Freshman Pitchers playing the Varsity Level

Good stuff.

Go up to the high school reporting thread and read Donughtman's posts. One problem is that they sit and watch rather than play. My advice would be to trust the coach and let things play out without worry on your part. He may not be overmatched. Let it play out and find out.

This topic is always a popular one here at the hsbbweb. Some parents fret their freshman pheonoms are not on varsity or JV. Some fret when they are on varisty, that they are not playing enough. Others wonder why when their freshman are sitting on varsity that they cannot also be scheduled to get their regular starts on JV. Many of these people never even consider that there are 20 other kids and parents with similar concerns yet they have "personalized" it such that only "one" kid ought to matter to the coach.

The best thing is not to personalize things although your post does not imply that you are. The coach is going to do what is best for his team and that may or may not be the best possible development situation for your son. Encourage him and he can learn to overcome any challenges that come his way. Fear of failure should not be a concern as baseball is the ultimate game of failure.

Bizzle - Congrats. Your son sounds very talented.

I think there are a few things I'd just watch out for as a parent.

* Playing time (ClevelandDad covered it well)...but I agree, trust the coach. Any chance you have a coach willing to talk to you about his plan for your son?

* Upperclassmen parents will watch you in the stands. Stay gracious, more or less quiet...be the most positive supporter possible for the other kids on the team including those competing with your son for playing time.

* Keep a running dialogue with your son...there is a LARGE difference in maturity level of a 15 year old versus an 18 year old. Conversations in the dugout are far different on a HS varsity team than a HS freshman/JV team. Girls, language, Friday night "fun"...you get the idea.

Enjoy! Its a good thing...you asked a good question that addresses a point not often handled well. Good luck.

@ Mr. Bizzle...Congratulations! Enjoy the ride.

As a parent of a player who played Varsity as a Freshman I posted this on a different forum last year @ azdiamondreport.com and hopefully could be of help to someone.

Thread is entitled The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of playing Varsity as a freshman.


GOOD

Gain mental toughness through trial by fire and those stretches when he's not playing. As a parent, you need to keep everything positive because the transition from being an everyday player in club ball to being a spot starter takes a big adjustment. It's better to learn this early because if they will progress to the next level ( as a freshman in College or a Rookie in minor league), they have an idea already of how it's like and adjust accordingly.

Learning to be a TEAM player ( sacrificing personal gain for team gain)

Learning the game more from the other side ( the game of life )

Learning to COMPETE for a spot

Better competition, more focused coaching which ends up as better training

Enjoying the long bus rides.


BAD

Risk of losing his self esteem during those stretches on the bench or when things does not go your way.

Mixed emotions as a parent, just feeling for your son during these times and how to keep everything into perspective and that hopefully he will be given his chance. He was primarily a pitcher last season and pitched 14 innings (mostly relief vs some quality teams like Desert Vista/Mesa Mountain View although had a chance to start 2 games) but the highlight of his Freshman season may have been when he started 3b against the eventual Arizona 5A I champs Corona Del Sol during the 2009 5AI playoffs and made 2 assists. Everyone will have different experiences but being ready at anytime when your name is called by the coach will earn you some stripes.

The bottomline is a player that's placed in Varsity as a freshman has some talent to contribute right away. Now whether big or small depends on the opportunities that's given to him and making the most out of every opportunity. A freshman is probably one of the most hardworking guy in the team because he willl need to prove he belongs and hang out with the big boys. Once he has proven that then comes respect which is very satisfying.

Being the ball/bag boy and finding those foul balls.



UGLY

If you were not given any opportunity at all in which maybe you need to be in JV to get some reps in. Makes you wonder why you were picked in the first place

Just my 2 cents.


RR23

My son played Varsity as a freshman last year and I had some concerns with playing time going in, but the biggest issue turned out to be the fact that he was a 14 year old boy spending alot of time around 17 year old young men running in a pack... playing time turned out fine but there were certainly some added "parenting skills" challenges. We had many discussions on topics we thought we had a bit more time to deal with. We survived the crash course and he is turning into a bit of a leader (in a good way) this year as a Soph.

My son pitched varsity as a freshman last year. Didn't seem to be much of the dugout chatter issue for us. Although, I didn't really hear too much of what went on in there. He was one of three starters, so he didn't have an issue with play time.

The biggest thing I liked about it was that my son actually had to pitch. Sounds like this will be the advantage for your son as well. If he is totally dominating JV, he needs to be challenged more. Blowing fastballs by guys and having everyone miss the hook regardless of where you put it will not advance his skills. Having to put the fastball and off speed stuff where you want it when you want it will challenge him. At the varsity level, if you make a mistake, you will pay for it, so you must be pretty precise and actually pitch, not just throw.

