jv vs varsity

Good luck. I've often wondered it it is better to play in JV vs. sit in Varsity...

IMO, make the best of it. The coaches shouldn't be approached. Not by your son.  And of course and especially, not by you.

 

 

I think there are benefits to both, but I wouldn't ask to go back down.  Coach asked you to move up, I would roll with it and see where it goes.

I can never understand why they pull up underclassmen unless they will start or make a significant contribution.  seems to me you would want them to play and develop.  

It's best for you to let the Coach do what he wants to do for his team. I went to Nansemond River from 99-03. My sophmore year I was called up to Varsity becaue the starting catcher had arm problems.  I started 10 games out of 22 game season. I asked the Coach if I could go down and play.  He let me with no issue, but it was the bad idea.  The game is so much slower.  My timing was off for a few weeks after that.  I would have your son appoarch the Head Coach, not you! May have him express himself..,stating he would like to get more playing time. If he gets in at the Varsity level he will learn a lot it's a patience thing dude. Give it time see how first few weeks pan out then go from their.  You never know how the Coach will react to you doing it. Let your son do it. It will build a lot of character and the Head Coach will respect that a lot more.

thanks for your post. Yes, I agree it is for my son to approach the coach with his concerns not me. thanks again

 

 

Fred,

 

I offer this story because its very much like yours, and happened only last year on our team. Hopefully it will give you food for thought.

 

A bit of background. Our school only has JV and V and is in the largest school division in Ca.. Our V has the area’s #1 catcher, he’s a Jr., and his back, another Jr. could easily start on at least half the teams in the state.

 

A Soph who had been the #1 catcher on the JV the year before was moved up to the V prior to the season starting. Being a very good hitter, he was assigned the job of DH’ing and playing in the OF when a regular OFr was pitching, and was  batting in either the 6,7, or 8 spot.

 

In the 1^st few games he hadn’t gotten a hit, but he had hit the ball hard and had a couple RBIs and moved up a few runners. But he wanted to catch, so he and his dad requested to be put back down on the JV.

 

Our HC is one of the most even tempered guys you’ll ever run across, and he always tries to accommodate players when possible, but this one really bothered him privately. He didn’t mind that the boy wanted to play more, but he’d set up his team planning in that kid filling that spot for the season because he was a proven hitting commodity. He granted the request, and the team immediately started having problems with that part of the lineup.

 

Eventually he brought up another player to fill that role and luckily struck gold, which ended up being good for everyone involved. But later in the season when that boy was really doing well and wanted to come back to the V, there was no chance what-so-ever. He didn’t even get called up at the end of the season for the playoffs. During the summer, he played with the big boys and did well. He played FB so he wasn’t on the fall team, but its my understanding he’s on the V again.

 

Here’s what I can tell you for sure. I was surprised he wasn’t just dropped from the program last year because he basically quit on the team for personal reasons, and I assure you I wasn’t the only one surprised. If the HC was a different kind of coach, he may well have been dropped, or perhaps nothing at all would have been said, but there’s no way to know how your HC is going to react because you don’t know what his plans are.

 

Now here’s my advice. The season’s very early and you prolly don’t have a real good read on anything yet, so I advise you to be patient. If your state is anything like ours, until the boy plays a league game, he can move up and down, and that may well be what the coach is planning to do. I say to give it a couple weeks, then if you really feel the need, follow whatever guidelines are in place for parents to communicate with the HC.

 

But maybe more important than anything is, keep you mouth shut around other coaches, parents, and players! Remember, your boy has been promoted, and there’s likely at least a dozen players on the JV who would trade places in a heartbeat, and prolly at least a few on the V who are a bit angry that a Soph is taking time their kid could get. In either case, its more than possible you’d be seen as a PITA parent who doesn’t care about the team, and your boy could be seen as selfish. If either one of those happens, it will be very difficult to erase that impression. Remember, you only get one chance to make a first impression.

 

Good luck.

My son was the starting varsity SS as a soph last season.  He's a capable pitcher, but we don't have another kid to play SS so he doesn't pitch on the varsity.  Knowing he would pitch in the summer, he asked if he could pitch a few innings on JV here and there on days the varsity was off.  Coach didn't have a problem with it...and actually thought it was a good idea as he helped out the JV kids from the dugout during the games also.  Don't see a problem with it...especially if he won't see any pitching time on varsity.

Where we live that would be against the rules. Once  a kid has at at-bat in a Varsity league game, he's a Varsity player.

