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Rough 1st Day of Tryouts?

kb2610kb2610100+ posts
Highschool tryouts began yesterday and my son came home last night quite upset. Hitting and fielding went fine, but it seems he pulled a "Rick Ankiel," while pitching for the coaches in the gym. Lost one high, next one bounced...so on and so on. He was simply mortified...VERY embarassing for him. Don't think it will adversely effect his chances with the team (he was slated to be on JV, anyway), but that didn't make it any easier for him to take.

Apparently, they had two pitching stations set up, side-by side. He was pitching right next to the varsity "stud" (4 year varsity starter, throwing BBs). My son simply isn't that type of pitcher (nowhere near that physically mature), but I think he was trying to be...and, started overthrowing. Lost his "feel," lost his confidence, and things got out of hand. He said he threw about 20 pitches in the outing...maybe three for strikes.

He desparately wanted to go to the cage last night to work it out...so, after dinner and homework, we went. First 30 pitches, he's all over the place (took several off my shins and I've got some sore spots today). Next 30 weren't much better. We took a 20-30 minute break, relaxed, got him a drink, let him talk with some baseball friends from other schools who were up there, too, and then he threw another 30. Drastic improvement in that last set! Started finding the range with his fastball (still, he wasn't terribly satisfied with it). The change-up looked great. The curve and, even, the slider he just started working on a couple of months ago really showed some bite AND, best of all, he was throwing them WHERE he wanted!

Probably not the best thing...to throw that many pitches in the evening between try-out sessions, but I didn't know what else to do for him except catch, let him work it out and try to be encouraging. We talked about pitching being a lot like shooting free-throws, you find your "stroke" and, then, throw it that way EVERY TIME. Don't try to "match" the next guy, pitch-for-pitch, try not to pay attention to him at all...stay w/in yourself and do your thing, your way.

Today's another day and he said his arm felt good this morning. I'm not sure if they will have him throw again today, and I'm not sure what I would prefer for him.
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B beachykeen10+ posts
Not to worry! A good coach will know what to look for in a pitcher, particularly a younger one. He'll look at arm slot, ease of delivery, mechanics, etc. If he was looking to make the team only as a pitcher, hopefully he'll get another chance today.

Sorry for the bad workout. However, I bet the next time he'll just throw easy until he finds his range and then let a few go! Good luck!
C crawdad100+ posts
Relax. I think you are more upset than your son. I promise you that those coaches had a real good idea what your son could do before he set foot on the field for the "tryout". In any typical high school tryout only a few kids are really "trying out". Those coaches have been watching those kids for years and they have a good idea on what they can do.

Just relax and don't put any pressure on your son. He will be fine.
CM Coach May1,000+ posts
crawdad you are so right. If a HS coach has no idea who the kids are and what they can do and the first time he has seen them is the HS tryouts, well that says all you need to know about that program. How many good potential players get cut from our program based on one or two days of tryouts that they bombed out on? None. I can watch them walk up to the field. See how they carry themselves, watch them throw and catch for five minutes and tell you who the players are. It usually comes down to a handfull of kids that are battling for one or two spots. We have seen them all fall and winter and we know what kind of work ethic and talent they have way before our try outs.
kb2610kb2610100+ posts
GaDad,

Your math is correct...which is why I said it probably wasn't the "best thing" and offered that I'm sort of hoping they don't have him throw much, if any, today.

When we talked last night at dinner, he said he had thrown a total of only 20 pitches during the try-out session. Inasmuch as he had been working out all winter (he's been throwing 60-70 pitches twice weekly), I felt he physically had plenty left at that point and a trip to the cage wouldn't hurt him. That said, I didn't expect it wouldn't take another 90 pitches for him to come around!!!

He was just so disconsolate about his try-out performance in front of his coaches, I couldn't bring myself to make him quit before he "solved" the problem sufficiently enough to feel good about himself again. No way I would have let him throw another 30, however,...which is what he wanted to do.
T Texan1,000+ posts
Those pitches may have been worse than game pitches. He was overthrowing. He was tense. In the midst of tryouts when there is already more throwing than many of the boys have been doing in a while, that was not a good thing to do.

And I hope Coach May is right, but the previous VHC at our HS never looked at kids until they showed up at tryouts. During his entire tenure, he never watched any games (literally) in the summer or fall. And there was only one round of cuts made - after the two day tryout. So some strange things happened with kids who happened to have bad tryouts.

This year's new VHC didn't watch any fall ball either. Part of the problem is they must also coach football. I suspect that after being here a year, the new VHC will try to watch some summer ball at least.

The kids who overthrow may attract some attention early on. Most coaches believe (often mistakenly, IMHO) "He can throw that hard, and I can teach control." But after a month of games and the overthower still isn't chucking over 50% strikes, then the coaches finally start to wake up. And some of the kids who threw at velocities within their capability start to get a chance to go on the bump.
Coach KnightCoach Knight500+ posts
kb2610-
As some have already said, if the coach knows anything at all, one bad pitching session won't stop a kid from making the team. Good coaches look at all the pieces, and also look to project those kids that will be great players down the road. Tell your son to come out and work twice as hard tomorrow and prove that the other day was a fluke! Good luck - Coach KNight

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