High School Reporting Thread

quote:

Originally posted by RJM:
It's not a slump. Everything is mechanically sound. It's just hitting in tough luck.

Last year, my son went thru a 1 for 12 right before the conference tournament and fell out of the batting average leaders in the conference He said the same thing. "I'm hitting the ball well". In that stretch, he still had driven in 4 runs with sac flies and ground outs.. So while he wasn't hitting and could have had more rbi's, he figured as long as the outs were producing or hit the ball hard the hits will come. He only struck out about 6 times all season.

Then comes opening game of the county tournament and goes 4 for 5 with a triple, three rbis, four runs scored and 3 stolen bases. His first hit in the game was a dribbler that looked like the wind from the swing produced because he barely hit it between P & 3B that he beat out. The other hits after that, especially the triple were all shots.

Another thing he probably knows is that those hits are harder to come by because varsity players make plays.


As long as he knows he's seeing the ball and hitting well, the hits will come as long as the confidence stays there.

quote:

Another thing he probably knows is that those hits are harder to come by because varsity players make plays.

Most have been right at fielders (bat, bang, glove line drives). I'll guess a good 16U travel outfielder is as good as the kid who made the catch in right. Plus he hit well in 18U last fall.

I don't want to make more of this than it is. It's just another perspective of how a varsity career/season can start most people don't contemplate.

RJM - At all levels of baseball, one of the hardest adjustments are that the defense gets better and make plays on balls that have no business getting caught at lower levels. When my son was playing club ball at 11-13U and we'd take a Sunday to go watch D1 college ball, the thing that always amazed me was just how hard EVERYTHING got hit and yet EVERYTHING seemed to get caught. You'd see an 0-4 with a total distance traveled of 1600' and just think, wow what do you have to do at this level to get a hit?

Bottom line, if he's hitting hard line drives, he's seeing it well and is mechanically sound. As another poster pointed out, that first one will probably be a chopper or bleeder that falls. Things do even out in this game. Only make adjustments when adjustments need to be made and that isn't based on batting average. A kid could be hitting .500 by continually pulling his hips and shoulders and slicing little bloopers that drop in front of the RF. He needs to make an adjustment before he starts seeing nothing but offspeed pitches away.

The kid who hits 7 line drives in 9 AB's to all parts of the ballpark needs a hug, no adjustments and encouragement to NOT make adjustments or press...

Batting average is not a significant statistic until at least 100 AB's. The difference between a .280 and .340 hitter at 100 AB's is 6 hits. At 20 AB's this difference is only about 1.

Our 2010 son's team is 2-0 thus far this season. While normally a catcher, young son got his first start on the mound last thursday night against a district rival. Young son got no decision, threw 3 innings struck out 7 and walked 5........0 earned runs. Team won in 8 innings 5-4. He was wild as the wind but after an off season of Jaeger's throwing program velocity was impressive.
Positive Effects of Jaegers Throwing Program

Freshman son just made his JV team (one of Two Frosh) after 4 days of tryouts. Pitched an inning in a Varsity scrimage yesterday (team came down from VT) facing 4-5-6-7 in the order. 1 K, 1 H, O BB, O R, 16 pitches. not bad for his first time out with the Varsity team. no balls left the infield and he looked good on the mound, coach was happy with the outing, so was dad

During his tryouts he also pitched in an intersquad V-JV game, Walked the first batter and then proceeded to get four gound balls to close the inning. one runner reached and a run scored on an error at short. Kid tells me later that night "hey I was a little nervous thats why I walked the first one" Gotta love the attitude.

I know there will be good days and bad ahead I am just happy for him that he started out with a good showing and that he was asked to come pitch in the Varsity game. Looking forward to the rest of the season.

RJM,
Congrats, sound like your son is going to do well.
You know he will keep at it, eventually those balls are gonna find the holes and as soon as they do watch out. Like my sons coach has always said get out there and hit hard somewhere.

