Ready for the 2016 season!
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My 2017 son's HS team is opening their season at Lake Point in one of the PG Louisville Slugger HS tournaments. It's only a 2 day trip (4 games) for them, but my son is chomping at the bit to get down there. He's played at Lake Point with his travel team, so he knows what to expect and already knows that he loves the place.
Thank you again MomLW!
Getting ready for some cold early games, hopefully warming up as the season unfolds. We are in the south and some days feel really cold - then I think about teams to the North and wonder how they manage. Have heard several times that the first field time is the first game - all practice up until that point is indoors.
2017 will be doing more heavy pitching this season and am trying to find a reasonable compromise on a dugout jacket. He doesn't feel any great need to keep his arm warm and thinks wearing half of a jacket on the pitching arm "looks stupid". I've refrained from calling him stupid so far, but hoping he comes around pretty soon.
Just put up a new outfield wall during the fall - made of interlocking plastic sections. I think it was originally used for marine applications. Somewhat of an extensive DIY job for the parents, although several work for architects or commercial contractors.
2017LHPscrewball,
The jacket issue is pretty simple if you remember one thing. You’re the parent! If you believe he should be keeping his arm warm between innings, don’t give him a choice about it other than to say he either keeps the arm warm between innings or he’s not allowed to pitch. I suspect he’ll quickly make a choice. 
Can you post a picture of the new wall and maybe the name of the product. It sounds like something many others would like to look into.
Stats - do you have a kid in high school? If I tell him that, he'll agree up front, but may not actually follow through. I sort of want him to want to do it. Now if I could convince the coach that it's essential, than maybe I've got a shot. Then again, there is good cover in the dugout and I'm probably making too big a deal about it.
Below is the wall under construction. I think they are 10 feet long with 2 feet in trench. Backfilled with concrete and topped with a yellow cap. A little more expensive upfront but is supposed to be maintenance free for years. Had chain link before when first built. Nobody ever got hurt to my knowledge but probably could have easily broken something if you happened to hit one of the posts. This one looks a whole lot safer also.
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Just wondering, did they keep the wall the same distance as the fence was ?
The original fence was "too far" in the coach's opinion. With the additional height of the new fence, it was brought in somewhere between 10-15 feet. Not sure if recommended, but instead of having a gradual curve throughout, they built it in straight sections with several turns. Certainly made digging the trench easier. It was installed towards the front of the existing warning track and you can see where they started to cut out sod for the new track placement.
2017LHPscrewball posted:
Stats - do you have a kid in high school? If I tell him that, he'll agree up front, but may not actually follow through. I sort of want him to want to do it. Now if I could convince the coach that it's essential, than maybe I've got a shot. Then again, there is good cover in the dugout and I'm probably making too big a deal about it.
My kid is well out of HS, but I went through exactly what you’re going through. I was lucky because I had access to a very well-known retired ML pitching coach who took the time to explain to my boy why he thought it was important to wear a jacket between innings. 20 years as a professional pitcher, 6 years as a scout, and 12 years as a ML pitching coach has a lot more cred than a dad.
Below is the wall under construction. I think they are 10 feet long with 2 feet in trench. Backfilled with concrete and topped with a yellow cap. A little more expensive upfront but is supposed to be maintenance free for years. Had chain link before when first built. Nobody ever got hurt to my knowledge but probably could have easily broken something if you happened to hit one of the posts. This one looks a whole lot safer also.
That is one beautiful fence! In all the HS baseball I’ve watched, I’ve never seen a HS field with anything other than chain link for a permanent fence other than one time in Las Vegas. Not that it matters, but what are the old and new dimensions to L,LC,C,RC, and R fields?
I’m officially jealous. Hope y’all enjoy it! 
I'd have to go ask to be certain, but thinking it was around 320 down the line and maybe 385+ center with a 6 ft fence. Probably 370 dead center now with 8 ft fence, but again the fence has some straight sections with turns. I'm guessing 310 down the lines, but don't quote me on any of these. In the picture above you can see the back edge of the warning track behind the wall on the far right hand side - you can also see where they have started cutting for the new warning track on the far right hand side - this at least shows you how far they moved it in. I'm hoping this thing holds up for 10+ years. If anyone knocks it down this season there will be lots of embarrassed dads in the stands.
Nice job, parents!!
USA Baseball just announced the field for its NHSI: www.usabaseball.com/article.js...content_id=161265324
Should be a great event. Of the three California teams in the event, Huntington Beach is the standout. Some of you may remember the Little League team that won the Little League World Series 5 years ago -- the stars of that team are some of the stars of the Huntington Beach high school team now. Baseball America preview of the event: www.baseballamerica.com/draft/...rticipate-2016-nhsi/
Some great games in SoCal this weekend: www.latimes.com/sports/highschool/varsity-times/la-sp-vi-baseball-jserra-winter-tournament-offers-early-glimpse-of-top-teams-20160113-story.html
2017LHPscrewball posted:Getting ready for some cold early games, hopefully warming up as the season unfolds. We are in the south and some days feel really cold - then I think about teams to the North and wonder how they manage. Have heard several times that the first field time is the first game - all practice up until that point is indoors.
