It has been suggest that my son(2019) approach the high school coach about being team manager as a way to get an leg up on kids competing for the high school team. This could mean he will be playing less baseball with his travel. Is the tradeoff worth it?
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Someone suggested your son suck up to the coach vs. play. Eliminate them as a resource. Pronto
Gosh, that's a horrible idea. You get better by playing. Your son will have plenty of chances to rake dirt and drag hoses around when he's a freshman.
The feeling is that he will be better prepared for high school ball if he can be around the players and coaches. Like those above, playing more ball seems like the way to get on the team.
Other kids from past feeder teams have been managers and it seems to be a coveted spot at the school.
I appreciate the replies.
I don't understand how dealing with equipment and being a gopher makes someone a better player or places a kid in a better position to make the team. I've never heard of such an approach. When I played high school sports and my kids played managers were kids without talent who loved the sport. The way to make the high school team is practice, play, improve and impress the coach in tryouts.
Nah. Around here, managers are usually a non-athletic student who volunteer to keep score and stats and do gofer work for the head coach. Better off just playing ball and getting a leg up that way. I guess the one perk for them is they may get a varsity letter at some point for their time and participation. IMO, they're better off working a part time job after school. At least they're earning money instead of being an unpaid hangaround. However, it does beat doing nothing after school so I suppose you really can't knock it.
My older son has been keeping baseball stats since he was 8 at minor and major league games. Loves doing it. (Currently doing it in another sport at an ACC school).
He played LL and a bit of travel ball, but when high school tryouts came, he "saw 20 people better than him" on the sign-up list and gracefully bowed out of tryouts.
However, since he was a math-kinda-guy, he kept stats for the Varsity HS team for 3 years and compiled all the season and school records.
The benefits: Being part of a state contender team (that likely produced at least one future major league player). Getting cool gear. Doing something that he loved doing. Taking 3 cool spring break trips. (He never had to rake the field or do laundry).
Would he have traded that to be a player on the team if he had had the talent? Absolutely. But only 6-7 guys from his class got to play on the team, and most had the talent to play on in college.
Be a player as long as you can....but there is nothing wrong at all for being part of the team in other ways. (I agree with the other posters, don't trade off playing baseball for managing the team).
If this is a local thing. Ask around, have a good amount of Varsity players been Managers? Will they work around his Baseball schedule?
Does he want to play after HS, and does he have a realistic chance to? If he does I would have my sone my son play instead of manage. Or is he going to not play after HS. Look what has happened with other players that managed.
In California that would be seen as illegal recruiting.
Worst.Idea.Ever.
In California that would be seen as illegal recruiting.
Are you kidding? If not, what CIF Bylaw makes you say that? I admit I'm not the best when it comes to eligibility and recruiting, but I'm willing to learn.
It’s pretty easy to see there’s a real difference of opinion as to whether someone doing basically what an assistant coach or other volunteer does on many teams, as opposed to being a “real” part of the team who performs a valuable service. Kids who act as “manager” on HS teams around here, get credit for their required community service hours, so someone sees what they do as having value, even though they may be non-athletic.
Question: What are the perks to being the HS team manager?
Answer: Obviously the girls. What else is there. 
He might be so good at the managers job that the coach decides he helps the team more in that role!
I don't understand how dealing with equipment and being a gopher makes someone a better player or places a kid in a better position to make the team. I've never heard of such an approach. When I played high school sports and my kids played managers were kids without talent who loved the sport. The way to make the high school team is practice, play, improve and impress the coach in tryouts.
After I read this I thought you had told me a couple of years ago in a thread that your son became a team manager at his college. It stood out in my mind as there's a way for a kid to that wanted to stay involved with a program
. A quick search showed me my memory does work at times. How did that work out for him?
Below is the quote from the thread.
October 9, 2012 11:06 AM
He sucked it up and asked to be a team manager if he could work out with the team whenever possible. While not a catcher he spend time in the bullpen catching pitchers who scared him to death until he got used to it. His former travel coach arranged for him to play on a 20U team
I don't understand how dealing with equipment and being a gopher makes someone a better player or places a kid in a better position to make the team. I've never heard of such an approach. When I played high school sports and my kids played managers were kids without talent who loved the sport. The way to make the high school team is practice, play, improve and impress the coach in tryouts.
