As wonderful as baseball is, it has to be one of the worst sports for developing overall athletic ability. For example, I'm amazed at just how incredibly slow some baseball players are. You'd think that watching Peyton Manning execute the hand off on the stretch play might motivate some of these guys to do a little cross training. ..

It appears Westlake will take the 6A Lone Star Cup this year with a decent finish in golf. I've spoken with many parents of high school baseball kids and some who played in high school. Freshman baseball is generally a huge waste of time for all but a few programs. Lower your expectations and be prepared for many hours of baseball and training outside of the program. We should have played on the 14U team also.

Our baseball team finished on an up tick by reaching the play offs. The future looks good with a sophomore and a junior throwing in the 90's, a strong group of freshmen on their way up and a young coach taking over the JV coaching.

Summer looks like 25+ hours a week of baseball also, but much more productive time, more games and more fun. It's amazing how nice all the kids and parents are at our select program. Amazing.

Have a great summer! We will.

=======================================================
Updated 06/17/2016
Standings include:
State and Area Marching Band, Tennis, Team Tennis, Cross Country, Volleyball, Football, Swimming & Diving, Wrestling, Girls Basketball, Boys Basketball, Soccer, Golf, Track & Field, Academics, One Act Play, Softball, Baseball
Place School Points
1. Austin Westlake 94
2. Conroe The Woodlands 79
3. Katy Seven Lakes 71
4. Southlake Carroll 69
5. San Antonio Johnson 67
6. Katy Cinco Ranch 65
7. Austin Lake Travis 64
8. Humble Atascocita 62
San Antonio Reagan 62
10. Amarillo 60

Bumping this thread to brag on my son who achieved a new milestone yesterday in a fall ball invitational.

He hit his first BBCOR HR on a legit field. We were at Schiel Road park in Cypress, and he hit a solo shot to left center that cleared the fence by quite a bit. We couldn't even find the ball. CF is marked 393. If that is accurate, then I estimate the fence to be 360+ in left center so it was a bomb. What makes it special to me is that it was his first HR on a high school sized field with a BBCOR bat. The 3 HR's he hit in the spring tournament season were with a -5 bat.

Funny side story - he was leading off the inning, and his coach was waiting for him by the plate and they had a "talk". I found out afterwards that his coach told him to close his eyes and visualize hitting a HR, so my son closed his eyes. Coach asked him if he visualized the ball go over the trees, and my son said yes. So the coach goes to the 3rd base box and tells the third baseman - "watch this, he's about to go deep." First pitch - boom. It was gone. I know that it was lucky that it worked out that way, but it was pretty funny to me. As an aside, the coach wasn't talking trash to the other team - we were playing another team from our organization so it was a friendly game. Two brothers were coaching their teams against each other.

Very awesome! Ours had a great summer, but the good news came today. We did that heart screen for athletes over the summer (I read 1/3 kids gets a false positive). We found out ours got a false positive today. If a kid works out more than two hours a day, it can show up in a heart screening. At least they do see what's expected.

Nothing beats seeing your kid go yard for sure. Congrats!

Ours went 18U in July when he turned 15. That has made baseball a *lot* more interesting.

His ten year old little sister is a volleyball super star. It begins again. She was great in soccer and softball too, but volleyball appears to be the girl equivalent of baseball in popularity.

First official day of HS baseball 2017 is here! It's been a long wait, and today is the start of something special for my son. All signs point to him being placed on varsity as a sophomore because he was told by the HC that he doesn't have to go through the same tryout as other returning players. Last year, the varsity players did their own thing while freshmen and returning JV players had to go through the entire two day tryout.

I'm proud and hopeful that he will earn playing time - either on the mound or behind the plate or the OF.

I hope that my reviving this thread doesn't bother too many folks, but I enjoyed updating last year and other folks with HS players liked the discussion, too. I'm just excited that baseball season is finally here!!

nice bump - keep them coming. I'm an old baseball dad.

Son is in his freshman year in college now (D3). He had a nice fall camp and they started practice last Sunday - so far he's thrown two innings in scrimmages and has given up no hits with two K's. He says the coaches are happy with him. We will see if he makes the road trip squad (limited to 28). Already have my plane tickets for the first home series. Can't wait for baseball to start.

I've got a full schedule with his games, his old high school, and hopefully A&M if my friend's son gets mound time this year.

