My lefty son did not make the cut

Daddyboy,

just looking at posts after a busy day. really sorry to hear about your son not making the team. Is there anyway he can ask the coach what the things are he needs to work on to maybe be able to come out next year?One of my sons friends was cut and he came back and made it the next year. dont know your son or his strenths or weaknesses so dont have much to go on. good luck

It sounds like your son had a good tryout and I can understand yours and his disappointment but possibly the other guys were a lot better. Or maybe it was something else entirely.

If you don't know this already have your son ask to meet with the coach (not you but your son). At this meeting have your son ask what he needs to work on for next year. Have him say he really wants to be a part of the team and wants to work to improve the areas he needs to improve on. I think this will / should impress the coach.

That's great your son has worked hard and is willing to work hard but it still doesn't guarantee anything. It is a tremendous help but if that was the case there would be a lot more kids on the team.

It's great your son gets to go to Europe to play ball because that will be a memory for a lifetime. It could be a gread educational and cultural experience. Sometimes you need to be careful in some of these ventures. I have heard stories of these being moneymakers for the people who put them on.

Keep your son working and investigate fully anything like the Europe trip. Not saying he shouldn't do them but make sure they are the right ones to do.

Best of luck this summer and next year at tryouts.

quote:

Originally posted by daddyboy:
I thought his tryout went very well.... Overall, my family was very satisfied how well he played.

Did you and the family go watch tryouts?

"It's great your son gets to go to Europe to play ball because that will be a memory for a lifetime. It could be a gread educational and cultural experience. Sometimes you need to be careful in some of these ventures. I have heard stories of these being moneymakers for the people who put them on.

Keep your son working and investigate fully anything like the Europe trip. Not saying he shouldn't do them but make sure they are the right ones to do."

He got invited by his pitching trainer with a special person going to Europe too. Like I said, I do not want any problem and you know what I mean.

Daddyboy

quote:

Originally posted by daddyboy:
He got invited by his pitching trainer with a special person going to Europe too. Like I said, I do not want any problem and you know what I mean.

Daddyboy

That sounds like a reliable person to get you hooked up on a trip like this but I was just warning you in an overall sense.

Sorry I don't know what you mean.

quote:

Originally posted by Beezer:

quote:

Originally posted by daddyboy:
I thought his tryout went very well.... Overall, my family was very satisfied how well he played.

Did you and the family go watch tryouts?

It was three days tryout. It was too cold the first day. They practiced indoor football field for fielding. I did not go in. They hit the balls for the second days which I did not attend. We watched the scrimmaged games for the third days. He was one for three for hitting(a line drive, strike out and ground out). I saw some kids had 0 for four but made the team.

Daddyson

quote:

Originally posted by fanofgame:
Daddyboy,

just looking at posts after a busy day. really sorry to hear about your son not making the team. Is there anyway he can ask the coach what the things are he needs to work on to maybe be able to come out next year?One of my sons friends was cut and he came back and made it the next year. dont know your son or his strenths or weaknesses so dont have much to go on. good luck

I know that he will talk to his coach about his weaknesses soon. I know that he does not throw very fast as a lefty but he throws strikes most of the time. He had a no hitter game against a JV team in fall of 2006 (He was fourteen years old and was playing up with a JV selected team). He won the game by hitting a line drive to the right field and the runner scores. The score was 10-0 for the fifth inning.

Daddyson

quote:

Originally posted by coach2709:

quote:

Originally posted by daddyboy:
He got invited by his pitching trainer with a special person going to Europe too. Like I said, I do not want any problem and you know what I mean.

Daddyboy

That sounds like a reliable person to get you hooked up on a trip like this but I was just warning you in an overall sense.

Sorry I don't know what you mean.

I mean that I do not want providing more detail about his trip that may cause a problem later.

Daddyson

Daddyson-
Remember Michael Jordan's journey. He got cut too.
He was "Driven from Within" to make it as a basketball player, and we all know how his story ended up.
I know it is disappointing, but the important thing is to keep playing - go to Europe, learn, have fun, work hard now and throughout the summer and prepare for next year. Sometimes there are just too many really good players trying out in a given year and someone needs to get cut.
I would definately make the time for your son to have the one on one with the coach, to find out the areas he needs to work on. Any good coach will respect this and will remember it next year.
Good luck to your son.

iheartbb,

I appreciated your feedback. My son will have fun this summer!

Thanks,
Daddyson

Let this be a motivating factor for your kid. Work on throwing long toss and improving his speed and strength. Hard throwing lefty's are hard to come by.

By all means do not dwell on it and let this be motivation for him next year!

Good luck!

Two 2008 seniors from our high school team were cut from the JV team as freshman. 3 years later, both are captains of the varsity team and signed with colleges in the early signing period.

They worked hard, kept playing baseball, and are now role models for other players.

If you love baseball, keep going and you will find an opportunity to play.

Getting cut is an experience that I can relate to. as a freshman I got cut. Now we are talking many years ago. I know how it felt and I worked hard and played varsity the next 3 years. Played 4 years in college and coached high school for close to 30 years. At the time I was devastated but looking back it was what motivated me not only for baseball but in all things especially how I treated players and how i approached the job of as they say "cutting" kids. some say the failure is not getting knocked down but not getting back up.

