My son's school has an enrollment of 1200. There are around 70 kids planning on trying out for baseball. Which will be a record if they all come.
How many generally tryout at your schools?
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I do not know what the average is but the more you have trying out the better pool the coach has to draw from
Numbers mean nothing if the player has talent and confidence in himself
Numbers mean nothing if the player has talent and confidence in himself
I was just curious what an average turnout is. In this case the numbers are up but the talent level is still down. There are some promising freshmen coming in and hopefully they can keep the interest up and have a strong team in the next couple years. Last year was the first time in a few yrs they were able to field a freshman team.
600 students, about 30 tried out for varsity, they picked 17, the rest will play JV. 24 freshmen showed up the first day, a lot of them had never picked up a bat before; I guess it looked easy to them LOL, coach made everyone run bleachers for 3 weeks; they are now down to 12 freshmen.
Son’s school had approx 60 at tryouts for the this season team (mainly freshman and a handful of sophomores), 20 were kept. They run with 20+ on each team. Some very seldom play when it's district time, so I've been told, it's our first year.
At the varsity level, usually only 15 people try out because everyone knows if they have made the team or not before hand. This is at a school where the enrollment is 1300. However, about 65 kids will try out for freshmen baseball, but that also includes 7th and 8th graders.
quote:24 freshmen showed up the first day, a lot of them had never picked up a bat before;
I find that very hard to believe especially if you're in Louisiana.
We have about 30 freshmen try out for about 20 spots and I'm almost positive all had played baseball for years. Many played on highly select traveling teams. Some paid a fortune for years of lessons. That's what makes cuts devastating for many kids and their parents.
Our school is 1200 or so, we have 25 freshman trying out. I assume he will cut 5-7. JV and varsity will be 15-20 each. Probably about 60 total and a few will have to be cut, due to numbers.
Usually there is no cut, but the varsity lost a grand total of one senior last year, so it's kind of clogged up.
Usually there is no cut, but the varsity lost a grand total of one senior last year, so it's kind of clogged up.
LO is pretty small for 6A did they give them the option of playing 5A?
This will be the first year in a long time they will have to make cuts at South.
This will be the first year in a long time they will have to make cuts at South.
6A school,...1700+ students,....usually about 85 go out for baseball. We have a " C " team, J.V., & Varsity team.
Yes, LO is well under the 6A cutoff of around 1500 students, but they asked to play 6A because they are always competitive in the largest classification. The OSAA apparently allows schools to "play up" if they want.
Enrollment is 750 - turnout is usually about 60-70 players nearly all of whom are placed somewhere. We have three teams V, JV and Freshman.
Normally all freshman play on the Freshman team - e.g. not pulled up except under very unusual circumstances.
All seniors who have been in the progam all 4 years will get a varsity slot- but are told early in the year if they will not play (they are welcome to stay but should not count on seeing the field.)
Normally all freshman play on the Freshman team - e.g. not pulled up except under very unusual circumstances.
All seniors who have been in the progam all 4 years will get a varsity slot- but are told early in the year if they will not play (they are welcome to stay but should not count on seeing the field.)
08Dad, that's a great turnout for such a small enrollment. How does your school do in their league?
Y’all make me wanna cry! My son’s school had over 3,000 enrollment for the 4 years he attended, and there were NEVER more than 23 Fr go out. They had 3 teams, Fr, JV, and V. One year they only had 19 go out and started the season with only 13 by the time kids quit and got promoted to the higher teams.
I’ll grant you that that school does have “issues” keeping it from having a stronger program, but there are over 20,000 HS students enrolled in our district’s 8 schools that play baseball, and there’s no way more than 250 total Fr go out.
I’ll grant you that that school does have “issues” keeping it from having a stronger program, but there are over 20,000 HS students enrolled in our district’s 8 schools that play baseball, and there’s no way more than 250 total Fr go out.
quote:Originally posted by JDsDad:
08Dad, that's a great turnout for such a small enrollment. How does your school do in their league?
The school has won their league the last 10 years in a row. They have also won 6 sectional titles in that time frame (California does not have a state championship - rather a set of 8 sectional champions.)
This is a real baseball area with a very strong youth program feeding the high school. Baseball may be the most popular game on campus...
Due to open enrollment, schools in my area get a rep as being good at X, Y or Z sport. There is a school in Omaha with under 3000 enrollment, and their coach told me they had 105 Freshman try out 2 years ago. They had never seen anything like it before. Needless to say, even with a frosh reserve team, there were a lot of unhappy boys that year.