Kid worked his tail off and we found out today he made it another season. Bittersweet, because some good friend's baseball careers ended today, kids we've known since 4 year old Tball.

Is this for the school team?

Second year of high school ball. On the plus side, the new crop of fish includes many of his old teammates from LL and previous select teams.

That's baseball, enjoy it while you can.

HECUBUS said:

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Second year of high school ball. On the plus side, the new crop of fish includes many of his old teammates from LL and previous select teams.

That's baseball, enjoy it while you can.

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Our boys are both class of 2019, Hecubus. It's weird how it sneaks up on you, right? Several 2019 kids are already committed to colleges, but most of them are the elite studs. Most have been held back in school.

My son wants to play college ball, and he will probably be good enough for D2-D3 or JUCO. His disadvantage is his age. He doesn't turn 16 until late July and most of his classmates have been driving for 6 months.

Ha. Same, July birthday. Some kids are 17 before their sophomore season starts. Ours lifted 6 or more days a week since last season and went from 135 to 170 #. It's tough for the younger guys.

tdm89 said:

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Our boys are both class of 2019, Hecubus. It's weird how it sneaks up on you, right? Several 2019 kids are already committed to colleges, but most of them are the elite studs. Most have been held back in school.

My son wants to play college ball, and he will probably be good enough for D2-D3 or JUCO. His disadvantage is his age. He doesn't turn 16 until late July and most of his classmates have been driving for 6 months.

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you just described my son. Graduated at 18 while many of his teammates were 19 about to turn 20. Didn't even hit puberty and start to grow until his Junior year. Best thing he ever did was joining the swim team - completely changed his body. If your kid is a pitcher you should look into it or at least include swimming in his off season workouts.

He's now in his freshman year at D3 and loves it so far. Will find out soon if he makes the travel squad for week 1 series - they can only take 28 of the 43 on the roster. Since he's a freshman pitcher only, the odds might be stacked against him as I assume the coaches will include all the two way kids they can. But that's the life of a freshman pitcher.

Man, I wish there was an independent league for coaching all of the HS rejects. So many kids don't even grow until they are 17 - 18. It would be fun to coach all the kids who might not be able to impress a coach with how far they can drive a BP fastball, but who know how to run the bases, draw a walk, and hit a cut-off man.

Since the UIL barely even tests for steroids, there's no telling how much testosterone boosters, steroids, HGH, etc., is being consumed. I have a HS wrestler, and I saw that a whopping 8 varsity wrestlers were tested statewide last year.

God bless the late bloomers.

94chem said:

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Man, I wish there was an independent league for coaching all of the HS rejects. So many kids don't even grow until they are 17 - 18. It would be fun to coach all the kids who might not be able to impress a coach with how far they can drive a BP fastball, but who know how to run the bases, draw a walk, and hit a cut-off man.

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There is such a thing in the Austin area: http://www.leaguelineup.com/welcome.asp?url=isblaustin
For kids that didn't make their high school team, home schooled kids, etc. I've heard of a number of good kids (friends) that didn't make teams at various schools in the SW Austin area. Not sure if they are going this route or not, but it's an option.

I have a 2019 kid (sophomore) at Bowie on the baseball team.

As far as the birthday thing goes, I think it's all fair game in high school. Late birthdays are a bigger deal when they are 8-9-10-11-12 years old when a few months can make a big difference in terms of motor skills. By high school, if you make varsity at a young age you have to be prepared to play against older kids.

It was big the freshman year, but none of the older football kids grew an inch or gained a pound. The kid went 18U when he turned 15. He got strong and shaved more than a second off his sixty. He worked out and ate like a monster and benefited from some great coaching. He might burn out though, he put in a lot of time since last Spring.

I just have to comment on our new coaches doing a great job. The kids are behaving, having fun and the team is deep. Just two scrimmages in and it looks like a fun season. Stoneypoint and Roundrock look like solid teams and their fans and parents are awesome too. The new coach in his first full season has really changed the program. Just maybe, the kids grew up a bit. The skinny freshman team looks pretty good too.

Two weeks into the season (pre-season really), and so far it's been pretty frustrating. I'm trying to be patient and understanding, but some things that I'm observing defy logic.

