Confused about playing JV level

luv ...

For some reason he has not shared with you, the coach has already told you that it would be a disruption for the team. Please trust him to know enough about his players and the chemistry of the team to have made the decision for you to not move up sooner. By staying on the freshman team, you were able to play regularly (I presume), whereas you may have had spot play at the JV level.

When our son was in high school, we learned early on that the freshman and JV coaches did not have that much say on who was on their teams as it was pretty much decided by the head coach. Perhaps this is something the JV coach at your school has to deal with as well.

Bottom line ... you apparently played well and have been recognized and I would hope that would make you feel successful. Trying to figure out what is in another person's thoughts will just frustrate you, so enjoy the moment and look forward to next year.

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my question is, if the coach really wanted me on JV why wouldnt he just start me refgardless of age? Any ideas would be great

This is a good question. I believe it is called good coaching. He probably could have started you but he wanted to first make sure he developed your confidence. They are now rewarding your efforts with a late season promotion. This is the way my son was developed both in high school and in college and I am absolutely convinced it is the right track for many ballplayers. He got a late season promotion to JV as a freshman and a late season promotion to varsity as a sophmore. In short, they devloped a hunger in him that has paid dividends for him personally and the teams he has played on.

I have seen freshman succeed in both high school and in college right out of the gate. I have also observed many who have fallen on their faces. Not sure how a coach restores a kid's confidence once it has been crushed. Thus, imho it is less risky to make a talented player claw his way up the food chain. Often times, by the time the player does get his shot, they are primed for stardom with little possibility for failure. IMO, your coach is developing you the right way.

This is just seniority and it is very common in high school baseball.

We have 4 teams in our HS. My FR son is a catcher who made the sophomore team after tryouts. Told he was the #1 catcher and started the first game. After parent grumblings and SO catchers(2) not playing, son was told he would "float" between the SO and FR teams to get more playing time. For regular season games, he sits with the SO team and starts on the FR team. When the SO conference tournament rolled around, the coaches played the strongest players and he started the SO game.

Bottom line....
Control the things you can control, work hard and things will work out. Seniority is something you can't control. Make yourself the better player and the coaches will see it. Life isn't always fair...especially in HS baseball!

Why waste your energy on negative attitudes? Its hard to see when you're in the middle of it, but negative feelings won't help you in the long run.

luv4thegame - These are all great comments you're getting. I'll add a few more.

Early in the season, the coaches have only seen you for a short while (tryouts, early practices). The sophomores have been there a full year. Quite honestly, at the beginning of your freshman season they deserve the benefit of the doubt over you. You will feel the same in your next 3 years of HS. Over time, this will work itself out and sounds like it already is.

Freshman year in HS is also a time for adjusting. Your coaches need to make sure you play while taking care of business in the classroom (not just you, but all freshman players). Maturity level to handle this well is quite different between classes. Your coaches may have a lot of experience that says if you promote a freshman there is a tendency to focus too much on baseball and not enough on school.

Its also a season where a coach may feel his HS program can benefit a great deal in the long run by not separating out 1 or 2 players as "elite" early on...where the freshman class gets to play together, become friends, learn each others' stengths and weaknesses and build unity. I have seen this work firsthand and its a beautiful thing when done correctly.

Its clear your coaches recognize your talent. There is no way they will let that go to waste over the next 3 years. Work hard, have fun and enjoy the experience!

quote:

Originally posted by justbaseball:
luv4thegame - These are all great comments you're getting. I'll add a few more.

Early in the season, the coaches have only seen you for a short while (tryouts, early practices). The sophomores have been there a full year. Quite honestly, at the beginning of your freshman season they deserve the benefit of the doubt over you. You will feel the same in your next 3 years of HS. Over time, this will work itself out and sounds like it already is.

Freshman year in HS is also a time for adjusting. Your coaches need to make sure you play while taking care of business in the classroom (not just you, but all freshman players). Maturity level to handle this well is quite different between classes. Your coaches may have a lot of experience that says if you promote a freshman there is a tendency to focus too much on baseball and not enough on school.

Its also a season where a coach may feel his HS program can benefit a great deal in the long run by not separating out 1 or 2 players as "elite" early on...where the freshman class gets to play together, become friends, learn each others' stengths and weaknesses and build unity. I have seen this work firsthand and its a beautiful thing when done correctly.

