JV player and opportunities

It's not the coaches job to make you like him. It's the players job to make him like you.

Just stop posting and embarrassing yourself. People are trying to be nice but it's getting harder.

 

Your son throws low-70s as a junior. His dad ranks him 12-13 in the program (which probably means more like 15). He is left-handed with no pop. You want him on varsity?? Come on man.

 

I'm guessing there are some freshmen or soph in the program right now that are going to be starting over him on varsity next year, so go ahead and get that "political" post ready.

 

Let him enjoy playing a kids' game, and you try to do the same. Introducing negatives will only suck the joy out of it for your kid. It's a beautiful team game. He's a kid. Let him enjoy it.

Irondad,

Stop talking about what he is going to do. If as a junior he hasnt put the effort in by now why bother?  Dont waste your money at this point.

He isnt going to gain enough skills to make a  college roster and you said you had college covered.

 

I dont really get the point of this anyway.  Small program with small expectations doesnt produce college players. HS baseball, college baseball, proball is all unfair. Complaining does nothing.  Its about being the best you can be and your son  is not doing the best to be anything.

 

But you get the award here for the best complainer and misinformed so far for 2015.  Either wake up or stop busting chops.

Sometimes it helps to get an honest and straight forward opinion of some professionals.  Has your son been to a show case?  That may or may not help with your thought process.  I have seen many a parent with the "parent goggles" on.  I am not being disrespectful, because I know you love your kid(s) just like we all love our kid(s).  Talent is talent, coaches are coaches, and parents are parents.  Unfortunately, or fortunately, it is what it is.  Work hard, do your best, enjoy the ride.   

Admin can we just close this thread already? 

No don't close it.  It's a decent thread. 

 

But I think we all need some perspective.  First, while not indicated, I'm guessing this is a small town school in Indiana (where basketball is king).  So the talent level doesn't necessarily surprise me.  Maybe the kid has the talent to play at this school, maybe he doesn't.  None of us really know.  The dad is obviously frustrated by what he perceives as a lack of "fairness."  Yes life isn't fair.  His question was how to deal with it and he has gotten some good advice, between "attacks."  Hopefully his eyes are opened and he can move forward.   

With due respect to the coach, a player who makes 5 errors in a game at a lower level in all likelihood hasn't mastered the tools yet to play at a higher level.  So you can understand why some observers question what is going on. 

I understand why it would be questioned.  My son's freshman year of HS, he was pitching varsity.  We had a SS that LOVED to backhand the ball for some reason.  Made lots of errors standing in place waiting for that backhand pickup.  I just didn't get it.  That kid went on to have a nice 4 year career at Georgetown.  He may have made some errors, but the tools were there.  He was fast, he had a good arm, he could hit, he could get to balls in the hole.  He had what I believe to be a flaw in his approach to his positioning fielding ground balls.  That didn't mean he didn't have the tools to play at the next level.  I'm sure the college coaches (if they saw some errors) figured they could fix that approach and it would be worth it because he had the tools to be a contributor.  

 

Errors don't mean the tools aren't there.  It could mean the player has all the tools, but needs a little higher level instruction to hone those tools.

 

Now, if you have a kid making errors all over the place, has a weak arm, is of average speed and struggles at the plate, those errors won't be overlooked because the tools aren't there.

 

I believe there is a difference between having the tools to play at the next level and making errors.  They are not necessarily one and the same.

The problem is most observers only the the results of what happens in a game. I feel like coaches should have a much bigger sampling of information to work with. Simply making 5 errors in one game is not enough to tell me that you are a bad player, or even worse than the kid who had 0 errors one game.

 

I've seen all of my infielders take literally thousands of groundballs over the past few months. While 5 errors is undoubtedly a bad day, I've also got the results of the other 1000+ attempts in my brain to judge this kid as a player.

First round pick for the cardinals out of HS Pete Kozma had so many errors in milb it drove everyone nuts.
He obviouly had the tools to hang in there.
This isnt a dig, but anyone knowing anything about baseball understands this concept.
If this is for real dad has lots of catching up to do.

The F5 from our JV team had a good number of errors this year. You can ask my son about it though and he will never complain about the mistakes.  The kid makes errors but is willing to stick his chest in front of a rocket shot to knock it down, occasionally overthrows F3, but has a cannon arm, and he always makes the correct "baseball" play. It was no surprise to see him moved up to V. Not everything important shows up in the scorebook.