The other question that will be there for your son is, is he mentally ready? Will he be able to get over the nervousness the 1st time out? If (when) he gets hit hard, will he be able to come back from that? More than likely, the older guys will be less tolerant of a freshman getting shellacked unless he proves from the beginning that he can actually pitch and contribute. I'm telling you now that at some point during the season, he will have a bad game and get killed. How will he come back from that? Will he have the confidence to come back in his next outing with the confidence he needs to get outs? Work with him on that. One outing does not make a bad pitcher. It means he had one bad outing. That is not only applicable to freshmen, but all pitchers. The question is, is the young guy able to do that mentally. Same thing within a single game. If he's doing well and gets a HR hit off him, will he be able to recover and get the next guys out?.

These are the biggest things in terms of pitching varsity, especially as a freshman. All the things I talked about will happen. How will your son deal with it? That will determine whether he stays there or not.

My sons pitching coach is an ex-MLB pitcher, spent 4 years as a AA pitching coach and is a current advance scout for a MLB team. Last year before tryouts, he told us that he hoped my son made the varsity team and he hoped he got shelled. This surprised me and I asked him why. He said one of the biggest problems they had at the AA level was guys who had never gotten hit hard and had a lot of runs scored on them. Mentally, they had a very hard time dealing with it. Sometimes they never were able to come back with the confidence they once had. Well, that time did come for my son. One game about 1/2 way through the season, he just got hit all over the place. Other team scored 6 or 7 runs in 3 innings on him. Next game he came back and threw a complete game 2 hitter throwing only 69 pitches. It was good to see that he didn't lose that confidence that he could get guys out. He understood that he stunk that night against that team, but that he could come back a do what needs to be done.

I would talk with your son about this and let him know that he may have a tough outing. Let him know that he will have to hit his spots at the varsity level and let him know that if and when he has a bad outing, that does not mean he is a bad pitcher, but that he just had a bad night and he has the ability to come back next outing and mow them down.

Good luck to you and your son.

Here's a story you might appreciate: Son played varsity as a freshman (ss & closer.) Last regular season game of the year actually occured after graduation and son was pitching last inning trying to close game. Ball hit to RF (senior) who dropped it. Next batter hits a base hit to right (ball always finds these guys) and he proceeds to throw the ball literally into LF. Son ended up closing out the game fine and in the car afterward I said that was quite an event in RF and he replied, "Sully wasn't feeling too well today." I asked if he was hung over which I suspected and he repeated only that he wasn't feeling too well. I asked if he was drunk and he said yes and that afterward he apologized to the team.

Moral of the story I guess is seniors are a differenct breed than freshman so I would make sure that your son is a very mature young man for his age.

My son played on the Varsity as a Freshman and had a great experience. He really learned how to pitch and gained a mental toughness that you just can't teach. His first start he gave up a 400' bomb and got beat 10-1. The very next start he came back and mixed things up better and had 11 k's in a 12-0 win.
The older kids respected him because of his work ethic and his determination to win , so he got along well with everyone.
The thing that surprised me the most was when he gave the team a motivation speech after 4 straight losses. I was not sure how the older kids would respond to that from a Freshman. Well as it turned out , the respect he had earned from the the older players was a huge plus. The team turned it around and advanced to the sub-state game .
So overall he learned how to pitch , mental toughness and he became a leader. I don't know your son's make-up but if he is being asked to pitch on the Varsity as a Freshman he must have worked hard. If he keeps doing that and lets his actions speak he should be fine.

quote:

Originally posted by Bizzle:
My son started the season on the Jv and has had great success thus far. He has pitched only 12 1/3 innings with 24 K's!...

Wow, He must be really good. How fast he throws? If he's in the middle 80s, he will start Varsity definitely. With 24K in JV game, I guess he is in the upper 80s, am I right?

How hard do most freshmen pitchers throw?

quote:

Originally posted by gap2gap:
How hard do most freshmen pitchers throw?

Most freshman throw in the mid to upper 70's. Don't be intimidated by some of the information you see on this board. People post here because they are very into their son's baseball. They're often very into it because their son's are above average. Some freshmen throw harder than others because they have physically matured sooner.

My son is an eigth grader, just turned 14. He has always had a live arm. In LL, hewas the little kid with the live fast ball. He has grown 5 inches in the past year and is now 5'8". Threw in a fall game and was crusing at 73, hit 75 a few times (once he realized a radargun popped up). He has never really pitched a lot as he is a good fielder and plays shortstop. I think that his best shot at playingas a freshmen maybe as a pitcher. His bat has been a little weak at times given his size. We'll see if that changes this year. He needs to become a little more familiar with pitching as he hasn't logged in many innings.

