So how do you deal with a bad team? That kind of team which looses a lot more than they win (winning maybe a handful of games). With many of the losses by mercy rule. Where the team is defeated on the bus ride TO the game.
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Well we usually deal with those teams by throwing our 4-5th pitcher 
I kid I kid
Is it a TB or school team? Are the coaches coaching? I'm going to guess no if they are already defeated prior to the game.
Do you mean playing for one or against one?
Golfman25 posted:
So how do you deal with a bad team? That kind of team which looses a lot more than they win (winning maybe a handful of games). With many of the losses by mercy rule. Where the team is defeated on the bus ride TO the game.
I’d never been associated with a HSV team like that before the summer of 2015. If you look at the attachment you’ll see 2 different reports. The 19 wins don’t look too bad until you realize that 8 of them were against Sr Babe Ruth teams, and 13 of the 19 wins came in either summer or fall ball, with no wins against teams in the same division during the “normal” spring season. 14 of the 52 losses were shutouts, and 27 were “mercy” losses. The final page shows how that team was dominated in R/H/E/Lob.
I write a newsletter after every game and was as positive as possible while not sugarcoating anything. Not being a coach, my main focus was on trying to get support from the parents by teaching them the nuances of the game and the rules to help them understand what was going on.
I’m sorry to say that no matter what I did, between the school administration’s lack of support, the lack of quality coaching, the lack of support by the parents, the lack of a talent “pipeline”, and the lack of effort by the players, I finally threw in the towel and have moved on. 
If there are only a couple of those things that are lacking, I really believe things can be turned around. But when they’re all a problem there’s really no hope.
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How does who handle it?
As a coach, I would break it down to obtainable goals and small victories. I would establish measurable growth benchmarks. I would display the kind of "no quit" attitude in my effort to help them improve that I would come to expect from the players. Where possible, I would schedule non-conference teams that we could compete with to allow for the important lessons on how to win. I would recruit as much help as possible to feed the group a steady diet of fundamental learning. I would include a great deal of competitive inter-squad activities and fun team-building events. Make sure they are having fun playing the game while learning and improving, even if still losing.
"We lost to this team 15-0 in five last time. This time we were competitive until the last out." "We averaged less than four hits a game last year. This year we are almost double that." Constantly praise small victories while demanding continued efforts toward improvement. As some momentum is built, scour the fields and hallways for players who aren't playing because they didn't know what was about to happen.
Then, after it starts happening, continue to raise the bar. Start to harden that soft schedule. Communicate clearly what it will take to reach the next step. Provide resources. Be a conduit for other playing opportunities outside of the HS team. Offer to stay late for anyone wanting extra reps. As much as possible, hold them accountable in every aspect on and off the field - field maintenance, community service, grades, contribution to team environment. Start to transition the goal setting responsibilities to the team. Then, keep helping them get there.
Oh, and develop a couple good pitchers
johnnysako posted:Well we usually deal with those teams by throwing our 4-5th pitcher
Is it a TB or school team? Are the coaches coaching? I'm going to guess no if they are already defeated prior to the game.
Funny, but your 4-5 pitcher would probably no-hit us. 
It's a high school team. Coaching is more along the lines of supervising. Not a lot of teaching as far as I can see. I was hopeful give they instituted a new offseason program. Now I am simply discouraged. Kid is even more discouraged.
Our high school coach although nice and a great guy who is the counselor for the school does not know the strategy to win games! No batting, catching or specific coach. Our coaches have not even played college ball. What a shame because when these boys were growing up on the travel team we kicked butt!! Had coaches who knew how to coach!!
We were 1-10 this year, 1-7 in conference play with our lone win by forfeit. Every loss was a mercy rule loss. We averaged 3 runs a game, all on walks/steals. Nobody had an RBI. Most games we had 0 hits. Only 1 run was scored on an "ace". I believe only 1 hit ever came off of an "ace" and that was in our last game. This was a varsity team. We should have been playing JV teams. The pitchers we beat up were JV level pitchers. If your team is that bad as varsity, you don't belong in varsity. Keep them as JV and BUILD the program/players up until you have a great system/program where you can compete. Our entire varsity sports teams (everyone is varsity here) had a total of 6 league wins all season and most teams had 0. Finally after convincing the AD, he's decided to pull us out of this league and let us be independent so we could schedule games with more even competition.
Golfman25 posted:So how do you deal with a bad team? That kind of team which looses a lot more than they win (winning maybe a handful of games). With many of the losses by mercy rule. Where the team is defeated on the bus ride TO the game.
That's an easy one. You keep playing hard. Some of the best players I've seen in HS baseball are on some of the worst teams. Yeah it's hard on them sometimes, but the guys who go 100% on every pitch make an impact, and they make an impression, win or lose.
