Questions

I'm rooting for your YB ... from what you say, it sounds very promising. I gotta ask ... HS baseball tryouts in late May?? What part of the country are you in?

Thanks jp appreciate it   And I'm from Mississippi

Baseball coaches are always looking for effective pitching. He was excited about your cutter because it could sometimes be even more effective than a slider or curve because to the batter it looks like another fastball until it cuts. A slider and curve are easier to pick up on out of the hand. To me, them taking longer to look at you is a good sign. Usually, coaches know within the first few pitches if they have much to work with or not. Now, I don't want to give you false hope, but it sounds like they may keep you on as potentially a "project". Meaning they will want to work with you carefully by allowing you to develop your pitches and accuracy before they throw you to the wolves, in games. I wish you the very best and keep us posted.

Thanks   Can you explain to me what's the difference in a two seam and a cutter?  Coaches said I had a lot of movement on both, but what are they supposed to do?  Never threw anything but a 4-seam/Changeup until today. 

A cutter "cuts" much like a slider, but not as gradual and it is thrown as a four seam. Therefore it looks like a normal fastball to the batter.

A two seam is just a fastball with movement on it. Depending on the pitcher's arm slot/delivery motion and/or grip, the ball will move in different directions. Variant's of the two seam are: sinkers (tend to be slower), running fastballs and tailing fastballs. 

Good luck Young_Baller. Rooting for you bro. 

Keep up the hard work. It shows a lot of character to want to get better and not be satisfied with where you are. 

from what you poste it sounds pretty positive to me too.  Good luck and keep up the hard work, it will pay off!

Thanks!  I mean, I don't know why they would watch me for a long time and show me different pitches and saying that I have a lot of movement if they wasn't interested.  Seems like they wouldn't want to waste time on a guy that they knew was going to get cut.  I don't know, just really hope I make it!  Will find out Friday

Note:  We lost our ace pitcher this year, and both are other good pitchers are senoirs this year.  Also, have overheard coach talking about lack of pitching on JV, so they need it. 

There was also one senior that was trying out who could pitch.  He needed some work mechanically, considereing he didn't even know how to throw out of the windup, but he threw strikes consistently.  You think the coaches would take a kid like him even though he only has one year left of high school?

Today's the big day! Find out in about 2 hours!

YB, I hope it is good news. But remember that even if it is not, keep working and playing until you decide to stop. If you have good movement on your pitches, that is a great asset.  If you can get to where you can locate them with reasonable velocity, you'll get chances to play!

I know I'm a little late but still....

I MADE THE TEAM!

Congrats and enjoy the moment.  Tomorrow at practice get back to work to keep getting better.

YoungBaller -- I've been anxiously awaiting an update. Checking often! Thank you for coming back.WAY TO GO!!!!! So happy for you Now go and prove to the coach that he made the right decision. I know you will.

Congratulations! Listening and then putting in the work paid off! Now keep working!

Mini update:

Pitched in first game of summer ball this year.  Everyone threw 1 inning. 

Gave up one hit, 2 walks, and 6 runs in my first time on the mound in 2 years.  Also our defense had 5 errors in the inning.  Definetly wasn't the best outing but felt way better afterwards knowing I'd gone ahead and gotten that first outing out of the way.  I also only threw 5 balls the entire inning, I just happened to bean the first two guys on the first two pitches!  Haha was a little nervous!  But after I threw the first strike, I was good from there!

Pitched 3 scoreless innings jv tonight.  Walked none, struck out 3, one reached on an error.  Coach said I'll make my first varsity appearence tomorrow night

Hey Hey. Way to go!!  Good luck. 

Sound Good keep us informed.

Relieved varsity tonight.  Pitched 2 innings, 1 strikeout, 0 walks, and gave up 2 hits.  No runs either. 

pitched 2 innings tonight jv.  3 strikeouts, 1 hit, 2 walks.  3 runs on 2 errors, 1 earned. 

Keep up the hard work. Sweat till you bleed. Watch out for those walks though. Sometimes you should just throw the FB down the middle instead of trying to hit the corners to prevent walks. Just my opinion. 

yea you're right.  Got 3 games monday, sure I'll see more then the traditional 2/3 innings that day.  Struggling to find an off-speed pitch.  Not getting much break on the curveball they're showing me. 

Pitched 1 inning Jv, 1 inning varsity last night

jv- 0 runs, 0 walks, 0 hits, 1 strikeout, 2 groundouts

Varsity- `2 runs, 0 walks, 1 hit, 2 errors, in the field, 0 strikouts, 3 groundouts

Question:  Were are you pitching JV and Varsity ball in the summer??

Mississippi. 

Pitched a complete game in jv tonight, with the exception of 1 out, had to pull the starter in the first.  Not going to say how many runs they scored off me, we had 11 errors in the field.  Only 4 real hits off of me the whole game.  Had 3 strikeouts, and 1 walk. 

I guess I don't understand, is this a summer Mississippi High School baseball league?

No, it's for the school team.  The school plays summer ball, and you play against other schools.  It's a lot like spring season, only a lot more relaxed I guess.  But you play the same schools you would play in the real season.  You're just playing them in the summer, on you're school team.  I hope that better clarifies it?  Do you guys not do that where you live?

No we don't.  When HS season is over its over.  Players either go to travel, babe ruth, or legion.

Young_Baller,

Thanks for clarifying.  In our area, we do not have high school summer teams.  When the school season ends the travel ball season starts for the summer and fall.  Some of the players that don't play travel ball play for the local Legion team.  100 miles away, some of the high schools had/have summer teams, but the better players play travel ball.

At 15U - 17U, many players want to get in front of college coaches, and being on a travel ball team and playing in showcases is the way to accomplish that.

Ah okay then.  We don't have a lot of travel teams where I live though.  So I love playing school summer ball because I still get to practice and play baseball.  However, these games are not just super competitive.  You don't get anything special if you win every game or anything.  These games are just for practicing, and learning, which is great for me considering I didn't play last year.  Gives me the oppourtunity to maybe practice and work on some stuff in game situations before spring season next year!