Advice please!

I would say that if he wants to play first base as well then he should try to pursue that. If the coach doesn't oblige, just keep trying to get better to the point that the coach would be crazy to keep him out of the lineup.

As far as the mental side, that varies from person to person. I think that sometimes it is difficult to be a starting pitcher only because if you pitch well, you're so eager to get back out there but you have to wait at least 4 days. If you do poorly, you want to get back on the bump so you can quit reliving your last outing. I think it is certainly easier to look forward to hitting in the games in between starts than it is to sit and watch and feel that you're not contributing.

If he were to some reason fade mentally or physically, but particularly physically, that is still his fault as if it is important to him he needs to do whatever it is he needs to do to stay in shape and focused between starts. He can't blame the coach not playing him in the field for his loss of focus/playing shape.

Basically, I think he should try to be on the field as much as possible if that's what he desires to do. Everyone likes to play as much as they can. But if he doesn't play his position, he should keep working at his position but the rest of your concerns are what he makes it. It will only get to him if he lets it. It could be a good lesson learned.

My high school coach last season was not a firm believer in pitchers playing the field and it was new for me. I had batted 3/4 in my frosh/soph years. I kept working, though, and this year we hired a new coach and I believe I'll be starting in the infield and I'm very glad that I didn't let myself go. Knowing that my abilities on the mound were unquestioned, though, was a stabilizing sentiment throughout the whole process. It didn't cause me to question myself or lose confidence, in fact, I think it may have had the opposite effect.

First of all, congratulations on having your child make the team of a large school with a winning program. I am fairly sure your son is one of about 10% of the kids who made the team that tried out. So congrats for sure.

What will benefit your son the most is learning to contribute to a team when he is asked where he is asked. That is a great life lesson.

Aside from that, if your child gets in the cages and starts ripping bombs he will get opportunites to hit and if he makes the most of the opportunities he gets then he will see field time at a position that he is not a liability at.

Get to work on the hitting to the extent that he cannot be overlooked or denied. And make sure he can field. Otherwise enjoy being at a school that has a program and coaches he loves.

No one fades away unwillingly... I would not be concerned. I would be motivated.

My son is also an LHP/2012 at a large program and does not play the field (although he is also DHing), so this is an issue I'm familiar with (he was also at 1st for years on his travel team). Are you considering leaving the school so he can play 1st? Some things to consider in favor of staying:

-- can be very hard to change schools emotionally for your son;
-- charting pitches/keeping the book can be a learning tool;
-- not playing first on an off-day gives the regular first baseman a chance to keep getting better and do the job for your son when he's on the mound;
-- less chance of base-running injury derailing high school career;
-- more time to work on things that will make him a better pitcher. Like running. And more running.
-- You can skip the games when you know he won't be pitching! More free time for you.

More specifically, in our situation, switching schools would mean having him in a much less competitive conference, where the strike-outs don't mean as much and a pitcher can get away with not developing his second and third pitches as well.

Best of luck to you and your son as you grapple with this decision.

LHPMom

Coaches have different views on this but in general the higher the level of the program the more they tend to "look" like a professional program with delineated roles. Just part of growing up - in a baseball sense.

Someone mentioned if he can hit they may find a spot for him, at least as a DH. If he is one of the best hitters on the team it will help. (3 or 4 hole type) Remember that 1st basemen on most HS teams can rake when it comes to hitting, so he should be honest about his prospects regarding taking this slot from someone else. Another option is the outfield; sometimes coaches will move pitchers to the outfield (if he has decent speed) as their arms can be an asset out there.

He will most likely fall into his new role and learn to chart, learn hitters, help out in other ways, and just enjoy his teammates and the game. FWIW it seems like parents have more issues with defined roles than the kids once they settle in.

If it becomes a real big deal to him he can find a summer team where he can play both ways. Switching schools because of something like this would be a huge mistake for many reasons.

LHPMom2012,
There are many programs where they catagorize players as a one position player or as a pitcher only,Before making a decision on a particular team or college to attach to I would thoroughly check the situation out,if a player is a pitcher and a position player also as I strongly advocate, players should be able to play different positions until the time comes, and it will come some time as they advance to higher levels when it will boil down as to which position or positions that they play best, I say to every left handed player in particular, carry a first base glove, get on the mound,and play the outfield, be very versatile as long as possible,It certainly would not hurt for all players to do so, also, learn to switch hit,learn all of your options as a player to enhance your playing abilities and advancement to higher levels, utility players,good catchers and especially, effective left handed pitchers are in demand, the fact that your son is being used as a D/H tells me that he should be used at first base and in the outfield also and if to enable him to prove one way or the other whether he can do the job or not,Those coaches who have not had the opportunity to play all positions or who have not had the opportunity to have players who play more than one position are short changed in that area, many times pitching gets very slim during the course of a season and we have to adjust by bringing in someone other than one of our regular pitchers who has not been on the mound so to speak it is much better in these situations to have some one who has been on the mound even though he is not considered to be a regular pitcher, those who catagorize players as pitchers only will have negative thoughts on the possible injury factor,play them at at all positions let them be versatile as long as their athletic abilities allow them to be so, and forget about the posiblity of injury, it will all workout. actually one can learn and improve his overall pitching regardless of the caliber of competition, one learns and improves during 99/44--100% of constructive practice time, not during game times, those who pitch who do not have an experienced and knowledgeable "TEACHING"PITCHING" coach,one who knows how to "TEACH""PITCHING" from the ground up, how to teach a person how to use their whole body to throw starting from the ground up in order to alleviate the enormous amount of tension and
abuse that throwing a baseball creates during the unnatural, explosive, forward overhand throwing motion and a two day per. week very constructive bull pen sessions will never get close to their full potential.
Don Ervin
kom_ervin@yahoo.com`

quote:

He is a seasoned first basemen and before lack of reps with the bat, he was always in the line up on whatever team he played on. Can players just fade away mentally and physically due to lack of participation?

