Is your son All-League?

Yeah, those selections are definitely loaded with mines. For the most part its all pretty straightforward, but then again so is choosing all stars in Little League or Cal Ripkin. You’d think by the time the kids got to HS, all that political BS would have disappeared, and thankfully for the most part it has. But sadly, it still happens. It would sure be a lot easier to take and to understand if there was only one way those deserving players were chosen, but its as wild and varied as any other process that tries to quantify performance.

A lot of folks new to the HS baseball scene and many who have been around it for a long time don’t really understand how those chosen for accolades are singled out. Lot of folks think its as simple as seeing which SS in the league has the best combined batting average and fielding percentage, and which pitchers have the most wins and lowest ERAs. But I’m afraid its just a wee bit more complicated than that.

I think this really depends on how your son's league approaches these type of awards.  My son didn't play much on varsity this year but I was at almost every game so I felt like I had a pretty good handle on some of our district awards before them came out without having any emotional investment.  I was pretty much left baffled.

Cabbagedad I know you are a high school coach and based on your participation on this site and responses that you provide I have no doubt that you take this process seriously, but I would question whether the coaches in our area do the same.

We have four district awards that are above all (and maybe all TX districts do) something along the lines of:  MVP, Pitcher of the Year, Offensive MVP, Defensive MVP.  If you are selected for one you aren't a first team selection.  That alone I find very strange, because ultimately when you get down to the second team at some positions it seem it might be hard to find someone worthy of all district recognition (for example batting average around .200, etc.).  This year the first team utlity player played every game at one position or at DH. Not a single inning anywhere else. 

I guess my point is in our case the process is so bizarre the kids and parents who are aware at all realize the process is very flawed.

I would expect my son to be happy for his peers.  He says they don't even really talk about it much and I think that goes to the process in our case.  I would certainly congratulate anyone selected and hope someday that my son has a season or two along the way that would garner some recognition, but I also don't think in our case it is any indication of future success or failure.

Cabbagedad,

This is a great post!  Thank you for giving all of us baseball parents the opportunity to think through how we can best help our sons to be good team mates.

One of the other forums I post on has a "thanks" button where you can thank someone for an insightful post they made, and I wish this one did too.

Great post Cabbagedad, and very much appreciated. It's amazing how much parent's reactions toward their kids' performance can effect them. I know when I was young, my parents would make me aware of my faults and help me work on them while still congratulating me for my achievements, and I always felt like it was a healthy balance.

Thanks again

I understand but respectfully disagree.  I am aware that things are done differently from league to league and some may take it more or less seriously.  I actually understand and could probably help explain why many of the "strange" and "bizarre" decisions you are seeing are being made, but that is for another discussion.  The point I am trying to make is that it shouldn't matter - IMO, the parents should strive to show by example and by guidance to always take the high road, regardless of the circumstances.

You are correct, I am a coach and this could be interpreted as a self-serving directive.  But, I am, first and foremost, a parent - one who has gone through the process (not flawlessly, by a long shot) and the intent of my post was to help other parents going through it now.

From my seat as a coach, I get to see quite a bit of the parent/player dynamics and am occasionally inspired to share my observations in a "hypothetical scenario" manner with others who may benefit.

I picked that up the second and third time I read your original post.   Should have picked up on that first time through. 

I have said it before but I will say it again. this site has been instrumental in shaping (and often times changing) how I interact and speak to my son in many ways so thank you. 

OK her it goes, you tell me your thoughts after you read this:

 Son transferred to Mid Central D1 JUCO after freshmen year at D2 school in New York.  He is RHP, his role this season was either first out of ball pen when starter in trouble or closer, which every was more important at the time.  Had great season.  

Here is his line, 49.2 IP, 1.28 ERA, gave 33 hits, 7 earned runs, 1 double, 1 home run, 55 k's.  Finished in  top ten in the country for D1 ERA. 

Now the closes pitcher in his conference in ERA was #17, than 33, than 38, in the country.  One his team mates was in the high 40's. 

