HS Tryout Question

My son is a sophomore in your position. For now he is pitching varsity and doing some DH.  If he can't get time on the field, he has talked to the coach about playing on jv when he isn't pitching.

I never heard of a HS varsity A team and varsity B team.  Can you explain a bit more?

My school is really big so they have the Varsity split into two levels, A  and B

It is "play ball!" Go where you can play!

momo1515 posted:

My school is really big so they have the Varsity split into two levels, A  and B

How big? My son's school is 4,000 kids and they only have one varsity.  I wish they had 2.

too.tall posted:

momo1515 posted:

My school is really big so they have the Varsity split into two levels, A  and B

How big? My son's school is 4,000 kids and they only have one varsity.  I wish they had 2.

I think there are about 3500

I would say try both spots.  Coaches will decide what is best.  If they need you as a Varsity pitcher, they'll do that.  If they can use you as an outfielder and/or DH/PH they'll do that too.   

Is the A team the varsity and the B team the junior varsity?

RJM posted:

Is the A team the varsity and the B team the junior varsity?

No, there is a separate JV team. There are 2 levels for varsity.

1) Do you attend a high school in Dutchess County?

2) Does your varsity B team play games against much smaller high schools varsity teams that are considered non conference games for them?

3) Are there other high schools in your area with varsity B teams? 

I’m not trying to figure out who you are. It’s an odd situation I’ve never heard of before. Based on other responses I don’t believe others have either. Where my kids attended high school there were several schools in the 3500 range or larger. None of them had varsity B teams in any sports. If I guessed the right school your softball team also has a varsity B team. Have you ever heard an explanation of why there are varsity B teams? 

If it is that HS in Dutchess there is a big difference in talent between the two varsity teams. My son’s HS played both teams last year (some games are scheduled by the Section that you must play), and depending upon your desire to be competitive you may not like the “B” team. 

And for what it’s worth, there are some schools in this Section that have Varsity B teams due to parental pressure more than enrollment numbers. My son’s HS has about 1600 kids and has a “B” team in a couple of sports. They also have JV teams. Fortunately Baseball wasn’t one of them. 

Momo, have you tried talking to the coach and asking him what he sees as your roll on the team?  Part of being part of a team is understanding your roll on the team and accepting it.  That doesn't mean you have to sit back and not work at the other part of your game, but if the coach needs you to be a PO you need to accept that that is your roll on the team.  Depending on how your coach structures your practice you maybe able to take some reps in the infield or get some BP in.  You need to use those times to demonstrate to the coach that you can handle a two-way player role.

Im having trouble wrapping my head around the Varsity A and B teams.  Why not have have 5 Varsity teams so everyone can make the team an play?  Where does it stop?  My sons played in a larger school in a major metropolitan area.  All of the schools in our league have large populations.  Most have a Frosh A&B team, Soph team, JV and Varsity team.  The Varsity and JV teams are combined into one team. If you do not get significant playing time during the weekday and Saturday V games, you are on the JV roster and play in Game 2 of the Saturday double header.  Game 2 does not count towards the standings.  There is a pretty good drop off of baseball talent between the V games and the JV games.  I could not imagine diluting the talent even further.  

You’ve gotten some good advice.  The part I think you should focus on is that it might not be up to you.  You can have this talk with the head coach and tell him what your issues are, but at the end of the conversation you should say “but I want to help the team out however you see fit”.  

I hate to say it but we had a junior this year who was sure he knew where he should play.  Coach didn’t like his attitude and offered him JV.  The kid quit, kind of proving the coaches thoughts about the kid were right.

joes87 posted:

Momo, have you tried talking to the coach and asking him what he sees as your roll on the team?  Part of being part of a team is understanding your roll on the team and accepting it.  That doesn't mean you have to sit back and not work at the other part of your game, but if the coach needs you to be a PO you need to accept that that is your roll on the team.  Depending on how your coach structures your practice you maybe able to take some reps in the infield or get some BP in.  You need to use those times to demonstrate to the coach that you can handle a two-way player role.

Im having trouble wrapping my head around the Varsity A and B teams.  Why not have have 5 Varsity teams so everyone can make the team an play?  Where does it stop?  My sons played in a larger school in a major metropolitan area.  All of the schools in our league have large populations.  Most have a Frosh A&B team, Soph team, JV and Varsity team.  The Varsity and JV teams are combined into one team. If you do not get significant playing time during the weekday and Saturday V games, you are on the JV roster and play in Game 2 of the Saturday double header.  Game 2 does not count towards the standings.  There is a pretty good drop off of baseball talent between the V games and the JV games.  I could not imagine diluting the talent even further.  

