BASEBALL TRYOUTS THIS YEAR

Look, we just have to ignore Baseswimparent. He is either a Troll looking to attract attention or he is simply someone who really has very little knowledge of what he speaks. If you read the majority of his posts, he just has an ax to grind with a particular coach or handful of coaches. Yet he spreads this small sample size to ALL high school baseball coaches (or maybe ALL high school coaches).

Again, in 35 years of coaching, from head coach to assistant coach, to a youth coach to high school and to college, I'm betting I've run across and coached with a much larger sample size than BaseSwim ever has. Have I run into some BAD coaches? You bet. Is that the MAJORITY of coaches? ABSOLUTELY NOT!! The majority of high school coaches absolutely love their kids and love coaching; they want to make the kids better players and better people. They want to win, but they want to do it right. And I don't think for a minute that us parochial coaches have an edge on any of the public school coaches as far as our skill, intensity, honesty or desire to do well.

BaseSwim blathers on about whether players can or can't practice under OHSAA rules. Yet when it is pointed out that he is incorrect, he simply dries up and blows away. He criticizes all SW Ohio coaches for bunting too much. Really? And yet what qualifies him to make that appraisal, let alone how does he see ALL the SW Ohio teams play.

He says a coach can't possibly make a correct judgment about players with only 3 days of tryouts unless that coach goes and sees all those players play in the summer. (Something I actually DO, as much as possible, but mainly because I love my kids and I like watching baseball). This simply shows his ignorance of the knowledge and skill of a coach who has been coaching for many years and knows what he's dealing with if he runs a proper tryout. Guess what? I already see my players play the spring BEFORE, so I already know about the skill level of all the players in my program, except for the Freshmen who come in the next year.

Another question: How is it that tryouts, (high school, college, pro, and showcase type) are held all over the country by people who watch players for, literally, a few hours, and yet they are still expected to evaluate those players for selection to high level programs or events. Are you suggesting that all of those gentlemen really can't judge players because they don't see them play all summer? That's laughable.

Finally, BS (for short), I will tell you that I can tell more about a player's mental make-up, hustle and attitude from the year before in my own program,or in my 3 day tryout, then I could ever pick up watching him play in a meaningless summer game. And for me, his attitude, behavior and mental discipline mean a lot more than his 60 time or his "velo"......before you make a blanket statement about high school coaches, I suggest you come to some of our tryouts and watch what we put them through and watch to see what we see.

Maybe your school's coach IS an absolute boob who knows nothing. But I'm going to bet the person with the problem in this picture might just be someone else. And again, that is just the reading of your many posts and the attitude that bleeds through. I'm guessing if you ask for some other opinions on this board, you'll find that I'm not the only person that guesses you'd be a nightmare to have around as a parent, whether baseball or swimming. Have a good day, BS.

Often times it does not even take that long! A spring coach wanted to see how a certain kid looked at 2B one summer. It took about 5 reps doing double plays (actually less, but after the 2nd one showed him how it needed to be done) to know that was not going to be in his, or the team's, best interest.

One time I had the unfortunate task of coaching a HS aged team knowing NOTHING about the kids, never seen them one time, and had to be ready to play a game within a week.

That sucked, but it really didnt take too terrible long to evaluate.

As a matter of fact, after practice 1 where i had all the pitchers throw, I noticed one had some very special talent (summer between his FROSH and SOPH year) so I called a local guy who had the scouting connections. He just chuckled and said "Are you talking about _______? We already know all about him"!

Not to tout my own horn because I dont know much of anything, but a couple of years ago I saw a HS highlights on the tv news. They showed a kid getting a hit and I was like "wow, that kid looks like he has a clue, wonder who he is" and at the end of the replays they said he had just broken the school record for hits and was going someplace to play college ball.

The truly good players it does not take too long if you have a knack for it i guess ya could say!
 
Often times it does not even take that long! A spring coach wanted to see how a certain kid looked at 2B one summer. It took about 5 reps doing double plays (actually less, but after the 2nd one showed him how it needed to be done) to know that was not going to be in his, or the team's, best interest.

One time I had the unfortunate task of coaching a HS aged team knowing NOTHING about the kids, never seen them one time, and had to be ready to play a game within a week.

That sucked, but it really didnt take too terrible long to evaluate.

As a matter of fact, after practice 1 where i had all the pitchers throw, I noticed one had some very special talent (summer between his FROSH and SOPH year) so I called a local guy who had the scouting connections. He just chuckled and said "Are you talking about _______? We already know all about him"!

Not to tout my own horn because I dont know much of anything, but a couple of years ago I saw a HS highlights on the tv news. They showed a kid getting a hit and I was like "wow, that kid looks like he has a clue, wonder who he is" and at the end of the replays they said he had just broken the school record for hits and was going someplace to play college ball.

