interesting dilema

For us the answer would be "it depends". If our son needed to see good pitching and the team was going to be in a good league, he might not care about the efficiency of the practices, for instance, if he was going to get a lot of at bats against some good pitching. If he needed to work on specific skills and strength, it might be a different answer.

Last fall my son played for a team with a very ineffective coach, but got a lot out of it because of the playing time he saw - he really worked on his catching skills, and his team won the league championship. This summer he had better coaching but played on a poorly performing team - because he was one of the better hitters he got lots of at bats against good pitching, and really elevated his hitting game. He's starting with a new team which should have better players - we will see what he gets out of it. Fortunately we are able to get him supplemental instruction to fill in the gaps when the coaching doesn't do the trick.

There's not one answer. Good luck!

If he's going to play HS ball at that school, my vote would be to get used to the program now. He'll have the same feelings in the Spring and then whats he going to do?

Life is full of 'less-than-optimal' situations. Gotta learn to deal with them...even thrive in them. This won't be the last time he faces one.

There was one fall ball coach we had that did not allow players to stand around, if the player was not scheduled to do anything on the field, he had them either running, doing sit ups, pushups, jumping jacks, throwing long toss, bp, quick hand skills, or other activities that would help them get in shape or increase their skills, while not taking away from what the coach has them doing.

He could take a leadership role and talk to the coach in private and give him some suggestions that could help the team out.

quote:

Originally posted by Homerun04:
He could take a leadership role and talk to the coach in private and give him some suggestions that could help the team out.

Let us know how that works out.

Sultan,
Shouldn't that be followed by a very sarcastic smiley?

As far as advice - what justbaseball said.

Ditto, justbaseball.

Also, why can't he work out with the trainer at the same time?

-----------------------

Justbaseball gave you some very good advice in my opinion. Also you need to think about or at least your son needs to think about how a decision like this would impact his situation with his team mates. I am sure there are other players that feel the same way your son does. If they are playing how will they feel about your son not playing? If he is working out with a trainer and not playing is that as good as actually getting live at bats and plays in the field?

I am with the other poster as well who stated why can't he do both? Work out with the trainer and play baseaball with his hs team mates. Good luck

Good points. I will have my son read this and help him make up his mind. He is a great team player often playing any position the team needs to win. I remember seeing a kid from a local h.s. who was getting scouted highly by MLB. he ultimately went in the third round, my thoughts were that he looked disinterested and did not look like a third rounder to me as other kids were outshining him. I have found out that (and I could be wrong) after a kid with certain skills plays at a high level, playing with others that are not at his level brings his game down. It seems that some kids, there is no gaining. if he does well, well he supposed to. if he doesn't he may doubt himself (am I good). I'm sure other parents here have experience with this. what have you done? what should I tell my kid?

On playing with players with lesser skills...

As I mentioned, in the fall my son played with a championship team. In the summer he played with the league loser - I mean, really bad. He did not play worse in the summer, and continued to work on improving his game. However, I do wonder if playing with better players would have pushed him more to improve.

At the beginning of each of the 3 seasons (spring/summer/fall) we discuss what he wants to accomplish by way of improvement. He then puts extra focus on whichever aspects of his game are on the list, including working outside of team practice and games.

Every game is an opportunity to learn. I don't have to say it much anymore, but I've told him not to worry about what others are doing, figure out what you can do to contribute and stay focused. Be a leader.

I don't really see it as an issue. You go to high school, you play for the team. The season is 3 1/2 months long. Play ball, have fun with your friends, end of story imo. If your good you'll shine regardless of how the rest of the team plays. Tell your son to just be himself and do his thing. I don't buy into the theory that playing with "others who are not at his level" will bring him down. A player is responsible for himself and should play at his own level regardless of who he plays with.

Fall school baseball in our area is pretty bad and unorganized. After a couple of practices it just fell apart a couple of years ago. Just go to practice and be part of whatever they have.

