Son's experience was up and down. Won a state title which was very exciting. Probably should have won two though. Coach had a lot of issues. There were signs throughout and they really showed up his Jr year. The coach was eventually escorted out of the school. Senior year was missed due to Covid, but it was going to be a disaster. They hired a young coach who was nowhere near ready. Football was great though and college baseball has been even better.
My kid had plenty of ups and downs. Senior year, it was fun to watch him dominate. He played every position besides pitcher & catcher, and hit over .400 with a .700+ SLG
One of his HR’s that year cleared the 20 foot trees that were behind the left field fence.
The biggest thing was that he finished high school with a 3.7 GPA, which along with his hitting was the biggest factor in getting recruited, and THE biggest factor in getting the significant academic scholarship that he received at the D3 school he is now attending as a freshman
@d-mac posted:Son's experience was up and down. Won a state title which was very exciting. Probably should have won two though. Coach had a lot of issues. There were signs throughout and they really showed up his Jr year. The coach was eventually escorted out of the school. Senior year was missed due to Covid, but it was going to be a disaster. They hired a young coach who was nowhere near ready. Football was great though and college baseball has been even better.
Wait, so you mean the coach with issues is the one who won state titles?
@anotherparent posted:Wait, so you mean the coach with issues is the one who won state titles?
Yes. He won one. We were loaded for two years.
@Francis7 posted:Was it the greatest time ever, like in the movies and on TV, or, in retrospect, was it not at all as expected and there was relief that it was over? Or, was it somewhere in between awesome and disappointing?
F7. It is currently the greatest time ever. 2023 is a D2 commit and playing so relaxed. ( Im relaxed also). As of yest, he's hitting .560,slugging .980, ops 1.6 and in lead for conference batting title. I know its just HS but it is the time of wife and my lives
@Dadbelly2023 posted:F7. It is currently the greatest time ever. 2023 is a D2 commit and playing so relaxed. ( Im relaxed also). As of yest, he's hitting .560,slugging .980, ops 1.6 and in lead for conference batting title. I know its just HS but it is the time of wife and my lives
That is great to hear. HS baseball should be that way - in theory - for everyone. Hardly is tho. Count your lucky stars and finish strong!
Class of '22 going to D3 in the fall.
2019/Frosh: slowly emerged as one of the go-to relievers on the team and ended up starting on the mound in the JV championship game, and got the win.
2020/soph. Last cut from Vars. Started and won 3 JV games pretty handily, so called up to Vars. A week later Covid cancels season.
2021: Like many others an abbreviated season. Was #4 pitcher after tryouts, performed well in some tense situations, emerged as primary reliever and won the league semifinal game with 4 innings of shutout relief.
2022: Begins season as team's#1 pitcher and stays that way until the season ended on Saturday in spectacularly depressing fashion. Play-in game for state tournament. Home team. After 6 innings we're ahead 4-1. Pitch count is at 80. 5 ks, 1 bb, 4h. Rolling along. Walks first batter in top of 7th on a 3-2 pitch, every pitch close. Coach comes out and pulls him, puts in a craft lefty for, we learn later, a lefty on lefty matchup. Crafty lefty gives up a weak ground ball that gets through the infield. Coach pulls crafty lefty and re-inserts my son. I go quietly nuts. He's completely out of rhythm now and gives up two more bleeder grounders that don't even get to the outfielders. Coach pulls him for seldom used but physically intimidating guy who one day may end up being a dude. Just not today: wild pitch scores a run, then intentional walk, and hit batter. Need ANOTHER reliever to finally shut them down. Now score is 7-4, we're behind but there's no time for a comeback. The other team goes to states. We go home .
Much wailing and gnashing of teeth.
I feel for you, especially about the ending. I wasn't even at my son's final HS game, we were so sure that they were going to win and move on that I went to another event. At least your son got to play a full season of baseball this year, frustrating end and all.