2017 will be doing more heavy pitching this season and am trying to find a reasonable compromise on a dugout jacket. He doesn't feel any great need to keep his arm warm and thinks wearing half of a jacket on the pitching arm "looks stupid". I've refrained from calling him stupid so far, but hoping he comes around pretty soon.
Just put up a new outfield wall during the fall - made of interlocking plastic sections. I think it was originally used for marine applications. Somewhat of an extensive DIY job for the parents, although several work for architects or commercial contractors.
I was looking for something like a jacket too but my son saw these and thought they would be cool. The website is under construction right now but you can message the company through their facebook page and you can order from them there. Any opinions on this helping to keep his arm warm during the cold north spring season?
https://www.facebook.com/FlowWraps/
Try-outs start in Georgia on Monday! Of course, it'll be the coldest day here in sometime as it's been fairly warm lately.
Glad to see Walton & Allatoona heading up to Cary. We know some really hard working kids who go to both schools. Should be a great experience for them.
Good luck to all this spring! Hope everyone does well, and stays healthy for the summer!
Baseball starts Monday in these parts, but my son won't be done with hoops until next Saturday. 3 more games to get through without injury. Or so I thought. Yesterday he rolled his ankle in practice when he came down from a layup on top of a defender. It's still very swollen 24 hours later and he's barely able to hobble. The athletic trainer says no break but it's looser than it should be. We see the doc on Monday. Hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst. Well, no. I'm not prepared for that. But 2-4 weeks rehab looks pretty likely.
JCG posted:Baseball starts Monday in these parts, but my son won't be done with hoops until next Saturday. 3 more games to get through without injury. Or so I thought. Yesterday he rolled his ankle in practice when he came down from a layup on top of a defender. It's still very swollen 24 hours later and he's barely able to hobble. The athletic trainer says no break but it's looser than it should be. We see the doc on Monday. Hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst. Well, no. I'm not prepared for that. But 2-4 weeks rehab looks pretty likely.
JCG - see if you can find an athletic rehab place in your area that uses the ARP Wave. My boys & I have used it to accelerate the recovery process and regain strength without having to put a full load on the ankle. Most of the Chicago Bears & Bulls actively use this device.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...amp;feature=youtu.be
http://arpwave.com/index_athletes.html
http://www.orthonowcare.com/on...ecovery-performance/
Could reduce the recovery time by half. Good luck.
Edited a typo...fyi
Thanks, Gov, I'll check it out.
Really sorry to hear this. Trying to get my guy thru three more weeks of soccer. Hope your boy's recovery is faster than expected.
Pulling this one back up. Beginning of season rained out yesterday with rain threatening again today. Lots of games starting to stack up without that many pitchers - should get interesting. 2017 says his bat is coming around and still has dreams of avoiding PO in college, but will really need to start bashing the ball.
Not looking forward to washing the uniform again especially with the wet fields.
We've still got until the 29th before practices begin, which is a waste. It's been mid-70's the last few days here. Beautiful baseball weather. In fact, I found it somewhat amusing that I was sitting in a hot tub all weekend in the Rocky Mountains where it was 71 degrees at 10,000 feet while it was snowing in some parts of Georgia.
roothog66 posted:We've still got until the 29th before practices begin, which is a waste. It's been mid-70's the last few days here. Beautiful baseball weather. In fact, I found it somewhat amusing that I was sitting in a hot tub all weekend in the Rocky Mountains where it was 71 degrees at 10,000 feet while it was snowing in some parts of Georgia.
Similar situation here Root. Beautiful weather with a little bit of rain, but lots of sun and unseasonably warm temps in the 60s. I just know that when practices and games finally roll around (practices start 2/29 and first games are 3/15) it will be raining cats and dogs with highs in the 40s. Sigh.
Gorgeous day here. 2017 is at his first practice right now. His rehab is coming along. He will be able to hit and throw today, with fielding and running coming by the end of the week. He hopes to be in the lineup for the first real game, which comes in 12 days. I told him just work very hard and make sure you're not Wally Pipped. He said you bet, then 5 minutes later came the question, "Who's Wally Pipp?"
Tryouts today here in NC. High 50s, two days ago low 20s and snowing go figure. First game Saturday. Sure we'll pay for the high 50s no doubt.
Good luck y'all.
Kid's Senior season started last week...
On Tuesday, this happened...
Luckily, our boy Brendan (who's in Arizona at Spring Training) had his LS 515 Omaha bat from last year (34/31) at his Mom & Dad's house and kid was able to stop by and pick it up for last night... Got 2 Doubles with it!
