at state 6A, and even two weeks ago our boys wanted to go back. At this point they’ve moved on.

It's gotten to the point where almost every HS player is on a "great" travel team. So if a HS team is made up of all players who supposedly play high level travel ball...wouldn't that make the HS team basically another great travel team roster? Once I framed that to my son and his friends, they never looked at HS ball the same. They loved both and typically said they cared more and played harder for outcomes in the HS season. 

Going to have to agree to disagree on that one.

Dallas has some good talent, but no way any HS team would stack up against the summer teams of Team Elite, East Cobb, Canes National, etc.

My son plays on East Cobb Astros and that is a national team of the best kids in the country. infield is all top 25 in the country.  This team is stacked and jacked and, not being a jerk here, your HS teams wouldn't hold a candle to this group. 

Even at 16U that team would have destroyed a HS team.... 

@Eokerholm posted:

Going to have to agree to disagree on that one.

Dallas has some good talent, but no way any HS team would stack up against the summer teams of Team Elite, East Cobb, Canes National, etc.

My son plays on East Cobb Astros and that is a national team of the best kids in the country. infield is all top 25 in the country.  This team is stacked and jacked and, not being a jerk here, you guys wouldn't hold a candle to this group. 

Even at 16U that team would have destroyed a HS team.... 

It’s any given day. In one game a hs team could beat them, not in a series.

@Eokerholm posted:

Going to have to agree to disagree on that one.

Dallas has some good talent, but no way any HS team would stack up against the summer teams of Team Elite, East Cobb, Canes National, etc.

My son plays on East Cobb Astros and that is a national team of the best kids in the country. infield is all top 25 in the country.  This team is stacked and jacked and, not being a jerk here, you guys wouldn't hold a candle to this group. 

Even at 16U that team would have destroyed a HS team.... 

You definitely have some points here Eokerholm.  Those kinds of elite-level summer teams would probably run the table on any level of high school.  Probably just as a Cape Cod league team would dominate any normal college team.  Would be fun to see a Cape Cod league team play a top 10 college team.  Thoughts on who would win?

I do tend to agree that if you look at age to age comparison, the travel/showcase teams are stacked better than the high school teams. My son is on a top 10 nationally ranked 15u team per PG. If you put that team up against another high school freshman/sophomore team, they would win most of the time. But if you put that team up against our high school varsity team, 6 D1 signees, 1 D2 signee, 3 D1 committs, I think our varsity team would win out in that battle. 

@James G posted:

It's gotten to the point where almost every HS player is on a "great" travel team. So if a HS team is made up of all players who supposedly play high level travel ball...wouldn't that make the HS team basically another great travel team roster? Once I framed that to my son and his friends, they never looked at HS ball the same. They loved both and typically said they cared more and played harder for outcomes in the HS season. 

It may be at a point where almost every HS player "thinks" they are on a "great" travel team but they simply aren't.  That's ok, there is a summer team for everyone.  To suggest that "great" HS baseball is on par with "great" summer ball is just misinformed at best.

@22and25 posted:

It may be at a point where almost every HS player "thinks" they are on a "great" travel team but they simply aren't.  That's ok, there is a summer team for everyone.  To suggest that "great" HS baseball is on par with "great" summer ball is just misinformed at best.

Agree many think they are on a great travel team. I'm not talking about the big time national travel team, of course those are better than HS teams. Only speaking from experience as a HS coach and a travel coach in IL, playing at Lakepoint PG games, PBR games, and other Midwest tournaments....on average there isn't a whole hell of a lot difference I've seen between good travel and the majority of good Chicagoland HS programs. Again, not including the MAJOR national travel teams that field kids from all over. And the overall product of play isn't that much better. Just speaking from experience here. 

@James G posted:

Agree many think they are on a great travel team. I'm not talking about the big time national travel team, of course those are better than HS teams. Only speaking from experience as a HS coach and a travel coach in IL, playing at Lakepoint PG games, PBR games, and other Midwest tournaments....on average there isn't a whole hell of a lot difference I've seen between good travel and the majority of good Chicagoland HS programs. Again, not including the MAJOR national travel teams that field kids from all over. And the overall product of play isn't that much better. Just speaking from experience here. 

This was kind of my point.  Kids may play on a high level summer team but a lot of the time those teams aren't playing other high level teams until maybe semi-finals or finals of a lot of tournaments.   So you might play 10 games and only get two good games.  However, in some HS districts you get good teams (or at least good pitching) every week, twice a week for the most part.   Certainly on par with your local or regional travel teams.  

@James G posted:

It's gotten to the point where almost every HS player is on a "great" travel team. So if a HS team is made up of all players who supposedly play high level travel ball...wouldn't that make the HS team basically another great travel team roster? Once I framed that to my son and his friends, they never looked at HS ball the same. They loved both and typically said they cared more and played harder for outcomes in the HS season. 

For our student athlete, HS ball is about playing with your classmates, friends, and representing your community. It’s about leadership and passing the torch. Summer ball (for my SA) was about facing best competition available and being recruited. It was about learning the game and making progress toward the goal of playing at the next level. For every player, summer vs high school will have a different flavor, depending on person goals. 

Around here, travel ball is the one where they really reach into your pockets.

I think there is a HUGE difference between good travel teams and the great travel teams.  The parents may think their kid is on a great travel team but most of the players know the difference between good and great travel teams.  The teams listed above and I would say the top 50 in the nation are so much better than any HS teams.  When you see the great teams play in WWBA, you know the difference.  The year my son's team finished 3rd in 15U WWBA, we knew there was a big difference between our team and the big teams.  We just had 2 good pitchers who could play with anyone and used them in the right games.  When we got to the semis, we had no pitching left and it showed.  We were a great local team and a very good to bottom great national team but we only had kids from 45 mile radius in Northeast Tennessee.   The great teams have the players from top to bottom and the pitchers are dominating.  I don't think most understand how good the great teams are until they see them play a good team. 

Iowa, I have said before, plays summer high school baseball. Our first game was slated for May 26. Governor just announced that we can start practices, etc., June 1. So if all stays as is, baseball will happen here soon. Keeping my fingers crossed.

IOWA hs baseball is on!!!

Happy for you!!!

But to be completely safe there will be no crowds, no coaches, play will be via zoom with no ball!