...or so that’s what they want you to think. This time of the year, with HS teams being announced (who made which team, or even who got cut from their HS teams), there are a lot of misconceptions on what that means. Does it mean that your playing days are over? Or if you made a team were you surprised by the level you made expecting you would go much higher?

Let me say this for the player that gets cut - nothing can be said that can ease that pain. Imagine if you’ve ever been fired from a job, but having to do so without any life experience to help you through that pain.  And as a young man, you put so much faith into the hands of that HS coach.  You believe that, as a HS coach they must be very knowledgeable (otherwise, how did they get the job?).  They obviously must have so much experience in evaluating player skills, athleticism, growth potential, character, “coach ability”, teamwork, effort, desire, baseball acumen, and more. But sadly, often that is not the case.  That’s topic for another day. We’ll get more into that at another time. 

For those of you that got cut listen closely because I want to make some specific points:

- Sometimes the coach is correct - there just are too many players ahead of you. But if you love the game put the work in and keep putting in the work, and try out again. Here’s why! Michael Jordan got cut from his HS team, as did Orel Hershiser and Carmelo Anthony did getting cut stop them?

- This is what’s so great about club programs. Find the right club program that will be honest with you and help you do the correct work. Specifically identifying your weak points and working on them over time so that your weak points are now your strong points. This is difficult, because anyone out there running a business doing “lessons” or even teams, is going to tell you that they can help you. Anyone can “coach” a player but only GOOD experienced coaches will be able to build you into the athlete you need to be. 

- Do not fall for programs offering “spring teams” for those players that got cut. They are a waste of time and not worth it. No matter how they are marketed, it’s just a money maker for programs.  Take the time and money and invest into developing your skills.

- Ask the HS coach, as difficult as it is to believe anything that coach might have to say (and let’s face it, they are not always wrong, just as they are not always right) - about assessing your situation.  Get specifics from the coach (not fast enough, not strong enough, didn’t hit any baseballs during tryouts - that type of thing).

- Now let’s address a big one. Sadly, many HS coaches cut kids because of politics. It’s flat out wrong! We have had multiple kids cut by their HS coach and yet ALL of those boys continued doing the work with us, and EVERY SINGLE ONE of them not only found homes to play baseball at the collegiate level, but among many. One threw a no-hitter in his first collegiate game. One earned the starting SS job. One pitched in and won a National Championship and one currently has multiple collegiate offers on the table.

ALL OF THEM WERE CUT FOR POLITICAL REASONS. One HS coach, at a minimum, told one of the boys that he would cut him his senior year if he played for Lightning Baseball during the summer of his junior year rather than playing for his HS! NOTE: Let’s face it, HS politics is it’s own topic!!

- Don’t let the discouragement overwhelm you. Often, it’s simply a numbers thing and possibly you have not hit that growth spurt that allows you to compete with some of those bigger kids.  But the time is coming and those kids will not always be bigger and stronger. So if you stop trying now, you’ll never know what could have been.

- Believe it or not, it can help your long term growth….having had suffered a disappointment of this magnitude, it can give you that extra “chip on your shoulder” to simply out work and out play everyone else.

- As painful as it is, we always learn the most from the hardships, not the successes.. 

Next all address the issue of getting placed on a level that you didn’t expect.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences about this topic. 

- DT