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12 replies

What to do?

D Dittoz22Member
Son played LL thru Seniors and then went on to HS ball a few years ago. Was always "in there" in terms of ability, never the standout and never the one who was picked last... Works hard, sees some results... always been very coachable.

Frosh, played F6 but sat about 2/3 of the time in favor of a clearly better player. Alternated in some, got some time and performed "well enough". Batted about .250 as I recall, no E's, stole a few - you get the idea... He wanted to play more of course, but did well when he did come in.

Soph yr, played JV and was the starting SS after frosh SS moved up to Varsity. Played about 80% of the time, had a few E's, hit around .275 and was well thought of.

After Soph yr, played varsity summer ball, coach asked him if he'd ever pitched. Said yeah, for my dad back in LL. Coach decided to make him into a pitcher and he actually did reasonably well. Learned some decent 2-seam movement, threw mid-high 70's and had great control. Rarely gave up a run, usually got batters to ground out, ocassionaly fly out and always kept the ball down. Pitched maybe 2-3 innings in games as a closer but wasn't leaned on real heavily - understandable since he was new at it. Fall season comes and coach put him back out there and he did better yet. Still allowing few hits, good control, etc...

Now, it's spring of Jr year, and he's on the varsity team. We're about 15 games into a 25 game season and he has pitched 3 pitches to exactly one batter all year. (Grounded out for what it matters) Coach absolutely will not put him in a game. He's been in the bullpen when current pitcher is struggling but coach will always put in someone else. Even put in 2 pitchers last game from the field while son was ready to go in the bullpen. Never lets him hit, never lets him pitch, never plays the field. Coach has a history of playing his Seniors, but to take cold pitchers in front of a warmed up one, and to never let him play, something is going on and it is not good.
We once asked coach about an outside pitching coach that I know well to help him develop and his very quick and firm response was "DON'T". Only want him working with our staff - too easy to learn bad habits...

So at this point, the boy is crazy frustrated, he's ready to quit ball entirely. I've told him to hang in there and see if he plays more this summer when the Seniors have moved on, but he is just ****ed.

Thinking about letting him play in a summer league outside of HS, but not sure what's around at the 17/18u level. Have not really looked yet...

Thoughts? Suggestions? He tried talking to the coach but gets diverted and brushed off and as parents, we're discouraged from approaching coaches of course...
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D Dittoz22Member
You know, you're actually right !

Let me expand on this a bit further...

Starting pitcher - #1 is flat out awesome. Usually pitches a CG, but is occasionally pulled in the 6th/7th.

#2 usually makes it to the 5th and is then pulled, but usually does well for the first 4+ innings.

#3 is sometimes on / sometimes off, when he's on, great, but when he's off, he gets hammered.

#4 is always on, but is often hit hard. Cannot say why - good speed, good control - just one of them things...

#3 and 4 often come in as relief and #5 occasionally does. When they're off, they're pulled fairly quickly and one of the other 2 replaces them as the 3rd pitcher of the game. This quick switch has happened several times, which should indicate the relative lack of true quality these 3 have in terms of reliability and success. Don't get me wrong, all 3 throw hard and have control - the other teams just tend to hit the h*** out of them.

It's at this 3rd change that I begin to take issue. More often than not, as in maybe 75% of the time, the choice of that 3rd pitchers winds up being a mistake. We've lost or almost lost several games as a result of hitters preying on the 3/4/5 pitchers who come in to close, yet (and I hate to say it this way) my son never gets the opportunity to even appear. It's clear that the 3/4 pitchers have some success and #5 shouldn't be ignored, but they fail as much as they succeed and if that's the case, why not give the #6 (my boy) a shotat least once in awhile? With his limited opportunity and success in varsity summer ball last year, he definitely has the potential.

There's also a #7 and a #8, but let's not go there... 7 has a terrible attitude and 8 should be playing s****r or something other than baseball...

I would agree with the "why change" question, but after you get past #2, 3-4-5-6 are all very similar on the mound and 4 vs. my son at the plate is a no brainer - 4 simply cannot hit a ball - ever. (3 and 5 hit quite well)

I know, I'm a dad and of course biased, but I just don't understand why a coach warms up a pitcher in the bullpen only to enter a "cold" one off the field...
Last edited by Dittoz22
zombywoofzombywoof1,000+ posts
quote:
I just don't understand why a coach warms up a pitcher in the bullpen only to enter a "cold" one off the field...


It probably comes down to who the HC really trusts at the time he's making the pitching change. I used to see that a lot in HS where pitchers are warming up on the side that are on the bench and the HC makes a change and goes with a position player who hadn't warmed up all game because he's in the field all game.
Last edited by zombywoof
D Dittoz22Member
Sure, and it's hard to describe the situation adewquately on an internet posting, but yes - I can certainly see the tendency to go with whatcha know.

Problem is, he's been wrong so many times (and others acknowledge the same thing) that you'd think he'd at least give a shot to another.

I've told the boy to just hang in there and see what happens in summer ball, which the coach makes mandatory, but if he then goes back to the same thing next spring, the game is over for my son unless we try to afford a travel program at 18u.
zombywoofzombywoof1,000+ posts
quote:
Problem is, he's been wrong so many times (and others acknowledge the same thing) that you'd think he'd at least give a shot to another.


It don't matter to the coach whether everybody thinks he's wrong or not. If he's winning, he's definitely not changing and if he's losing, he thinks he has nobody else to run out there. That's just the way it is with some of these coaches.
Last edited by zombywoof
Dad04Dad045,000+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by RJM:
Number of innings for the number five and six pitchers at my son's high school .... zippo.


It is the same thing in college on a good team, at least. Most college teams have maybe 15 or 16 pitchers or more. I'd say 80-90% of the innings go to 50% of the pitchers on good teams. The innings get spread out more evenly on average to mediocre teams. It is the nature of the beast.

Ditto, I'm not sure what to tell you other than what he is doing has left him with little game time. Exploring additional opportunities with a pitching coach and summer team might help.
TPMTPMHSBaseballweb Member since 2003
What to do..nothing.

Not sure what it is today, no one has patience and everyone claims their kids are better than who the coach is playing.

There is a reason why some get more time than others. It seems like the coach plays older players, as it should be if they are getting the job done.

Follow Dad's suggestions, get in some pitching lessons and find a team to play on for summer and fall.

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