HS tryouts - thoughts?

I guess everything is dependent upon the high school that you attend.   I had a conversation a few years ago with a guy who was an assistant baseball coach at the largest school in our state.   They would have 150 or more kids try out for High School baseball.   I asked him how they could possibly feel comfortable with with selecting a roster with so many kids trying out based upon try-outs.   He told me that they really approach filling their roster like a college program.   They actually attend some of the local travel ball games.  They talk to travel team coaches, and their tryouts are held over two weeks.  He said that for the most part its an easy process due to so many of their kids in the area playing travel baseball, and that a lot of their decisions are already made before they get to the actual try out weeks.   

These things always make me laugh.  Son's school was lucky to have 30 kids total playing baseball....even though our freshman basketball tryouts sometimes had 25+.  Son had 5 in his class that played with him thru HS.   I did hear a couple years ago that they had 20 or so freshman show up but that's not the norm.  We have a school in our league that is regularly one of the top teams in their division in the state that gets up to 80-100 freshmen showing up for the first day of tryouts

Son had 80 players tryout for his middle school team a few years ago.  We brought in a few outside coaches to help rank players and did a pro day showcase to make first day cuts.  Then had 3 days of practice to cut it down to 17.  As was said, we had already selected about 10 kids through the previous year and watching/coaching travel ball.  It was really just finding the diamonds in the rough.  We found a few LHP's to invest in and a kid who could run bases very well.  Had to teach him to read a pitcher and slide.

My daughter started on varsity softball as a freshman. My son was the last cut from varsity as a freshman, tore up JV ball and started as a soph. They attended a largest enrollment classification high school. The district was growing. There were five busting at the seams with enrollment elementary schools feeding one huge middle school and high school.

If a kid didn’t make baseball/softball in 7th or 8th grade chances are they weren’t going to improve enough to ever make varsity. There was a freshman team. It was pathetic baseball. It was kids who didn’t make the 7th and 8th grade teams and those who did and weren’t going much further. The more talented players played JV freshmen year. In my kids eight years combined in high school only one player from a freshman team ever made varsity. He was a late bloomer pitcher who grew to 6’4” by his senior year.

There was no doubt in my mind my kids were varsity players heading into high school. The weeding out process started in 7th grade. There was a 7th grade team and an 8th grade team in middle school. The best freshmen made JV. My daughter’s situation was unique. The softball program had really stunk up until she arrived with four other freshmen. These five started freshman year and dominated the conference for four years. Yes, one was a stud pitcher. Girls physically mature sooner. These five girls all had D1 college offers by the end of freshman year.

The coaches knew who could play entering high school. The softball coach first saw my daughter play in a local 12u softball tournament. The baseball coach first saw my son play in a LL all star game. He told me he had recognized my son was the best athlete on the playground going back to second grade when he taught at his elementary school. Both coaches attended a couple of 7th and 8th grade games when it fit into their schedule and ran a couple of middle school practices each year. They knew the players.

The baseball coach moved to teaching at the middle school when my son was there. He occasionally had lunch with the middle school players. My son recognized it as selling the more talented players on not being recruited out to privates and Catholics for high school. Had basketball not lost recruited players from one class when my daughter was in high school there would have been five future P5 starters, three future NBA players on the high school basketball team in the same class.

When the new AD arrived the year just before my daughter entered middle school and started hiring new high school varsity coaches he gave them input on who coached at the middle school level. The middle school was across the street from the high school. He eventually placed a protege as the middle school AD. The middle school had never had an AD before. Sports were a true grade 7-12 program. Cream Puff High became a conference contender and sometimes conference winner in every sport. My kids played on at least one conference champion in their multiple sports every year. Softball won all four years. Baseball won two of three years my son played varsity.

Despite having a well oiled, well functioning, successful process there were still parents who thought who their kids were screwed, politics played a part of the process and favorites were played. The reality was these parents didn’t see their kids hit the wall when they got their varsity shot. The kid I specifically remember quickly played his way out of the line up soph and junior year and didn't try out senior year. I listened to three years of “my kid got screwed” on the sidelines. I never understood what the coach saw in the kid. I knew the kid going back to preteen sports and LL baseball. My son said the kid had great practices and tryouts then choked in varsity games.

I believe my kids had great high school sports experiences. The one negative was my son was cut from basketball soph year for not making any off-season workouts due to playing other sports. It gave him the winter to be more prepared for baseball. The basketball coach was against his players playing other sports. In the eight years my two kids were in the high school his only multi sport players were both 6’7”. Both became professional athletes (Premier League/MLS, NFL) in other sports. Since less girls were athletically inclined they were encouraged to play multiple sports.