After I read this I thought you had told me a couple of years ago in a thread that your son became a team manager at his college. It stood out in my mind as there's a way for a kid to that wanted to stay involved with a program
. A quick search showed me my memory does work at times. How did that work out for him?
Below is the quote from the thread.
October 9, 2012 11:06 AM
He sucked it up and asked to be a team manager if he could work out with the team whenever possible. While not a catcher he spend time in the bullpen catching pitchers who scared him to death until he got used to it. His former travel coach arranged for him to play on a 20U team
It was a very unique circumstance. It was so he could get exposure in BP. He had been injured. He left for college on a scout's recommendation to the coach he had recovered.. There wasn't a roster spot for him that year. He was guaranteed a roster spot the following year. What he did had nothing to do with making the team. But it showed motivation to do whatever necessary to be prepared for the following year.
In California that would be seen as illegal recruiting.
Are you kidding? If not, what CIF Bylaw makes you say that? I admit I'm not the best when it comes to eligibility and recruiting, but I'm willing to learn.
It would constitute prior contact. We had this situation come up last year where my JV coach had an 8th grader that he wanted to bring to practice to be a team manager. AD said we should contact CIF because the kid was coming to our school as a 9th grader. CIF said that would constitute prior contact and he would be ineligible to compete at the varsity level his Freshman year. What By law is it, don't know. The one that talks about prior contact.
+1 on that. We had a situation at our LL a few years back. New head coach of the HS inside our boundary came to one of our board meetings and offered to run free clinics for our players. Seemed like a nice offer, eh? Um, no. Another coach got wind of it and filed a complaint with the section. The first coach and his A.D. got some kind of sanction letter but no other action because there wasn't any actual contact.
Originally Posted by IEBSBL:
It would constitute prior contact. We had this situation come up last year where my JV coach had an 8th grader that he wanted to bring to practice to be a team manager. AD said we should contact CIF because the kid was coming to our school as a 9th grader. CIF said that would constitute prior contact and he would be ineligible to compete at the varsity level his Freshman year. What By law is it, don't know. The one that talks about prior contact.
Maybe I’m just not understanding what you’re referring to. You didn’t include a quote or who you were replaying to when you said In California that would be seen as illegal recruiting. So if you wouldn’t mind, could you go back and let me know who you were responding to?
Agree with BackstopDad32 . I'd drop them from my advice column.
I am the original poster. I have gone through the roster for the past 3 seasons and being a manager in 8th grade is a clear path for JV and Varsity. In nearly every case 8th grade managers went on to play JV and Varsity baseball.
I could find nothing in the rules for my state prohibiting contact with middle school students.
Stats,
Seems like it would a violation of #2, maybe others:
Forgive my ignorance on this,,, In that area are kids free to select whatever high school they wish, or are they locked in by residency boundaries?
I ask because we had a similar issue at our school last year. Our varsity head coach had coached a 14U summer team for a local showcase program. A few of the kids from that team went on to attend the high school. This wasn't an issue for kids that were assigned to the school because of residency - however it was an issue for kids who were at the school via reassignment of any type.
Everybody turns a blind eye to recruiting here pretty much because the only real impact is to the players. Yes - a school would be sanctioned as well, but most coaches don't want to force a kid to have to sit out a year.
Well, forget about the rules issue, and also about any concern about middle school managers not making the V team eventually.
I would still not have my kid doing it because a) his time would be better spent playing baseball, and b) not sure I'd want my 8th grader hanging out with a bunch of 17yo young men who I do not know.
Stats,
Seems like it would a violation of #2, maybe others:
Forgive my ignorance on this,,, In that area are kids free to select whatever high school they wish, or are they locked in by residency boundaries?
I ask because we had a similar issue at our school last year. Our varsity head coach had coached a 14U summer team for a local showcase program. A few of the kids from that team went on to attend the high school. This wasn't an issue for kids that were assigned to the school because of residency - however it was an issue for kids who were at the school via reassignment of any type.
Everybody turns a blind eye to recruiting here pretty much because the only real impact is to the players. Yes - a school would be sanctioned as well, but most coaches don't want to force a kid to have to sit out a year.
Rob, that's a complicated question, and there are others here who know more about this, but most districts have open enrollment, so that if there are 5 schools in the district students can pick which one they want, so long as it's not "impacted", in which case they may have to test in or pick another school. Many if not most districts will also take students from out of district, because they get more money for each student. Even when transfer is not otherwise allowed, by law, if students are in a low performing school they can transfer to a high-performing school. Also, private and parochial schools are included in the body, CIF, that makes the athletic rules, so the rules both constrain and protect them, supposedly.
