Developing players, developing none...playing to win?? Nope.

No! Don't Call Bunt! posted:

.

I really can’t decide if the right action is to do nothing or maybe in offseason meet with the town baseball board and hopefully they can meet with AD.  My son is in the program for two more years and don’t want negative repercussions for him.   I will definitely join the baseball board when he graduates. 

 

What does the town baseball board have to do with HS baseball?  Maybe its me living in a large city, but the rec programs and baseball boards have absolutely nothing to do with the HS program.  In fact the boards only hold sway over their programs.  PONY only controls PONY, LL controls LL etc.  They do have a combined board but its to help coordinate field allocation, and represent the programs to the Park District ,not run each others, or the HS, program. 

Not to be an A.. here but if some board outside of the HS has power over the HS program, your problem starts there.  Not with the way the HS program is being run.

Meet with the Town Board or the AD about the JV team?   Pretty funny.  This has gotta be another satire thread, right?  

The baseball board is for baseball and softball.  They control and run Legion, babe ruth and "assist" the high school.  They run all of the fund raisers, they are invited to speak at the pre-season coaches meeting to parents.  

They pay for all of the upgrades to facilities.  Netting, stands, equipment for the teams.  They pay for dinners, award banquets, etc.  

They don't really have official "say" and have stayed arms length to a program that has had very mild success.  They are advised during the coaches search.  The Varsity coach and AD know that without them the program will suffer greatly.  Very educationally focused town and a top 20 or so nationally ranked high school educationally and that is where all the tax dollars go.

3and2Fastball posted:

Meet with the Town Board or the AD about the JV team?   Pretty funny.  This has gotta be another satire thread, right?  

At any given time 2/3rds of the baseball players are playing on JV or freshman...not varsity.  Are you saying a school or community should only care about 1/3rd of the players?

No! Don't Call Bunt! posted:

3and2Fastball posted:

Meet with the Town Board or the AD about the JV team?   Pretty funny.  This has gotta be another satire thread, right?  

At any given time 2/3rds of the baseball players are playing on JV or freshman...not varsity.  Are you saying a school or community should only care about 1/3rd of the players?

We have a pretty successful athletic program at our HS.  From Football to Badminton to Baseball.  Any yep the focus is always on the Varsity teams. No one cares about the Frosh or JV teams, unless you are playing on them or a parent of a player on one of those teams.  Its just the way it is.

The primary goal of the freshman and JV teams is to develop future varsity players.  Building a winning culture at the younger ages should also be a top objective, but not at the expense of the primary goal.  That can make for a couple of frustrating years, but it is what it is.

joes87 posted:

We have a pretty successful athletic program at our HS.  From Football to Badminton to Baseball.  Any yep the focus is always on the Varsity teams. No one cares about the Frosh or JV teams, unless you are playing on them or a parent of a player on one of those teams.  Its just the way it is.

I would venture a wild guess that more than 4 out of 5 programs are run the same as Joes87 is currently.

CatsPop posted:

joes87 posted:

We have a pretty successful athletic program at our HS.  From Football to Badminton to Baseball.  Any yep the focus is always on the Varsity teams. No one cares about the Frosh or JV teams, unless you are playing on them or a parent of a player on one of those teams.  Its just the way it is.

I would venture a wild guess that more than 4 out of 5 programs are run the same as Joes87 is currently.

Sorry, but that makes no sense.  A plan to not care about 2/3rds of all players. Now, if the program had a plan to actually develop players that would something.  Or teach positional play or work or stress hitting fundamentals or give excess innings to potential future varsity players.  Or have a approach to just teach how to win, situational baseball.  But haphazard, we just don't care makes no sense and I assume is a contributing factor to why varsity has been generally unsuccessful.  

You are describing 90% of the high school programs across the country.  It is just the way it is.  Complaining about it isn't going to change anything.

Heck, my son is in college and his team is run exactly the way as the JV team in the OP

Baseball became a lot more fun once I stopped worrying about things that are not in my control.