Kid is miserable. He will not be fully cleared to field until 5/23. He is losing ABs and the coach is pushing him to hit on grounders and swing direct to ball. He was placating the coach during practices but the coach seemed to catch on at games and clipped his playing time. I suspect the baseball frustration is just a convenient excuse masking the stress of moving on to the next phase of his life. While he prepared for life on his own starting last year (shopping, cooking, doing laundry and more recently driving), I think the rapidly shortening time with his friends (maybe family too) is getting to him.
Excerpt from Rules for a Knight.
…..”Excuse me, sirs,” mumbled the mother, with a face twisted and unhappy. “We are traveling and looking for a new home. What are the people like in the town up ahead?”
“What were the people like in the town where you came from?” Sir Richard asked in return.
“Oh, it was awful, People lied and cheated. We were terribly unhappy,” the mother snarled, full of anger and disappointment.
“Oh, yes,” the father added spitefully. “No one was kind. It was a dreary place, and we were glad to leave it.”
“Well there are many people like that in this town.” stated Sir Richard. “I worry you will be miserable here too.”
“Thank you very much,” the father called out, shooting a scowl towards his wife. “Good riddance! We’ll keep moving on.”
The small children looked weary as the wagon rolled on. Later, closer to evening, another family was seen traveling along the road. They were similarly loaded down with belongings and children.
“Excuse me,” the father called out to us. “We are traveling and looking for a new home. What are the people like in the town up ahead?”
“What were the people like where you came from?’ Sir Richard asked, in a fashion similar to when he’d asked the previous family.
“Oh! We were so happy,” the father replied. “The people were all kind and warm.”
“We hated to leave,” the mother added. “We had so many friends!”
“Well, don’t worry, up ahead there are many people just like your friends.” Richard laughed in his giant, warm way. “I think you will be very happy here.”
Aren’t you clever?
I just watched an old Skip Bertram video where he stacked 25 nickels on top of on another as an analogy to building a team. In proper condition the nickels stack easily. But then he added a couple of nickels that were bent out of shape and the stack came tumbling down. Point obviously being that you can’t build on a bent out of shape component. It’s a great visual that illustrates how every nickel (player) has to have the proper shape (attitude) in order to build the foundation of a team. And that’s true. But what if the HC is the one that’s bending the nickels out of shape and not an outside influence? Doesn’t he have the same culpability? I say he has even more. Loyalty is earned - not demanded.
Skip was the best at that kind of stuff.
@d8 posted:Skip was the best at that kind of stuff.
Yeah, I liked it.
this, from 2022 NYC: I think the rapidly shortening time with his friends (maybe family too) is getting to him.
I think this is often underestimated and/or misunderstood by both parents and kid.
Season is ending soon for my Junior.
So far HS ball has been a mixed bag. His school is the largest classification in the state and most of the teams in the league have a handful of guys going on to play at the next level (the top team in the league has five(!) D1 commits, which is a LOT considering that we don't exactly live in a baseball hotbed).
2020/Freshman: he made the JV team before they were sent home for "two weeks" the day before the first game was scheduled.
2021/Sophomore: he ended up playing most of the year on JV, the senior Varsity guys in his position both ended up playing in college. He hit about .500 on JV and got called up to Varsity for the last 5 games of the year and played in limited spots off the bench. I think he got 3 ABs, but ended up pitching 2 scoreless innings against the #1 team in the state to end the season.
2022/Junior: he made the Varsity team and has been the starting SS for every game that he hasn't pitched in. The team is loaded with seniors but most of them are pretty average, the team plays hard but has struggled against better talent. My son is having a great year on defense but is batting around .250, which is his worst average by far in any season he's ever played. He's been pitching more the second half of the season because some of the seniors that were supposed to carry the pitching load this year just haven't performed. He loves his teammates but is frustrated, I think he's looking forward to summer.
Next year looks to be rough, for some reason there are only 5 juniors in the HS program this year and the sophomore class looks pretty average. There are a bunch of good freshmen this year but they're going to be awfully young next year.
@2023Dad posted:My son is having a great year on defense but is batting around .250, which is his worst average by far in any season he's ever played.
This is the jump to varsity. I remember at the end of the year banquet, all the freshmen and jv players had way higher batting averages than the varsity players.