As a former HS coach, one of the most difficult things to deal with was how to handle tryouts when there were kids playing other sports and unable to join until sometimes 3, 4, 5 weeks after the start of practices and sometimes right around or even a bit after season games start.

Adding to the challenge for our school anyway, was having finite limitations with roster numbers based on things like how many would fit in "x" number of travel vans and how many uni's were available.

For a few years, I held a formal tryout/assessment date where I would assemble a panel of coaches and other baseball people I trusted and we scored players on hitting, running, throwing, fielding, athleticism, etc.  But with multi-sport players coming on at various later points, we eventually scrapped that.  We staged cuts in a few phases, trying to balance giving a fair shot with not keeping a kid hanging on for weeks and then cut.  We usually had a decent idea of which kids would be coming out from other sports which helped.

In the end, it's not really that difficult to quickly assess a player's skill set and attitude.  What is difficult is to provide the perception of fairness when every parent rightfully sees the very best in their own kids.

@cabbagedad posted:

As a former HS coach, one of the most difficult things to deal with was how to handle tryouts when there were kids playing other sports and unable to join until sometimes 3, 4, 5 weeks after the start of practices and sometimes right around or even a bit after season games start.

Adding to the challenge for our school anyway, was having finite limitations with roster numbers based on things like how many would fit in "x" number of travel vans and how many uni's were available.

For a few years, I held a formal tryout/assessment date where I would assemble a panel of coaches and other baseball people I trusted and we scored players on hitting, running, throwing, fielding, athleticism, etc.  But with multi-sport players coming on at various later points, we eventually scrapped that.  We staged cuts in a few phases, trying to balance giving a fair shot with not keeping a kid hanging on for weeks and then cut.  We usually had a decent idea of which kids would be coming out from other sports which helped.

In the end, it's not really that difficult to quickly assess a player's skill set and attitude.  What is difficult is to provide the perception of fairness when every parent rightfully sees the very best in their own kids.

THank you for sharing that perspective.   I have always said that being a high school baseball coach would be the second most difficult jobs out there with respect to dealing with players, administration issues, families etc...   With the most difficult being a high school umpire.   I always try to remind parents of my son's teammates that if the coach and umpire weren't willing to show up today, then we wouldn't have an opportunity to see our son's play baseball. 

You bring up an interesting point, and that is how to navigate duel sports athletes.   With baseball overlapping other sports like Basketball and Soccer I can see the challenge that a high school coach has to deal with as far as determining a roster, and playing time when some players may not join the team until a month into the start of the season. 

There is a Book by Jeff Passon called "The Arm" in which he takes a deep dive into the modern opinions on pitching arm injuries.  While he admits that there are many factors involved, overuse seems to be one of the biggest factors.  In the book, he has information from James Andrews who is one of the more popular sports surgeons in the US.   Andrews uses a phrase, "the specialization of youth sports" as one of the biggest contributors to the rise in sports related injuries.  Most kids pick one sport now, and concentrate solely on that sport.  He presents his data suggesting that there are far more arm injuries in baseball then just two years ago.  Far more ACL injuries and stress fractures in basketball than two decades ago, and significantly more shoulder and back injuries in young football players than just two decades ago.   He suggest that this "Specialization of youth sports" is contributing to this. 

So, back in the 80's and 90's the kid that was the star pitcher on the high school baseball team was also a forward on the basketball team, and a TE on the Football team.   This is getting less and less prevalent in high school sports.  Baseball players now tend to just play baseball, and are often discouraged from playing other sports.  The same is true for basketball players that are discouraged from playing football etc...

Of course the parents are in the difficult position of realizing that, "if your son isn't working on his game year round, then you can rest assured that his competition is..."     

Any tryout format is better than the one school I coached at that would not allow any players to be cut in any sports.  That was a nightmare.  I just kept the best on varsity and JV was a headache.  Good luck Mr. Assistant coach.  Yes, you have 26 kids to keep happy.   We played one game where we batted everyone and we still had some that did not get to hit.

Speaking of multi sport athletes and tryouts, anyone remember Bruce Hardy on the cover of SI. He could have picked his D1 sport. He chose football.

https://archive.sltrib.com/art...9190&itype=cmsid

Texas 5A team

2025s high school does two separate groups for tryouts. One group of returning players and a second for incoming freshmen, players that didn't make the team in previous years, or new players that have transferred into the school.