 

My kid is a freshman this year, and has been told that he'll be playing Varsity for the non-league part of the season, then probably go down to JV for most of league, then come up for the end of league and post-season.

 

It sounds like a decent solution to the JV-V question, but what it sounds like doesn't matter. My kid is smart enough to do his best wherever they put him, and I'm smart enough to sit back and enjoy the games cause I know that I have no input in this kind of decision. 

Sounds like the coach has a pretty good idea how he's going to play your son in the future and moving to Varsity is part of the preparation. Don't know of any of the larger schools around here that use player as both a pitcher & catcher. Sounds like they've settled on catching & possibly bullpens and some varsity game experience may be better preparation for him than pitching & catching at a lower level. My son's living a similar experience now. Has always hit well & been a good position player but will have very limited at bats & time in the field this year. Rather than play Freshman ball coach has him on JV. Will get some time in field to cover but he's pegged as a pitcher. In future years he likely will get no time in the field & no at bats. It doesn't seem to bother him & he seems happy with the situation. I do know for sure if he felt strongly about being a two way player it is a big no no for a parent to approach the coach at our school. Any issues about where are how much they play is between the kid & the coach.

Definitely concur with most above... Don't say anything to coaches. Let them run their program and demonstrate his willingness to do whatever is asked.  Will pay off for him.

 

FWIW, I do agree with what your thinking entirely. In a vacuum, you'd rather have him playing a primary role on jv than a supporting role on varsity... Especially at a 4A where jv competition is likely strong. My son is at a smaller school, last year he was a swing guy... Would play up on varsity at times but still got some ABs and IPs in jv games. Your son could ask coaches if thats workable, but would mostly recommend just rolling with it... even if less overall PT, it'll be great experience for what's coming, nice status boost, and a solid honor that he's earned. That letter is pretty darn cool too!

I'm confused.  You start out saying you can't go from varsity to JV.....then say your son is going to do exactly that?

Buckeye, there is a distinction is between league and non-league games.  The season starts with games against other teams, some nearby but in other divisions, some an hour or two away, then moves to games played only within an 8-team league. Once those league games start, players can be pulled up but not sent down.

The goal is to get to varsity and play. Being on varsity is halfway there. Your son will get plenty of playing time in summer ball. If a kid is on the varsity bench he could end up in a varsity game getting the one shot that gets him on the field more. He can't get a varsity opportunity from the jv field. 

 

Having the kid talk to the coach about moving down to jv is a bad idea. The dad talking to the coach about moving down is a worse idea.

 In Ohio, you can go back and forth game to game so much easier. not unusual to bring up to V or send  down to JV for a specific game or time

When and where I went to high school, we had no JV and had a veery good crop of upperclassmen, so about seven of us rarely got to play until we were juniors. I have to admit, it sucked.

RJM spot on again!  One of my boys went through it as a Sophomore - all the way to state semi-final.  Pretty cool / worthwhile experience for him.  Tell him to hang in there, he will be better for it + probably starting every game after this year.

Hoping that my sophomore son will play JV again this year to avoid this dilemma.  Varsity coach carried 24 last year with 12 players getting 30 innings or less. 

Sounds like your son has made a lot of progress in one year based on your first post in June 2013 

 

How do you handle the Politics at a large high school when the best player does not always get a chance to play. When you know your son has the same ability as the other boys, because he proves it on the weekends playing travel ball, but does not get the chance.  His dream is to play college baseball.  Any suggestions on how to get him noticed by colleges?

 

Now your son is being called up to Varsity as a sophomore at a large school (in Texas?).  I'm sure your JV squad could compete with our small town Varsity squad just based on the amount of kids and talent your school can draw from.   I can only imagine how good you have to be to get called up as a sophomore. 

 

Enjoy the ride.  Looks like your son has a bright future.  

 

 

 

My son was call up his freshman year. Started the next 3 games but struggled at the plate. Coach sat him. I thought it would be best for him to go back down to JV and get more reps at the plate than sitting on V. After 2 games he started the rest of the year but was DH for a lot. He did get enough at bats to get more confident hitting V pitching. Came back as a sophomore started all year and performed well at the plate. I don't think he would have hit as well if he went back to JV.

 

Let it play out, I doubt the coach would call him up if he did not have a plan for you son.

I generally agree with this but you also need to have an understanding of your coach's history with playing time.

 

In the three years I have paid attention to son's coach he plays 11-12 guys almost exclusively.  You are either in that group or you won't play much if any at all (barring someone getting hurt, ineligible, etc.) so being a freshman or sophomore on this roster means you are either starting or watching.  Not one or the other.