My son's school has about 3200 enrollment and there will be about 60-70 tryout for the freshmen team, and about 35-40 for varsity and jv. They keep around 18 players for each team. There is a new varsity coach this year, so perhaps a few more will tryout--mainly those who got cut last year ans/or didn't like the previous coach.
Son's parochial school has enrollment of a little over 1000, but plays "up" with 3-4000 enrollment schools, and has won league 9 out of last 10 years.
60 come out for frosh (keep 18), 30 for JV's (keep 18), but head coach decided to keep 23 on varsity this year (4 Seniors with 4 years in program who won't see field too much). Used to have a "no Juniors on JV's policy, but not this year. Hope it works out...
60 come out for frosh (keep 18), 30 for JV's (keep 18), but head coach decided to keep 23 on varsity this year (4 Seniors with 4 years in program who won't see field too much). Used to have a "no Juniors on JV's policy, but not this year. Hope it works out...
Found out just today that 4 of the schools in our district, all with an enrollment of 2,500+, have cancelled portions of their baseball programs.
Two have killed both the Fr and JV programs, and two others have killed the Fr programs. When I inquired what the heck was going on here’s what I was told. I am not making any ethnic slurs here, just stating what I was told is going on.
3 of the schools are in areas where the population has skewed itself very much to oriental backgrounds, and people who’ve grown up in Asian countries, and predominantly Asian areas of the country, don’t play a lot of baseball, football, or basketball.
The other school is predominantly a school where minority students are in the majority, and are having a lot of trouble making grades good enough for any extracurricular activities.
This is just another observation from someone who’s been away from HS ball for 3 years, and again, it isn’t a racial slur of any kind.
Our team played 2 scrimmage games today against 2 different teams. One from the north part of our section, and one from the farthest south part. There were plenty of WASP kids out there, and plenty of kids of Latin extraction. But out of the 4 teams there for the scrimmages, about 100 players total, there was only one Afro-American kid!
Something’s certainly changing here, and it doesn’t bode well for the general health of the game.
Two have killed both the Fr and JV programs, and two others have killed the Fr programs. When I inquired what the heck was going on here’s what I was told. I am not making any ethnic slurs here, just stating what I was told is going on.
3 of the schools are in areas where the population has skewed itself very much to oriental backgrounds, and people who’ve grown up in Asian countries, and predominantly Asian areas of the country, don’t play a lot of baseball, football, or basketball.
The other school is predominantly a school where minority students are in the majority, and are having a lot of trouble making grades good enough for any extracurricular activities.
This is just another observation from someone who’s been away from HS ball for 3 years, and again, it isn’t a racial slur of any kind.
Our team played 2 scrimmage games today against 2 different teams. One from the north part of our section, and one from the farthest south part. There were plenty of WASP kids out there, and plenty of kids of Latin extraction. But out of the 4 teams there for the scrimmages, about 100 players total, there was only one Afro-American kid!
Something’s certainly changing here, and it doesn’t bode well for the general health of the game.
Catholic School in North Jersey enrollment 900+ all boys, 45-60 tryout for fr. keep 18 players
quote:Originally posted by luvthisgame:
Catholic School in North Jersey enrollment 900+ all boys, 45-60 tryout for fr. keep 18 players
Private schools are much different than public ones. We have one in the city that’s 1,500, all boys. It’s a requirement that every Fr goes out for at least one school sport during the Fr year. Of course its easier that they have just about every sport imaginable available, but it’s a health requirement of the school.
I've heard stories about mandatory sports for years.
Some of our local private schools require a year or two of mandatory extra-curricular activities... Sports, clubs, drama etc. Not just sports, tho.
Some of our local private schools require a year or two of mandatory extra-curricular activities... Sports, clubs, drama etc. Not just sports, tho.
quote:Originally posted by micdsguy:
I've heard stories about mandatory sports for years.
Some of our local private schools require a year or two of mandatory extra-curricular activities... Sports, clubs, drama etc. Not just sports, tho.
That’s one of the advantages private schools have. If they tried to make it mandatory in a PS, the world would come to an end!
My sons HS (950 boys) generally has 65-80 go out for the freshman team and they keep 23+/-. However, a few years ago 120 tried out.
Approximatly, 35+/- go out for the JV team (mostly sophomores and a couple of juniors) and they keep 23+/-.
Generally they invite 35 to try out for the varsity every year and end up keeping 22+/-. Of the 35, they generally send 3-5 juniors down to the JV program if they want them to continue playing their senior years.