No! Don't Call Bunt! posted:

CatsPop posted:

joes87 posted:

We have a pretty successful athletic program at our HS.  From Football to Badminton to Baseball.  Any yep the focus is always on the Varsity teams. No one cares about the Frosh or JV teams, unless you are playing on them or a parent of a player on one of those teams.  Its just the way it is.

I would venture a wild guess that more than 4 out of 5 programs are run the same as Joes87 is currently.

teach positional play or work or stress hitting fundamentals 

Those are things that have to be worked on outside of your HS team if you want to be a good V player. Your HS team just doesn't have enough time allocated to work these things effectively. When the HS season gets rolling it is mostly playing games. The players who get good work on the game on their own time.

If your son is stressed out about losing on JV have him

1) get good enough to be the best player on JV and do something about losing

2) get moved up to Varsity

3) start on Varsity

4) be a quality Varsity player

5) be the best player on the Varsity team

6) do something about changing the direction of the Varsity program

Those are enough goals to have any kid focused for four years and not worry about any single JV at bat or game. Good luck to your son hopefully he tears it up the rest of the year and gets what he wants.

Hopefully my list helps you in getting to your goal of 9 pages this time.

People in general, including baseball coaches often have a very hard time understanding how to win while developing the next generation...it is not an easy balance and it can be a moving target depending on conditions and the time of year.

It is, in my opinion, why some men can win all the time everywhere they go regardless of the sport or level. The exact same ability is had in business people...they just get it, they see the vision and they understand how to build towards it.

the saying of it is simple it just ain't easy jumps to mind!

I know one very successful person who asks how does this decision affect me/organization in 5 years, in 1 year and now - before making a final choice. Very few people think that way. Most would be better if they did. IMO.

joes87 posted:

No! Don't Call Bunt! posted:

3and2Fastball posted:

Meet with the Town Board or the AD about the JV team?   Pretty funny.  This has gotta be another satire thread, right?  

At any given time 2/3rds of the baseball players are playing on JV or freshman...not varsity.  Are you saying a school or community should only care about 1/3rd of the players?

We have a pretty successful athletic program at our HS.  From Football to Badminton to Baseball.  Any yep the focus is always on the Varsity teams. No one cares about the Frosh or JV teams, unless you are playing on them or a parent of a player on one of those teams.  Its just the way it is.

Actually that's not true.  The varsity coach should care because that is the feed stock to his/her program. 

Look, as a veteran of a bad baseball program, sometime you just have to deal with it.  Our freshman year, the kids won only 2 games.  They liked the coach (only one at that level) -- who was a good guy, but with a shoulder, knee, and future hip replacement he was limited in what he could do.  But he was and still is all about the kids.  Soph year was a bit better from the w/l category, but the coach was clueless.  But those two years, there was always the varsity to look forward to.  We had a good tradition.  Coach had been there for several years, and was a no nonsense baseball guy.  The kind of guy who could take lemons and make lemonade.  He always had the varsity team competitive in very difficult conference.  And then he quit.  It's been a chit show ever sense.    Don't call bunt, at some point you have to decide if it's worth it.  Over the years we have had several players decide that it is not.  

How is the herd at the water cooler today? 

 

If your son is stressed out about losing on JV have him

1) get good enough to be the best player on JV and do something about losing

2) get moved up to Varsity

3) start on Varsity

4) be a quality Varsity player

5) be the best player on the Varsity team

6) do something about changing the direction of the Varsity program

Those are enough goals to have any kid focused for four years and not worry about any single JV at bat or game. Good luck to your son hopefully he tears it up the rest of the year and gets what he wants.

Hopefully my list helps you in getting to your goal of 9 pages this time.

I agree with all of this, my point was the JV and freshman programs needs to either be playing to win or doing something to develop players...not just doing nothing.  We live in a relatively small town, just the one high school.  I care about it overall, regardless of my kid.  