Its clear your coaches recognize your talent. There is no way they will let that go to waste over the next 3 years. Work hard, have fun and enjoy the experience!

justbb - outstanding post! The team building points should not be discounted.

If I understand this right, the JV coach told you that you had played very well at the freshman level and had the talent to play at the JV level. Now you are going up for a game at the end of the season and won't start.

You are being rewarded for your efforts at the freshman level by being promoted at the end of the season. Playing one game at the JV level isn't going to make any difference in your chances next season. On the other hand, starting you in this game would be a slap in the face to the players who have played for this coach all season. This is very similar to JV players who are added to the varsity roster for the playoffs. They are being rewarded for their efforts at the JV level and should not expect to play.

We had a player sent down to JV during the middle of the season from varsity and the JV coach never gave him any significant chance to play except for a couple instances where the varsity coach specifically directed it because the JV coach didn't want to disrupt his team even though the player was sent down to get innings. It happens.

quote:

Bottom line....
Control the things you can control, work hard and things will work out. Seniority is something you can't control. Make yourself the better player and the coaches will see it. Life isn't always fair...especially in HS baseball!

Every kid should print this up and place it on their bedroom wall!

I have a young Sophomore son who is ready for Varsity play. He faced Varsity pitching over the summer and is capabale. The JV team has great team chemistry and are currently in 1st place in league. The Varsity team is having a losing season and are 2nd to last with no chance of making the playoffs. I aksed my son if he was disappointed he didn't make Var this year. His reponse was no since JV was winning and having a stellar season.

It also goes with the supply and demand of moving up. If you are a stud 3rd baseman and a frosh or Sophomore the seniors will pretty much have priority before you regardless of have great you are. It comes down to supply and demand as well.

If you are a FROSH or SOPH getting at bats and playing regulary is the way to go. Some kids get moved to Varsity and rarely play and sometimes it hinders their development. Be happy that they did recognize and brought you up later in the year, you proved yourself and no one can take that away from you!

I wanted to add a little firsthand experience to this discussion. This season, our freshman son played on a freshman team at his HS. His school is one of the most athletically competitive in the country...athletic program ranked #5 in the nation by Sports Illustrated. They know what they're doing.

There were a number of very talented freshman baseball players, several of whom I am pretty darn sure will play beyond HS. I'd like to believe my son was one of them...but I'm his dad so lets put that aside.

In any case, no freshman was promoted to JV or varsity all year long. At the beginning of the season the varsity coach (of 20+ years with dozens of former players now in college or pro ball) had a meeting to discuss his philosophy. He said (more or less):

* Several of your kids are good enough to play varsity somewhere...maybe even here, but...
* playing time would be more scarce than on the freshman team, and....
* it is a big disruption to the upperclassmen, who have worked for their chance for 3+ years, to have a freshmen in their dugout and frankly they aren't treated particularly well no matter how much effort I put into it (and by the way, I believe this point in his philosophy will become even more important to us freshman parents in 2 years when we are treated the same as this years' upperclassmen), plus...
* we believe here they will grow more, as a unit, in the long run by playing together as friends and as a team, and...
* there is no need to rush, at age 14/15, to become a "varsity" player.
* Lastly, you as a parent ought to consider whether or not you want your 14/15-year old in a dugout with 18-year old conversations all around him.

Now let me also say that this particular program is, by far, THE MOST welcoming HS-level baseball program of ANY I have ever been around...HS, summer, travel, etc... Players and families top-to-bottom are tremendously supportive...they BBQ together after games (in between fields). They attend each others' games. They work with each other in practice and play intra-squads together (where I assume the coaches are getting all of the evaluation they need for the long run). And yes, they have promoted a few (3 I believe) freshmen to varsity over the years...all 3 were absolutely exceptional players who went well beyond HS.

And this freshman team just finished up at 21-0 in the toughest league in Northern California...and everyone I know is happy.

If done the right way, it is a beautiful thing!