  Son didn't even make the Honorable Mention list, the list isn't out yet, his head coach talked to him when season ended an told him, coach couldn't believe it, We have no idea what played a part of this??  Son was not happy about it, during a period in the season he lead the nation. 

   I just wonder what these people are thinking when deciding the awards???

My thoughts are - the coach obviously knows your son's value to the team.  Undoubtedly, his teammates know his value to the team.  Thats what really matters.  Perhaps, additionally, he can use this for added fuel to next year's fire.

My thoughts are - I did a pretty lousy job making my point in my OP.

My thoughts are - I hope your son didn't express his unhappiness regarding lack of personal accolades to his teammates, particulary while they were still playing. 

My thoughts are - I hope his unhappiness was not the least influenced by any dissappointment displayed or expressed by his parents.

My thoughts are - I hope this better illustrates the point of my OP.

Congrats to your son on a great year.

I wish I could say how I interacted with my son, but, it seems that our County/District does not do much for accolades...Not 1st or 2nd teams, no County Allstar team etc....pretty disappointing.

however he did get a little surprise by being listed as an All American Honorable mention for PG....surprised because he has not done one of their showcases.  i congratulated him and my advice was as follows..."great job, shows that you are doing well against good competition..it also shows that there is room for improvement if you work harder" "This is a great sign you are doing things right and that you are headed in the right direction, now get back to work and let's see just how good you can really be!"

While I think that the accolades are nice...I feel it is my job not to let it well his head to the point where he thinks he can coast instead of working hard.  Inside i will be gleaming but outside I have to stay focused to help keep him focused

I had this situation happen.  Son is a sophomore starter, had a good year, finishing in the Top 20 in his league in every offensive category (and top 5-10 in a couple).  He played on a team that had a lot of success, that was very senior heavy (17 of 21 Varsity team members were seniors), and as a result, he split time at 3B and didn't get as many innings at pitcher (13.2) as he would have liked, but overall, both he and I were just very happy for his opportunity.  But what it meant was he got more than half his PA (40+ out of approximately 70 PA in 22 games) as a DH.  I am pretty sure (but not certain) that no other player had that many PAs as a DH in the league (maybe one, but most of his "DH" PAs came hitting for himself as a pitcher, which really isn't the same), and according to MaxPreps his stats were better than those who look like they might qualify for either DH or Utility honors.

Given the top 20 finishes across most offensive categories, I expected at least an honorable mention as either a DH, or Utility.  Honestly, given that only about 15 players could match him in high rankings across a number of offensive categories, I thought second team was a distinct possibility, but didn't expect it.

He wasn't recognized even as an honorable mention.  This peeved me, mostly because of the two DHs recognized, though they had deserving offensive numbers, neither was really a DH most of the time.  One was a starting shortstop, who fielded in all but one game! [The other was the aforementioned pitcher.]  My son's stats were also significantly better, pretty much across the board, than all of the four Utility players honored.  All but one of those players were seniors.  All of the players on my son's team who received honorable mention were also seniors (and while all were deserving of praise, all ranked below my son statistically on the team).

It bothers me to see class, rather than performance, honored, and it bothers me that there is seemingly no requirement that a player be honored for a "position" he actually played.

All that said, I did NOT discuss this with my son at all.  I showed him who received honors, and made myself available to him if he had questions or wanted to talk about it.  He didn't.  He said - ONCE - "that's pretty much a joke," and went about his business without seemingly another thought about it.  I don't think he's motivated by honors and I was proud of him for that and decided to take my cue from him and just let the whole thing go.  I haven't thought about it for the last ten days until I saw this thread.

EdgarFan,

I’ve been putting stats into MaxPreps ever since they began in 2004, and I honestly don’t remember anyplace to mark whether a batter was regular, DH, or PH, so I have to guess that whatever “award” you’re talking about is one made up by the coaches in order to give another kid some kind of recognition, and not one based on any numbers in MaxPreps.

In the end, its neither strange nor a big deal for a So to not get recognized for EOY league awards. There’s a lot of loyalty for years of devotion, so its not unusual for an upperclassman who doesn’t do quite as well as an underclassman to get rewarded. After all, the Sr may never play again, while the So has at least 2 more years.