As for the issue you mention, yeah, it does happen here, and it does p!ss people off big time, but it's hard to regulate when the students enter their travel coach's school as Frosh because they don't have to declare their athletic affiliations on entering. Because students have to file paperwork to the CIF for a transfer, that seems to be regulated much more closely, and I've seen plenty of kids lose part or all of a season after transferring.
... b) not sure I'd want my 8th grader hanging out with a bunch of 17yo young men who I do not know.
This is a good point. There is a big difference between 13-14 year olds and high school seniors. For the most part I think baseball players are typically good kids, but on any team there are bound to be kids you don't want an impressionable 8th grader around. Heck, my kid is a sophomore and there are seniors on the team I don't want him anywhere near.
In my son's old HS program, occasionally their will be bat boys from younger grades. They do not attend practices or scrimmages and they are only at games. If they have a conflict with the team they are playing with, be it practice or a game they are expected to go to the practice or game.
They HS boys enjoy having the younger kids around for games and in the dug out. They are under strict orders on how to behave. The coach would not want one of these kids at a practice. Too much work to do.
I was replying to you Stats.
I could find nothing in the rules for my state prohibiting contact with middle school students.
Too.tall, it looks like you live in my state.
In the county where keewartson lives, there are no middle school baseball teams. Therefore, under VHSL rules, as an 8th grader he can try out for JV at the high school. (keewartson did, and made it, as well as 7 other players that year.)
Although obviously the coach had contact with these middle schoolers, they could not play on the varsity team as an 8th grader, due to the 4 year limit (ok, I guess they could, but would forfeit their senior year.)
Does your middle school have a baseball team? If not, and he is 8th grade, he should try out for the HS JV team. (Your county should have some rules on this).
If you notice a trend, and your middle schooler can still play travel ball or rec ball on the weekends as well as manage hs during the week, I would consider it.
Originally Posted by IEBSBL:
I was replying to you Stats.
Now I’m really confused. When you said “In California that would be seen as illegal recruiting”, I hadn’t made a post in this thread. Someplace in the 8 previous posts to that one of yours, something had to prompt you to say that. If I knew what it was, I might be able to dig an answer out of the Constitution and Bylaws.
The kid who was manager all four years that my son played high school took his job seriously, and was the right hand man for the coach by his junior year. He eventually picked up part-time jobs at the school mowing grass, and running the concessions for weekend tournaments at the high school field.
Now that he's graduated, he still works part-time, and is capable of running the field for weekend tournaments, doing concessions and dragging the field, everything. It worked out well for him and he ended up with part-time work.
Stafford: that's the guy we want to be the manager. Not some kid that can PLAY. the player needs to be out playing and practicing.
Originally Posted by IEBSBL:
I was replying to you Stats.
Now I’m really confused. When you said “In California that would be seen as illegal recruiting”, I hadn’t made a post in this thread. Someplace in the 8 previous posts to that one of yours, something had to prompt you to say that. If I knew what it was, I might be able to dig an answer out of the Constitution and Bylaws.
When I made that post that was just a comment to the OP. When I replied with the situation that had happened with us it was in response to your post below
In California that would be seen as illegal recruiting.
Are you kidding? If not, what CIF Bylaw makes you say that? I admit I'm not the best when it comes to eligibility and recruiting, but I'm willing to learn.
Originally Posted by jolietboy:
Where I live most really good players don't even play high school anymore. …
Really? MOST really good players huh. Are you sure you’re not exaggeratin’ just a tad, or maybe you’re talking about one very small area.
I’m sure I could be wrong because I’ve been wrong plenty of times before, but I’m guessing a lot of parents and players in and around the 53189 area code would take issue with your statement. 
I am in agreement with Stat boy on this. Not sure where you are but this is not happening here. Every year there are top draft picks coming out of Southern California. In fact I can only think of 1 top draft guy who opted out of HS baseball.
Originally Posted by jolietboy:
Again I think it is due to playing summer ball here for high school. They sort of have to choose. In southern cal I assume hs season is in the spring. So that is probably why it doesn't happen there and does happen here.
Now I understand. I’d forgotten that there are some states that don’t play spring HSBB. I don’t think a lot of people are even aware of that, so would you mind telling everyone about it. When does it start, finish, how many games, etc..