This is an excellent thread. One of the best I've ever read regarding the journey through high school baseball. Having a son going from part-time player on the freshman team to a senior and varsity starter, I can relate to all of what's been posted by everyone here. My son is one who had to pay his dues to get where he is now. Unlike some players that are rushed up and really not ready for prime-time, he wasn't handed anything. He would've liked to make varsity in his soph or beginning junior year, but it didn't happen, and was disappointed but instead of complaining, he continued to play every day on JV, got called up midseason for the playoffs where he got some pinch hitting and some pinchrunning but doubled up on JV to get innings. He was ready and he knew he was capable of being an every day player and when he got the chance, he took advantage of it and became a starter and full-time player. It's no accident he's a solid player that don't make the mistakes or go thru the roller coaster ride a young player typically makes and goes thru on that level.

The coaches philosophy in this thread is genius. Something all coaches and parents should read. Especially if your kid is is in a large school system and can easily field 3 (frosh, jv & v) teams with lots of talent to pick from and the younger guys are just gonna have to wait their turn.

IMO, unless a freshman is a freak of nature and is flat out better than any senior in a large program, I see no need to rush him up to jv or varsity to stroke his and parents ego. Let him develop on the frosh level and if he's good, he'll get his shot in due time.

Some smaller schools who lack the numbers may have to roster young players like frosh and sophs on varsity, but the bigger schools are different. A large program with a coaching staff that knows what they're doing and runs a real program will allow younger players to develop on sub-varsity and eventually make it up with the big boys.

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My son is one who had to pay his dues to get where he is now. Unlike some players that are rushed up and really not ready for prime-time, he wasn't handed anything. He would've liked to make varsity in his soph or beginning junior year, but it didn't happen, and was disappointed but instead of complaining, he continued to play every day on JV, got called up midseason for the playoffs where he got some pinch hitting and some pinchrunning but doubled up on JV to get innings. He was ready and he knew he was capable of being an every day player and when he got the chance, he took advantage of it and became a starter and full-time player.

Outstanding story I am guessing your son is a better player for that experience!

I know players who never set foot on varsity until their senior years and are playing in college right now. Things can be overcome and having to fight for them often is a blessing in disguise.

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I am guessing your son is a better player for that experience!

No question about it. For example, he hits against pitchers from around the conference that are signed to play D1 and hits them hard. There's no lack of confidence facing these pitchers whether he gets them or they get him. Also, the varsity game is a much faster paced game compared to sub-varsity and the right decisions must be made on the field quicker. This is where it really shows with him. Had he come up too soon and faced these pitchers or react to the speed of the game, who knows what that does to a young player's head that's not ready for prime-time. Confidence and maturity play a big role in these players success on the diamond.

luv 4 the game,
Congratulations on doing a good job this season!! That really is the most important thing. Keep playing hard, no matter where the coaches put you.
What could have happened is irrelevant,..what you did is key.
Best of luck and keeping working out strong!!!

The dad of a travel and high school teammate of my son (I coached the travel team) asked if our kids had a shot at making varsity as freshmen. They were two of three freshmen allowed to tryout for varsity. I told the dad the question isn't really are they good enough to make varsity this year on a mediocre (at best) team. The issue is are they ready for what the opposition throws at them. They do play JV instead of Freshman ball. One plays short. The other plays center. They bat one, two. Their future is bright.

The dad's kid got hot for a week and got the call to varsity. He went 1-16 and was sent back to JV. I only got to see a couple of his varsity at-bats since I was watching my son on JV.

The kid said the velocity wasn't more (with a couple of exceptions) than they saw in USSSA travel semifinals and finals last year in 16U and 17U fall ball (played up in the fall ... players were 15U). He said what hurt him was he wasn't ready for how varsity pitchers mixed it up and took advantage of his aggressiveness with better offspeed stuff than he had ever seen.

So despite a parent may think his kid is ready for varsity after a stud travel season in 14U or 16U, the varsity pitchers are 18U players.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by CADad:
If I understand this right, the JV coach told you that you had played very well at the freshman level and had the talent to play at the JV level. Now you are going up for a game at the end of the season and won't start.


The JV coach said i was going to start the game, i was told he was going to move the current third basemen to outfield and start me at third to give me an oppurtunity at JV

Thank you everyone for your imput. i understand it better now then i did before, and it all makes perfect sense. Thanks for the help