Firstly, I ask this out of ignorance, not with the intent of taking a position.
My question to you long time observers of IL HS baseball is...how often does summer season success translate into regular HS season success?
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That is a difficult question and depends a lot on the individual situation in my opinion. Our school and a lot of other schools have an equal playing time policy in the summer. It is a chance for everyone to get at bats and get innings on the mound. With that in mind, a team's W-L record can be thrown off if they are playing a team who is playing their best all summer, or visa versa.
As far as the individual player, I am always impressed with a player who makes the most out of opportunity given to them in the summer, but I do reevaluate everything in the spring. For example, if they tore up mediocre pitching in the summer and struggled against guys who were legitimate varsity guys the year before, I am looking for specific improvements in the spring. In my experience their struggles against the better pitching comes from not being able to hit the ball to the opposite field and poor pitch selection. If these areas have improved, I will be confident they have made the proper adjustments and they will earn playing time.
The long and short of it is, that a majority of high school players improve greatly between summer and spring. There is a huge difference in the overall level of competition. So if the player and or team has made strides from a successful Summer, they should be able to compete. If they did not improve on their weaknesses and they are resting on summer success, they will probably struggle during the reagular season.
As far as the individual player, I am always impressed with a player who makes the most out of opportunity given to them in the summer, but I do reevaluate everything in the spring. For example, if they tore up mediocre pitching in the summer and struggled against guys who were legitimate varsity guys the year before, I am looking for specific improvements in the spring. In my experience their struggles against the better pitching comes from not being able to hit the ball to the opposite field and poor pitch selection. If these areas have improved, I will be confident they have made the proper adjustments and they will earn playing time.
The long and short of it is, that a majority of high school players improve greatly between summer and spring. There is a huge difference in the overall level of competition. So if the player and or team has made strides from a successful Summer, they should be able to compete. If they did not improve on their weaknesses and they are resting on summer success, they will probably struggle during the reagular season.
What did they do over the winter? Did they wrestle or play basketball or did they take private hitting lessons all winter to work on flaws and improve their swing? Did they weight lift and become stronger? There are a lot of variables. I don't think it is a question that has a correct answer that covers all kids.
quote:Originally posted by CPLZ:
...how often does summer season success translate into regular HS season success?
CPLZ,
Summer ball is handled differently by different coaches. Since every team makes the playoffs, I think the smart coaches use it to develop players for the spring season.
But when the playoffs start, I think they put their best team on the field and you get a little preview of the coming spring.
As BCRockets and BaseballDad said, off season work then drives development and things will change. Since 1990, there have only been 2 summer state champs that went on to win the spring state title...Andrew in summer '91 & spring '92 and LT in summer '02 & spring '03.
But I would venture a guess that most summer final 4 teams are pretty good the following spring.
Mike F