The truly good players it does not take too long if you have a knack for it i guess ya could say!
I agree with this. One can tell pretty early if you know baseball and can tell how people move and play. I can tell pretty early in a game or a practice where everyone stacks up. My concern from the beginning is really about the freshman, sophomores and new kids that moved in to the district. And the other issue is that these evaluations happen indoors. We can all agree that is not the best place to make final judgements. I would submit that one could overestimate hitting ability in a gym (I don't why, it just seems that it is harder to hit out doors or you get a better judge of how good a hit is when it is outdoors.) Arm strength may be hard to judge because most indoor spaces used can be limited to the distance allowed. Like I mentioned a few times in this thread, our high school used to have open fields in the fall. They did it on Tuesday and Friday for 5 straight weeks and just about everyone who was interested in baseball came out to those workouts. You could tell pretty early in those scenarios who was competitive and who was not. Our high school coach pretty much punted with these tryouts and kept everyone except the obvious non-competitive guys. He did assign a bunch of juniors to JV and a couple of those guys quit because of the assignment. All in all, I appreciate the feedback.
 
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BASESWIMPARENT you are a helicopter parent. You are one of those parents who coaches can't stand. You complain about tryouts, bunting, summer ball, & the list just goes on and on. I can tell you if your son goes on to play college ball, the minute you call or email that college coach about anything he will look at your son differently and will let him go from the program after one year. NOBODY wants a helicopter parent in any program especially at that level. We as high school coaches are forced to deal with people like you and your constant bashing of how we do things, but to be honest we hear you and largely ignore your self-serving agenda. I suggest you stop living vicariuosly living through you child and get a life. Let Jr. put his big boy pants on and learn to deal with life on his own.
Again, you don't know me or my experience. Just because you are coach does not mean that you know more baseball than me. And for whatever reason, whenever a coach gets criticized, the criticizer is insulted and attacked out of hand even though every year there are hard examples of coaching failures. I don't have a self serving agenda, just opinions and criticisms based on observation, research, conversations (with some college coaches) and study. Insulting me because of my opinion doesn't help your argument. Facts, reason and well thought out justification does help your argument. If you got more insults or better yet constructive conversation, then email me direct.
 
Sounds like a Little Miami parent.
I could be Little Miami parent Peter. Or I could be the Loveland girl's soccer parent. You know, two of the parents that have criticized their coaches and been skewered on this board but in retrospect had good points that have proven to be accurate. (Especially the Loveland parent. Other coaches detest the way Loveland girls play the game). But I am neither. I am just a dad who used to be a college level umpire who coached for about 8 years. I coached girl's fastpitch too.
 
I was just curious where Bases son attended school. The majority of the DI HS programs in SWO are run by pretty knowledgeable baseball staffs. Which makes me slightly cynical regarding his posts. He appears to know a lot about the Badin program. I follow them as well as I've had three sons play there as well as myself a hundred years ago. Still trying to figure his story regarding a Badin pitcher that signed late with NKU a couple of years ago. Have yet to find that player though a know a catcher from Badin signed late with the Norse for the 19 season and was at Sinclair this past season.
 
I will admit that I am not familiar with the programs who have so many numbers at the HS level that makes it tough for kids to get a look.

Buddy of mine last year at the state tourny who now has kids at Iggy made me just shake my head what it takes to get looks and PT up there.

No.
Thanks.
 
I was just curious where Bases son attended school. The majority of the DI HS programs in SWO are run by pretty knowledgeable baseball staffs. Which makes me slightly cynical regarding his posts. He appears to know a lot about the Badin program. I follow them as well as I've had three sons play there as well as myself a hundred years ago. Still trying to figure his story regarding a Badin pitcher that signed late with NKU a couple of years ago. Have yet to find that player though a know a catcher from Badin signed late with the Norse for the 19 season and was at Sinclair this past season.


Did someone finally "Fact Check" Bases.... ?
 
Often times it does not even take that long! A spring coach wanted to see how a certain kid looked at 2B one summer. It took about 5 reps doing double plays (actually less, but after the 2nd one showed him how it needed to be done) to know that was not going to be in his, or the team's, best interest.

One time I had the unfortunate task of coaching a HS aged team knowing NOTHING about the kids, never seen them one time, and had to be ready to play a game within a week.

That sucked, but it really didnt take too terrible long to evaluate.
This. It really doesn't take that long. Most baseball coaches (or coaches for any sport) can sense the legitimate ballplayers rather quickly, be it indoors or outdoors. The toughest decisions might come down to those 2-3 bubble players vying for a final spot, but even then, a couple days is still plenty.
 
Did someone finally "Fact Check" Bases.... ?
That's him. I thought he was a pitcher and I thought there was a pitcher that played summer ball for the current head coach of Cincinnati Christian and that coach got him on with NKU too. It would have been the same summer and I think the same team. Also, just because I got the player wrong doesn't mean I am wrong about the D1 schools that wanted to come out to watch my son pitch. Interestingly, they go through the JUCO coach my signed with. I am very familiar with Badin. I coached one of their players for years.
 