I just want to make it clear I didn't post in this thread looking for hitting help for my son. He not perplexed with the situation. I'm not perplexed with the situation. I was just posting his experience as the thread suggests. I played ball. I have an older kid in college softball. I understand stuff happens. When a kid hits the ball on the nose right at fielders it's not about this being another level. A good 14U player can catch a shot right at him. Besides, like I said, he's already played 18U travel last fall. We're not surprised by anything in the high school game.

My son got the win in his high school game on friday, which surprised us. He only pitched the 4th and 5th innings. Does a starter have to go a minimum amount of innings to get the win? ( I'm thinking it must be 4)We were winning 3-0 after 3 innings when my son entered the game. We were leading 10-1 when he left after the 5th inning and the final was 10-4. Thanks.

After 6 Appearances, and 4 starts on JV.

IP: 21 1/3
ERA: 1.31
BAA: 0.165
K: 20

17 errors behind me. My hair is turning gray already.
--------------
National Grand Slam Tournament (Varsity) started at my school yesterday. Ryan Roberson (Sr. Palm Beach Central; North Florida Commit) won with 15 hrs in the 1st round (10 outs), and 4 in the 2nd. (5 outs)

I was shagging home runs in the outdoor basketball courts about 50 ft. past the LF fence. One ball left a mark on the courts.



It's pretty cool.

quote:

I was just posting his experience as the thread suggests.

I agree. The season is full of ups and downs. Son was 0-2 last game with two BB's. Afterwards he says 'Good thing I walked twice or I would have been 0-4. I just wasn't on today...'

He was 3-4 a couple of games ago. The ball he hit the hardest was the out...

Lat week we lost 18-11 to a team that came in from New Mexico in spring break. We just threw them some extended BP.

We won our league game 6-0 with the wind blowing 40 mph. (But at least it wasn't cold.)

My freshmen son just got called up to JV. He will be the starting pitcher tomorrow.

Good luck to your son, jumpin joe!

We won a non-district game 22-3 yesterday. Games like that aren't fun to watch after a while, but it was a beautiful day to leave the office early. 2B was 0-3 with a walk and a sac fly, but hit the ball really hard. The 1B robbed him on a great play, then he took the LF and the CF to the warning track on a pretty big field. I don't know what it was in center, but the power alleys were 360. I wondered when opposing coaches would start backing up their OFs. There was a Cubs scout at the game to watch another one of our players, and I'd rather see him hit the ball hard four times than get four bloop hits. You never know.

Had a rough night tonight, played a rival team of ours in which my mom works there. The field was a swamp, mud piles in the OF along with probably 50 holes. Started raining mid-way which made it SO much more fun lol. I started RF, batted 2. Couldn't find my swing honestly, 0-4 2 Groundouts(one on the end of the bat the other on the connection of my Exo) and 2 Strikeouts(one I straight up missed it and the other hit the plate on 0-2, the ump called it a strike real quite like no one could hear him.....). Had 2 bloopers that I had no shot at getting hit to me and a pop-up with bases loaded 2 outs, 4-5 game in the 5th. One of the bloopers, I swear, landed a foot foul and the umpire, who still had his mask on and since the OF was so uneven, I'm talking about like rolling little tiny hills out there, he couldn't see. I challenged the ball being foul and he said I didn't know what I was talking about. Didn't sit to well with me honestly. I said a few things out in the OF which probably led to him calling that 3rd strike. We won the game 7-4, so in the end, it was all good.

quote:

Originally posted by lebanonbb:
Had a rough night tonight, played a rival team of ours in which my mom works there. The field was a swamp, mud piles in the OF along with probably 50 holes. Started raining mid-way which made it SO much more fun lol. I started RF, batted 2. Couldn't find my swing honestly, 0-4 2 Groundouts(one on the end of the bat the other on the connection of my Exo) and 2 Strikeouts(one I straight up missed it and the other hit the plate on 0-2, the ump called it a strike real quite like no one could hear him.....). Had 2 bloopers that I had no shot at getting hit to me and a pop-up with bases loaded 2 outs, 4-5 game in the 5th. One of the bloopers, I swear, landed a foot foul and the umpire, who still had his mask on and since the OF was so uneven, I'm talking about like rolling little tiny hills out there, he couldn't see. I challenged the ball being foul and he said I didn't know what I was talking about. Didn't sit to well with me honestly. I said a few things out in the OF which probably led to him calling that 3rd strike. We won the game 7-4, so in the end, it was all good.

That is perhaps one of the best descriptions of high school baseball that I have ever seen! For anynyone who wants to come play baseball in the north or east, this is the reality. It's all good

Freshman son went down to hit a JV, DH'd and was 2-3 with a walk and a pop-up. On paper, it was a great day. On review of the video, it wasn't so good.

His first AB was 0-0 pitch away and he drove it down the LF line (he's a lefty). That was good, except balance was off and front foot went down on contact.

Second AB got down 0-2 on a pitch on the inside corner he should've driven out of the park, but took and a hit and run curve in dirt for swing and miss. On 0-2, catcher set up for the pitch a foot outside, but pitcher left it right down the middle and was hooked between 2nd and first for a single, RBI.

Walked in another AB on 3-1 (the one was the obligatory 3-0 strike call). In last AB against a junky lefty, got a pitch up and inside and somehow popped up to third on an inside out swing with a half gainer. Ugly... But something to build on...

He's back to varsity pitch charter tomorrow and starter on Friday, but if he gets some AB's at JV once a week, its a good thing.

Funny, the difference between JV and varsity is pretty stunning...

Son's team goes to 3-1 last night. Son had a sac fly, two doubles and scored two runs. Made a nice bare handed play at ss right after making his first error of the season.

2011 son had 1st varsity start at 3rd base & came in to pitch in the 4th inning with no outs and one on base, team down 2-0 against a big district rival. Allowed one hit, no runs, no walks, 2Ks (I think). 1st "real" outing not counting the one inning pitched in a game we won by the slaughter rule.

24's first start of the year yesterday:
6 2/3 IP's, 1R, 3hits 2K, 2BB 82 pitches.
Had a no hitter thru 5 innings. Team won 2-1

Conversion to a "contact" pitcher underway--of the 20 outs recorded, 17 were on ground balls--2 on K's, 1 caught stealing. 24 did a good job of keeping the ball down.

The 24's team beat their previously unbeaten chief rival today to go 5 and 1. Have given up 6 runs in six games.

24&34 - 17 ground balls is a great night! Keep the ball down, stay on the corners and make them get themselves out.

Pitch count stays down as well...

Coming off hi sfirst start and first win of the season, Freshman son took a no decision after pitching 5 innings, striking put 11, 2 walks and one earned run. So far in 10 inning spitched, he has 18 strikeouts. Location and velocity has been very good.

An update on my son Aaron. He's a freshman starting at 3rd for JV playing for a 5A HS. The team started out slow but has improved to 4-2 at last weeks end. Aaron is also the closer and has an ERA of 0.00 for seven innings with one win and one save in four games. His S/B ratio is 2.67 to 1. 2 hits and 1 walk His bat is coming around and has a 278 avg for the season. The last two games it's been over 500

Jr., a freshman, started at 1B and hit in the 4 spot. Sac. Fly to deep CF, 2B to right off top fence, and a BB. Team won 11-0 to go 4-0.

Son is off the injured list, back to catching AND batting for last three games. I expected heavy rust after a 5 week layoff, but he seems to be hitting for the fences and back to himself: 2 triples, 3 doubles, 2 singles (also a caught fly to deep center, a put out and a fielder's choice.) 2 throwdowns at 2nd, one to first and one to third, two tags at home. Yey! Back in the saddle.

Well under way, some good days, some bad...