My son has been practicing with varsity and has traveled with the varsity for the first two scrimmages. He's only a sophomore, but we are at a 4A school so the talent pool is definitely not as deep as big schools. I'm a huge fan of my son, but I'm also a realistic observer and I feel like I'm as objective as a Dad can be when evaluating my son. I have no problem recognizing that there are better players than him.

But, what I have observed so far is that he is better, and in some cases significantly better, than the players who are getting the majority of the positional reps. I'm not going to dig into all of the details, but I'm frustrated with feeling like he either A) deserves a better look or opportunity or B) he needs to be moved to JV so he can get more reps.

From what I've been told by a former HS coach, the most frustrating year can be the sophomore year, especially with kids who are good enough to be "varsity", but maybe not outstanding enough to knock off a junior or senior. He said that there's a level of loyalty within programs so the older kids are always going to get the first chance, and the older kids are going to have a long leash before a move is made to a young kid.

I think my son will find a way to stick with varsity as pitcher because he had a very nice outing on Friday against a 5A program - 2 IP, 1 H, 0 runs, 0 BB, 1 K on 17 pitches. He throws strikes and he gets outs. There are two varsity pitchers who are clearly better than my son - 1 who is committed to LSU throwing 93, and 1 junior who throws harder and seems to throw strikes. He might be the #3 right now, but will get bumped to #4 (at least) when basketball ends. Is being the #4 pitcher enough to warrant varsity? Or would he better off on JV as the #1 and playing a position when he's not pitching and getting AB's?

I guess it's really not about him, and it's definitely not about my wife and I - it's about what the coach thinks is best for his program. It's just been hard to watch so far, and frustrating, so I guess I'm just venting.

If he ends up being the #4 pitcher on varsity, he will stick with varsity and get plenty of opportunities. There are new UIL pitch count rules in effect this year in Texas, so you can't just run the same guys out there all time.

Cinch, Varsity letters are hard to earn. Get them when you can.

Son has had two appearances and 2.1 innings of work in his first five college games this season. Two hits, two K's and 0 earned runs for an ERA of 0.00.

Will take it. Worked out of a jam he inherited yesterday. Head coach called him out in the post game talk and let him know that he had impressed him.

He's having fun - which is most important.

Ha. Baseball team has a locker room choir. Kid was all region base. The soccer kids are scared. Yeah, they got the fun part down.

CinchAG97 said:

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Two weeks into the season (pre-season really), and so far it's been pretty frustrating. I'm trying to be patient and understanding, but some things that I'm observing defy logic.

My son has been practicing with varsity and has traveled with the varsity for the first two scrimmages. He's only a sophomore, but we are at a 4A school so the talent pool is definitely not as deep as big schools. I'm a huge fan of my son, but I'm also a realistic observer and I feel like I'm as objective as a Dad can be when evaluating my son. I have no problem recognizing that there are better players than him.

But, what I have observed so far is that he is better, and in some cases significantly better, than the players who are getting the majority of the positional reps. I'm not going to dig into all of the details, but I'm frustrated with feeling like he either A) deserves a better look or opportunity or B) he needs to be moved to JV so he can get more reps.

From what I've been told by a former HS coach, the most frustrating year can be the sophomore year, especially with kids who are good enough to be "varsity", but maybe not outstanding enough to knock off a junior or senior. He said that there's a level of loyalty within programs so the older kids are always going to get the first chance, and the older kids are going to have a long leash before a move is made to a young kid.

I think my son will find a way to stick with varsity as pitcher because he had a very nice outing on Friday against a 5A program - 2 IP, 1 H, 0 runs, 0 BB, 1 K on 17 pitches. He throws strikes and he gets outs. There are two varsity pitchers who are clearly better than my son - 1 who is committed to LSU throwing 93, and 1 junior who throws harder and seems to throw strikes. He might be the #3 right now, but will get bumped to #4 (at least) when basketball ends. Is being the #4 pitcher enough to warrant varsity? Or would he better off on JV as the #1 and playing a position when he's not pitching and getting AB's?

I guess it's really not about him, and it's definitely not about my wife and I - it's about what the coach thinks is best for his program. It's just been hard to watch so far, and frustrating, so I guess I'm just venting.

