Staying sharp for Summer ball

One of my summer kids is in the same position. He is a 2016 with skills to play anywhere. But the program is so good they only need him to pitch varsity right now. His dad told me that when the time is right JR will ask coach if he can play a little JV just to get some swings in. I hope it don't backfire on him, he is a good kid and works hard.

I hope it works for him. Unfortunately for us, varsity and JV play at the same time.

My 2016 was in the same boat as a freshman last year.  Our frustration this year, yes ours... his and mine, is that it's mostly the same story as a soph.  My concern from the outside looking in is that the PO label seems to be pretty sticky... I don't believe son got a good look as a position guy this year... which makes me a different kind of PO. I believe it's a convenient way to get more guys on the roster PT... which sounds swell, unless you're the PO losing out on ABs that you would otherwise have rightly earned.  But... I think it's becoming increasingly common practice... ever more specialization.  I hate it but life goes on and there's always summer ball... Unless the arm gets the player on a team that is too competitive for his bat to stand out... In which case it's déjà vu all over again.

My son dealt with the same issue as a freshman last year.  On varsity to pitch only.  Ours eventually resolved itself when we got to district play and he was the #4 pitcher.  Coach didn't need him to pitch as much so after sitting the entire first district week my son moved to JV for the rest of the year.

For the first six weeks he was going to hit on his own about 3-4 days per week.  With one of those with his hitting instructor.  That was his answer to the no ABs issue.

I think for a lot of these kids this issue sorts itself out in freshman/sophomore years.  Either their pitching or hitting moves to the forefront and the decision where the focus needs to be becomes obvious if your son's goal is to play post high school.  When my son was behind the plate last summer/fall no one really noticed.  Same college coaches noticed when he got on mound.  For my son decision made.

Good Luck.

My 2016 made varsity this year, and in first game played 1B in field, did not bat...mostly because sitting a senior early in the season probably doesn't make a lot of sense. THE HC was leaning towards my son in batting lineup, but Asst. pointed out the senior issue. I happen to agree with the decision. This is about the team, not my son. 

As I told him, he'll get his opportunities to hit when called on. That's the reality. Play at 150% whenever you get the chances and everything falls into place. 

Son played on JV as a freshman, ss, p, outfield, 3B, when not pitching. When they took him in close to end of season, all he did was sit.

As a sophomore and junior he was a pitcher only, after he signed his NLI he begged the HS coach to let him play more his senior year, so he pitched, played 1b and led the team in BA and HR's. For summer he pitched only.  In all fairness, most of the guys who played with son were good, but not aspiring to become baseball players, and I respect the coach who used players in the way he felt was best for the team, not just one particular player including mine.  He took batting practice for all 4 years.

It was tough sitting on the bench, but it prepared him well for college and proball and to be honest, I am glad that his play was limited while in HS.  Specialization is not something that is new and I respect the coaches that saw PO in son's future.

Thank you all for your comments.

My son has no problem that he will be a Po for the High School season this year. He even understands that the coach wants to give his seniors more at bats and he may not get to hit that much this season. He is just happy to be on the varsity doing his job on the mound.

What I’m questioning is when most of his hitting for the next few months will be during batting practice and working out with a hitting coach, from your experiences, is that enough to keep his hitting skills up or it there anything else he can do.

When my son was a HS Freshman, we had talks with the coach about the options my son had and the coach pretty much left it up to my son.  The coach said he could not guarantee that if my son accepted a position of Varsity Team that he'd have much playing time.   If my son chose the JV's, then the coach was sure he'd have plenty of playing time, which we (the coach and I) felt was really best for the developmental aspects to play on Varsity the following year.  Though my son recognized his ego wanted to be on the Varsity Team, he decided it was more important to him to play and agreed that it was the best way for developing.

So, he started the season on the JV's and was doing great.  About the 3rd week the coach moved him up just before the league games started to see how he might handle playing at the next level.  My son was a two way SS/P and I remember watching the Senior who was at that position and I thought he looked very mature, smooth and strong.  But apparently, he couldn't hit a curve ball and though he looked smooth, strong and covered the position well, he was also very prone to throwing errors.   Apparently my son was brought up for a couple of games to test him with the Varsity team.  As it turned out, my son did VERY well in those  couple of games and actually did well the rest of season playing as a starter on the Varsity team.   The coach would occasionally put the former SS in for some game time since this was his last year.

As it turned out, my son got what he wanted where he had lots of playing time and it turned out to be mostly at the Varsity level.  And whether it was at the JV or Varsity level, I'm convinced that choosing playing time over sitting on the bench is always the better choice (it seems also show the coach that the player has interest in playing rather than having another "trophy" ).