Two at bats. Two doubles - both off the first pitch. Run ruled the other team. Drove in 3 runs from the 8 hole. Others pinch hit for him remainder of game. Boys are looking sharp.

8th grade son (T-bone) playing Freshmen/JV baseball continues to have a great start to his high school ball career. He went 3-4 at the plate tonight, he hit two opposite field doubles and one 330 foot triple off of three different pitchers and was thrown out on a great play by the shortstop for his only out tonight. So far in 3 games he has gone 6-10 (.600 batting average) at the plate. His pitching as been very good so far too. 4 innings pitched 7Ks and 2 ER. He continues to impress the older boys and coaches around him.

rain_delay, sounds like a great job by the 8th grader. Keep up the great work!

Jr., a freshman, sarted at 1B and batted in 4 spot again against one of top 3 teams in conference. First AB, hit a 320' laser to right that didn't get more than 20' off the ground. Second AB, hit smokin ground ball at 2B, who accidently knocked it down while trying not to get hurt and threw Jr. out. Pitched around next AB, and intentionally walked in Top 7th down 6-4 and men on 1st & 2nd! Jr. really seems to be getting dialed in at the plate.

Coach brought him to mound in bottom 7th, 1 out, bases loaded, score tied 6-6. Did not get to warm up properly and did not have his good stuff. Retired the 4 (great running catch by CF) and 5 hitters to get out of jam. Bottom 8th, still tied, 2-2 count on the leadoff hitter of inning, 2 consecutive pitches on black-catcher's glove never moved, so either catcher or ump was wrong-a walk to start inning (you know what that leads too). K's next hitter. Next guy hits chopper up middle, Jr. deflects away from 2B, who naturally would have had it. 1st & 3rd, 1 out and 1 hitter up. 0-1 count he tries to squeeze, Jr. comes up & in and he fouled it off. 0-2 pitch out on black again-one of them (C or Ump)is still wrong! 1-2, Jr. goes to the well one more time out on the black (little hardheaded don't you think?!) and kid reaches out and and slaps one over 1B's head that lands on the chalk. Ballgame 7-6. Team's first loss.

Jr. upset after game, saying they didn't beat him, he "gave" them the game. Then turns around and says he's been pitching in the big games and situations since he was 10, and he wins most of the time, and that one's over and he can't wait for next game. Good to hear.

Team now 4-1, but fought back from down 5-0 in 6th on the road in the cold, wind, and rain to to tie it at 6 and force extra innings. Great game.

My son found a new way to hit. At least it changed his luck. He muscled up on the ball trying to crush it. He hit two balls of the end of his bat for two of the cheapest hits you'll ever see. One rolled and spun forty feet. The other just barely flared over the third baseman's glove. Good thing he was up for the bunt. Then the next game he hits the ball on the screws two more times for outs.

At least he's in control in the field. He's having a great season with the glove. Most importantly the team is in first, off to their best start in twenty-five years. The team chemistry is great. The kids are having a great time.

My sophmore son is off to a good season with his pitching. Given up only 1 run in 11 innings. Got his first varsity win last week. Also had a good start against a top rated local team...got a no decison but his team ended up winnign 2-1 in extra innings..beating a very good team...rated one of the top teams in the area....


Son's team is a young team with some ptiching depth...hge is not off to a great start with the bat but been hiting it hard but right at people. Good news is team is off to a good start and it should be a fun season.

So far so good with his pitching. He's 2 - 0 (team is 2 - 4)for the JV with 15IP with 2ER and 20k in 3 games. Drove in the winning runs himself with a double in his last game. He is waiting for a shot at varsity.

First game of the season tomorrow. Already postponed due to rain. Yet another reason to get out of Ma. ASAP

Well, we've been playing in the annual county tournament, and most of the big schools declined to participate. Let me be the first to say - BHS, GHS, SFHS, we missed you!!! We won our first game 22-3, and last night we won our semifinal game 15-5. 2B hit another bomb right at 'em, but this one kept going over the CF's head for a long double. There are a couple of HSBBwebbers who know (and love )our field. Yes, it hit that hill in straightaway center. That fence is 405.