 

 

Please read what I said.  I did not say the kid didn't have the tools.  I said he had not mastered them for the next level. 

Actually, I think most were pretty easy on you and provided good advice.  Please listen for your son's sake.  Be positive to him and don't keep making excuses.  That never helps.  Be honest and truly critique the situation with an open mind.  People are being honest and trying to be helpful. 

Yes. I was responding to your statement that "some observers" may question the decision on who to play or move up. I was simply stating that most "observers" only there on game day can at times be ill-informed, despite their protestations to the contrary.

The dad is questioning why his 11th grade son who bats singles and has a .360 against maybe 75 mph pitching isn't on varsity....I'm amazed the board has held it civil this long.....me thinks it's gonna blow!!!!

It's all relative.  At some programs that kid is the No. 3 hitter.   

Not saying that this is the situation, but sometimes we as parents don't exactly know what is going on at practice, in school, in the dugout, etc.  My son has a friend that is a senior, and he doesn't have a lot of talent, but from the outside looking in, it appears that he has worked hard over the years to get better.  His mom is our family friend, and it is hard to sit by her, because she is always complaining about him not getting on the field.  I asked my son about him, and he said, "don't feel bad for him that he isn't getting to play, because he is lazy."  I asked him how.  He said that when the coach specifically asks the boys to be to the games early so they can chalk/paint the lines, he doesn't show-up.  He doesn't do anything extra, and in fact, he admitted to my son that he has been lazy lately.  Sometimes we as parents miss things that only the coach sees, because he is around them all the time.  Coaches have expectations, and for most, if you don't meet their expectations, you will not see the field.

 

It's kind of sad for him, because our team is really good this year, and there would be plenty of opportunities for him if he worked harder.

I actually had the same thought as this early on in the thread and didn't get around to posting it.  Maybe the kid has an attitude problem at school.  Maybe the kid is perceived as lazy.  Maybe the kid is skipping practice and the dad does not know.  

 

Lots of things outside of baseball go into making the decision on who makes the team and who doesn't.  I know the coaches at our school won't carry a kid who has had problems in the past keeping their eligibility up.

 

My son had a player on his basketball team.  Decent low post player skill-wise.  But he was not the smartest kid on the team when it came to playing the game and was usually out of position or not helping out the teammates when he did not have the ball.  Somewhat out there playing for himself.  In addition to all that he skipped practice 4 or 5 times throughout the year with no excuse.  Parents did not know about him skipping practice.  They sat in the stands fuming most of the season about how the coach did not like their son and was not playing him.  

He has been lucky!

 

I am going to assume that the player is playing against younger players, and that always makes ones stats look better.  

 

No question about it.  We have all heard the story about the kid who the parents thought attended all of the offseason workouts when in fact the kid was hanging out at the 7-11. 

 

And at the same time, at least in my town, many of us have worked with many of the kids.  We can tell you who the "lazy" ones are.  Who the less talented over achievers are.  Who has the "crazy parents."  Who is focused to improve and get to that next level.  Who's smart.  In fact, in many cases we have spent more time with the kids over several years than a HS coach possibly could because of the short seasons they have. 

 

He is not the lazy one his motto if you are on time you are late.  Doesn't miss practice is a dedicated player.  But all is well I will enjoy this year just like last year.  It may be a blessing not being at V.  Not having to deal with the HC.  The JV coach is a great guy and is a very positive guy.  They kinda thought he would be at V last year and I already knew he wouldn't just know the situation, and he was in his first year.  All is good I have seen some good thoughts but there are a lot of people on this blog just really don't realize not all schools have a 1500 pool to grab from.  We have about 250 to grab from and some go to track and some to golf and some to soccer.  So there you have it.  He will have a good season and I am good.

How can a player be so oblivious to the game he's playing to not be aware of a pitching change? I don't care if the two pitchers are identical twins. A pitching change is an important part of the game for the next hitter to be aware. That ignorance and unawareness alone tells me a lot about the player.

 

Mommy didn't like he coach yelling at her son. Maybe she should give him his tippy cup and massage his back to make him feel better. 

 

I'm getting the picture here. It's another whine and geez party. To net it out if your son sees himself as a baseball player and a mature young adult he needs to approach the coach and discuss earning varsity playing time. Then he needs to work his tail off and get it done.

