Playing both jv and varsity?

If it were my son I would prefer more playing time. After all once he graduates college coaches only care about how good one is. Some kids take longer to mature than others.

Just my .02

My kid will be running into the same problem. He easily would slide into the #3 role as a Freshman pitcher. However, this is a team returning 8 starters and the entire pitching staff after a last inning loss in the state tournament semis. They'll be one of two favorites to win the state title. With two very good pitchers, they fortunately aren't in a position where they need to rush my son to varsity. I'm mixed on the issue. He won't split time between JV and varsity. So, if he plays varsity, he'll get a little time on the mound, but almost no at bats or time in the field. However, he'll get the chance to be brought along slowly behind two very solid senior pitchers. One is the son of the local JC's head coach. So, we'll see. It's the coaches decision and not mine, thank goodness.

My son did that as a freshman last year.  By HS rules, he was only allowed to play in X games.  This was equal to the total number of varsity games, so if he played in a JV game, he had to sit for a varsity game. So the coach had to decide where he wanted him.  The advantage was that he ended up playing the maximum number of games allowed.  (Sitting on the bench did not count as a game.)  

It worked out well for him.

The only thing that might enter into the equation for my son is that Colorado is about to implement pitch counts. This would certainly affect the pitching staff early in the season where they play a three day tournament. Additionally, here, we very often have early season games snowed out in April and May and end up playing a backloaded schedule.

Sounds like the best of both worlds to me.  If sitting on the bench doesn't count, and he still gets plenty of PT, it sounds good to me.  Also, with being on both teams, he would likely practice a lot with the varsity which would get great too.

My other son, righthook, is in that position this year as well.  He will be a Jv starter with potential to be brought up to V, maybe to help on the mound in non-district games.  It's tough for our school to do that because they design their schedule as the V-home/JV-away scenario, so when they bring a kid up on the chance he might play on V they risk losing play time.  I watched as the V staff botched in the development of a freshman last year by placing him on V right away.  He ended up doing a little DHing and got a little field time but just didn't pan out.  He would have been much better served to help the team this year if they had left him on JV to play and get valuable game time experience.

Like most of the others, I like the idea of staying on JV and playing

I've seen this discussed before and if I recall correctly most people were of the opinion that the player does what the coach wants him to do.  With that in mind, how does your son tell the varsity coach that he wants to stay on JV?

If a player is bouncing back and forth between teams, it doesn't seem to be good for developing a good "team" relationship.

My son did this his freshman year of HS.  The way it worked for him was he was a starting pitcher on varsity and played position on JV.  We are from Georgia like Dadofa17 and the rule is you can only play as many games as the varsity team plays, which is 26.  It worked out fine because he only pitched on varsity and if JV had a game the next day, he just didn't play so he could rest his arm.  The way it worked out for him is he got the best of both worlds.  He got challenged on the mound and still got to work on his hitting and fielding on the JV team.  

Of course, we had no say so in how this was done.  This is the way the coach wanted it.  Being on varsity, even if he doesn't play, it will give him valuable experience into the mind of the coaches and the pace and intensity in which the varsity game is played.  There is a huge difference between varsity and JV and freshman games.  You will get the reps in JV and freshman, but the intensity of a varsity game is well beyond what you can even imagine compared to the JV and freshman atmospheres. 

Some states don't allow playing for both. In some states once on varsity there's no going back that season. My son played jv and varsity in two sports freshman year. He was the backup goalie in soccer and a back of the bullpen pitcher after a late season injury to another pitcher. In baseball he left the jv game after five innings and jogged to the varsity field. He never got in a game. In soccer, his first appearance was against the #1 team in the state in the playoffs after the starter had a bad first half.

My son made it to last cuts for varsity his freshman year. Got sent down to JV and started at catcher (not his natural position) every game. As a soph he made varsity and split time at 1B with the senior captain (who also pitched). 

Spoke to the Asst. Varsity Coach one day this past summer at a legion game (he is an ump for Legion) and he told me that they considered keeping 2016 on varsity, but his playing time would have been limited and they (the coaches) thought it best to let him play every day on JV. I think that was the right decision, & 100% their decision to make. 

Our school pulls a few younger players up when playoff time rolls around. They typically do not play both.  We have a roster of 18 players so staying down at JV would let them have more playing time.