The championship game was scheduled for today, but we had tornado watches all yesterday and one of the schools canceled their semifinal game and will play today instead. Our team leaves for a trip to New Orleans tomorrow, so there will be no championship game. They'll play the 3-4-5 games instead. It's a bummer, but we had already beaten the remaining teams pretty badly. Still a bummer though. It's a beautiful day for baseball.

ok....so son was finally able to get on the baseball field this past monday. so far the indiana spring hasn't been too bad, although next monday they're calling for snow

varsity/jv scrimmage is tomorrow and we're getting a beautiful 67 and sunny!!!

to all playing this weekend, have a safe and fun weekend on the diamond.....goodluck to all!

Freshman son started varsity tonight against the #1 AAAAA team in the state. Complete game, gave up one run and we lost 1-0. No walks, not sure how many strike outs probably 2-3, only one or two hard hit balls. I noticed when he was pitching, I didn't see many breaking balls. He told me after the game, he only threw about 3 the whole game. All of them were on 0-2 or 1-2 counts out of the strike zone. Pretty much all fastballs and change ups. 71 pitches in 6 innings (we were visiting team). He pitched real well, just tough to lose it.

quote:

That fence is 405.

Shouldn't centerfield fences be 400 feet? The players are big boys now. Our high school field is 405 to center, 330 down the line and 375 up the gaps.

Freshman son's first varsity loss on Friday night. 4 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K. Fell behind hitters all night and had the 3 BB's. You can't fall behind hitters and expect to win.

<Now the dad rationalizations>
Wind was blowing out at 35 mph. Several balls hit to the OF (deep) dropped in the wind. He actually was helped by a runner stretching a double to a triple and getting thrown out.

The big play was in the fourth where he got a dribbler to SS with 2 outs, but there was no play. Made a great pitch, just didn't work out. Next hitter hit a deep fly to left center and scored the 2 ER's, another ball that gets caught on a 'normal' night. He left after getting the next hitter. Lost 4-2.

Other pitcher threw a flat out gem, had us off balance all night and we'd prepared for him. Did a great job.

Son got to play up on sophomore team for weekend along with a couple other freshman. They all had a great time and all got to contribute. The players extended welcome arms and the coaches put them in situations that gave them oppertunitys for succses. My son got to pitch an inning (1 hit, o runs, 0 wlks) put him in with us up 13-2 no pressure, I thought a class act to get him in the game. Next day double header he got to play entire game at 3B. We thought he was just going up for pitching help for weekend because of injuries so that was a bonus. He played a solid 3B and went 1-3 with 1 rbi in a 9-2 loss, other team just had a better game. team won first game 13-2, so went 2-1 for weekend. Boys enjoyed a weekend of baseball (sat. was sunshine a little cold yet but nice 50) and the freshman team had no games so the boys got to play a couple extra games--and I got to watch!!!

Son's team got no hit by four different pitchers, the worst of it was, he is supposed to be the "big" player on the team, gets caught looking his last at bat. He went 0 for 3 with a ground out, and of course his trademark out, a pop up.

son started intra-squad scrimmage....coach had the varsity starter throw to the varsity lineup, with jv players behind him in the field. son went 3 innings, threw 35 pitches, faced 11 batters, 6 strikeouts, no hits.....

let's hope he can duplicate that for the first game on thursday.

i <3 baseball!!!

quote:

Shouldn't centerfield fences be 400 feet?

In your neck of the woods, maybe. Most of the fields in our district are smaller due to land availability. The point is that 2B is hitting very well - it seems to be OK to say that in this forum.

We do have one school in our district that is 450 in CF. I know one player who one-hopped it last year. He is projected to go in the first round this summer.