We don't rely on the team to do any of those things and the team for him is a place to have fun, be with his friends and compete to win.  

My question was more about how to help fix for the next generation...

old_school posted:

People in general, including baseball coaches often have a very hard time understanding how to win while developing the next generation...it is not an easy balance and it can be a moving target depending on conditions and the time of year.

It is, in my opinion, why some men can win all the time everywhere they go regardless of the sport or level. The exact same ability is had in business people...they just get it, they see the vision and they understand how to build towards it.

the saying of it is simple it just ain't easy jumps to mind!

I know one very successful person who asks how does this decision affect me/organization in 5 years, in 1 year and now - before making a final choice. Very few people think that way. Most would be better if they did. IMO.

YES

HS JV baseball is an interesting animal.  The following points all come with the disclaimer of "generally"...

It is another point in the funnel when players get weeded out, yet there is still often pressure from administration to include as many as reasonably possible.  It is often the first time (when no frosh program) that players have to commit to practicing a sport every day of the week for some significant period of time.  It is largely for development of players for varsity.  It is comprised mostly of players who are not good enough to get significant playing time at varsity.  The better, more experienced coaches are usually assigned to varsity while JV will typically have younger, less experienced guys.  Players are still developing physically and for some, there is just no way of knowing what their potential ceiling is yet - and that development can happen in a hurry.  It comes at an age when the players are developing other interests and are often in the position to make choices on which ones to pursue.  It occurs on exactly the same schedule, often at opposite sites, as compared to the varsity program.  So, while a unified program working toward the same goals and with good communication should also be a goal, this is often quite difficult to actually execute.  The parents are there to see their sons play and, hopefully, win and could give a rats a$$ (and that's OK) about all the other points I am listing.  Playing decisions and which squad a player is assigned often happen for a wide variety of reasons, most of which the parents are not aware and they, in turn, tend to speculate negatively, particularly when their son isn't playing all the time and/or when the team is not winning.  One of the only sure things about JV is that there will be both expected and unexpected attrition between JV and V.

It's still baseball and players still like to win, so winning should certainly be a large part of the objective but balanced with the other points above in mind.  Due largely to the inevitable attrition (including some of the better players), and with an eye toward development for varsity, it is necessary to play and develop a lot of players.  Your description of the freshman team that had a core of 6 or 7 and a few designated starters and relievers sounds like a team that doesn't prioritize development enough for players outside of those 9 or 10.  Some of those 9 or 10 won't be playing baseball in a year or two at varsity.  Injury, girls, grades, other sport, trouble, etc., etc.  A few of the others outside of the 9 or 10 will likely develop physically.  Will their baseball skills have been developed?  These are things that JV parents don't and shouldn't have to think about but can make for circumstances that don't seem to make sense.  

I'm not saying that is the case with your particular school but i suspect it is at least a bit more so than you think.  A few things you mentioned... "if we are tied or ahead, you are going in", not being sure if they were saving pitchers because they have multiple games the rest of the week, etc., suggest to me that these are things the coach is considering, at least to some extent, and he is trying to find the right balance.

For our program, as the V coach, I am in regular communication with JV coach.  I give instruction/ advice as to how to manage roster, lineups, pitching innings, etc.  Parents would not be happy with my directives.  As I've shared with you previously, they play to win.  But they play to win with the thought process that we will do so using all players.  We have them play to win while making sure we develop depth in pitching, which means we typically throw three guys per game, maybe six or eight per week.  This certainly results in losing more games than they would playing their best nine and going with a regular pitching rotation of 2 or 3, allowing starters to go deep.  But it has put us in a much better position as a program to have sustainable success and withstand the ebb and flow of athletes that typically cycle through a fairly small public school.  

This year, at V, we had three projected starting P's and ended up losing two unexpectedly right at the start of the season.  One was also a starting position player and we lost another key starting position player to health issues just prior to season.  Only because we have made strides with developing depth at both levels were we able to overcome these losses and find ourselves still within reach of our goals as we enter the last four games of regular season.