 

In NY, from what I recall, you can not go back and forth between varsity and JV. I believe that once you’re called up to varsity you must stay there. But I’d have to doublecheck on that. 

The why?  As I said above, it’s often parental pressure.

My advice would be to: 1.  play against the highest level of competition you can find. 2) Tell the coach you would like to be able to also play in the field and understand that you have to earn it, but tell him to "put me where you think I can best help the program" and leave it at that. 

He is going to respect you for it and if you don't make the playing squad keep working out like you are part of that group and keep asking for AB's at practice and fielding practice. The more you are in contact with the head coach the better it will be for you long term. One other thought is that if you have any desire to play in college you will have to pick what has the best chance of getting you there, if you are not making the HS Varsity team as a Junior then there is a message there. 

Best of luck!!!

joes87 posted:

Momo, have you tried talking to the coach and asking him what he sees as your roll on the team?  Part of being part of a team is understanding your roll on the team and accepting it.  That doesn't mean you have to sit back and not work at the other part of your game, but if the coach needs you to be a PO you need to accept that that is your roll on the team.  Depending on how your coach structures your practice you maybe able to take some reps in the infield or get some BP in.  You need to use those times to demonstrate to the coach that you can handle a two-way player role.

Im having trouble wrapping my head around the Varsity A and B teams.  Why not have have 5 Varsity teams so everyone can make the team an play?  Where does it stop?  My sons played in a larger school in a major metropolitan area.  All of the schools in our league have large populations.  Most have a Frosh A&B team, Soph team, JV and Varsity team.  The Varsity and JV teams are combined into one team. If you do not get significant playing time during the weekday and Saturday V games, you are on the JV roster and play in Game 2 of the Saturday double header.  Game 2 does not count towards the standings.  There is a pretty good drop off of baseball talent between the V games and the JV games.  I could not imagine diluting the talent even further.  

 

The good news with this varsity B concept is it’s more kids playing ball. The B team plays small high schools. I doubt they’re eligible for post season play. It’s only varsity in the players and parents minds. You can call a duck a dog. But it’s still a duck. The concept seems like college club ball. I know kids whose club teams played against other clubs and small colleges and JuCos.

MOMO,

Thank you for asking your question. It’s pretty common for a guy to play multiple positions at your age. And it’s very common for guys who can pitch to still want to hit. 

I agree with the comment of talking to the coaches first. Let them know you are a P, 3B, and OF on your travel team and want to tryout at multiple positions for your HS team. 

The coaches will decide whether to let you tryout at multiple positions (they should in my opinion). And after tryouts the coaches will then decide where you best fit...which team, which position.  Ultimately, it’s their decision. 

I wouldn’t get too hung up about A vs. B squad. It’s great that your school gives a lot of guys a chance to play baseball. 

Once you’re on a squad, you work hard and try your best. And you can ask the coaches on that team for more opportunities, particularly if you perform well, are very coachable, and are a great teammate. 

Good luck!  Let us know how things work out. 

My son pitched varsity as a freshman, but then when coaches knew he wouldn't be pitching, he played third for the freshman team. That continued until his junior year when he went strictly varsity. Coaches at all levels want to win, I'd try out and let them figure out the logistics of where to put you. If they assign you as a PO you can always respectfully ask about the opportunities to play at other levels when you're not pitching.

Tryouts?  Two varsity teams?   Hahahaha.....this stuff is just crazy to me.  My son's HS has somewhere around 500-600 kids total.   When he was in HS baseball had 30 TOTAL KIDS....in the entire program.....freshman thru senior.  No freshman team any of his 4 years....heck, in some cases playing a JV and Varsity game the same day was tough on pitching.  My son's senior class had 5 kids play baseball.

Last year our HS had a freshman team for the first time in as long as I can remember...they had 20 freshman go out......but only  had 1 senior in the entire program....so still only  somewhere around 35 kids total.  The freshman had to play on both the freshman team (very limited amount of games) and JV.....and they still didn't have nearly enough kids to play freshman, JV and Varsity games all the same day....lol

I drove by the field yesterday....looked like maybe 40 kids or so total this year.