RJM is correct about the speed as my son throws about 78 or 79 mph on his fast ball but that is not what has made him so effective at the JV level. It has been his offspeed stuff along with his fastball and the ability to hit his spots.

My son is a very solid student with a 4.37 GPA and has until HS had a work ethic that has been unmatched on the diamond while playing with kids his on age.

While it is great that he is getting this chance I must tell all of you that it has also taken some luck to be called up to the Varsity level, or should I say some bad luck for some others. Our Varsity team has struggled with throwing strikes and this with the fact that he has been collecting alot of K's is the reason for his being fortunate enough to be asked to move up.

I would like to thank everyone for their words of wisdom and would not for one second want any of you to think Im bragging about this because what you all have mentioned as problems with this subject is exactly the things Im worried about.

If a varsity pitcher throws in the upper 70's the hitters will sit on the stuff and drive the fastball up the middle or the other way. They're not going to look fastball and get fooled by the stuff.

Last year a sub 80's pitcher was called up for a week due to injuries and a busy schedule. He got the call in a blow out to eat some innings. The first time through the lineup the free swinging team looked like dancing bears. The second time through they got patient and ripped his **** off. The kid had great stuff. But when the other team figured out he couldn't put a fastball by them they sat on the stuff and crushed it.

Let him move up. Sounds like he already told the coach yes anyway. Also, please tell him to keep up the good work! That's great!!

There is no way anyone can tell you how effective your son will be facing varsity baseball players. First of all we have no idea how good the competition is he will be facing. Secondly we have no idea how good of a pitcher your son is. And thirdly he could be very effective against one team and get hammered against another. The talent level from batter to batter and team to team in hs baseball varies greatly.

From my experience there are many varsity level pitchers who pitch in the upper 70's to 80 that have a lot of success. If - They know how to pitch - If they can locate their stuff very well - And they have a breaking pitch that is good they can locate for a strike in any count. I guess that goes along with knowing how to pitch. And of course they have a catcher and or coach that understands how to attack hitters.

In hs most teams will only have a couple of truly advanced hitters and some none. You will not be able to throw a 79 mph fastball by a hitter sitting on a fastball but you can get him to roll over it or miss it if you have set him up properly. A pitcher that can command extremely well and command an off speed pitch as well does not have to throw mid 80's to be effective at the hs varsity level. The fact is if the truth be known there are more hs varsity pitchers pitching in the upper 70's to 80 than there are above that velo. Now others may have other experiences with this that tell them otherwise. But from my experience this is the case.

Yep... 78-79 with good command, savvy, and guts wins over 85 and gets upset at the first borderline call he doesn't get every time.

My son is freshman LHP on varsity. He is being counted on to be a regular starter. Cruses at 83 but can hit upper 80's. Problem is he has trouble finding the plate and when finally does umpire will not give me the close strikes. He has pitched 7-1/3 innings-3hits, 17k, 12bb,5hbp. I think he is overthrowing but "Dad doesn't know". Hopefully he will adjust before district starts. Your son will probably do fine but expect some nerves.

I prefer seeing the harder throwers in there but I'll back Coach May up on this one. I've seen kids cruising upper 70s and touching 80 do well in strong HS leagues. They had good command and at least one reliable off speed pitch.

#32dad,
If he's cruising 83 and can touch upper 80s then he probably isn't overthrowing when he's cruising 83. It sounds like he's trying to throw a few too many in the upper 80s?

My son pitched last season as a freshman LHP and it was a good experience. The upside is that he's on every radar map in the country as a 6'4" Soph LHP sitting in the 85-87 range. The downside is that he got 1 AB last year and 9 AB's so far this year at the varsity level, so his hitting skills are suffering from infrequent AB's.

From my perspective, I have to ask, is he going to pitch his way off the island or hit his way off the island?

As a pitcher, he's probably in the right spot. He might be frustrated, but as I tell him, if you hit line drives when you're in there, they'll let you hit more. If you bail with the hips, learn how to bunt. If you can't bunt, give somebody else the helmet, 'cause you won't need it anymore...

Jmoff,

My gut feeling is he will pitch his way off the island...However, as a Junior and Senior he may be given more ABs and enjoy the experience more.

Best regards to the Stud!

RR23

Just an update, Austin pitched in his first Varsity game last night. He closed the game out pitching the last two innings with 1 K while facing 7 batters and giving up one hit and no runs. It was a good start for this Freshmen and he maybe got some of the jitters out. He looked as if he was cool as could be on the mound while I was sweating bullets.

Congratulations. I know exactly how you feel. I was so jacked for most of the year everytime my son pitched I could hardly stand it. I am much more relaxed this year. Have a great year.