Our school is extremely successful in most sports and YES, varsity rules in all of them. It’s the way it is.  For the most part, you better be pretty good when you walk in the door or you won’t even make the younger teams. 

No! Don't Call Bunt! posted:

 

If your son is stressed out about losing on JV have him

1) get good enough to be the best player on JV and do something about losing

2) get moved up to Varsity

3) start on Varsity

4) be a quality Varsity player

5) be the best player on the Varsity team

6) do something about changing the direction of the Varsity program

Those are enough goals to have any kid focused for four years and not worry about any single JV at bat or game. Good luck to your son hopefully he tears it up the rest of the year and gets what he wants.

Hopefully my list helps you in getting to your goal of 9 pages this time.

I agree with all of this, my point was the JV and freshman programs needs to either be playing to win or doing something to develop players...not just doing nothing.  We live in a relatively small town, just the one high school.  I care about it overall, regardless of my kid.  

We don't rely on the team to do any of those things and the team for him is a place to have fun, be with his friends and compete to win.  

My question was more about how to help fix for the next generation...

Ok I'll bite, even though I know its another endless loop.

They are doing something to develop players. They are giving them a chance to play games against other kids. I think you want magic answers for which there are none. The only answer is if your kid wants to develop then he has to take steps to develop.

How do you fix it for the next generation? Get rid of the town baseball board.

Looking back at JV I would say as a whole a majority of the parents had the same complaints as the original poster. But the overall organization was run as Cabbage describes. I looked at JV as a year of surviving it as a parent. It was hard to watch versus travel or varsity. But it was part of paying the dues and the year waiting for the D1 prospect senior shortstop to graduate out of the program.

The team went 14-2 with everyone getting playing time. Three or four no hit innings on the mound? So what! Time for the next scheduled pitcher who will probably never make varsity. It’s his turn. I heard all the same complaints about playing time you typically hear. The team was just too talented relative to JV ball to lose often. Several of the kids ultimately moved up to play on back to back varsity conference championship teams. 

A new varsity coach learning the ropes and turning a perenial loser into a winner and  perenial contender didn't stop parents from bitching about him constantly. The guy was a thousand times better than the previous coach with seventeen losing seasons in twenty years. Several parents suffered repeatedly from the agony of victory.

Golfman25 posted:

joes87 posted:

No! Don't Call Bunt! posted:

3and2Fastball posted:

Meet with the Town Board or the AD about the JV team?   Pretty funny.  This has gotta be another satire thread, right?  

At any given time 2/3rds of the baseball players are playing on JV or freshman...not varsity.  Are you saying a school or community should only care about 1/3rd of the players?

We have a pretty successful athletic program at our HS.  From Football to Badminton to Baseball.  Any yep the focus is always on the Varsity teams. No one cares about the Frosh or JV teams, unless you are playing on them or a parent of a player on one of those teams.  Its just the way it is.

Actually that's not true.  The varsity coach should care because that is the feed stock to his/her program. 

I would personally amend that statement to clarify that most coaches don't care about the W-L record of the subvarsity teams. Winning is nice obviously, but the development usually doesn't happen as much in your 3 ABs or 2 defensive reps in subvarsity games as it happens every day in practice.

Of course we care about our subvarsity teams, but more on an individual development level, I suppose, if that makes sense.

 

Let's just say that you have a responsive "Town Board," that may even take action. What is your message? "Um, hey Town Board, do you think you could get the JV team to try to win games that they can possibly win & not put guys in to pitch who have not pitched in 3 years in a 2 run deficit game late in the game when my kid is a better pitcher & could possibly have kept it close & given us a chance to win a JV game?" In addition, " Can you tell the JV Coach to either focus on developing players or simply try to win while carrying a roster of 19." "I would actually prefer both." Thanks for hearing my concerns.