They did an initial cut after the first two days of tryouts from the second group. They cut down that group from around 45 to 27.

Normal practices started after that. There will be a final cut tomorrow. That should put the numbers down to around 15 players on each of the 3 teams (Varsity, JV  1, and JV 2 (JV 2 is mostly made up of freshmen)).

There are now 2 different practice groups JV teams practice together and Varsity (with a few of the better JV players practicing with them so they can get more advanced work in). That is how it stayed last year.

We will see how the teams turn out tomorrow.

Our HS is around 1800 students, they usually get enough for 3 teams of around 16 (freshman, jv, v) with cutting just a few kids.  One year recently they only had enough for 2 teams of 20, I think they may have cut more that year, ironically.

The coach ran lots of optional stuff that included middle-schoolers:  summer workouts, fall ball for the non-fall-sport kids, and indoor winter workouts for the non-winter-sport kids.  We had many baseball-loving kids, most came to these optional events.  So by the time he got to actual tryouts, he mostly knew what he had.

Reading about the tryout / evaluation process in other places only makes me sad and frustrated with my kid's school.

Largest classification in state. I believe 3,100 students. Baseball hot bed. Just 2 baseball teams JV and Varsity. Here it seems your highschool baseball future is decided at a 2 day tryout in the fall.

Run a 60, throw a pull down into a net, take 5 balls either infield or outfield, 8 swings off a machine, and throw a bullpen if you are a pitcher.

Around 80 tryout in fall and about 40 make it..Those players practice and play a short fall season.

Spring tryouts appear to be just for show. Returning players attend but don't have to do much if anything. They don't bother to see who's improved or been coasting. There is no off season team workout program.

After this week's 2 day "tryout" all returning players made it... They added one varsity PO that was new to the school.

Just sad because I 've seen a lot of good players we grew up playing with get discouraged and have either quit or transferred. And it's hard to argue with them.

And I am sitting over here at our tiny Kansas 2a school just thankful that our school found a coach and we have enough kids signed up to have a team.... 

@DaddyBaller posted:

Reading about the tryout / evaluation process in other places only makes me sad and frustrated with my kid's school.

Largest classification in state. I believe 3,100 students. Baseball hot bed. Just 2 baseball teams JV and Varsity. Here it seems your highschool baseball future is decided at a 2 day tryout in the fall.

Run a 60, throw a pull down into a net, take 5 balls either infield or outfield, 8 swings off a machine, and throw a bullpen if you are a pitcher.

Around 80 tryout in fall and about 40 make it..Those players practice and play a short fall season.

Spring tryouts appear to be just for show. Returning players attend but don't have to do much if anything. They don't bother to see who's improved or been coasting. There is no off season team workout program.

After this week's 2 day "tryout" all returning players made it... They added one varsity PO that was new to the school.

Just sad because I 've seen a lot of good players we grew up playing with get discouraged and have either quit or transferred. And it's hard to argue with them.

This is pretty typical of top hs programs.  They know who is good before they show up.  There may be a surprise or two, but not much.  We saw several guys who got cut freshman year, transfer to a private school, and start on varsity that year.  We have a junior who just made varsity this year (did not as a freshman or sophomore) and is committed to a school that made it to the CWS last year.  We have another kid who got maybe 3 innings last year that is currently at a team that made it to the CWS.  It is competitive.  If you aren't performing right now, your potential doesn't get you far.  Especially since a lot of coaches in hs that don't really know how to coach the potential into performance.

@DaddyBaller posted:

Reading about the tryout / evaluation process in other places only makes me sad and frustrated with my kid's school.

Largest classification in state. I believe 3,100 students. Baseball hot bed. Just 2 baseball teams JV and Varsity. Here it seems your highschool baseball future is decided at a 2 day tryout in the fall.

Run a 60, throw a pull down into a net, take 5 balls either infield or outfield, 8 swings off a machine, and throw a bullpen if you are a pitcher.

Around 80 tryout in fall and about 40 make it..Those players practice and play a short fall season.

Spring tryouts appear to be just for show. Returning players attend but don't have to do much if anything. They don't bother to see who's improved or been coasting. There is no off season team workout program.

After this week's 2 day "tryout" all returning players made it... They added one varsity PO that was new to the school.

Just sad because I 've seen a lot of good players we grew up playing with get discouraged and have either quit or transferred. And it's hard to argue with them.

My kid's baseball and softball programs worked this way. They were very successful programs. The coaches knew who could play and followed them from 7th grade into high school. In my kid's high school years I never saw a player cut or not play I disagreed with.