Year in and out the school has better than 70 kids out of 950 playing baseball.
Approximatly, 35+/- go out for the JV team (mostly sophomores and a couple of juniors) and they keep 23+/-.
Generally they invite 35 to try out for the varsity every year and end up keeping 22+/-. Of the 35, they generally send 3-5 juniors down to the JV program if they want them to continue playing their senior years.
Year in and out the school has better than 70 kids out of 950 playing baseball.
Scorekeep,
I am dismayed at the number of black kids turning out for baseball. There was a thread awhile back on this subject and there is no easy answer. It's not necessarily the fault of baseball itself--more of problem with the NCAA scholarships dished out to baseball--but I am dismayed because I believe it speaks of baseball being an elitist sport for only those with money, true or not. Let's promote the sport and get these kids to play!
But you say Asians (proportionately?) don't turn out for baseball? My own kid is half-Asian, and the teams I have seen in California are loaded with Asian Americans. Danny Oh, the #1 rated '08 in Washington is Asian. Baseball is growing exponentially in Asia.. think you're wrong, there. In fact, I'd bet you that the percentage of Asian-Americans playing baseball is higher than the percentage of white kids playing baseball. Could be wrong, but I don't think so.
I am dismayed at the number of black kids turning out for baseball. There was a thread awhile back on this subject and there is no easy answer. It's not necessarily the fault of baseball itself--more of problem with the NCAA scholarships dished out to baseball--but I am dismayed because I believe it speaks of baseball being an elitist sport for only those with money, true or not. Let's promote the sport and get these kids to play!
But you say Asians (proportionately?) don't turn out for baseball? My own kid is half-Asian, and the teams I have seen in California are loaded with Asian Americans. Danny Oh, the #1 rated '08 in Washington is Asian. Baseball is growing exponentially in Asia.. think you're wrong, there. In fact, I'd bet you that the percentage of Asian-Americans playing baseball is higher than the percentage of white kids playing baseball. Could be wrong, but I don't think so.
Scorekeeper,
Being a Hispanic Male I was not offended by the remark you made. Above anything else that wasn't mentioned was class. Lower Middle Class and the Lower Levels do not have baseball programs. This goes to show why Baseball is not a very popular sport in the ," hood". We have had several discussions regarding this issue in the past. But Basketball Programs and Football Programs are usually popular in those same schools.
As far as grades are concerned, if you cannot maintain a 2.0 average to play a sport you shouldn't even try out for a sport.
Being a Hispanic Male I was not offended by the remark you made. Above anything else that wasn't mentioned was class. Lower Middle Class and the Lower Levels do not have baseball programs. This goes to show why Baseball is not a very popular sport in the ," hood". We have had several discussions regarding this issue in the past. But Basketball Programs and Football Programs are usually popular in those same schools.
As far as grades are concerned, if you cannot maintain a 2.0 average to play a sport you shouldn't even try out for a sport.
quote:My sons HS (950 boys) generally has 65-80 go out for the freshman team and they keep 23+/-. However, a few years ago 120 tried out.
Approximatly, 35+/- go out for the JV team (mostly sophomores and a couple of juniors) and they keep 23+/-.
Generally they invite 35 to try out for the varsity every year and end up keeping 22+/-. Of the 35, they generally send 3-5 juniors down to the JV program if they want them to continue playing their senior years.
Year in and out the school has better than 70 kids out of 950 playing baseball.
Another point of reference... I quoted ILVBB above because my son's school operated with numbers similar to the numbers he mentions. Our school was the largest in the State having over 1500 boys in grades 10-12. They routinely have over 100 boys tryout for the freshman team and had about 120 the year my son tried out. The follow-on year numbers after freshman year were very similar to the one's ILVBB cites.
quote:Originally posted by Bum:
Scorekeep,
I am dismayed at the number of black kids turning out for baseball. There was a thread awhile back on this subject and there is no easy answer. It's not necessarily the fault of baseball itself--more of problem with the NCAA scholarships dished out to baseball--but I am dismayed because I believe it speaks of baseball being an elitist sport for only those with money, true or not. Let's promote the sport and get these kids to play!
But you say Asians (proportionately?) don't turn out for baseball? My own kid is half-Asian, and the teams I have seen in California are loaded with Asian Americans. Danny Oh, the #1 rated '08 in Washington is Asian. Baseball is growing exponentially in Asia.. think you're wrong, there. In fact, I'd bet you that the percentage of Asian-Americans playing baseball is higher than the percentage of white kids playing baseball. Could be wrong, but I don't think so.