I mean seriously. I'm sure they will get right on it.

ironhorse posted:

Golfman25 posted:

joes87 posted:

No! Don't Call Bunt! posted:

3and2Fastball posted:

Meet with the Town Board or the AD about the JV team?   Pretty funny.  This has gotta be another satire thread, right?  

At any given time 2/3rds of the baseball players are playing on JV or freshman...not varsity.  Are you saying a school or community should only care about 1/3rd of the players?

We have a pretty successful athletic program at our HS.  From Football to Badminton to Baseball.  Any yep the focus is always on the Varsity teams. No one cares about the Frosh or JV teams, unless you are playing on them or a parent of a player on one of those teams.  Its just the way it is.

Actually that's not true.  The varsity coach should care because that is the feed stock to his/her program. 

I would personally amend that statement to clarify that most coaches don't care about the W-L record of the subvarsity teams. Winning is nice obviously, but the development usually doesn't happen as much in your 3 ABs or 2 defensive reps in subvarsity games as it happens every day in practice.

Of course we care about our subvarsity teams, but more on an individual development level, I suppose, if that makes sense.

 

Just an FYI, I probably should have clarified that on my original post.  The coaches care as well, just in a different way.  Its about development and as much about W-L.

Steve A. posted:

Let's just say that you have a responsive "Town Board," that may even take action. What is your message? "Um, hey Town Board, do you think you could get the JV team to try to win games that they can possibly win & not put guys in to pitch who have not pitched in 3 years in a 2 run deficit game late in the game when my kid is a better pitcher & could possibly have kept it close & given us a chance to win a JV game?" In addition, " Can you tell the JV Coach to either focus on developing players or simply try to win while carrying a roster of 19." "I would actually prefer both." Thanks for hearing my concerns.

I mean seriously. I'm sure they will get right on it.

Someone on the board (probably the mother of a former rec 7-12yo sports kid)  will ask why everyone in high school doesn't get equal playing time. Then she will move to make it a rule. She will also want to know if they get cookies and milk after games.

Steve A. posted:

Let's just say that you have a responsive "Town Board," that may even take action. What is your message? "Um, hey Town Board, do you think you could get the JV team to try to win games that they can possibly win & not put guys in to pitch who have not pitched in 3 years in a 2 run deficit game late in the game when my kid is a better pitcher & could possibly have kept it close & given us a chance to win a JV game?" In addition, " Can you tell the JV Coach to either focus on developing players or simply try to win while carrying a roster of 19." "I would actually prefer both." Thanks for hearing my concerns.

I mean seriously. I'm sure they will get right on it.

My message would be that our program is disjointed.  The things you point out are symptoms of an issue, not the individual issues to be resolved.  I think our town and every town deserve and all of the kids who PRACTICE EVERY DAY deserve the adults who assemble the program to have a plan. The kids deserve that to exist and should be shown by example that things are not just happening haphazardly.  

I would tell the board that the AD owes it to everyone to make sure that the 3 teams are aligned. That if you hire a JV coach the day before the kick-off meeting who is a football coach he should probably not be left completely alone.  That if the freshman coach says...I don't talk to the varsity coach because he is clueless, that may be an issue.  

RJM posted:

Steve A. posted:

Let's just say that you have a responsive "Town Board," that may even take action. What is your message? "Um, hey Town Board, do you think you could get the JV team to try to win games that they can possibly win & not put guys in to pitch who have not pitched in 3 years in a 2 run deficit game late in the game when my kid is a better pitcher & could possibly have kept it close & given us a chance to win a JV game?" In addition, " Can you tell the JV Coach to either focus on developing players or simply try to win while carrying a roster of 19." "I would actually prefer both." Thanks for hearing my concerns.

I mean seriously. I'm sure they will get right on it.

Someone on the board (probably the mother of a former rec 7-12yo sports kid)  will ask why everyone in high school doesn't get equal playing time. Then she will move to make it a rule. She will also want to know if they get cookies and milk after games.

