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So son 16U is choosing this year to play on a college showcase team that is very affordable. The coaches have an excellent reputation and  college connections. The issue they are not playing that many games but practicing quite a bit in the fall and summer. My son is also doing an extensive baseball conditioning program which is fairly time consuming.

Also unless something drastically changes in HS there is a strong chance my son (sophomore) will be given the choice to play on JV as a starter or on varsity and never leave the bench. Son already told me he would choose varsity. We are not in a competitive league.

I had a discussion about my son with a well respected coach with about 30 years experience who said he definitely has the ability to play in college but he still needs development to see where he fits.

Son's aspirations are D3 somewhere in the Northeast or possibly competitive club ball at a local D1 known for its academics.

So I guess my question is do you think that playing only about 50 games for the entire year is enough at 16U. Most likely he would play in about half. I concerned mostly him still needing very much the development and reps especially with live pitching. He will however get a good amount of practice and does alot on his own.

In the past we had always sought out more in game reps because his teams practiced less.

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Practice is the homework. The game is the test. The goal is to do well on the test. But it takes doing the homework to do well on the test.

Practice matters more until it’s time to show the colleges what you have. At that point players are often responsible for getting their work in and showing up for the games/tournaments.

As far as JV versus varsity a player can’t impress the varsity coach unless he’s practicing in front of him. Besides, most JV games are hard to watch.

@BB328 posted:

Primary is catcher/OF.

I guess if I had to say ....he needs to get bigger/stronger, clean up his throwing mechanics and swing a bit and lower his pop time. He also just needs more exposure to better pitching. Lastly he needs to believe in himself and develop more confidence.

I'd strongly recommend getting regular playing time on JV.

My son went to a high school where the baseball program was extremely hierarchical...seniors who put in their time regularly played over underclassmen who were better.  He was one of five guys in his HS class to play D1, and three of them, including my son, were on JV as sophomores.  He hit over .500 on JV, with lots of power and steals.  That confidence led him to having a big Summer and he committed to a top 50 D1 program in September, before ever playing varsity. 

@2022NYC

His grades are very good. 4.0 GPA. Sleep and nutrition are still challenging lol.

Not sure what you mean by "lots of pearls dropped already".

There is a pretty good chance he will get pulled up next year based on what he was told last year. As always it's subject to change.

I guess I brought the JV/ Varsity is to illustrate that he would not be getting alot of quality in game reps between school and the team.

It's weird as they get older they invest so much time in training but not as much in actually playing the game they love. Is that normal for this age?

Plenty of pearls of wisdom already!  I would only say:

(a) you don't know what is going to happen, people get injured and the varsity team's needs change, so, in the end, he will play where the varsity coach needs him, and

(b) if he practices with the varsity team, even if he doesn't get much playing time, he will learn the varsity coach's system and will be ahead of things junior year (this also happened to my son).

Judging by the stats that were announced at the end-of-year banquet, j.v. was just an overall slower level of baseball, and if everything is slower (pitching, exit velos, ground balls, etc.) then it doesn't necessarily train you for higher speeds at varsity, which you would presumably get if you were practicing with the varsity.

But I sympathize - we didn't really understand what was going on during my son's freshman year (varsity but didn't play much), it only made sense when he was a senior.

Great "pearl drop" from anotherparent. I would also add It is unlikely any JV pitchers with velo + movement will be on the team they get pulled up to V. Getting live ABs with the V pitchers is the best training your young hitter can get. Yes, he may not get game time but he will become a better hitter practicing with V

It all depends on the program and individual situation IMO.

If he is catching every day on JV - this is a positive. Catching skills take time to develop, OF not so much. Catcher is a leadership position and do lots of kids move up to V the following year? He will become a team leader with the JV players moving up.

On V will he be part of the catcher rotations catching bullpens? If yes then he will see better pitching as a catcher just doing bullpens.

My son played on Freshmen his F year and there were others who were moved up, but they kept him there to develop (pitcher/OF) and he got lots of innings on the mound he would not have had on V or even JV. He got bigger/stronger/faster over the summer and the following year they moved him to V and he played in every game his last three years.

Again, it really depends on the program, situation, and your son's make up, but I would lean toward getting reps on JV. I know there is the ego aspect of being on V, but reps are more important in baseball.

Last edited by BOF

He would catch every day on JV. If he went to varsity I think he would be able to catch bullpens. He would be mentored by the starter now. If things stay the way  he will probably start his junior and senior year. He is already catching and facing varsity level pitching in travel. Our competition in school ball is not great unless we change divisions this year.

Maybe I phrased my question wrong but do you think that 6 tournaments is enough of a summer season for 16U when most likely he will only play every other game in travel ball and may be a varsity bench player?

It just seems like he might need more in game reps.