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He will get plenty of innings pitching especially during tournaments. Come district time he might be better suited to pitch on jv to get innings. Usually only three pitchers are getting the bulk of the innings in district play

Scrimmage season ends, batting #1 at 0.750, fielding percentage 1.000 with half the team, pitching 0.0 ERA with a 0.667 WHIP, leads the team in FPS. Two others with 0 runs scored and one kid with a 0.0 WHIP, but only two innings pitched. This is HS scrimmage pitching, no warmup, two innings max, pointless waste of time. The fielding is cool because he only played infield, he's OF all the way.

Meaningless, but cool. HS baseball in a nutshell. They are having the time of their lives though. Awesome.

Posting for posterity sake so hopefully I can look back on this in a year or two and laugh. Or I'll look back on this as the turning point where baseball became not fun anymore.

High school baseball sucks. At least it does right now.

The varsity just finished a 4 game tournament - first four real games this year. My son got to pitch in one game - got credited with the W - and didn't get a single piece of action the rest of the tournament.

So, my kid sucks, right? I'm a whiny ass dad who thinks my kid hung the moon. It's always someone else's fault, right!? I truly don't think I'm "that dad" but none of those dads ever do - so maybe I am.

I'm my son's biggest fan, but also his biggest critic. He is flat out better than some kids getting reps, especially at his main position of catcher. He's better defensively and better offensively. It's extremely frustrating to watch 8 passed balls and 8 more wild pitches get past our catchers when my son never gets a shot. It's frustrating to watch throw downs at 2.4-2.5 and some go into CF, when I know my son is better.

I'll quit whining but I'm already ready for summer ball. Cue the "quit *****ing" comments - I know I deserve it but I can't vent to many people other than the wife and she's tired or hearing it.

What do you want- a college scholarship? A minor league contract? A state title?

27 years ago a coach gave me a raw deal, and it's become a piece of my life that's made me more empathetic, more appreciative of the 10 years I got to play, and more realization as a father (6 kids, one disabled) that sports are awesome, but always temporary.

I'm starting to coach my 9 year old this week. He's never played, and I'm throwing him right to the wolves in big boy baseball. Maybe he'll love it. Maybe he'll be scared. Whatever...but as long as he lives he'll never forget the smell of taking the field, and he'll never forget his dad being there.

Perspective, man.

High school baseball defies logic for sure. I think ours is smart enough to walk away after this season. It's been one heck of a ride, 11 years and 25 seasons.

We are already fighting off select volleyball for his ten year old sister. She's a stand out just like her bubby.

Sports are crazy, the fun is gone too soon. They certainly ask for too much from the kids in high school. Those select programs just try to suck them into Jucos and second rate schools to keep chasing the dream.

Kid had a 9 pitch, 2 K, 0.0 WHIP final inning, some DH and pinch running. The big event is half a dozen kids from the baseball team are in an all night nerd card game tonight.

Jucos in Texas are legit. Go watch San. Jac. and McClellan play each other and tell me that isn't the real deal.

Not tryin to rip you, but Jucos are talent hotbeds in the south. Jucos are a tiny step down from D1...some places the Juco talent is better than weak D1s. Biggest difference is JCs have younger rosters...that's about it at many of them.

No dout. Our kid has no interest in that path. He is entitled, or in dad speech likely to walk away when the fun stops. I would support his choice either way.

He's got a 6.0 60, 950 batting average and 105 mph fastball in academics. Baseball is just for fun.

HECUBUS said:

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No dout. Our kid has no interest in that path. He is entitled, or in dad speech likely to walk away when the fun stops. I would support his choice either way.

He's got a 6.0 60, 950 batting average and 105 mph fastball in academics. Baseball is just for fun.

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Can't go wrong when academics are first. There's way more academic scholarship money out there than baseball scholarship money.

Phil Garner said:

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HECUBUS said:

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No doubt. Our kid has no interest in that path. He is entitled, or in dad speech likely to walk away when the fun stops. I would support his choice either way.

He's got a 6.0 60, 950 batting average and 105 mph fastball in academics. Baseball is just for fun.

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Can't go wrong when academics are first. There's way more academic scholarship money out there than baseball scholarship money.

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or you can get the best of both worlds - go to a highly academic D3 school and get a great education and play baseball for the fun and competition of it, knowing you are not heading to the pros. D3 is truly where purest sense of the student athlete resides.