He is only a freshman, how could he possibly be a seasoned first baseman? Most freshman are not ready to hit at the high school level imho. (note - no one need chime in to let me know there are exceptions).

More than likely, he was not judged to be one of the nine best hitters and thus it makes sense he was a pitcher only. Don't you think a better approach would be thankfullness for the opportunity he got rather than the lament of not playing a position? I like the suggestion above, if hitting is so important, he can find this niche and experience in the summer. It might also be possible to ask to hit at the JV level while still pitching on varsity.

Would be a big mistake to transfer imho. He needs to learn now how to compete for the positions he seeks. If he wants to hit, encourage him to improve his hitting skills and beat someone out. You'll find that the collegiate level is all about competition that is much more intense than what you describe here. The quicker he learns to compete, the better off he'll be in college.

Real players do not fade away mentally. They have a relentless determination to improve themselves and prove their coaches wrong. If they find themselves on the bench, they learn to outwork the other guy and eventually beat them out.

As a freshman, there are upperclassmen players that have an advantage incoming freshman travel team players are not familiar with.

Experience.

For the first time, there are players on the team that have varsity level playing experience that your son does not have.

It is relatively rare for a freshman to be asked to contribute to a varsity team.

It is very normal for that to be a limited role that will grow over the next three years.

Be patient and watch as a skillful high school coach works your son into playing time opportunities where he has an opporunity to be successful.

After his sophomore year, you'll realize what a competitive stress your son was under as an underclassmen, and, will appreciate your experience as you see your son develop his leadership skills as an upperclassmen.

And, here's another tidbit for you.

It happens all over again in college.............

bbb

you have recieved some great advice from people who have been around the block.

let me give you another tip. this whole journey your son is on is going to go quickly. son should worry about what he can control, work on his hitting and fielding. as well as his pitching.

you should support and enjoy his ride. it will be over far too soon.

kom_ervin, thanks for your thoughts. I didn't mention, because it wasn't necessarily relevant to the original poster's decision-making process, is that my son's school has a year-round baseball program that competes in one of the most competitive conferences on the east coast and has sent many kids to play for DI schools; a few have been drafted. So it's the right place for us.

LHPMom

Your son was my son a few years ago at a similar high school. In retrospect it bothered him for a little while, but then he adjusted, while I worried. The high school lineup was just too loaded and the bench was talented too. What was the coach to do? As a pitcher only, he had one job to do once a week, and he did it well. Because he was a LHP it worked out great. In his Senior year they let him get about a dozen at bats and he hit .650, because he was just a good athlete. He is now a D1 college pitcher and never bats. It never ever affected recruiting. I know of two other pitcher-position players in our area who were promised by college coaches they would get playing time off the mound. It never happened. If he is good enough to play in college, he will have plenty to do as a "pitcher only." If it still matters to you, find a summer team where he plays a position, and have him (not you) tell the high school coach in the Fall that he would like to be in the rotation at first base.

If he is starting once a week on the varsity team as a freshman, he is contributing more than the average 2012 player. He sounds like he has a bright future. If he wants to play the field and bat, he simply needs to earn it. You have received excellent advice so far from the others.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by BBB08:
I am also concerned that only playing 7 out of 28 innings a week will mess with his head, confidence, and then show in his pitchingQUOTE]

Large school winning program, LHP. Your guy is officially Just A Pitcher. Of course he wants to play a position and you want see him play. It's not gonna happen

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He is a seasoned first basemen and before lack of reps with the bat, he was always in the line up on whatever team he played on. Can players just fade away mentally and physically due to lack of participation?
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Absoulutley. At my sons HS a PO does PFP's and shags for 3 hours. Does this the suck life out of a kid you bet. Iniatially he would go out after practice and take infield and hit for another hour and a half. After 4 mos of this it was pretty obvious he would not get a crack at 1st so wisely he stopped. He needs to focus on what his percieved value to the coaching staff is and hopefully they will accomedate him with workouts that will help him become a better pitcher. Frankly that's the best you can hope for.
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We love the school, program, and coaches, but we love our son and want him to fulfill HIS dream of a baseball scholorship at some level. That is what makes this difficult. No anger involved, just concern that we guide him in the right direction. If you have an opnion or advice, please help..
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Do the math. How many soft throwing LHP's playing college ball are there compared with how many monster 1st basemen who can rake who can't get a look who would love to be a LHP[/

Every school would love 10 crafty lefties. They only need one 1B.

My son also has become a "pitcher only" for his school and travel team. He never wanted to become a pitcher for this reason, but his natural arm strength led to the enevitable and after freshman year in high school he started working with a great pitching coach. As he became more successful as a pitcher his attitude toward pitching became better also. Instead of filling his time off the mound with hitting lessons and infield practice he fills that time running, doing a strength program core work and all the things that a good pitcher needs to be doing. Since his shift mentally and physicaly to being a full time pitcher everything about his pitching has improved from velocity to accuracy and most of all his success. He has become a leader in the dugout and while he does miss hitting he is finaly understanding with his success that his time is better served in other areas. He is a rising senior and is being recruited now and has several offers from DI schools he is interested in. He will be making his decision on what school he wants to attend in the coming weeks and will enter his senior year of high school with that decision made and will be able to really enjoy his senior year and not worry about where he will be going to college. I not sure if this would have been the case had he kept trying to be a postion player and hitter . Hope this helps some and good luck.