Like you, I see baseball as becoming the next “country club” sport. It flat costs far too much to play!
I didn’t say Asians don’t turn out for sports. That’s what I was told by the coaches and district officials. Of course kids of all backgrounds will go out for all sports, as well as all kinds of other endeavors. But, when someone in the school system that’s supposed to know these things tells me something, I’m prolly not gonna go out and conduct research to see if what I’m being told is the truth.
No matter what the reason, I’m disappointed that baseball as a HS sport seems to be dwindling in popularity with the masses, at least in my little corner of the world.
quote:Originally posted by baseballbum:
Being a Hispanic Male I was not offended by the remark you made. Above anything else that wasn't mentioned was class. Lower Middle Class and the Lower Levels do not have baseball programs. This goes to show why Baseball is not a very popular sport in the ," hood". We have had several discussions regarding this issue in the past. But Basketball Programs and Football Programs are usually popular in those same schools.
As far as grades are concerned, if you cannot maintain a 2.0 average to play a sport you shouldn't even try out for a sport.
I disagree a tad. There are baseball program available for everyone regardless of class, but the kind of programs available for the different classes is different indeed.
FI, here locally a few years back, the local pro basketball team donated $10k to one of the leagues in an economically challenged part of town to fix their LL fields up, and a great ballhoo was made of it. But, what no one heard about was when the players and team officials, many of whom lived in the highest of high rent districts, got together and raised almost 7 figures for fields and amenities where their kids played.
I’ve got mixed emotions about the grade thing. By the time the kids need grades to stay eligible for school teams, its prolly too late. I’m slowly getting the feeling that perhaps the grade thing out to be put into full force way back when the kids start t-ball, or any other low level for any sport.
I know that sounds harsh, but as I get older, it becomes more and more difficult for me to stomach watching athletes who can’t construct sentences correctly, or who don’t seem to know the slightest thing about history or current events outside of sports and the “Scene” section of the newspaper. Not to mention, even being able to read any section of the paper other than the sports section!
Not all athletes are like that, but there sure seems to be a heck of a lot of kids who can only remember the channel ESPN is on, or the one they need to tune the TV to play their video games!
Baseball has never been any better than it is right now in NC. More kids playing travel baseball AAU USSSA and local rec leagues. HS baseball is at an all time high in popularity. The competition and ability of the players is tremendous. This Sunday I saw three freshman from NC starting on the #1 ranked team in the nation UNC. The coaching continues to get better at the lower levels with former hs college and professional players getting envloved. Im sorry to hear about the demise of baseball in your area. I for one could not happier with the direction that HS baseball and baseball in general is headed in NC.
quote:Originally posted by Coach May:
Baseball has never been any better than it is right now in NC. More kids playing travel baseball AAU USSSA and local rec leagues. HS baseball is at an all time high in popularity. The competition and ability of the players is tremendous. This Sunday I saw three freshman from NC starting on the #1 ranked team in the nation UNC. The coaching continues to get better at the lower levels with former hs college and professional players getting envloved. Im sorry to hear about the demise of baseball in your area. I for one could not happier with the direction that HS baseball and baseball in general is headed in NC.
There’s no doubt there are more people than ever playing and involved in baseball, but as a percentage of participation, it has definitely gone down, and that’s where I see the problem.
As far as more travel ball, AAU, and USAA, that has to be because when I was growing up there was no such thing.
I’ll also agree the coaching has improved, as has real baseball knowledge and understanding. And I will agree that the ability of the players has increased, but there’s no way in the world the competition is any better. Competition doesn’t have anything to do with skills, it has to do with how hard fairly evenly matched teams will go at it. I’ve seen some pretty low on skill teams compete like junkyard dawgs!
I don’t know that baseball is in a state of demise here as much as a state of drastic change, and its not a change I like to see.
Our school is private. About 25 went out for varsity. 14 were kept for varsity, the others go to JV, with a few of the younger varsity players rotating into the JV line-up when needed. Interesting thing in my state: private school kids equal 1.5 public school kids when deciding the school ranking, so even though we have fewer than 500 HS students, we are ranked AA rather than A.
My son's school is a catholic schoolof 700 boys
He told me that 65-70 kids plan to try out for the freshmen baseball team. They run an "A and B" squad
Maybe 40 players between both squads probably less.