 

My son faced this last year as a freshman.  Pitched a few varsity games at the start but after first district series asked coach to move to JV as he wasn't going to play.  Came back up for the playoffs but I think it was key to his development to get all those reps on JV.

Freshman don't make varsity where my son played. There's only been one. My son was the first opening day soph in six years. Since him the coach has been more open minded about starting the season with a soph in the lineup. But if a player gets called up it's because he's destroying jv opposition. The coach didn't see the need to send them back to jv after being called up. Just practicing with varsity is a whole other level of ball.

Originally Posted by BackstopDad32:

…In the three years I have paid attention to son's coach he plays 11-12 guys almost exclusively.  You are either in that group or you won't play much if any at all (barring someone getting hurt, ineligible, etc.) so being a freshman or sophomore on this roster means you are either starting or watching.  Not one or the other….

 

That’s exactly why I still track defensive playing time by the number of batters played in the field for. That way when some parent or player complains he isn’t getting PT, I can either prove he’s right and hopefully explain why its happening, or can prove things aren’t as bad as they think.

Are you an assistant coach? Why would you be discussing playing time with parents?

I think it's a left coast thing.  At some schools the Head Scorekeeper outranks the assistant coaches.  In rare cases, the snackbar coordinator is actually in charge of the program.

Originally Posted by JCG:

I think it's a left coast thing.  At some schools the Head Scorekeeper outranks the assistant coaches.  In rare cases, the snackbar coordinator is actually in charge of the program.

 

Ha Ha. Very funny. Actually, I don’t think many people understand that there are a lot of parents out in the bleachers who are very vociferous, and some seek me out because they want to better understand the stats they see, or just want to complain. To just sit there like a lump while someone verbally attacks the program or the coach is foolish.

Hey no worries Stats... rest assured that most people understand your situation quite accurately. 

Originally Posted by Soylent Green:

Hey no worries Stats... rest assured that most people understand your situation quite accurately. 

 

I’m sure they do, as do the HC and AD who ask me to continue doing what I do every year, and publically thank me when the season’s over.

I can understand why your kid wants to go back down because kids like to play every day. However coaches always have a plan.

In this situation the coach needs someone to plug in every once in awhile. Your kid saying I want to stay down and play every day could signal to the coach that your kid is only worried about himself and not worried about the greater good of the team. A "Team First" attitude is what I look for in kids.

Oh absolutely Stats.  No doubt the coaches and school officials are thrilled and grateful to have you discussing PT and lack thereof with parents and players. wait for it >>> 

Originally Posted by Soylent Green:

Oh absolutely Stats.  No doubt the coaches and school officials are thrilled and grateful to have you discussing PT and lack thereof with parents and players. wait for it >>> 

 

If it makes you feel good about yourself to denigrate and make fun of me, its ok.

Come now, Stats... Let's not start blubbering at this late date. You get what you give friend.  

 

Obviously NO coaching staff wants ANYone discussing or highlighting PT with parents or players. So either A) you don't actually do this, and for some reason claimed above that you did... or B) you should probably refrain from doing this in the future.

The only thing I see from Soylent Green is "You've blocked this member.  Click view to post" 

It's an honor to have made your blocked list, Francis.  I would reciprocate, but don't want to miss out on the latest full body armour for hitters or instructions on how to radar pitchers during preseason scrimmages...

BAck to the orginal post:  Don't ask the coach to go anywhere. If he sends you down, play your best... if he keeps you up, do your best. He might be 5 moves ahead (think Bobby Fisher) or he might be dumb as a box of rocks (like me) but either way, he is the guy deciding which bus or field the kids go to that day... any conversation with him about it could quickly go south.

Originally Posted by Soylent Green:

Obviously NO coaching staff wants ANYone discussing or highlighting PT with parents or players. So either A) you don't actually do this, and for some reason claimed above that you did... or B) you should probably refrain from doing this in the future.

 

Evidently it isn’t so obvious to our HC because I’ve been doing it since 2007. As I said earlier, believe whatever you like to make yourself feel good, but you might just want to consider that you might be wrong about painting things with so broad a brush.

Stats... I suppose anything is possible.

Take it offline gents. Please.

Yes, I am very proud of my son.  Last year at this time we (I) was wondering if he would make the team. He ended up making the B team. This year he makes JV with no question and get moved to varsity.  Summer ball and Show Case ball this fall and lots of hard work and dedication paid off for him. Very Proud. ( it is not Texas)