The average pitching speed at age X is this!

 

Keep your son, and yourself, grounded.  

 

In my very humble opinion, your son should break down his goals into stages.  Of course he wants to be throwing X mph and have an exit velocity of X mph by the time he's a junior.  But I think those numbers can appear insurmountable to a kid at times. So after every season he should address whichever part of his game needs to improve the most, while continuing to improve upon what he does well already.  And as he moves through the levels he'll struggle at times and that's okay.  

 

When my son was 11 and playing on a 12u team he saw his first "big league" curve ball.  He literally fell down on a pitch that was a strike.  Since then he's spent a lot of time learning to hit that pitch and eventually sliders, etc.  Over the last couple of years he's developed into a player that hits curves to right center and hangers over the fence.  It took a lot of work by him.

 

Always make sure that he remembers that it's not whether you fall, or how many times you fall, it's whether you get back up.

I know I like to spar with people on here, but this is my hobby, I rarely share what I have learned on this site and/or the internet with him.  When I do it's usually about keeping your hat on straight, your shirt tucked in, hustle and get those grades up.

 

We never talk numbers, I have never "set" him a goal or talked to his coaches about him or my thoughts on him and where he should be playing/batting. I don't own a radar gun, we don't do timed 60 splits, we don't have a notebook on measurables...neither of us could even tell you his 60 time, exit speed, or pop time.  I could tell you what he pitched last May, but that was because his PG profile told me, that's the only time he has been radared to my knowledge. His first paid lesson was when he was 12 and that was because he was pitching so wrong he was hurting his arm.  I told him he could pick any team he wanted to play on within 20 minutes of the house..I did not encourage him to play for a particular park or division level, however, I did say he had to skip 13u due to his size and the need to play with his grade. Bottom line, he loves to play, I enjoy watching him play.  I know I like to jab for more information and argue on here, but this is for fun, this isn't what happens at my home.

 

 

That's fine in my opinion.  Just make sure that those thoughts and opinions stay with you.  I've seen a couple of my son's friends become poorly influenced by the garbage that their parents spewed out of their mouths.

 

After 2 years of watching HS baseball I can honestly say that my son's coach, as great of a guy that he is, appears to struggle with bringing the team to the next level.  So what do I say to my son?  I tell him that since he's been selected as one of the captains for this coming spring season, that he and the other captains need to bring the program forward.  I bite my lip on what I'd LOVE to tell him, since that won't help solve the problem.

 

Too many people in all walks of life want to sit there and complain, say that's not my job, we've never done that, or any other excuse you can think of.  I say, no excuses. Get it done.

Originally Posted by NYdad2017:

…So what do I say to my son?  I tell him that since he's been selected as one of the captains for this coming spring season, that he and the other captains need to bring the program forward….

 

What do you think he and the other captains will do to “bring the program forward”?

 

I want to be careful not to get too deep on a public board, but...

 

A losing culture has existed for too many years, despite their splitting 2 games with last year's state champs in each of the last 2 years.  The "potential" to achieve more has been there, they just haven't believed in themselves.  Some of that falls at the coach's feet, some at theirs.

 

Defense is not a priority.  They will be holding regular captain's practices (optional of course) to better hone those skills.

 

There is a "me, before we" mentality that has existed for at least the last 2 years.

 

Bench players are not treated as an integral part of the team.

 

Listen, I get that this won't be an easy task.  But my son has made it painfully clear that not advancing this program to at least a sectional title opportunity (a place the program has never been) would break his heart.  As he is my son, I'm trying to help him as best as I can in learning what he has to do.

 

Realistically, with the big loss of senior pitching it will be a 2-year project.  But it has to start somewhere.  

 

The easy way is to approach someone in the district and explain what I've seen and get the coach removed.  But life isn't always easy and I'm not that type of person. The goal here is to teach my son that there are ways to take control of a situation, despite any stumbling blocks in front of you, and move your plan forward.  As I said in another post, it's too easy to say that it's always been this way.  It's much harder to fight against that attitude and progress.