@anotherparent posted:This is the jump to varsity. I remember at the end of the year banquet, all the freshmen and jv players had way higher batting averages than the varsity players.
For sure. The pitching has been head and shoulders better than what he's accustomed to, not to mention the defense. He's gotten out on a lot of balls that he hit pretty hard.
Players that are successful in baseball are those that stay true to the process of development and don’t get caught up in the immediate outcome. Unfortunately most people devote their time and attention to the outcome and not the process. Sub varsity players are still developing. Hitters are facing pitchers that aren’t developed and vice versa. Their stats are meaningless. They are not an indicator of how they will do on varsity. Just because a kid hits.400 on JV doesn’t mean he can hit varsity pitching. Maybe he can but maybe he can’t. Same holds true for varsity players that want to advance to college. Success (defined as impressive stats) in HS doesn’t always translate to success in college. What is a better indicator is how good (or not) a player’s fundamentals are. How good are his throwing & hitting mechanics? How high is his baseball IQ? Does he understand how to play the game in a way that produces wins? How much improvement can you project? Those are the things that should be focused on as a player grows and matures. Not statistics and measurables. But of course that’s not how it is. With most players/parents the focus is on the outcome and not the process - which can actually limit a kids potential.
I’ve enjoyed reading all these. Son will be in HS next year. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
@Francis7 posted:Was it the greatest time ever, like in the movies and on TV, or, in retrospect, was it not at all as expected and there was relief that it was over? Or, was it somewhere in between awesome and disappointing?
Looking back now (son graduated HS 10 years ago) it ranks as one of the most enjoyable times of my life. No, it wasn't like the movies. Real life seldom is.
Freshman year - starting 3B. Played some behind the plate. Played and hit well. Glad he didn't play varsity as the coach was a real a__. Varsity only won three games and one of those was by forfeit.
Sophomore year - new varsity coach. New coach had a little history - had gotten ejected at a game at his previous school so there were some concerns. I researched it and it really was something out of nothing. Son makes varsity and is the starting catcher. Of the 15 or so on the team, 9 or 10 of them were from the local travel team my son played on so they knew each other. Team makes the playoffs for the first time in a decade only to lose out in the district playoffs.
Junior year - son moved to 3B at coach's request. A lot of expectation since those on the travel team are all seniors (except my son). Team plays well, but stumbles and misses the playoffs by one game. Son had two HR's that year.
Senior year - son now at 1B. By the coach's own admission, he saved their bacon many times by scooping low throws out of the dirt. We really did not know what to expect. Was it to be a magical season? We had no clue. I made it a point to be a every game no matter what. By mid-season the team is in a three-way race for the district crown. Every game is critical. On Senior Night the team defeats one of those in the race for the playoffs 10-0. Revenge for losing 2-1 earlier in the season. The three teams finish the season tied for first. District playoffs include the top 4 teams and we are the host. We are ranked the #2 seed. The #1 seed loses to the #4 seed in the first round. My son's team eeks out a close win against the #3 seed.
Championship game has us against the #4 seed (defending district championship). Both teams will advance to regionals no matter who wins. Going into the 5th inning we are down 5-2 and things don't look good. Our ace pitcher (a 5 tool player who would be drafted that year) comes to the plate with one on. He mashes one over CF to cut the lead to one. Defensive pitching for the next inning and a half. Bottom of the 7th we have 8-9-1 in the lineup coming to bat. Eight and nine are put out in quick succession. Our ace is now coming to bat. Opposing coach intentionally walks him - didn't want to take a chance on another HR blast from him. My son now comes to bat. Runner steals 2nd after a few pitches to get in scoring position. Son works the count to 3-1. Pitcher throws a good pitch to the inside but it is tailing towards the middle of the plate. Son rips it over the 3B's head deep into the left field corner for stand up RBI double. Only time I ever saw him pumping his fist as he got to 2B. TIE GAME! Next batter grounds out. On to the 8th. Our relief pitcher is lights out and the top half of the 8th is over quickly. Our turn. One out quickly. The catcher (son's best friend) manages to beat out a throw to 1B. Substitute runner (who is faster) is put in. Manages to steal 2B. Next batter hits one up the middle - it literally hits the pitching rubber and takes a "good" bounce and the runner from 2B scores the winning run. Bedlam erupts! First district championship in 25 years.
