Recently, I have seen my freshmen coaches say that the varsity coaches have passed over good players because of their attitude. Do coaches actually do that or will they take the best players, even if they have a bad attitude?
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
I can't speak for all but it certainly was a factor for me. When a player comes out for the team, I evaluated the total package - all the physical skills and attitude. It really came down to a cost benefit analysis. Overall, does the kids pros outweight the cons. A poor attitude can be a serious con but if I felt I could manage it, improve it, or at least contain it from spreading to others, his physical skills may override the attitude.
I will admit that a very poor attitude is a serious hurdle to overcome though. I wouldn't (and haven't) hesitated to keep the less talented kid who had the better attitude. However, since they are kids, I usually gave the benefit of the doubt to the player but had a sit-down with the player to let him know very early and quickly that he will not be around for very long if I didn't see immediate changes to the attitude.
Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't.
BaseballByTheYard.com
Yes, coaches really do that. Any coach worth a darn will not reward a player with a bad attitude by bringing him up. We have given the nod to other players on many occasions based, at least in part, due to attitude.
That said, I haven't met too many HS teens without at least a bit of attitude from time to time. Usually, many things are weighed in the equation.
My son's high school coach sent a kid to JV who expected to be a starting pitcher. The kid showed up for tryouts out of shape. After waiting three weeks into the season to be called up he showed up in incredible shape his senior year.
If players didn't make the winter workouts they hurt their chances. My son attended 5:45am practices twice a week until he bagged basketball. He missed the afternoon practices due to hoops.
The only player I remember with a bad attitude was thrown off the team despite his mid 80's fastball.
If you are a decent player but have a bad (uncoachable) attitude, and set off bad team chemistry, it's not worth taking the chance in most cases.
One of the best kids in the state was voted off his team by his teammates in our area. Worst thing for a team is a bad apple including a coach who is the bad apple. Team chemistry is the number 1 factor in a successful team.
For me," attitude" is one piece in the puzzle of deciding who will be worthy of a spot on our roster. No one piece will determine the decision. However, no matter how talented, if the individual will not conform to what is asked of every member of your team he can not be kept.