 

Time to throw the lifeline out to caco!  Don't worry about how you do it vs. How me.or anyone else does it.  The journey (or lack there of) is our own.  If I learn something good here I most certainly will share it with my son.  What we choose to share with our son is ip to each of us.  There is no right or wrong.  There are only opinions.  We may think back later and wish we would have done things a little differently but I would propose that no matter what decisions we make now we will regret some things later.  Maybe regret is too strong a word but it is the word that came to mind.  It is really incumbent on us as parents to try.our best to figure out what is right for OUR kids.  And in the end some of our calls will be right and some wrong.  We do the best we can.

 

Very good point.  I guess I should preface any advice with "just something for you to think about".  And I certainly don't proclaim to have all of the answers.  Far from it. I'm just trying to do as best of a job as I can to help my son mature into a man.

 

I'm open to all advice, I may disagree because of who I am or because of my general naivety, but the back and forth discussion is helpful in my understanding this foreign language that is baseball and baseball recruitment.

 

My son doesn't care what he "should" be throwing, "should" be running, or "should" be doing in general, he just wants to play.  He says he wants to play at the next level, however, being on here has shown me how kids act that WANT it.  As of this moment, he doesn't want it like that.  He thinks he does, but he doesn't.  I liken it to "being in love" in 10th grade is not like "being in love" when you are 30, at least, not for most people.

 

Only time will tell.

Have been trying to figure out how to put this.  If your 8th grader jumps into the shower before it warms up, go ahead and push him and have him dream big.  If you kid waits for the water to warm up, his baseball career may suffer if you simply push too hard.  My kid likes for the water to get nice and warm and there were times when baseball sort of faded a slight bit.  Some of the things I hear parents doing would have simply ended his career.  No kid should be denied being a kid with this idea that they should be focused on a securing an offer - an early offer - and then simply continue pushing so as to not put the offer in jeopardy.  I do know one kid that loved it when his dad yelled at him - mine basically shut down.  I guess I would say that there are a ton of kids that could eventually have the necessary talent level to play college ball, but you had better understand you kid's personality and try real hard be supportive while not being fanatic and have baseball become their first job at age 10.

 

Right now my son is the kid who isn't just waiting on the water in the shower to warm up, he's the kid that is standing in the bathroom, with the water running, stark naked looking at the ceiling and saying...I know there is SOMETHING I'm suppose to be doing, but I can't remember what it is.

 

When he figures out what HIS plan is for baseball I will help, but I'm not going to share my ideas until he establishes goals for himself.  In order to achieve your goals they have to be YOUR goals that YOU are willing to work for.

 Ha ha!!!  Isn't that all boys at 13, 14, 15....?

.....and unfortunately us older guys start going through that CRS ( can't remember S..)phase again!

Well, I still think that girl in 10th grade made a huge mistake leaving me after one week.

I was going to wait until I read the entire thread before posting. But Swamp nailed what I was going to post. Who cares about average? You know who the better pitchers are in your kid's age group. You know what the necessary numbers are to pitch at various levels of college ball. You can't control how good other pitchers are. You can only control your own situation.

 

Always work hard to become the best you can be. Make yourself visible in the right places at the right times. The right college programs will find you if you are where they are looking.

Most kids aren't Power 5 and ranked team prospects. Most kids will be recruited and receive offers after junior year when they are seventeen.

This is 100% correct.

RJM and Swampboy both nailed it.

Again, you really don't understand this until it happens, or if it happens. 

 

FWIW, most parents of players that post here will never attend a top power conference, so for them recruiting will begin late sophomore/junior year.

NYdad2017,

 

I’m interested because our team suffers from a losing culture as well. Unfortunately, your situation sounds much better than ours, but there are definitely parallels.

 

Since no team is perfect, every team has the “potential” to achieve more. I don’t know how one differentiates “causality” though.

 

I’m guessing like at our school, it’s the HC’s choice as to what gets emphasized in practices. In our case there just isn’t enough practice time or enough qualified coaches to work on everything as much as it would take to make major improvements. That’s why these “captains’ practices” intrigue me. Are you saying the players have consent to use the school’s facilities and are covered in case of accident?

 

How does the “me, before we” mentality manifest itself.

 

How are the bench players treated and how was that identified as a problem?

 

Other than not having a winning program, what is it the coach has done to warrant getting fired?