JCG posted:Golfman25 posted:So how do you deal with a bad team? That kind of team which looses a lot more than they win (winning maybe a handful of games). With many of the losses by mercy rule. Where the team is defeated on the bus ride TO the game.
That's an easy one. You keep playing hard. Some of the best players I've seen in HS baseball are on some of the worst teams. Yeah it's hard on them sometimes, but the guys who go 100% on every pitch make an impact, and they make an impression, win or lose.
Thank you! I needed to hear this today. We are coming off a bad season with a lot of drama. I want to move forward. I want my son to move forward and be the player you are describing.
sportsmomof3 posted:Our high school coach although nice and a great guy who is the counselor for the school does not know the strategy to win games! No batting, catching or specific coach. Our coaches have not even played college ball. What a shame because when these boys were growing up on the travel team we kicked butt!! Had coaches who knew how to coach!!
Definitely the coaches' fault! Funny thing is, the more talented the team, the less strategy you need to know. The more you simply kick butt like you did in Little League.
Maybe your kid and his friends just aren't good enough? Just offering a differing opinion.
You could look at it as a learning experience.
Someone asked me how my kid always seems to come up with the overthrown ball? It doesn't matter is he is playing 1B, P, C...he seems to KNOW where the ball will be overthrown to. My response was, he's been on some REALLY bad teams...he has learned by now where the ball is likely to be overthrown on a play like that and gets himself there, you know, just in case.
Sportsmomof3 - summer travel ball is starting soon. Enjoy it. Unfortunately it is not easy to have a choice of high school teams, so your son just has to make the best of it.
howdybaseball posted:Sportsmomof3 - summer travel ball is starting soon. Enjoy it. Unfortunately it is not easy to have a choice of high school teams, so your son just has to make the best of it.
It is also possible that her sons "travel team" is a low level team who beat up on poor competition. Then the HS season came and they simply weren't as good as the travel season may have suggested. (Also possible that the coaching stinks). Parents blaming the coaching gets a little old when 95+% of high school players will never play past high school. Always the coaches fault!
Generally speaking, if you are a varsity parent and your son is still playing "travel ball", in lieu of "showcase baseball", then there is your first sign.
Travel/summer ball is the medium for showcases - not sure what the implied suggestion is. Ofcourse, there are individual showcases but travel/summer teams at high school levels are playing in showcase tournaments.
Maybe your kid and his friends just aren't good enough? Just offering a differing opinion.
stole my thought
Will posted:Maybe your kid and his friends just aren't good enough? Just offering a differing opinion.
stole my thought
They aren't good. That's the problem. Some just flat out stink. But I think they have potential. They would need a lot of work, but they do have the potential to compete. But the hitters need to be taught to hit doubles, not ground balls. The pitchers need to be taught to miss small, not throw to the backstop. Fielders need to not crap their pants when the ball is hit to them. Catchers need to be taught how to receive properly so we get more strikes. Etc.
FYI my response wasn't directed at you Golfman. You weren't here just to male excuses.
howdybaseball posted:Travel/summer ball is the medium for showcases - not sure what the implied suggestion is. Ofcourse, there are individual showcases but travel/summer teams at high school levels are playing in showcase tournaments.
Not necessarily! All showcase teams travel, but not all travel teams showcase!
EX: in order to showcase, there has to be someone watching. Generally, those folks are watching the same 20-30 national programs. If you are not in one of those programs, the likelihood of a bunch of folks (other than parents) watching your son play has been minimized.
Further, every high school varsity program in the Tidewater, VA area is littered with kids who play "showcase/travel" ball. Meanwhile, not every high school varsity program is worth a dang. Reason: some travel teams are made of kids who just aren't very good.
GoHeels posted:howdybaseball posted:Travel/summer ball is the medium for showcases - not sure what the implied suggestion is. Ofcourse, there are individual showcases but travel/summer teams at high school levels are playing in showcase tournaments.
Not necessarily! All showcase teams travel, but not all travel teams showcase!
EX: in order to showcase, there has to be someone watching. Generally, those folks are watching the same 20-30 national programs. If you are not in one of those programs, the likelihood of a bunch of folks (other than parents) watching your son play has been minimized.
Further, every high school varsity program in the Tidewater, VA area is littered with kids who play "showcase/travel" ball. Meanwhile, not every high school varsity program is worth a dang. Reason: some travel teams are made of kids who just aren't very good.
Not many travel/summer teams i know are not showcasing. The tournaments are all showcase tournaments where there are college coaches and is often played at these colleges. When not played at colleges, there are college coaches at the tournaments. The games are very competitive and the talent level is high.