What if your son doesn't make the freshman team?

Here is an update on Wes - He did go talk to one of the coaches - the assistant varsity coach. The coach said he though Wes was good and had voted for Wes to be on the team. He though some of the other coaches felt Wes didn't have a strong enough arm and encouraged Wes to talk to the head coach and find out. Wes plans to do that today.

Another thing Wes told me was that there were many sophomores at the tryouts. That was a suprise and suggests that this is probably a combined Fresh-Soph team. Friends of mine have since confirmed that many schools do have a combine Fresh-Soph team. So I have told Wes that when he talks to th head coach he needs to find out how many how many of those trying out were Sophomores. I plan to followup by talking to the coach myself to try and asses what the real chances are for Wes to make the team in the future. What I am guessing is that this is a combined Fresh-Soph team which is why the coach had told me some months ago that Freshmen who make the team are on it for 2 years and don't try out again the next year.

I see several posts that basically are saying we should just accept the fact that Wes doesn't have the talent and never will. While this may indeed turn out to be true, it's difficult for me to believe that at 14 years of age this should be the final conclusion. Wes is still growing and developing. He is 5'6" and 120 lbs. He was only 13 when he started high school. Several of his coaches, including Ira Green, Shawn Greens father, who worked with Wes, told us almost 2 years ago, to hold Wes back a year before high school. He said this was commonly done by parents and that it would give Wes another year to develop and practice before HS baseball. I asked other parents and discovered that it is common told hold back boys by a year before entering the school system. Many of the kids trying out for the team are almost a year older then Wes. We discussed this but it's one thing to hold a kid back a year before 1st grade and another to make him repeat a grade when he has already developed firends and his grades are good.

Ira was, himself, a high school baseball coach, and had taught Wes how to hit. Wes was a good hitter in LL. After Wes was done with LL and was no longer working with Ira we ran into him and his wife at a Dodgers game. By coincidence we had seats two rows behind his at that game. Half way through the game Ira's wife, Judy, sat down with Wes and talked to him.

Judy told Wes, "Wes, Ira works with kids from your age (12) all the way through college and you were one of his favorites because you always listened, worked hard, and improved. As you grow up you will find a lot of people who will tell you you don't have wat it takes to make it. DON"T LISTEN TO ANY OF THEM! But do keep your grades up. Good grades will help open doors for you."

Wes doesn't have as much natural talent as some kids his age - no question. He would (and has) tell you that himself. But as I look back at the kids Wes has played with that did have exceptional talent, they were often big for their age and had played a lot of baseball because they had dads that played the game a lot and they had started early. We didn' even know about travel teams until Wes was done playing in the LL Majors. What I discovered was that travel teams are more competetive then LL, coaching is usually better then LL, they play more, and that many kids start playing on travel teams at the age of 8. Wes didn't start playing travel ball until he was 12.

Ira Green & Wes

Bump...

My son plays ball for a very large Texas HS, where very large numbers of kids try out for the team.

There were probably three or so kids who should have made the team. They were definitely better players than three of the kids who made the team. Those things happen.

If they keep working hard, they should stand a decent chance of making the team as soph's. They will have to overcome the "incumbent" status of those who did make the team this year. And be demonstrably better than the freshmen coming out. But it isn't impossible.

Darrel Miller, Brother to Reggie and Cheryl(sp). Was cut his Freshman and Sophomore years, made it his Jr. year started his Sr. year blew up and was drafted by and played ball for the Ca. Angels. He was the bullpin catcher for Donnie Moore in that fateful year of 1986. Don't be too quick to give up the major league is full of guys that did not make the HS team their freshman year.

At 5’ 6” and a 120 pounds, I wouldn’t expect him to have a gun for an arm. I don’t know what your family history is for growth or where Wes is in puberty, however it sounds like he is just a pup and we all know of pups who ended up growing up to be big dogs.

Mr. Wes, pretend you are looking at Wes from a scouts perspective and you are projecting him a couple years down the road. Does he have the solid fundamentals right now that are just waiting for him to mature?

If you can honestly say it looks like he is going to be a player, by all means, don’t let his dream be blocked by a few older players who just happened to shave when they are 15.

