8th Graders on High School Baseball Team

sounds to me like your one of those sophmores thats gunna get beat out of a team spot

i already was. The point is that there are even other players that play better than the 8th graders. These kids came from the middle school and made it because the JV coach is a coach at the middle school. Also peoples younger brothers are making the team when they don't have any talent. It is all about politics at my school and I am getting tired of it.

Welcome to the real world !!!

People should be able to make a High SChool team due to the fact that they can play, not how much the check your dad wrote for the team.

you have a PM GA baseball

I know in Calironia that you have to attend the HS to particapte in any of the school sports. Sounds like a bad situation in Georgia leaving to much room for abuse. Only HS age kids should be allowed to be on HS sprots team. Could a 6th grader be put on the HS team.

No just 8th grade

Up here 8th graders are required to pass a physical/maturity test in order to participate in H.S. sports.

When my son graduated HS in 2004, he was one of the last group of 8th graders to be allowed to play in the HS baseball team system. Since the middle school had no baseball program, the 8th graders where allowed to try out for the freshman team....

They could not make JV or varsity....Since then the HS has not allowed 8th graders to try out since they opted to do a no cut freshman team.

I'm not sure what was the best for the program....an occasional 8th grader or two who could actually play with the freshman team or a no cut freshman team of 22-25 players.......

But thats the way it was......

Any 8th grader than can make a high school varsity team doesn't say much for the quality of the high school program.

How many kids in the high school? 35?

We have 3,700 students and they don't even let freshmen try out for anything but the freshmen team.

In Missouri it is just overage 8th graders that can play with the high school unless there are special exemptions given. If 8th graders do play, they will not be able to play their senior year however. They only get 4 years.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by piaa_ump:
Since the middle school had no baseball program, the 8th graders where allowed to try out for the freshman team....

QUOTE]

The way I understand the ruling in Georgia is ~ athletes may try out for the youngest level team available. At our middle and high school, the situation was similar to piaa_ump's: the middle school did not have a school team, and the high school did not have a freshmen team, making 8th graders eligible to try out for the JV team. Three years ago, six eighth graders made the team, last year no eighth graders, and this year, three eighth graders. Depends on the talent in the grades above them also.

actually my high school has about 1200 kids. There are plenty of kids more capable of playing at the high school than the middle school. We actually had about 7 8th graders make JV last year. This year we added a freshman team which mainly consists of 8th graders. There were plenty of kids that did alot better in the tryouts and were cut. One of the main reasons was the politics behind it. The 8th graders came with the JV coach who is a teacher at the middle school.

Georgia, how long you been playing baseball? If you are a player, what makes you think that you can judge talent better than the coaching staff?

Maybe you're right, maybe you're wrong-- I don't know; just a couple questions you should ask yourself.

I don't have a problem with underclassman on Varsity, but 8th graders over 9th, 10th graders I think is questionable. I guess there could be a stud,,,but a stud 8th grader I would think be rare.

I've seen Freshman make Varsity and then play very little and their skills not grow. You also need to look at physical maturity (even if they pass the test), as well as safety. A mid 80's to 90 mph fastball to a 13 yr old as well as the speed of the game in regards to batted balls to an infielder.

If they are that big of a stud waiting a year isn't going to hurt.

If there is a Freshman team that needs to fill roster spots I see that as being OK

In our school district there is no middle school ball. 8th graders can play JV, and each school can determine how many can make the team. One school says 2 another school says 6.

quote:

Originally posted by Bulldog 19:
Georgia, how long you been playing baseball? If you are a player, what makes you think that you can judge talent better than the coaching staff?

Maybe you're right, maybe you're wrong-- I don't know; just a couple questions you should ask yourself.

I have been playing baseball practically all my life. I can tell the difference between good and bad. When you can only hit dribblers out of the infield all season, that kinda hints that 8th graders shouldnt be playing high school ball b/c they arent ready to face a pitch in the 80s and be 13 playing against kids much older than them. They are not in high school and should not have the privelage of playing high school sports. They need that extra year to mature and develop. Sure some of them have very good skills and deserve a spot on the team but that is very rare considering you have older and more knowledgable kids at the high school. The coaching staff at my school wouldnt know talent if it depended on their life! Hitting dribblers in games off of live pitching and playing catcher and not being able to block up the ball behind the plate is NOT talent, its a sign that 8th graders do not need to be playing high school ball.

Out here in Cali the 8th graders do have the opportunity to play HighSchool Freshman Ball. The freshman team acts like a club/select team that plays in an AAU league. You really have to be an outstanding stud ,aka Robert Stock, in order to get a whiff of playing for Varsity.

But for the most part the freshman team is treated like a travel ball club preparing for HighSchool. I am speaking from experience and what I am currently seeing now.