2024 High School Baseball Season

We are about a 1/4 thru our season here.  Frosh son is on JV and getting good playing time so far in his primary position. They are undefeated so far. New coach is really good, super passionate and knowledgeable.

It's been a while since my son's had a coach that showed emotion like this. He makes no secret he wants them to win and expects them to but he's right there with them to teach,  hold them accountable and back them up.

For us it's a bit refreshing some of the travel teams up to this point my son has been on the coaches would just check out and the players would not give their all.

I realize JV is not that serious but my son is enjoying it. I feel like in way HS ball is about being a team and how you can help your team. It's also been good for his development. In travel ball it seems that the players are more focused on their individual achievements within the game due to wanting to play in college and stand out.

Son's team is 6-2 so far, beating a couple of solid "big schools" and the games they lost were both by a run to good programs. He's had 3 starts and the boys won all three, including a league game over a team they hadn't beaten since 2016 (7-41 against them since 2000). Had a no-hitter going into the 6th yesterday in a rather sloppy game by our side. Won today, looking to win tomorrow and Friday! .

Finished last week 3-1. Our Friday starter had "one of those days" against a good team and they fell 9-7 (both teams will be the top seeds when districts roll around).

Today 2024 faced one of the top teams in Class 5 (his school is Class 3) and won 3-2. They are now 10-35 against that program since 2000, and have taken the last 3 games dating back to last season and are the only 3 wins the varsity has had since 2015 (he pitched 2 of them).

Son walked about half of St. Louis County today. Umpire was setup waaaay behind the catcher -- not sure how one calls a game from back there. Pics attached...

Update, son's team is 9-0 in District. Everyone is playing well.

Disappointing season here.  We continue to do the same thing but expect different results.  Overall 4-8.  Only 6 games left including 4 conference.  

Boys limped out of last week going 2-3. Played in a tournament over the weekend where they were out of pitching after the first game. Tough being a small school with a limited staff. Our star offensive tackle tossed a complete game shutout. Each year we wonder why we participate in this tournament given our small pitching staff. The competition is great, but the boys would like to play them when they have some arms available. Overall played well, just didn't win.

Tomorrow the boys take on a conference foe and  last year's Class 4 champs (they are now Class 5 and we're now Class 3). Opponent isn't the same team as last year, but still not to be underestimated. Son has the start tomorrow and is looking to help the gang get rolling again. Good luck to all your boys this week!

We have a few more weeks until its over and are undefeated. We are not in a competitive division so I am kind of amazed of the low level of play compared to travel ball.

We do have some good players. There are kids are on the bench that play travel and are starters on their travel teams. I am really proud of my son that he is starting in his primary position and hitting well.

Socially it's been really fun for him. Since this is our first year of HS ball we are all just trying to enjoy it for what it is.

Just an observation, in the beginning of the season there was a small chance that son could go to varsity this year as he was called up to practice with them a few times. He didn't get called up but they called up one kid who is pretty talented and he has maybe played like 4 innings so far on varsity.  I am curious as to why a coach would pull a kid up and have him sit. I know he's already got options at his primary position. Is it to groom him to be a starter next year?

@BB328 posted:

We have a few more weeks until its over and are undefeated. We are not in a competitive division so I am kind of amazed of the low level of play compared to travel ball.

We do have some good players. There are kids are on the bench that play travel and are starters on their travel teams. I am really proud of my son that he is starting in his primary position and hitting well.

Socially it's been really fun for him. Since this is our first year of HS ball we are all just trying to enjoy it for what it is.

Just an observation, in the beginning of the season there was a small chance that son could go to varsity this year as he was called up to practice with them a few times. He didn't get called up but they called up one kid who is pretty talented and he has maybe played like 4 innings so far on varsity.  I am curious as to why a coach would pull a kid up and have him sit. I know he's already got options at his primary position. Is it to groom him to be a starter next year?

It’s usually a just in case scenario. Varsity is all that matters in hs, but for the player, a year is 25% of their hs career. My son was pulled up at the end of freshman year during playoffs, and then again sophomore year. When we started to see that he would mostly be sitting, he asked the coach if he could play on JV unless they were going to pitch him that week. The coach agreed, and he had the most fun playing on JV. He got to pitch and play a position which never happened on varsity.  

I agree with baseballhs, but it could also be getting to practice with the varsity, getting acculturated to the way the varsity coaches do things, part of a long-term plan of the coach.  It happened to my son, he didn't play the first half of the season, then the seniors played themselves off the field, and he did field the second half of the season but didn't hit.  It was very frustrating at the time.  He was a starter soph year, captain by junior year, and they had an amazing senior season.  So in hindsight it made sense.

@BB328 posted:

We have a few more weeks until its over and are undefeated. We are not in a competitive division so I am kind of amazed of the low level of play compared to travel ball.

We do have some good players. There are kids are on the bench that play travel and are starters on their travel teams. I am really proud of my son that he is starting in his primary position and hitting well.

Socially it's been really fun for him. Since this is our first year of HS ball we are all just trying to enjoy it for what it is.

Just an observation, in the beginning of the season there was a small chance that son could go to varsity this year as he was called up to practice with them a few times. He didn't get called up but they called up one kid who is pretty talented and he has maybe played like 4 innings so far on varsity.  I am curious as to why a coach would pull a kid up and have him sit. I know he's already got options at his primary position. Is it to groom him to be a starter next year?

Practicing with varsity has more value than playing JV. My son played JV freshman year. It was a waste of time. The varsity coach was against freshmen on varsity. He wasn’t too fond of soph starters.  My son was the first soph varsity starter in four years.

The boys won a really tight game yesterday (2-0) that was very well played and pitched by both sides. No errors by either team! CubsSon went 6 to help deliver the win. Lost to same team today in a game rescheduled due to rain the other day.

Have two non-con this weekend.  

Need to sweep a team next week (possible...) and have another get swept (not happening) to win the conference.