I was cut my Freshman and Sophomore years. I had a terrible attitude and was constantly in fights. During my Junior year, I tried so hard to change my attitude and thanks to a great teacher, Orville Yocum, I kept out of the office and in school. I led my team in BA my Junior and Senior year. Keep working and don't give up. I've had 2 kids make our team here after being cut as a freshman.

Please don't take this in a bad way. But you repeatedly stated that Wes worked really hard for 18 months. That is like 18 days. The kids that excell early in HS have been working like crazy for 8 years before they step on a HS field. When you step on a HS field you have to have something that catches the coaches eye. Strong arm, power in your bat, speed, great fielding fundementals and yes size helps but not without the pre menitoned attributes. Playing travel ball is great and working 18 months is great. But kids that have been working since they were 7-8 years old and preparing for the next level before they get 18 months from it have a huge advantage over the rest. That does not mean that your son is finished. What it means is he was behind and now he has to continue to work another 9 months untill tryouts next year.

This topic was started a year ago. MWR-VA is having fun today reactivating old topics by bumping them back to current.

Q: Does anyone know if "kathwomyn" & "lsomers" 's son ever made the freshman team last year? Are they still posters? Hope there was a happy ending to this story.

Yeah, my reaction too -- this got bumped up from last year. What's going on?

RHP05Parent...

"MWR-VA is having fun today". I like that !

On another forum, I was questioned as to "why" as you did.

As you probably know, when someone "bumps" a post, it is simply because someone feels that the question and/or answers should be made available for others to see again.

There have been many, many excellent questions asked over the years on the hsbbweb and it's that time of year again when a lot of the same type questions continue to get asked by our websters.

Great conversation in the past and I feel a need to bring some of these questions back so our new folks on the hsbbweb can learn as well.

Nothing personal toward anyone, just important questions or answers that I felt was appropriate to re-discuss or provide as an fyi to our members.

MWR-VA,
They were all good articles to "bump" back to our attention. Thx

I know that this topic was replied to a very long time ago, but there is something absurdly wrong with telling any kid who gets cut that "even Michael Jordan got cut". Although its warm and fuzzy thought to make us all feel good, no one is Michael Jordan and to make the comparison is not fair to the child. Its like saying, Ok, you got cut but you are going to be Michael Jordan some day so don't worry. We are talking about the greatest player ever, with god given natural ability. Not everyone is born that way. The correct reply is to keep working hard and set a goal. But at the same time, not everyone has the talent or the drive to take it to the next level no matter how great their parents think they are. Parents all think their son is the next superstar and are not objective. If he does not make his team, keep working hard, but at the same time, someone else out there is also working hard, so there is a lot of luck involved as well. 

While I agree with the general direction of your post, I disagree with part of the Michael Jordan statement.  Now I have never, nor would I ever, tell my son the Jordan analogy.  Truth is Jordan did not make the varsity team as a sophomore, but did play JV.  But you can not say that he would not have become the greatest had he not suffered that disappointment.  These are his words (1991) from an interview when he was asked about the experience of not making the varsity team:

 

 

``It`s OK, though,`` Jordan said. ``It`s probably good that it happened.``

Good?

``I think so,`` he said. It was almost time for him to go upstairs onto the Stadium floor and hear the amazing, shuddering roar that comes from the crowd every time they catch sight of him.

``It was good because it made me know what disappointment felt like,`` he said. ``And I knew that I didn`t want to have that feeling ever again.``

If he's into the game, then he will work on what needs to be improved and try out again next year. I don't think gettng cut from the freshmnan team is an automatic cut for good necessarily. The one thing coaches will do, whether they're top flight coaches or clueless ones is keep talented players or athletes who show some ability to play. There was one player from our school  who didn't even try out for baseball until his senior year and not only did  he make the varsity team but he had considerable playing time and was the regular DH when he wasn't in the field. His main sport is soccer and is playing on a scholarship in college but is an athletic kid who did play rec and all-star baseball. By not playing for the first three years, I don't know how he was on the varsity baseball coach's radar but he obviously had a good enough tryout to make the team.

 

Point is if you can play, you should make the team.

 

If he loves the game, he should seek out the varsity coach and ask him what he needs to do to have a shot at the next tryouts

And yes, forget the Michael Jordan comparison. He didn't get cut. Playing JV ball as a soph done by many big time athletes.