Skip to main content

8 replies

Should a Freshman pitcher move up to Varsity?

D DG100+ posts
My son is a 14 year old 5'-8" LHP that weights about 115 pounds and plays at a Division 3 high school. He's not real big and is probably the youngest freshman on the team. He throws 68-71 with the fastball, 56 on the change up and has a very nasty Knuckle curveball. He usually locates his pitches on the corners very well. He averages two strikeouts per inning on the freshman team.

He was recently asked to do some relief pitching for the varsity team at a local tournament. He had two good innings in one game having over 70% of his strikes on the outside corner striking out two batters and and getting four pop up outs. In another game against a Division 1 school, he never made it out of one inning. He gave up a couple of hard hits after the defense let two men on on errors. In that game, he left over 70% of his strikes over the middle of the plate, but he still got two strike outs.

I am aware that the varsity team is in need of at least one more pitcher and they may ask me if I would let my son move up for the rest of the season. His pitching instructor said he would be better off staying down and getting lots of innings to work on his game and build his confidence. My son tends to get down on him self very quickly if things don't go well, but he wants to go to varsity if asked to do so by the coach.

I don't want to upset the varsity coach, let alone my son, by telling the coach no. I am a little concerned that my son might get black balled for not being fully committed to the program. I am also concerned about how this will affect his eligibilty next year. Will he be forced to play Varsity the rest of his high school years? My sons instructor says he appears to have the tallent to go a long way in baseball if he continues to progress and grow. This is probably premature to ask, but will this matter to a scout when he is a junior or senior?

I appreciate any advice you can give me so that if the varsity coach calls, I will be more informed on how this could affect my son.
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

FungoFungoHighly Regarded and Beloved Old Timer
DG,
I think I would give my blessing to the move up to varsity...but I would have a talk with my son before it happens. Explain to him that no matter what happens... good thing can come from this. If he’s able to compete at the higher level it will boost his confidence and should fuel his desire to excel. If he struggles, it should put into perspective the necessity to get better. The only thing I might caution you about ... The expectations. Let him be aware of the uphill battle he will face and although you have confidence in his ability, that he is accepting a huge challenge and his expectations should be realistic. JUST being invited is quite an honor!
quote:
Will he be forced to play Varsity the rest of his high school years?

That should be viewed as a goal, not a punishment.
quote:
This is probably premature to ask, but will this matter to a scout when he is a junior or senior?

NO!!

Take a deep breath and relax Smile...Enjoy the experience of your son playing a game he obviously loves to play.

Fungo
C CoachRobert100+ posts
The speed of the game and the size and strength of the varsity players is a huge difference from fresh or jv, but you've probably observed that.

If he were hit by a pitch or line drive off the bat of one of the 210 lb "kids" he would be toast.

I'm surprised the coach isn't concerned about the safety factor. My son's school quit moving freshmen up for that reason.

As a parent, I would be concerned about the maturity issue as well. A kid who may not have hit puberty yet hanging out with seniors who most likely drink, smoke and are sexually active is disconcerting.

But on the other hand, there are thousands of kids who didn't make their freshman teams who would gladly change places with you! Congrats to your son and good luck with your season!
G GaDad100+ posts
I agree with PIAA based on the same comment.

My observation is that in most cases Freshman playing on the varsity has not worked out that well in the long run for the player. I am sure there are exceptions that can handle it both physically and mentally and have the maturity to not let the promotion go to their heads.

Just curious. Why do you think the Coach will come to you about it? Around here, the Coach tells the player which team(s) that the player is on and that's pretty much it.
D DG100+ posts
Thanks for the input. The high school baseball experience has definitely been more than I had expected. I am still not sure how I want to handle it. I am definitely concerned about the safety issues and I hadn't even considered the social aspects.