Here are highlights from the last two weeks:
Baseball America preseason rankings: www.baseballamerica.com/draft/high-school-top-50-2/
Some parts of the state have already started, but in this area first game is Saturday. Weather forecast couldn't be better: sunny and a high of 81. Will be 2019Son's first official high school game (JV) -- and I think I'm going to miss it, as my 9 year old has a little league game!
We don't start practice until next Monday and don't play until March 17. Funny thing is that it has been in the 70's here for the past few weeks, but I can guarantee you, when the season actually starts it will snow for a month. We have snow outs here sometimes as late as mid-May.
Sons team replaces eight starters this season and will be heavily laden with Sophomores. Still, we're picked to make a state championship run.
roothog66 posted:We don't start practice until next Monday and don't play until March 17. Funny thing is that it has been in the 70's here for the past few weeks, but I can guarantee you, when the season actually starts it will snow for a month. We have snow outs here sometimes as late as mid-May.
Sons team replaces eight starters this season and will be heavily laden with Sophomores. Still, we're picked to make a state championship run.
Something tells me they'll win a lot of games behind that big RHP who throws 87! Good luck on the season.
First Varsity HS game this evening for my 2019!!! He realizes it is very likely he will sit the bench the entire game, so he's got plenty of layers of warm clothing. We can't wait to see the team in action!
Went to watch son's HS Alma Mater in action for opening day earlier this week -- both for old time sake, and because with him away at college, just don't get enough chances to watch young men at play anymore. Plus we have lots of good friends among the parents of especially this year's seniors and some among the juniors too.
Interesting experience. Much more relaxing!
One thing that struck me is how many of last year's junior class opted not to come out and play this year. Was told that several of them didn't want to play with the current regime. The program has had a fair amount of coaching turnover after having the same highly successful coach for 16 years. Glad to be free of all that....
Was also surprised at how few of the seniors intend to play next year. A lot have decided that if they can't go the D1 route, they'd rather just not play. They want the big school experience, more than they want a baseball experience. I'm talking some guys that I thought you'd have to rip the uniform off to get them off the field.
Wonder how many very good players end up feeling that way?
We are finally getting started here in Nebraska. Tryouts starting later today. Can't wait to be posting about games!
2017's first league game is Wednesday against arch rival and league favorite. He just finished with HS soccer team (last night, winning the state championship!) and will now be able to go full-time to baseball. Has had a decent start in the few games he's been able to squeeze in, so excited about season.
Congrats on the state championship! Those are always nice despite it not being baseball! Mine has first day of tryouts here today and looking forward to freshman year for sure!
We don't even start practice here in NY until next Monday. At least this year they should be able to go outside right from the start (weather permitting) as we are snow free - knock on wood. Last year we had so much snow they really didn't get outside until they went to Florida on Spring break.
We are finally getting started here in Charlotte. First 3 games cancelled or postponed due to inclement weather, wet fields and today the school we were to play was closed because over half the teachers were ill. So now the boys have games on Wed, Thurs and Fri - 3 in a row. Should be a fun start to the season!
Tryouts started today here in Oregon. We've had beautiful weather the last few weeks with lots of sun and highs in the 60's. Of course, this week's forecast looks like rain everyday and a lot cooler. Our basketball team is in the middle of playoffs, so we're missing quite a few varsity players until they are done. Looking forward to games starting in a couple weeks. Have a great season everyone!
Already thru 5 non-conference games with 6 games scheduled this week (one weekday tomorrow game plus 5-game tournament Thurs. - Sat.). This week will definitely test the depth of the pitching staff, which I think is great, as the coach really spreads it around this early in the season. Gives many a chance to pitch that, once the conference games start (2x per week), probably won't see much more action. Everything seems to already be flying by. Good luck to all this season and remember to enjoy the ride!!
Already played 4 scrimmages and one 3 game tournament. Coach is still bent on injuring a pitcher.
At 3 game tournament:
Thursday pitched sophomore pitcher #1 4 innings, freshman pitcher 2 innings, my son last inning.
Friday pitched sophomore pitcher #2 5 innings (92 PC) , another kid one inning, and my son last inning
Saturday pitched freshman pitcher 4 innings, sophomore pitcher #1 2 innings before game was called. He was going to pitch my son last two innings but my son wisely said that his shoulder was tight.
My son caught every inning except the one he pitched. Sophomore pitcher #2 said his arm was so sore the next day he couldn't dial his cell phone.
I've got to be at every game to make sure my son isn't over pitched. Pitch count rules can't get here soon enough.
Second tyrout day here in Seattle, and of course it rained, with gust of 40mph and occasional hailstorm. 
Fortunately our school built a decent fully covered batting cage, so the tryout can continue in the cage.