Winter Workouts Question

Need your help here guys! Why would all freshman and new comers not be able to participate in any kind of baseball workout til tryouts in February.
While this coach (Mecklenburg County) is new to the area, he had only open field workouts during the football season, and now is doing 8 man workouts, but with "NO" freshman or new comers! I know for a fact that Ardrey Kell, Providence and Butler have the freshman and new comers working out. Am I not seeing the whole picture here, or am I just not understanding the logic here?

 

if you are giving instruction, you can only work with 8 players a day. i believe most would only do this with returning varsity guys. that is where a program is judged by, not their jv programs. if you are conditioning only then you can work with more. and if i am not mistaken you can have open field or cage day with more IF no instructions are given.

 

Dave, define working out. Do you mean on field or conditioning?

 

Off Season Work Outs

Right now we are in a "Dead Period". This ends this week. We condition from June to Feb and have baseball for "8" when we are not in dead periods. What we have always done is have a meeting at the start of the school year for all students that are interested in coming out for baseball in the spring. We then tell them about the off season program and encourage all to attend. The first guys we want to look at are the ones we have not seen yet. This gives us a chance to ID who has some talent and some work ethic. We already know about our returners. Also it gives us a chance to give some one on one instruction before the spring when we have tryouts. Starting next week we are back in the 8 only baseball period. We rotate the 8 guys each day. Usually we have pitchers and catchers on Mondays. Inf day on Tuesdays. OF's on Weds. Hitting day on Thursdays. Pitchers and catchers again on Fridays. We make sure we get everyone on the field at least once each week. Its just my opinion but the guys I want to work with and get the most looks at are the ones I know the least about. When we get to Feb we have about 7 or 8 practices before our first scrimmage. There is not alot of time to evaluate new guys. Most of this can already be accomplished during the fall and winter months in your off season program. Plus you can weed out any bad attitudes or poor work ethic individuals from the equation before your first practice.

 

Actually both, open field workouts (everyone is welcome) conditioning.....weights, running, agility drills, etc. I understand the 8 man workouts and all the rules that the Coaches have to abide by,......but my concern is why this coach decides not to look at any new comers and freshman until February. How do you know what you have unless you look at what you might have. Don't understand at all!

I know that AK has no seniors, but I do know that freshman are working out with some of the 8 man workouts. Same thing at Butler and Providence. Who knows, you might have another Ryan Morris or Mailman and not even know it!

 

I am sure that the coach you are talking about is like most coaches in the state. We usually know what we are getting in terms of freshmen coming into our programs. I make sure to be visible to the kids at our feeder middle school games, summer league games, and fall ball games. This gives me the chance to show the kids I care about them and get a look at their baseball skills and attitude in good and bad times on the field. Of course, I have an easier time with this than some since we have a smaller base to draw kids from than others. That makes it easier to make the rounds and see the kids coming into my program. But I still say most coaches know what they are getting in terms of incoming freshmen.

 

You are right coach. That's the way to go about doing it. But in PhillieDave's situation, his coach is from out of state with no returning assistants. I believe his point is that the new coach should look at what he has coming in as far as the underclassmen.

I feel for this coach. He is coming into a tough situation with little or no knowledge of his players. There is a lot of pressure to succeed at that school and I don't believe the coach has had time to understand all of the "nuances" that go with that program. But.....I'm sure he will.

I really, really hope that he is successful and that he can get some help with assistants that know the players, not only at his school, but the other schools as well.

 

There is no rule saying freshmen can't participate in the 8 man workouts. Freshmen are high school players too, heck a select few even play varsity.

PhillyDave, your coach is choosing to prohibit the freshmen on his own for whatever reason.

 

new

just an observation from afar. the coach is new to the area so he doesn't really know what the upperclassmen players can do, much less the newcomers. Varsity is the priority so he's probably taking it one step at the time with the varsity players first, then the newcomers in their time as he progresses in getting to know what the whole program of JV & Varsity will look like. Put yourself in his shoes in a completely new location.

 

Good point here... the new coach may need to evaluate the older players in the program (the "returning players") before he can begin an evaluation of younger players. Then he can assess his needs and proceed with younger players from there. A new man has to see it for himself, he cannot trust those he doesnt know or has yet to work with until he evaluates their opinions. Being a new coach in a strange place with little to no prior knowledge would be rather difficult I imagine.