In regards to how I might be approached on it. The last time the varsity coach asked the freshman coach to give him a call about my son playing on a weekend tournament. I called him and we discussed the pros and cons and went along with it. Its my understanding the high school is very reluctant to move players up and always give the parents the the option to say no in the interest of their son.
S SoutherNo1100+ posts
DG, I have son who is a freshman, and is on varsity. He transferred to his current school, a 4A(large school) in NC from a very small private school. He, and I really thought that he would be on the jv team, but so far it hasn't worked out that way. In 5 games he has pitched 10 innings, and gotten 3 at bats. Not really what he had counted on. That's the negative. The positives are many. He is playing for the first time in his life, for a coach who is not a DAD. This coach is very knowledgable, and my son loves him. He is learning more baseball than he ever thought was out there. He is learning that sometimes you don't always get what you want. He is definitely learning the importance of PITCHING, and not just throwing, and he seems to be having a great time.
O ORmom100+ posts
DG,
We were in the same position last year. We really didn't want him to move up-me because of the "social" issues of being a 14 year old with 17-18 year olds, my husband because of playing time. In the end, we weren't asked, coach talked to our son who jumped at the chance. Our school is not small-around 2200 kids and kids don't get moved up often. In the end, it turned out great. In talking to Coach now, he says he wouldn't have moved him up if he didn't think he could handle it (he's alot more mature on the field than off it seems!) I think if we had gone to him with our concerns, he would have talked to us but we were a bit overwhelmed as you are with everything and not wanting to do anything to mess things up for our son. Like I said, he had a great season and it gave him the confidence to come out this year and feel like he could compete against anyone. I wouldn't change a thing now. I know everyone's situation is different but if your coach thinks he can handle it and if he'll get playing time (not just move up and sit!) I'd trust him-he wants to win and I doubt he'd move your son up if he didn't think he was ready.
Mr. BaseballMr. Baseball10+ posts
A Freshman playing Varsity is an honor and should be viewed as one...the better players they play aganist the better the player get..your job here will be, keeping his confidence high, he will be going from the best in his age group to one that struggles from time to time aganist the older players, success will be vauled, instead of the norm... time to cut the strings and time for your young player to be a man...Congrats to you and your son.
quote:
Originally posted by DG:
My son is a 14 year old 5'-8" LHP that weights about 115 pounds and plays at a Division 3 high school. He's not real big and is probably the youngest freshman on the team. He throws 68-71 with the fastball, 56 on the change up and has a very nasty Knuckle curveball. He usually locates his pitches on the corners very well. He averages two strikeouts per inning on the freshman team.

He was recently asked to do some relief pitching for the varsity team at a local tournament. He had two good innings in one game having over 70% of his strikes on the outside corner striking out two batters and and getting four pop up outs. In another game against a Division 1 school, he never made it out of one inning. He gave up a couple of hard hits after the defense let two men on on errors. In that game, he left over 70% of his strikes over the middle of the plate, but he still got two strike outs.

I am aware that the varsity team is in need of at least one more pitcher and they may ask me if I would let my son move up for the rest of the season. His pitching instructor said he would be better off staying down and getting lots of innings to work on his game and build his confidence. My son tends to get down on him self very quickly if things don't go well, but he wants to go to varsity if asked to do so by the coach.

I don't want to upset the varsity coach, let alone my son, by telling the coach no. I am a little concerned that my son might get black balled for not being fully committed to the program. I am also concerned about how this will affect his eligibilty next year. Will he be forced to play Varsity the rest of his high school years? My sons instructor says he appears to have the tallent to go a long way in baseball if he continues to progress and grow. This is probably premature to ask, but will this matter to a scout when he is a junior or senior?

I appreciate any advice you can give me so that if the varsity coach calls, I will be more informed on how this could affect my son.

Add Reply

Post

Membership Required

We're sorry. You must be signed in to continue. Sign In or Register
×
Are you sure you want to remove from your Block List?
×
Loading...
×
When you block a person, they can no longer invite you to a private message or post to your profile wall. Replies and comments they make will be collapsed/hidden by default. Finally, you'll never receive email notifications about content they create or likes they designate for your content.
Note: if you proceed, you will no longer be following .
×
Advanced Search
Advanced Search
Link copied to your clipboard.
×