I also think that playing fall school baseball should have no impact on training in the evenings. Have lessons or workouts scheduled for 7 or 8 oclock at night after practice. If practices are bad he shouldn't be tired out.

So lets play this out. Your son is good enough to get drafted out of HS and signs a big contract. He gets assigned (note - he doesn't get to pick) to a low-A team that isn't very good...and he doesn't like the coach or thinks the coach isn't organized or thinks the coach doesn't care about him...and he chucks it in because any/all of this?

Sounds to me like right now you have a great opportunity to teach your son something really good...about working in less-than-optimal settings and making the most out of it.

There wouldn't be any question about what I would do (and have done) in this situation. Depending on your son's age, I'm not sure he would have much say about this in my house.

quote:

Originally posted by justbaseball:
So lets play this out. Your son is good enough to get drafted out of HS and signs a big contract. He gets assigned (note - he doesn't get to pick) to a low-A team that isn't very good...and he doesn't like the coach or thinks the coach isn't organized or thinks the coach doesn't care about him...and he chucks it in because any/all of this?

Sounds to me like right now you have a great opportunity to teach your son something really good...about working in less-than-optimal settings and making the most out of it.

There wouldn't be any question about what I would do (and have done) in this situation. Depending on your son's age, I'm not sure he would have much say about this in my house.

Just a side story, entering HS my son commited to a fall team where the coach really wasn't that good, he had a much better offer to play with a better one after he committed. He didn't even think twice as to not playing with them or saying yes to the better team. And we didn;t even have to tell him what we thought would be the right thing to do. BTW, they went on to have a pretty good fall season, with a coach who wasn't as good as some he has played for. And he got to play multiple positions where most likely on the better team with the better coach he couldn't.

I agree with justbaseball, in our house there wouldn't be a choice.

Funny thing about this game of baseball, there is a lot more to learn about than just what you do on the field. The situations that your sons will come across (there will be many), how they deal with them, will determine how far they will go, not their talent.

What's wrong with helping to bring that team "up", this is where learning about team leadership comes about. There should be no such thing IMO as a really good player not playing well because the team is beneath his ability.

I believe kv6137 is talking about "Fall" baseball rather than the actual high school season.

There are thousands of high school players playing on competitive fall teams outside their HS. In fact, most of the best players do exactly that.

Not playing at all, would be a big mistake and send a negative message to decision makers.

Also, you can train all day every day, and that is a good thing, but your future will be determined by what happens on the field.

The thing that often causes the most well trained and athletic people to fail? They should be great, but those darn "games" get in the way!

old timer hit it right on. He must have been there when i spoke to my son. i told him just that. lesson learned. sometimes you cant control your situation. I also told him that one of the schools thats interested is dead last in there division! Not always going to be on winning team. thks to all! love this game!

Pop up has been there done that, in the end if you work hard and play your game, what happens in HS does not matter once you get to college. Just be the best player you can be. HS ball is a time to enjoy being on a team and bonding with your teammates. And don't even think about MLB.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by justbaseball:

Sounds to me like right now you have a great opportunity to teach your son something really good...about working in less-than-optimal settings and making the most out of it.

QUOTE]

Home run advice JB.

The longer you play this game, the more you have to go through JUST to get to play it.

I think that most of our players have had a "not very good coach" at one time or another. What makes a good player is the one who sees his chance to help others advance their game and make the team stronger.

My question is, is your son standing around with the other players or has he taken the opportunity to work on other things with the players that are standing around, such as long toss or conditioning or other skills that were taught to him by his trainer?

This is a great chance for him to show by example his leadership skills. Most good or great players help others to raise their game by silent leadership.

Why does he have to stand around in practice? Can he find something to do to make himself better? Maybe he can take it upon himself to do something to improve rather than stand around. It might start catching on with the other players. The coach might be looking to see what players want to improve themselves. I would say play for the team. The game experience is much better than instruction in my opinion. When he is done playing he might have a memory from the games not from his private instruction time. Not to say that instruction does not have value as well.