First off they had a team meeting at the mound.  Having a player come in from the bull pin then fine he should have known but when you have the whole infield at the mound ya really can't tell unless you are really paying attention.  Second at that point and time He was NOT playing for his High School Coach.  So a Coach YELLING at an opposing teams player is completely inappropriate.  So MOMMY yelling at him in my opinion was appropriate due to the situation.  When he seen who was yelling at him and the perceived situation he shut up pretty quick because everyone in the stand knew he was making an ass out of himself.  If it had been another player not on his team still inappropriate.  Coaches DONT yell at opposing teams PLAYERS duh

This is going nowhere....

 

Throwing warm-up pitches is usually a good tip-off.

Regardless of what happens, it's not mom's job to deal with it.  That's on his coach or the umpires.

JV stats mean nothing. I've seen players do well at the jV level and be overwhelmed at the varsity level. The coach is looking at his swing and bat while asking can he hit varsity pitching. The coach is asking himself about the kid's baseball awareness. Awareness matters in all situations. Not noticing a pitching change is zero awareness. Actually it's oblivious.

He started yelling before he started warm up pitches.  I was just a bad situation made worse since he played high school ball with him and not summer ball.  We could have handled it better but so could of he.  Its a two way street.  He was just really pissed because at that point he was getting beat.  Emotions got the best of him.  My son was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.  It was just perceived he was yelling at him by everyone because of who it was.  but that doesn't change the fact he should have been more aware as well

We may have a winner here.

You people weren't there I can guarantee that if an opposing coach were to even remotely do what he did to my son everyone of you would have done the same thing.  The whole situation was very tense from the get go and emotions were very high.  

 

You need to do some introspection.  Quit making excuses, and like others have said get to work on your son getting better.  I fully understand that your son plays at a small school, so honestly, with a little hard work, less excuses, and maybe a clearing of the air with the coach, and your son may be golden.  Doesn't sound like it would take too much improvement to be able to contribute. 

Say what you want, I have gotten some good thoughts and some completely worthless thoughts because I guess if as a senior you can't run a sub 7 60 and throw 85+ MPH as a pitcher you can't play in college.  He has a goal to be at 77-78 next year as a Senior at low 70's now.  Seeing the pitching coach he change his arm slot and has increased speed right away.  He is still working at it and going at it and will be a much better hitter this year.  Can he play in college yeah maybe it things happen will he who knows.  Will it determine where he goes not really.  Even if he could make a team at a small school he won't go there due to not having the right degrees available.  So for him education first ball second if the cross paths great

When my son was a sophomore the varsity coach humiliated him in front of the entire varsity and jv program on the bus before the game. When I found out what occurred I was fuming mad. I walked down the first base line to the right field corner. If I was going to mumble some kind of judgement of the coach I didn't want to be heard. That night my son told me he was humiliated in the moment. But he would get over it and forget about it. From having two kids go through the sports journey in multiple sports I learned not to be more upset than my kids. Kids are resilient. Part of growing up is letting them work through their problems.

Your story and mine are totally different.  He did that to one of HIS OWN players.  At the time mine son was not one his team at the time of the incident.  I don't have a problem with him being hard on my kid the all need a good swift kick in the butt.  If my son was on his team when he yelled at him I would have been ok with it.  I guess what I am trying to say is it wasn't his place at the time.  So that made the situation worse.  

I have a crazy idea as it relates to that incident.  Can we all just...

 

My son has been insulted by opposing coaches and parents. The player gets the last word if he produces on he field.

 

My son was 5'4" in 14u travel ball. The #8 hitter drove a ball over the screen behind the fence. My son came to bat. The coach yelled, "This little runt isn't going to hit the ball that far. Move in." the whole park heard him." My son was rounding third as the RF picked the ball up at the 394 sign.

 

in 13u my son was 5'2". i was talking to the dad of the scheduled pitcher from the other team. He was 5'8" and threw about 80. He was the dominant 13u pitcher in our USSSA region. The guy looks at my son and says, "While your son is playing for fun, my son is playing for a scholarship." The kid proceeded to stand our team on it's head to win the championship. But my son never forgot that insult.

 

A few years later in a scout league game the pitcher was 5'9". My son was 6'1". He drove a ball off this kid into the trees behind the right field fence. (I don't condone this behavior. But it was funny) Walking back to the dugout my son pointed at the dad and said, "Now THAT was fun!"

So why are you here?  Whats your point?

 

I wish I had learned to not be as upset as my son.  That would have helped me a great deal.  Good advice...

RJM: "I learned not to be more upset than my kids."

 

THIS ... is why it was good to keep the thread going. 

 

OUTSTANDING observation, RJM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!