@ClevelandDad posted:adbono - good #23 stuff. Who was your coach at Texas A&M? Did you get a chance to play in the College World Series?
I played for Tom Chandler. We were very good (SWC champs twice) but never got to Omaha. Got beat in Regionals both years.
Third day of trouts here. Looking pretty good so far. Two more cuts to make. Mine is a freshman, so I think he’s a lock for the sophomore (lowest) team and maybe a flier for JV. I’m not sure how our varsity will do this year. I think they have a lot of talent returning so could be a good year for them. They usually get to the 2nd round and get bounced 😁
Son just completed his 4th day of tryouts(here in Coastal South Texas). He knows he made the cut, but probably got JV and not Varsity(he's a Soph). He's so competitive that he's a bit hurt, but I know he'll shake it off. Varsity has 13 returning seniors and three returning underclassmen and three Junior or Senior transfers, so there wasn't much room on a 18-19 man roster. I'll enjoy him getting more play time on JV anyway. I just hope he'll see it that way, in the days to come. Plus, I told him there are several kids that he's played with for years that didn't make the cut, so he should be proud of where he's at. We're going to miss those friends, though.
Good luck to all the kids out there and to their parents and grandparents who will be biting nails during each game!
@Adams Baseball posted:I'll enjoy him getting more play time on JV anyway. I just hope he'll see it that way, in the days to come. Plus, I told him there are several kids that he's played with for years that didn't make the cut, so he should be proud of where he's at. We're going to miss those friends, though.
Good luck to all the kids out there and to their parents and grandparents who will be biting nails during each game!
It is the right way to look at it. Playing time is more valuable for sure. Reminded me of my dad’s story. He played basketball. He wasn’t good enough to make JV first two years (didn’t even make any team as a freshman) but kept grinding. Chose to play JV as a junior for playing time. Ended up starting varsity point guard as a senior and went on to play in college at a D1 school. He attributes it to being on the floor when his soph and especially his jr buddies were mostly riding the bench on varsity.
And your son should be proud to be on any squad in your area. It’s extremely competitive in many parts of Texas, just about all of them. 😁 Congrats!
Thx Lefty! I will pass your information along, to him. Our district has a #6 Ranked team, and our first scrimmage game is against a Highshool whose Varsity is ranked in the top 20. So we'll see how it goes. Trial By Fire! LOL
Update: Scrimmages are going pretty well. This years defense is strong, even with the large number of underclassmen. Pitching and offence could use some work (consistency). I think both will come around with more innings. 2025 son has started every scrimmage at catcher. I just wish they would release the varsity roster, but it is looking good so far.
Tryouts start Feb 27, first game is March 17th. 18 seniors are going out and they will be cutting some of them. There are going to be lots of upset parents.
@Master P posted:Tryouts start Feb 27, first game is March 17th. 18 seniors are going out and they will be cutting some of them. There are going to be lots of upset parents.
The players that get cut (and their parents) may well be upset, but what your coach is doing is in the best interests of the team and the program in general. My opinion may not be in the majority but I believe HS sports should be a meritocracy. And the best players should play regardless of their age. Keeping a bunch of seniors that aren’t good enough to get on the field is a recipe for disaster. Some inevitably turn into malcontents and team chemistry is destroyed. It boggles my mind that so many families think their kids are entitled to be part of a HS sports team just because they are a student in the school. And giving in to that nonsense is not doing kids any favors. It sets them up to fail.
@adbono posted:The players that get cut (and their parents) may well be upset, but what your coach is doing is in the best interests of the team and the program in general. My opinion may not be in the majority but I believe HS sports should be a meritocracy. And the best players should play regardless of their age. Keeping a bunch of seniors that aren’t good enough to get on the field is a recipe for disaster. Some inevitably turn into malcontents and team chemistry is destroyed. It boggles my mind that so many families think their kids are entitled to be part of a HS sports team just because they are a student in the school. And giving in to that nonsense is not doing kids any favors. It sets them up to fail.
You're exactly right. I had a mom tell me, "No senior should ever get cut if they have been in the program for 3 years, even if they wont play." All I could do was smile and nod. The coach has been telling all the seniors for 6 months that he would be making cuts, so its no surprise. He's even having a meeting with all the senior parents before tryouts.