MAROON said:

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Phil Garner said:

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HECUBUS said:

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No doubt. Our kid has no interest in that path. He is entitled, or in dad speech likely to walk away when the fun stops. I would support his choice either way.

He's got a 6.0 60, 950 batting average and 105 mph fastball in academics. Baseball is just for fun.

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Can't go wrong when academics are first. There's way more academic scholarship money out there than baseball scholarship money.

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or you can get the best of both worlds - go to a highly academic D3 school and get a great education and play baseball for the fun and competition of it, knowing you are not heading to the pros. D3 is truly where purest sense of the student athlete resides.

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Cannot disagree.

Phil Garner said:

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HECUBUS said:

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No dout. Our kid has no interest in that path. He is entitled, or in dad speech likely to walk away when the fun stops. I would support his choice either way.

He's got a 6.0 60, 950 batting average and 105 mph fastball in academics. Baseball is just for fun.

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Can't go wrong when academics are first. There's way more academic scholarship money out there than baseball scholarship money.

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Academics are first with my son, too. He's ranked #4 in his class of 270+, and scored a 1350 on his PSAT this fall. He's well on his way to being able to go to A&M if he chooses, and hopefully he's on his way to getting some academic scholarship money.

His dream is to play college baseball. My wife and I have pressed him several times to make sure that his dream is HIS, and that he's not playing for us or trying to meet our expectations. We've always been very careful about how we position our hopes for him.

My wife and my son had a long talk Saturday night, and he broke down with her and vented his frustrations. He sees what's happening and he doesn't like it. His reaction is to hope to get moved down to JV so he can get playing time and reps. That's actually a logical reaction, but as a Dad, I keep encouraging him to speak up for himself and ask the coach how he can earn playing time at catcher - or at least earn a chance to compete.

I want this to be a life-lesson for him that as a young man, he can stand up for himself and he needs to learn how to have adult conversations with his coaches. If he is going to get recruited like he wants to, he's going to have to have adult conversations with college coaches and sell himself and his skill set. This is his first opportunity to practice that, but I also understand that as a young 15 year old sophomore, it's a pretty intimidating thing to do. I will keep encouraging him and trying to build up his confidence to take action. I feel like that's all I can do as a Dad.

CinchAG97 said:

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Phil Garner said:

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HECUBUS said:

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No dout. Our kid has no interest in that path. He is entitled, or in dad speech likely to walk away when the fun stops. I would support his choice either way.

He's got a 6.0 60, 950 batting average and 105 mph fastball in academics. Baseball is just for fun.

---

Can't go wrong when academics are first. There's way more academic scholarship money out there than baseball scholarship money.

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Academics are first with my son, too. He's ranked #4 in his class of 270+, and scored a 1350 on his PSAT this fall. He's well on his way to being able to go to A&M if he chooses, and hopefully he's on his way to getting some academic scholarship money.

His dream is to play college baseball. My wife and I have pressed him several times to make sure that his dream is HIS, and that he's not playing for us or trying to meet our expectations. We've always been very careful about how we position our hopes for him.

My wife and my son had a long talk Saturday night, and he broke down with her and vented his frustrations. He sees what's happening and he doesn't like it. His reaction is to hope to get moved down to JV so he can get playing time and reps. That's actually a logical reaction, but as a Dad, I keep encouraging him to speak up for himself and ask the coach how he can earn playing time at catcher - or at least earn a chance to compete.

I want this to be a life-lesson for him that as a young man, he can stand up for himself and he needs to learn how to have adult conversations with his coaches. If he is going to get recruited like he wants to, he's going to have to have adult conversations with college coaches and sell himself and his skill set. This is his first opportunity to practice that, but I also understand that as a young 15 year old sophomore, it's a pretty intimidating thing to do. I will keep encouraging him and trying to build up his confidence to take action. I feel like that's all I can do as a Dad.

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Yep, this is your son's business, so you are letting him take care of it. Give yourself lots of credit. Too many parents solve every little problem for their kid and their kid never learns to be an adult. Your son may not like the answers or outcomes, but isn't that what happens to us adults every single day. As you stated, this is a great opportunity for him to practice being an adult.

Coach asked him if he could start a game this week. Ha! Baseball is an all powerful and evil mistress.

I don't know if he can quit, even if he knows it's best to walk away. He likes to act like he can though; typical fifteen year old.

I'm just glad these are his major problems. Lucky we are.