Son's team would go on to lose a heartbreaker in the state quarterfinal. After trailing 2-0 for 6 innings we score 3 in the top of the 7th to take a narrow lead. Coach takes out our ace at that point - his pitch count was at 127 and coach didn't want to ruin his arm (not to mention he'd been drafted that very day). Relief pitcher gets one out, but walks the next one. Next batter hits a dying liner towards RF. RF'er makes a dive for it and misses. Runner from 1B is digging as hard as he can. Relay is coming in. It's gonna be close - safe! Coach pulls the outfield in. If they hit over their heads the game is over. Runner on 3B. Batter hits a blooper that just clears the infield. Game over. Son is the last one out of the dugout and he is in tears. He really believed it was their destiny to win the state championship. Gave him the longest hug ever and told him, "You did your best and now it's onto Legion for the summer and college in the fall."
I could be wrong - maybe someone could have made a movie about that season. It certainly had enough drama.
I would say second to College experience; but thoroughly enjoyed the 4 years. Played on competitive but not elite SoCal Team. (Div 3) I know we played @cabagedad team in non league games.
- Freshmen: Played on Freshmen team. Number 1 pitcher, started in OF. Most freshmen played on Freshmen team but some were moved up to JV and one to V. Ignored the chatter why "so and so was playing where." Great experience.
- Soph: Number 3 pitcher, starting OF, but way down in the order. Over the season moved up in the order until late in the season hit in the 3 hole.
- Jr: Number 1 pitcher, starting OF, 3 hole hitter.
- Sr: Number 1 pitcher, starting OF, 3 hole hitter.
Went on to play college ball at a national championship D3. One constant was the the kids that went on to play college baseball were the ones on the field post practice and weekends at the field. You would also find those same kids in the gym in the evenings.
Son has had an interesting Sr season. Started out not getting much playing time on field other than a few innings pitching. He kept asking the coach if he was going to get an at bat during the game. I guess coach finally got tired of being asked so he put him in a game in the middle of the season. Well he had the highest average until a bad series last week. But he is hanging with the coaches best 9 and actually out performing all but three right now as a DH. Not bad for a kid with an unknown wrist injury that only the coach knew about. Even son did not know he had one.
The one thing is we will have stories to talk about for years to come about this coach.
The coach has immense control of outcome. Almost to the exclusion of everything else unless the player is one of the 3 or 4 on each team that are clearly superior to the rest of roster. Even then coach can still impact significantly.
Since kids come in different flavors i.e. need a boot in butt vs pat on the back the coaches ability to navigate that aspect of people is crucial. Layered in on top of that is if there is any biases i.e. coach likes size, older players or specific personality types.
If all of that syncs up and coach knows the game and how to teach it then it might be hard to screw it up. Otherwise the journey can be uneven to painful.
Every team I ever saw had 7-8 guys competing for 4 or 5 spots with not much difference between them. In the end sometimes the guy the coach liked better got those 8th and 9th spots in the lineup if everyone was roughly the same player.
One of the under appreciated aspects of parents role in all of this is NOT to be advocate for son. Rather it is imperative to teach influencing skills. Teach your son to read the coach and adjust HIS behavior to get desired outcomes. If possible teach him how to communicate with coach to try to build a relationship that will get coach to meet them "half-way" when they might not be in sync.
When Jr gets out of your bubble and into the world...these kind of skills are extraordinarily valuable and moving away from the "you're great and keep doing what you are doing" is really valuable for kids to learn.
They will eventually find out their ass is not made of chocolate when everyone stops licking it and you can avoid years of whining sniveling 20 something's on your couch or worse a bar stool.
Don't let your kids become the 50 year old guy talking about how HS coach hosed him and he could have earned $300MM because he once got a hit off a guy that made it to AA ball.
Teach them to own it - good or bad you won't regret THAT!