u/sanjoatc

I'm curious about something I've heard from a few different sources (first hand coaches, content creators, current college coaches etc), and that is about the detrimental effect of swimming pools on players' abilities. Essentially, the theory as I understand it, is that swimming in pools the day before a game or on a game day is more physically draining than other activities. I'm really curious about whether this holds water in any sort of validated way or if there's mostly only anecdotal evidence ("I was a .600 hitter the entire season and went 0-5 with three Ks the day after I swam in the hotel pool").

This is inspired by a post from r/baseball where a user posited that their "commissioner for a day" idea would be that if bases are empty, the runner can choose which direction to run (i.e. you can choose to run to first or third). This fascinated me and I spent WAYYY too much time thinking about logistics and strategy changes etc. I want to hear what your "commissioner for a day" idea would be.

Something I've noticed a lot happening as a fan, coach, parent, and as a member of this sub is people minimizing the accomplishments and struggles of young players. What I mean by that is mocking a kid being happy about winning a random travel tournament with lines like "enjoy your cheap plastic trophy!" Or, on the flip side, a kid who is disappointed by losing in a random travel tournament with lines like, "it doesn't even matter. In 10 years you won't even remember losing this tournament."

These bother me for a few reasons, but the biggest one is assuming that a 10 year old kid has the same sense of perspective as an adult. It is really easy for an adult to tell a kid that the trophy they won, or the hard fought game they lost won't matter in a few years, but a kid literally doesn't have that ability to think from that point of view...because they haven't experienced it yet.

The other major reason this bothers me is because it devalues all their experiences no matter what the level is. Basically unless it is a pro player winning the World Series, all other accomplishments shouldn't be celebrated, and all other struggles shouldn't be mourned. I literally had someone is this sub make fun of me and (by extension) my son for being excited to win their high school league as chasing some "dumbass trophy". I understand that winning league is not the be-all, end-all of lifetime accomplishments, but in that moment it is a big deal. We all intuitively know that our kid is SUUPER unlikely to make the pros, or even high level college, so allowing them to celebrate the wins they DO get is important.

To be clear, I'm not saying that winning a travel trophy/ring/medal deserves a ticker tape parade and 50-foot billboard, or that losing a game deserves a total crashout and meltdown from parents/coaches/players, but I do sincerely believe its ok to be excited and proud of winning a ring from some random local travel tournament and it is equally ok to be bummed if you end up losing in a similar situation.

Today was such a rollercoaster. My son (15) finished his first regular season of high school baseball (starting on varsity the whole season) and the team won their league. To cap it all off, during today's game he hit his first EVER home run. Never hit one in Little League, never hit one in travel ball. Just never happened (other than some inside the park ones). But today he turned on one and hit it ~320 feet for his first bomb. Needless to say, our entire family was so excited!

But!!!

Despite the presence of multiple family members, all armed with camera equipped devices and other fans who typically record all of the at bats during the season, not one person has the hit on video! The only evidence that he hit one out are the gamechanger report, the eyeballs of the people who saw it, and the absolute glow that he had after the game during the celebration. I know this is a first world problem, but we live in the first world and it ended up as a tiny smudge on an otherwise fabulous day.

tl;dr My son hit his first ever over-the-fence home run, but no one recorded it.

TL;DR My son's friends are on their JV team and get no run despite (IMO) being solid players and it made me think about what the main purpose of JV and Frosh/Soph teams are: to develop players for varsity or to win games.

Full Story: My son's long time travel ball teammates are on the JV team of a school that competes in the middle division of a three level league (essentially the "B League"). The varsity team is currently winning their division by a healthy amount and the JV team is doing even better against their opponents. The issue is that the JV team has 22 players on it, and the coach mostly sticks with the same 12-14 guys and those 12-14 do not typically include my son's friends.

Clearly, this strategy is working from a competitive perspective and the coach is very likely playing the best players most often to get the best results. However, JV baseball has no post season or other championship type event, so even if they beat every single opponent by 100, the season ends after the last regular season game with no special recognition.

My son's friends are frustrated that they, despite being moderately high level travel ball players aren't getting many chances in the field or at bat. However, they only have a case to be upset, IMO, if JV, like Varsity, is intended to be a pure meritocracy where the best players play, full stop. If, on the other hand, JV works best as a developmental process to make future varsity teams more competitive, then it seems like there could be value in spreading the love around a bit more and giving more looks to some of the down bench kids.

To be clear, this is not meant to be a whining, "My kids don't play! Wahhhhh!" type post. It's more meant to see what the general opinion of those on this sub are regarding the primary purpose of JV teams: development or competitive success.

Context: my son is a freshman on his high school varsity team. They are undefeated in league play and playing the number two team in their division (and really the only team who is any good) to more or less determine who will win the league. My son is the starter and #2 hitter. The other team is starting their ace. My son goes all 7 innings, giving up only a few hits, 1 unearned run and fans 13, while also collecting three hits and 2 RBI. It's a complete thrashing and the boys are ecstatic. My son even had his long time travel coach attend to watch. All is right in the world for a moment.

Cut to today: I pick my son up from practice and he tells me there is bad news. Apparently, before the game a couple of his teammates were hitting briefly in the cages and players from the other team recorded them doing it. Come to find out, it is a league rule that there is no batting practice allowed during league game play. This is a rule that no one I have talked to knows about but apparently exists. The team from yesterday submits the video to the league to appeal the game and the league agrees and my son's team is now charged with a forfeit instead of a dominant, league clinching win. Now they have to win again tomorrow and continue to win out in order to win league because if they lose tomorrow they will have the same record as the team they beat/forfeit to and will lose the head-to-head tiebreaker. Obviously, this becomes a non-issue if they do win tomorrow and win out the rest of the season, but I am LIVID that an adult with their team was so petty as to try and catch boys getting batting practice BEFORE THE GAME EVEN STARTED in order to safe guard against the eventual result of the game.

tl;dr My son's team thrashed the second place team to all but clinch league but ended up forfeiting on the most obscure technicality in the rulebook and now is at risk of not winning league because of it.

EDIT: Clearly the rule isn't as obscure as I thought. I have since read the rulebook and it's very clear. Doesn't change how upset my son is but does change my feelings about appeal of the game. Rules are rules for a reason.