@adbono posted:The players that get cut (and their parents) may well be upset, but what your coach is doing is in the best interests of the team and the program in general. My opinion may not be in the majority but I believe HS sports should be a meritocracy. And the best players should play regardless of their age. Keeping a bunch of seniors that aren’t good enough to get on the field is a recipe for disaster. Some inevitably turn into malcontents and team chemistry is destroyed. It boggles my mind that so many families think their kids are entitled to be part of a HS sports team just because they are a student in the school. And giving in to that nonsense is not doing kids any favors. It sets them up to fail.
We experience this in my son's high school team. Adbono, I am pretty sure you are familiar with the reputation of my son's school carrying an army for a varsity team. The 2023 class is one of the largest classes to come through in while. I believe we have 36 kids on the varsity team this year. That is up from 34 last year. There will be only 12-13 players that actually play. You have a half a team of parents in the stands questioning every move by coaches and players. The program has historically been one of the more successful in the state, so as long as the teams keep winning, it is hard to argue with how coach manages the roster. Never understood why coach carries that many. It almost feels like coach "rewards" them with a roster spot for part of being part of the program up to that point.
Our coach doesn't cut seniors. The roster is usually 25ish players and there's always 4-5 seniors who only play in the handful of the reserves games they have. These are the guys who were marginal players on JV their junior year. He tells the ones from that group after tryouts what their role will be & they can decide.
@ARCEKU21 posted:We experience this in my son's high school team. Adbono, I am pretty sure you are familiar with the reputation of my son's school carrying an army for a varsity team. The 2023 class is one of the largest classes to come through in while. I believe we have 36 kids on the varsity team this year. That is up from 34 last year. There will be only 12-13 players that actually play. You have a half a team of parents in the stands questioning every move by coaches and players. The program has historically been one of the more successful in the state, so as long as the teams keep winning, it is hard to argue with how coach manages the roster. Never understood why coach carries that many. It almost feels like coach "rewards" them with a roster spot for part of being part of the program up to that point.
I share your sentiments. Seems to go on the most at the more affluent High Schools
Last year older kid's HS coach cut a few seniors, one was a D3 committed pitcher. With 30 kids on the roster many kids never played. The practices and scrimmages were not that good so I doubt those players got any work in. I am sure it was hard explaining to the D3 coach on getting cut, hopefully the kid used the time training to get better.
WoW 30+ players on the HS Varsity team, that just seems like a nightmare (dealing with HS parents especially). Son's school carries 14-15 on the roster and just pulls JV starters up when/if they need additional players for tournaments at the beginning of the season. They only took 20 to districts and area playoffs last year.
Total number of players in the program is about 45 between the 3 teams (15 each). They also cut a lot of players from tryouts. A pretty good number come back, tryout again, and make it in a year or two.
@TxballDad posted:WoW 30+ players on the HS Varsity team, that just seems like a nightmare (dealing with HS parents especially). Son's school carries 14-15 on the roster and just pulls JV starters up when/if they need additional players for tournaments at the beginning of the season. They only took 20 to districts and area playoffs last year.
Total number of players in the program is about 45 between the 3 teams (15 each). They also cut a lot of players from tryouts. A pretty good number come back, tryout again, and make it in a year or two.
That’s the difference between a 4A HS program in Texas and a big 6A program that has 4000-5000 students.
@adbono posted:I share your sentiments. Seems to go on the most at the more affluent High Schools
there is a program in the metroplex (maybe the one that you are referring to) that has a huge roster. My youngest played with many of the kids on that team during summer ball from ages 12-16, and yes................just follow the money trail to see why those kids are not cut.
The larger roster size might also generate considerable donations to the booster club. A few schools in my area had over 20k in donations on day 1 of the donation drive. Add another 30 kids to the rosters and that could’ve been 30k on day 1 😁
My son’s high school team kept any extra seniors who wanted to be on varsity with some stipulations. These were typically players who were on JV as juniors and not playing all the time. The idea was they never quit.
They were to be positive cheerleaders. Have no expectations of playing (they might get to pinch hit in a non conference game). Retrieve foul balls. The parents must understand and accept the situation. The three years my son was on varsity two or three seniors accepted the circumstances. One of these seniors my son’s soph year was so well liked he was a team leader even on the bench.
One of these players in his only at bat all year came within inches of hitting a pinch hit homer.
First Non-district game tonight (soph team) vs a very talented opponent. From what my son tells me, they are doing 2IP Max per pitcher through non district. Not that district record even matters in the long run either at this level. My son was the starting pitcher and I probably haven’t been that nervous for him in years. Pretty cool feeling. He did really well btw, so it worked out for him. Season is gonna be fun win, lose, or extra innings 😆