Excellent post Will...what a great story!

Depending on whether you respect the coach, now would be the time to consider a transfer. My son was in your sons shoes early on, facing his senior year now and got a scholarship based on summer ball and camps, not high school ball. But had he known then what he knows now, he would have transfered, while it still made sense, because it is just a bad situation on many levels. No amount of hard work or accomplishment on his part means a hill of beans to this particular coach.

quote:

But had he known then what he knows now, he would have transfered, while it still made sense, because it is just a bad situation

Forgive my ignorance but people talk about transfering. Can you just transfer from one school to another? If you are in a certain public school district dont you have to reside in the district?

Transfering out has become the easy way of moving from a place you cannot succeed to another spot where you can try--- I call it a cop out

Not a personal story, but a dad who coached all 4 of my boys when they were younger had a son who didn't make the HS team as a freshman. The next year he made the varsity team and played Legion ball (back when all the select/travel/showcase teams weren't around) so that was a BIG turn around. He later pitched at a DI college.
I also know of several kids that have been cut as freshman and went on to play varsity ball. Of course I can also think of one ballplayer who made the JV team with one of my sons and who the next year was cut - I think that would hurt worse.

Tim Robertson

Sometimes cuts are just a numbers game--can only carry so many players

Trhit

so to transfer you literally sell your house and move to a new school district to play baseball?

quote:

Originally posted by Will:
Trhit

so to transfer you literally sell your house and move to a new school district to play baseball?

I've heard of people renting apartments to establish a new residence. I've also heard of athletes going to live with "relatives." Some states have tighter rules on this than others.

quote:

Wow! I feel helpless for my lefty son who did not make the cut for the JV team. He practiced baseball very hard during school hours and took the speeding training classes after school three nights a week for the past three months.

Where does your son fit in physically with the other kids? Sometimes kids get a lot better the following year just because they physically mature.

Will

Parents have even gotten divorced so as to move the boy and one parent to another district and then the parents reunited

It's common where we live for kids to transfer between the 4 high schools here for various reasons, without the parents moving even though they are all different districts and different sizes. It may not be possible in all areas. For sports however you can only play JV until a year has passed. Baseball would not have been the only reason, just one in the mix that would have tipped the scale. Most of the kids I know who have transfered are glad they did and a few come back, as if they never left.

Realize there are really really bad people coaching sports, it does exist. You can tranfer and succeed and it might be the best thing. Also realize that success for my son is winning, even if he sits, but losing and sitting is not acceptable to any of the ones who deserve a shot. Also he is the only one out of this group who will be playing in college on a scholarship, so it depends on who thinks you are good, and whether you believe it yourself. He has always thought he was the best, even sitting, which he felt was a crime to his team, because he had no chance to help them win..

One last thing, Every college coach I talked to says high school ball is relatively unimportant compared to summer ball and camps, so Daddyboy. tell your son not to give up, just keep getting better every way he can.

I appreciated everyone replied. My son told me that the son is improving but other kids are better than him. Before his freshman year, he took the private lessons from two high school coaches for a year before fall of 2006. My son does not move other school district. I contacted his selected coach that my son will be on his team if the high school does not invite him for the summer.

Thanks,

Daddyboy

Im very sorry for your family and son. I bet he will have a blast in Europe. Just wondering this, where do you live? We haven't even been talked to bout baseball here in VA.

quote:

Originally posted by lebanonbb:
Im very sorry for your family and son. I bet he will have a blast in Europe. Just wondering this, where do you live? We haven't even been talked to bout baseball here in VA.

We live in the south part of US. There are scheduled baseball games to be played this week.

Daddyson

quote:

Originally posted by TRhit:
Transfering out has become the easy way of moving from a place you cannot succeed to another spot where you can try--- I call it a cop out

quote:

Originally posted by TRhit:
Transfering out has become the easy way of moving from a place you cannot succeed to another spot where you can try--- I call it a cop out

I wonder if you meant literally "cannot succeed"? From my point of view, if a person finds themselves in a situation (could be baseball or work or flying to the moon) where it isn't possible to succeed, then he should change to a different situation or aspiration.

I'm acquainted with a baseball family in which the son is an avid baseball player of moderate talent, small size and young for his grade. He eats drinks, and sleeps baseball. He was admitted to his dream (private) athletically famous high school, but didn't make the freshman baseball team. He can't work any harder than he does now. So he transferred at the end of the school year to a different, but athletically weaker, private school (same conference) and I expect he'll make the JV team there.

Is it a cop out? I don't think so-- if he stayed at his original school, he simply could not have played HS baseball.

I see quite a bit of difference between trying to make a success of an awkward situation compared to failing in an impossible situation.

quote:

Originally posted by TRhit:
Transfering out has become the easy way of moving from a place you cannot succeed to another spot where you can try--- I call it a cop out

Yet some may view it as perserverance.