I feel genuine disappointment that I can only "Like" this once....

RJM posted:

Steve A. posted:

Let's just say that you have a responsive "Town Board," that may even take action. What is your message? "Um, hey Town Board, do you think you could get the JV team to try to win games that they can possibly win & not put guys in to pitch who have not pitched in 3 years in a 2 run deficit game late in the game when my kid is a better pitcher & could possibly have kept it close & given us a chance to win a JV game?" In addition, " Can you tell the JV Coach to either focus on developing players or simply try to win while carrying a roster of 19." "I would actually prefer both." Thanks for hearing my concerns.

I mean seriously. I'm sure they will get right on it.

Someone on the board (probably the mother of a former rec 7-12yo sports kid)  will ask why everyone in high school doesn't get equal playing time. Then she will move to make it a rule. She will also want to know if they get cookies and milk after games.

Everyone plays 2 2/3 innings & gets a juice box,  a ribbon and a parade after the game.. No score kept as this may offend.

A parade would be good.  But I think we may need to form a committee to discuss upgrading that ribbon to a trophy

No! Don't Call Bunt! posted:

The baseball board is for baseball and softball.  They control and run Legion, babe ruth and "assist" the high school.  They run all of the fund raisers, they are invited to speak at the pre-season coaches meeting to parents.  

They pay for all of the upgrades to facilities.  Netting, stands, equipment for the teams.  They pay for dinners, award banquets, etc.  

They don't really have official "say" and have stayed arms length to a program that has had very mild success.  They are advised during the coaches search.  The Varsity coach and AD know that without them the program will suffer greatly.  Very educationally focused town and a top 20 or so nationally ranked high school educationally and that is where all the tax dollars go.

I (and I think a few others here) are a bit confused by this... usually, the "board" that is involved in these things at a higher level is the school board.  Not a local community board that controls local legion and Babe Ruth.  I am having a difficult time wrapping my mind around the idea of how a board not officially tied to the school is so prominent in providing funding for the school athletic program and actually involved in award banquets, coach search, etc.  It just feels like this breaks every school federation rule in the book as it relates to the way things are done in our neck of the woods.

So, I think this may dilute the message of what otherwise might be some valid points in your most recent post.  Is this normal back that way or elsewhere?  Who does the AD report to?

I think some people, and NO! DON’T CALL BUNT is one of them, don’t quite understand that the organization of HS baseball in many ways is a lot like the organization of MLB. The entire organization below the top level is there to develop players for the top level. Would winning games be nice? Of course it would, but that isn’t the main goal of the lower levels.

 In HSB, development is even more the goal because the “big” club can’t sign players from the open market, so they’re pretty much stuck with what they have.

 

 

As a coach, I never cared whether my JV won or loss.  I didn't keep as accurate of stats and never even turned in a lineup.  I cared about them getting playing time in positions that would eventually help my varsity.  I agree in somewhat with what your coach did, even though you obviously don't.  I did not worry about the score as long as we were effective in getting swings and throwing pitches.  I heard the same complaints when I moved a kid up and he did not get to play.  I heard from parents through their friends when little Johnny who pitched in rec ball did not get to pitch, even for the JV, if I knew he would never pitch for the varsity.  I even (gonna hate this one) warmed a kid up and didn't put him in to pitch. 

JV and Freshman is not about wins and losses but about weeding kids out and hoping some little Johnny will explode physically and prepare kids for varsity.  I hate it for JV parents but the answer is, as has been said, get better fast so that you don't have to endure it.  I hate going to JV games of any sport because the parents are not realistic and they don't understand a coach's point of view.  The biggest complaint I hear, "He isn't even trying to win."  My answer to some of my friends who can handle it is your right.  That is not his ultimate goal.

cabbagedad posted:

No! Don't Call Bunt! posted:

The baseball board is for baseball and softball.  They control and run Legion, babe ruth and "assist" the high school.  They run all of the fund raisers, they are invited to speak at the pre-season coaches meeting to parents.  