He told me that 65-70 kids plan to try out for the freshmen baseball team. They run an "A and B" squad
Maybe 40 players between both squads probably less.
My son's high school has about 1200 students. They had about 29 kids tryout for 16 spots on the freshman team.
We had a really wierd year - I think everyone knew who would make V (22 spots), JV (18 spots, normally reserved for spohs but several juniors made it) was very competitive.
What was wierd is we only had 20 Frosh try out for the 18 man F team - could just be a quirk but its not looking good for the future at this point.
School size is 3700 - very diverse student population.
What was wierd is we only had 20 Frosh try out for the 18 man F team - could just be a quirk but its not looking good for the future at this point.
School size is 3700 - very diverse student population.
We had 46 guys tryout for freshman baseball this year and about 60 or so tryout for JV/varsity with a school size of about 485 students
On the other end of the spectrum, my son's school has an enrollment of 124 (yep, three digits, I didn't leave one out). Everybody that goes out, and doesn't disappear, makes it.
My son's school has approx. 1300 & they play in 4A (the largest qualification in this state). I think they only had about 30 trying out for JV & about 20-30 for varsity (not sure there), but these were all kids who've played from t-ball up....none of the "never picked up a bat before" kids.
Over 2000 kids at my sons school (4th largest in the state), and I would say only around 40-50 tried out for baseball this year.
Doesn't seem like much considering the size of the school.
I'm thinking it because the school is more football driven than anything else. The coaching staff is trying to get the baseball program going a lot more though.
Doesn't seem like much considering the size of the school.
I'm thinking it because the school is more football driven than anything else. The coaching staff is trying to get the baseball program going a lot more though.
New Charter High School, 75 boys in the school which 26 came out for baseball.
We have had sports all year at the freshman level and I am the 1st coach in the school that cut kids
(There was a no-cut policy that I was not aware of I joined the staff in late February and held tryouts the following Monday, but I was able to justify my actions to the AD and the Principal)
I lost 7 for academics, was forced to cut kids with 2.9 GPA's because they failed one course. School policy: 2.0 and pass all classes, some kids were oblivious to the GPA requirement, and begged to keep practicing with the team, I told them "no dice"
I cut 5 simply because there was no ability there. I asked one kid if he had ever played organized baseball, he replied "with my friends in a vacant lot"
He picked up a bat and swung it cross-handed and moved out of the way of a thrown ball while playing catch because he thought the other kid threw the ball too hard. I sent him home for his personal safety.
The others I asked if they really thought they were cut out for the sport and they all answered "no" and I sent them home. Most were there because their friends tried out.
I had another player who did not show up for practice for 4 days and saw me in the hallway everyday and said nothing (That Monday he tells me he is going to cut practice because his stomach hurts) I told him not to come back.
I am down to 14 players, 4 of them have never played organized baseball in their lives. We are going to be a JV program next season and all of the kids come into the school by lottery so there is no real feeder program. If more talent comes throught the pipeline next year and some of my other kids get focused academically those 4 are going to have a hard time finding a role on the team unless they take a giant leap forward.
Our team picture, sharp looking frosh team huh?
We have had sports all year at the freshman level and I am the 1st coach in the school that cut kids
(There was a no-cut policy that I was not aware of I joined the staff in late February and held tryouts the following Monday, but I was able to justify my actions to the AD and the Principal)
I lost 7 for academics, was forced to cut kids with 2.9 GPA's because they failed one course. School policy: 2.0 and pass all classes, some kids were oblivious to the GPA requirement, and begged to keep practicing with the team, I told them "no dice"
I cut 5 simply because there was no ability there. I asked one kid if he had ever played organized baseball, he replied "with my friends in a vacant lot"
He picked up a bat and swung it cross-handed and moved out of the way of a thrown ball while playing catch because he thought the other kid threw the ball too hard. I sent him home for his personal safety.
The others I asked if they really thought they were cut out for the sport and they all answered "no" and I sent them home. Most were there because their friends tried out.
I had another player who did not show up for practice for 4 days and saw me in the hallway everyday and said nothing (That Monday he tells me he is going to cut practice because his stomach hurts) I told him not to come back.
I am down to 14 players, 4 of them have never played organized baseball in their lives. We are going to be a JV program next season and all of the kids come into the school by lottery so there is no real feeder program. If more talent comes throught the pipeline next year and some of my other kids get focused academically those 4 are going to have a hard time finding a role on the team unless they take a giant leap forward.
Our team picture, sharp looking frosh team huh?