@Consultant posted:

BB328;

What is your son's time in the 60yd, the 30 yard?

What make is his catcher's mitt? Who is his favorite ML catcher? What is his dominant eye?

Bob

Bob - I would like to answer this about my son.

Personally 60 yard and 30 yard times are useless for my son as he's usually trotting around the bases, but his 60 yard is 6.25 and his 30 yard is faster than that.

My son is an outfielder but does use the Wilson A 2000 catchers mitt to increase the challenge of the game.  It comes to easy for him.  He has no favorite catcher, mine is Thurman Munson.

As for his dominant eye I think this answer is probably obvious. Both his eyes are dominant, they just take turns showing off.

IATG

@BB328 posted:

Maybe I phrased my question wrong but do you think that 6 tournaments is enough of a summer season for 16U when most likely he will only play every other game in travel ball and may be a varsity bench player?

It just seems like he might need more in game reps.

"Enough" and "better" may be the case, but you can only control what you can control.  I can think of many things my son might have done through the years that would have been "better" than what he actually did.  Some were choices he made, and some were out of his control.  For that matter, some things that were chosen for him turned out to be "better".

The question of training vs. playing gets debated on here quite a lot.  Many would say that more training and fewer tournaments will be better for his baseball development long-term.  That assumes that there is a long term.  My feeling is that the whole point of "playing" baseball is to play baseball - that's why I supported my son playing in a local fall-ball league in high school (and summer ball in college).

The main thing is to (a) try not to second-guess everything, because that will make you crazy, and (b) try not to be bitter if you later feel that the wrong choice was made (by you or others).

Of course, it's easy for me to give that advice, and I don't even follow it myself yet.  Maybe in 10 more years...

So you hit the nail on the head here. There has been a shift with my son.... The back story is we are in disagreement about what team he should play for in the fall and summer. The showcase team is his choice. Its got a light fall and summer schedule with lots of practices in season but outside of the season you are expected to do your own development no team activities at all.

We prefer a more well rounded program with more tournaments and a good winter workout program.

School ball will provide very little.

A month ago he started an intensive training program, baseball specific strength and conditioning program to help improve his mechanics, strength and mobility etc. Hopefully down the road it will help with his velocity and pop time. He's not a huge kid but athletic and a very intense hard working kid. The thing is no one anticipated how much time this would take (6 days a week/ 2-3 hours a day) This doesn't include hitting or fielding.

He has very dedicated but I think it has burnt out him out a bit. The kid used to love to just play but it's almost like the training and  trying to keep up with everyone else on his competitive summer team  has made him less excited to actually play.

I asked him, " Aren't you training to be able to play better in games?  He said," I am training for the future". At this point  there are only two years of travel ball left plus school ball.

But what if he doesn't play in college or becomes one of those kids who sits on the bench and becomes discourages and quits. Shouldn't he enjoy it NOW and play more? I feel he's focusing on the destination not the journey. Also the training is pretty solitary and playing games is more social. My son needs the social aspect as well.

Sigh... part of me wishes we could return to the younger years when it was just about playing ball no showcases or certain metrics needed or what team to play on to get the next level.

Just don't push him.  Let this be his journey.  If he chooses to stop playing because it isn't fun anymore, so be it.  My son gave up basketball and football this year.  He just doesn't love them.  Very very disappointed as he was very good, but it's his decision.  With baseball my son has his end goal in mind with everything he does.  I think that's great your son is thinking like that.

@IAmThatGuy and others.

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Tim

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Last edited by TimtheEnchanter
@TPM posted:

Must be slow in the office before a 3 day weekend!   

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Seriously @BB328 have your son be Tim.

I can't think of any HS programs in my area where a parent gets to pick which level of play their son plays.  Typically, I kept 18 on the varsity but some of those were JV players who dressed varsity.  In our area, the JV and Varsity play at the same fields.  Often, I would send for a player from the JV to run to the varsity game to fit a need.  On tournament games, I designated those who were expected to travel with the varsity.  In games where I knew we would have a blowout, I made sure to have some JV players stay with the varsity instead of playing the JV games.  As I mentioned before, I tried to set my schedule to be 1/3rd of games we would win, 1/3rd of games that we played a team equal in ability to my team, and 1/3rd of games where we would be considered the underdog.  Those games that I knew we would win were opportunities for me to play my top JV players to see what was in the future for my program.

Per practice, I practiced my JV and Varsity together.  I was fortunate to have a situation where we had multiple cages, a bullpen that had 6 stations, and multiple assistant coaches.  More than once, a JV player impressed me enough to get a spot start here or there. 

Finally, don't discount the fact that coaches are watching at all times. I had a rule about groups of three or larger. If I saw any player not working, I didn't like it. If I saw JV players messing around when given an opportunity to practice with the varsity, that would not be a good thing. 

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