I was wondering whether the coaches at the larger high school do some background checking re prior teams, play in addition to the massive cattle calls - it wouldn't be hard to do in this day and age.

Our HS does a 3 week youth camp in the summer starting in 3rd grade. They do a separate more intensive camp for 8th graders about to be freshmen, so the coaches know who the players are from a pretty young age. They also do a 1 day father-son camp every February for 2nd-8th graders. All the coaches knew both of my sons before they got to HS.

We don't even have tryouts until March 1st, I'm envious of those already in the process.

@ILoveBaseball04 posted:

I was wondering whether the coaches at the larger high school do some background checking re prior teams, play in addition to the massive cattle calls - it wouldn't be hard to do in this day and age.

I have two (now) adult kids. Entering high school the coaches knew who they were in every sport they played. They were followed through middle school sports and their travel teams. In high school the baseball coach told me he recognized my son was the best athlete in his grade on the playground going back to second grade when he taught at the elementary school.

The varsity baseball and softball (have a daughter too) coaches attended a couple of middle school games and ran a couple of practices each year.

The only surprise would be a new kid moving into the school district.

The kid made it.  After the last tryout day, he said he was really stressed.  He had been relaxed until then but I guess seeing some of his friends get cut in the prior day kind of built it up.  He was a good friend and supportive of his friends that didn’t make it, which I was proud to see.  He has never been stressed before, even after tryouts for his travel teams.  Competing for a spot against your friends and to play for your school was a new experience for him.  

@TexasLefty posted:

The kid made it. 

Congratulations!

Texas 6A  2800-2900 enrollment Grades 9-12

"Tryouts" concluded last week, but teams were prob grossly established before then. Likely meant for athletes in other sports, transfers, and final looks at bubble players.

Many programs here have Baseball as a "class" for those who aren't in football in the fall, and there are "cuts" from the class when school starts in late summer. Having said that, not making the "class" is not a death sentence. Kids have made some sort of team even after being cut from the class in late summer.

HS Coach runs week long summer "camps" K-8. For the 8th graders, it's basically a week long tryout including metrics. Between that and 'Middle School Matchup", HS coaches have an idea of what's in the pipeline.

Program is huge, which is a credit to the coaches. The level of commitment from coaches is incredible, and reflected in results. Gotta be over 100 athletes in program across all four years. Seems like a factory at times. Didn't see many cuts from last week per se. I'm sure they happened. Congrats to all those who "made it" everywhere and get to play this wonderful sport!

Tryouts are basically a formality here.  They have optional winter practice for 2 or so months prior to tryouts.  They know who they want before tryouts even begin.

@Dadof3 posted:

Tryouts are basically a formality here.  They have optional winter practice for 2 or so months prior to tryouts.  They know who they want before tryouts even begin.

I think you are right.  In addition to winter indoor practices, our coach does something that I feel is just about the fairest thing you can do.  Once or twice a week, starting September 1st and lasting into November (weather permitting), they hold open fields.  Every kid from incoming freshmen to seniors are allowed to participate.  The kids show up and do some running and stretching, then they divide whoever is there into two teams.  Every kid can play any position they like with pitchers facing live hitters and hitters getting to show what they can do.  The kids take turns fielding different positions so nobody dominates all the playing time at one position on the field.  A golden opportunity to turn the coach's head.

To those kids that don't make it.

If you want to play HS ball and don't make it as a freshman (whether your school has freshman team or doesn't),,,

DON'T QUIT.

Keep working, work harder, play legion or travel instead for that year,  go see the HS coach, get feedback, go work on those things he said you need work on.  Get stronger, Come back and show him what you did.  There is always a team in summer that the HS coach is loosely associated with, try and catch on there.  But do it for yourself, first, if you love the game, that shouldn't be a hard decision.

I was a late bloomer and didn't make my high school team until senior year.  I played DIII and then D1 college.  My son didn't make it Freshman year, worked out, made it his sophomore year (covid year), he now plays DIII ball.

Youngest probably won't make it his freshman year, small kid, but he won't quit because he knows he will get bigger, that he's good and he enjoys it.  Your baseball playing career is not won or lost by making the High School team your first or second year.

Remember as long as you want to play, there is somewhere to play, so play for the game.  In my day after 15, you had high school and legion, that's all, and legion was harder to make than hs.    when you hit 18 you could find a men's league if you weren't playing college ball.  I still play hardball.

Also, so much of making the team as a Freshman is based on reputation or word of mouth, a lot of those kids move on or wash out after that year, there is room eventually for a dedicated hard working kid who can play.