They pay for all of the upgrades to facilities.  Netting, stands, equipment for the teams.  They pay for dinners, award banquets, etc.  

They don't really have official "say" and have stayed arms length to a program that has had very mild success.  They are advised during the coaches search.  The Varsity coach and AD know that without them the program will suffer greatly.  Very educationally focused town and a top 20 or so nationally ranked high school educationally and that is where all the tax dollars go.

I (and I think a few others here) are a bit confused by this... usually, the "board" that is involved in these things at a higher level is the school board.  Not a local community board that controls local legion and Babe Ruth.  I am having a difficult time wrapping my mind around the idea of how a board not officially tied to the school is so prominent in providing funding for the school athletic program and actually involved in award banquets, coach search, etc.  It just feels like this breaks every school federation rule in the book as it relates to the way things are done in our neck of the woods.

So, I think this may dilute the message of what otherwise might be some valid points in your most recent post.  Is this normal back that way or elsewhere?  Who does the AD report to?

I honestly don't know what is "normal".  We are a town of like 17,000 and I am sure not a typical one. The AD reports to the principal of the school I am pretty sure.  it is not a reporting relationship, but for sure one of need.  The board is very well meaning and not as others have experienced in the way of "participation trophyesque" thinking. 

 

Stats4Gnats posted:

I think some people, and NO! DON’T CALL BUNT is one of them, don’t quite understand that the organization of HS baseball in many ways is a lot like the organization of MLB. The entire organization below the top level is there to develop players for the top level. Would winning games be nice? Of course it would, but that isn’t the main goal of the lower levels.

 In HSB, development is even more the goal because the “big” club can’t sign players from the open market, so they’re pretty much stuck with what they have.

 

 

If the coaches actions displayed any indications that he was trying to "develop" players I would be fine with that. In fact if the coaches actions indicated any direction at all that would be promising.  

I don't agree this has to be 100% at the expense of also attempting to win some games.  There is no logic to each game in the 5th inning to start to give 7-10 at bats to players who have no chance to play on varsity.  Players who put in no outside work.  Who have no chance of catching up to 80 MPH much less 85 since they have ridiculous swings and don't work at it.  This is inhibiting development of future varsity players, not enhancing it.

The coach had an opportunity to put in a pitcher (any actual pitcher) in a close game against a good opponent and challenged him to not let in runs, pitch a few meaningful innings in a close game. He blew that developmental chance and inserted someone who does not even want to pitch and frustrated all the players.  

 

PitchingFan posted:

A  I heard the same complaints when I moved a kid up and he did not get to play. 

Not to get lost on a tangent, but interested to hear your comments on this?  

Our V team brought along a JV OF (Freshman) who had been playing well to join the team for games when the JV had no conflict game. He got in to pinch run the first couple games but did not play. The V coach asked him if he liked being along with the V team & what did he think. Apparently he told the coach that he was not all that interested to be there if he was not going to play. He has not been seen since in the V dugout.

Steve A. posted:

Our V team brought along a JV OF (Freshman) who had been playing well to join the team for games when the JV had no conflict game. He got in to pinch run the first couple games but did not play. The V coach asked him if he liked being along with the V team & what did he think. Apparently he told the coach that he was not all that interested to be there if he was not going to play. He has not been seen since in the V dugout.

That was the kid's bad!  Not the same as a varsity coach having a kid sit the bench for a whole season to pinch run in lieu of him playing on JV,  

What he & others fail to recognize is that it is an audition. He got to take BP on the field prior to the game. He got to take IF / OF & make throws pre-game. He had an opportunity to display the goods & win a shot at a spot. If, as a player, you are in this spot, you need to treat BP & IF as the game. Then, be positive & wait for a chance. You are there because someone liked you for some reason.