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I was just curious where Bases son attended school. The majority of the DI HS programs in SWO are run by pretty knowledgeable baseball staffs. Which makes me slightly cynical regarding his posts. He appears to know a lot about the Badin program. I follow them as well as I've had three sons play there as well as myself a hundred years ago. Still trying to figure his story regarding a Badin pitcher that signed late with NKU a couple of years ago. Have yet to find that player though a know a catcher from Badin signed late with the Norse for the 19 season and was at Sinclair this past season.
you are correct, I got the position mixed up with my example. I remember that fella being a pitcher. I was wrong. And I started my parental high school experience with a very positive attitude about high school coaches. But so many pop up for the season and then you never see or hear from them again. They teach and do things that are in direct contradiction with what you see and hear on upper levels and completely ignore the numbers. Badin does have coaching staff with a sterling reputation but they did some things with the line up last year that just made you scratch your head. West, Mason, Moeller and X were also very puzzling. I don't mind coaches being ruthless, in fact I encourage it. I feel like you have to play the hot hand because the season is so short. You really don't have time to see what you got.
 
And you have so much more time in summer ball??? Five weeks of preparation go into a HS season, not counting fall and winter work. For most summer ball there is not five days for practice. So many summer teams have no field or time to practice, hit before a game, take in/out, work on any pitching mechanics and are coached by far less qualified individuals. How does a pitcher improve during the summer when he shows up and pitches his 5-7 innings in a weekend tournament? No long toss program, no bullpen sessions, etc. Teams no longer play mid week games between tournaments. Every team is a "tournament showcase team." For each Midland organization there is minimally 20 teams that have no opportunity to improve their players' abilities.
I get why you don't want to tell me where your son plays but I was just saying there are some darn good coaches in SWO. West, Mason and Moeller are the top programs in the area.
 
And you have so much more time in summer ball??? Five weeks of preparation go into a HS season, not counting fall and winter work. For most summer ball there is not five days for practice. So many summer teams have no field or time to practice, hit before a game, take in/out, work on any pitching mechanics and are coached by far less qualified individuals. How does a pitcher improve during the summer when he shows up and pitches his 5-7 innings in a weekend tournament? No long toss program, no bullpen sessions, etc. Teams no longer play mid week games between tournaments. Every team is a "tournament showcase team." For each Midland organization there is minimally 20 teams that have no opportunity to improve their players' abilities.
I get why you don't want to tell me where your son plays but I was just saying there are some darn good coaches in SWO. West, Mason and Moeller are the top programs in the area.
I was not comparing to summer programs. It's just that with the short spring high school season, coaches cannot afford to let their players play into their groove no matter their reputation. By the time it happens, it could be too late. One might say that may have happened to Badin last year, I know it happened at West and Moeller.
 
I know LM when I smell LM. Plus their coach loves to bunt!
I love to bunt! I start teaching it as early as 8 and it becomes a regular part of batting practice after that all the way into high school. I even give a full green light to the entire team to bunt whenever they want. That part only lasts until about 10u or 11u though lol. But hey, that's just me. I just know it's a tool that I value as much as anything else in the game.
 
I think high school coaches in SWO way over bunt but that does not mean one should not master it or use it late in the game. A 5 hole hitter bunting to move over a 4 hitter early in the game makes no sense to me. I have seen that more than once.
 
I think high school coaches in SWO way over bunt but that does not mean one should not master it or use it late in the game. A 5 hole hitter bunting to move over a 4 hitter early in the game makes no sense to me. I have seen that more than once.
I will use the bunt anytime I feel like I can move my advantage against the other team to score more runs I don't care where in the game we are.
 
I think high school coaches in SWO way over bunt but that does not mean one should not master it or use it late in the game. A 5 hole hitter bunting to move over a 4 hitter early in the game makes no sense to me. I have seen that more than once.
True.
Buuuuuuut, as our ole wiley coach told us the whole season builds upon itself for how you play come the tournament. Practice alone isnt enough to work on the skills needed to win on the biggest stage and while some things may seem trivial during the season there is a bigger plan in place. He was notorious for having everything on the table even in the biggest moments. Most coaches are afraid to do things when the stakes are the highest.
Ill never forget our back-to-back hit and runs, in the bottom of the 9th, down by 1, in the regionals that worked to perfection. That moment in time was put into motion in BP, but mastered during the regular season so when the season was on the line he could use it.

In your scenario, if the season was on the line, and the coach tried that against a stud pitcher, and failed, while never even attempting it all season, I bet you many would criticize the coach for asking the kid to do something he never even attempted all season....
 
My guess is that coaches' appreciate a kid's attempt at getting some work in but think it may be better that he concentrate on the sport at hand.

I never understood the kid that needed a week off between sports. A day, sure I get it, but anything more than that suggests the kid isn't so into that sport. In the past we've had kids that played and lost in the state semis on Friday and were at baseball practice on Saturday morning. I sure miss those dudes.

If you are shooting on the gun during the fall... you could probably use that time to watch a little extra football film. If you are throwing baseball during January, you could probably use that time to get some extra shots up after basketball practice instead. If you are lifting in the spring with football, you could probably use that time to get some extra swings in the cages.

I am not a big fan of kids working on other sports while they are in season.
 
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