Take baseball out of the equation....let's say your daughter is passionate about music and she wants to go to a well known university and major in music. The problem is, her current school doesn't offer much in music. Her piano teacher tells her that there's a school for the gifted in your area. You apply for her to attend there next year but she's denied for whatever reason. Plan B would involve going to the neighboring public school which is known to have a pretty decent music program.

Do you tell her to give up her dreams and aspirations and stay at her current school OR do you see about getting her into the neighboring school so she can pursue her dreams?

I think not trying and pursuing every avenue is copping out. But maybe that's just my opinion. And I'm not necesarily condoning moving just for the sake of a sport either because I've seen it happen and actually backfire. I'm simply stating there's other views to be taken into perspective.

EDIT - Sorry 3finger....it took me a while to post because I was on the phone. Didn't mean to "copy" you there.

quote:

3 fingeredglove
I see quite a bit of difference between trying to make a success of an awkward situation compared to failing in an impossible situation.

Absolutely. There are legitimate reasons for transferring schools.

You both make good points, can't argue.


The example given of the player transfering from not making his dream school team to a smaller school where he will succeed does make some sense. Where I come from, not all are afforded that luxury of transfering without moving or falsifying new address.

A freshman not making the team should be motivated to work hard in training, possible lessons and concentrate on finding a good travel summer and fall team to improve. Missing 28 games of HS ball, IMO, is not going to make a difference if he has the ability and all the player needs to do is get bigger and better.
An older player having this dilemma has to make sure that a transfer is not done in vain, which we see happens so often. Often times the player most likely wouldn't make the team where he was headed to anyway, maybe for reasons that possibly he just wasn't meant to play HS ball? That may sound harsh, but it is usually the truth.

I just don't get all of this transfering stuff in HS. My son was a pretty good HS player, he sat two years (sohmore and junior years) on the bench when not pitching because they insisted he play varsity and not JV for "experience". He has more experience than the whole team put together. It wasn't because he couldn't hit or play a position, that's just what they did it at his school, juniors and seniors first. His cop out (no pun intended) could have been to go to a more competitive program where they would have had him on the field every game. In most of your opinions, you would say he barely played and would have been freaking out as parents. Instead he played for a competitve travel fall and summer teams. Senior year was the only time he got the opportunity to play every game. It certainly didn't hurt him.

One should never give up and always try their hardest to succeed. I just don't see people changing their lives because their son didn't make the HS baseball team, varsity or don't start. There are many other off season opportunities where one can go play ball. JMO.

TPM
I give both you and especially your son kudos for having been able to sit when he knew he should be playing. I understand that some coaches feel a pitcher should rest when not pitching but more often than not the pitchers are your best players.
Also the travel teams are better and do play a lot more games than the high school.
Unfortunately sometimes the summer teams are run by the high school coaches which is the case in our area. If you choose not to play with them they have been known to take it out on the kids next season.
Also to transfer in some states is fairly easy as long as there is room in the new school. I would never up end my family and move or rent an appartment just so my son could play baseball elsewhere. There are consequences such as mid-year transfer not being able to play at varsity level or end of year transfer you can not play at the varsity level for half the next season.
So it takes a lot of contemplating to transfer, such as friends, teachers, etc. I don't think it should ever be done in haste.

bb1,
yeah they wanted him to "rest" but he could have played first B,CF or hit. His coach was just one of those that beleived in waiting your turn. He didn't even start until he was a junior, as a sophmore it was in relief.
Looking back, could be a possibility why he remained healthy, not sure. Everyone really couldn't beleive that he spent so much time on the bench, but he hung in there. He didn't place too much importance on HS ball, other than a chance to practice for travel ball. Senior draft year they gave him as much opportunity as possible to get out there.
Here, you cannot play for your HS coach, but you can play for an unpaid employee who may be an assisitant to the coach. He often let son DH and get to first (sophmore summer and junior summer). But when he played the bigger summer tournies it was just as pitcher. Senior summer he only pitched. Our HS games are 25-28, summer travel teams up to 60+ games a summer depending on the team.

daddyboy, just wondering but how fast does your son throw? Also does he have any offspeed pitches?

quote:

Originally posted by ro1249:
daddyboy, just wondering but how fast does your son throw? Also does he have any offspeed pitches?

I do not know how fast he throws. I would say in the low 70. He has a lefty curve with his fastballs and can throw change up. He is one of the youngest kids in his sophomore classes (15 year olds and 4 months). He is 5' and 10" tall and weight about 155 lbs. I watched most of his baseball games. His era is very low. I would say less than 2.0. The hitters hit a lot pop fly balls and infield ground out balls from his pitches.

We hope that he will get stronger and taller next two years.

Daddyboy

Did he tryout last year as a Freshman?

Daddyboy, I was cut both my freshman and sophomore years. I made the team and started junior and senior years. I was the problem and had a terrible me first attitude. I was also "mean." Your son now has to do, as I did, and fix the problem. I don't know what that might entail. Perhaps it means getting stronger. Perhaps, it means more maturity. Again, I simply don't know. You son does in his, "heart of hearts." Be an aid and not a crutch. I loved/love baseball so much that I had to work on fixing me. After I finally accomplished that, everything else was easy.

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The stuff works wonders doesn't it Coach?




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