My son was told by one of his summer teammates that the Oak Ridge coach is cleaning house over in the city that glows. I heard that he told 2 of his returning starters (brothers), one of their senior Ps and a senior OFer not to even bother coming out if they can't clean up some off the field issues - essentially kicking them off the team.
I won't name any names, as these are kids, but I've seen the brothers in question play several times and they're both VERY good baseball players. I've also seen indicators that give me no surprise that off the field actions have gotten in the way of talent. Kudos to the OR coach, whose name escapes me, on putting integrity over wins and losses. This should really put them at a disadvantage this season. They graduated their two top pitchers, their projected #1 had shoulder surgery (per another post), lost one of his top freshman pitchers to Bearden, and now he's dismissed 4 upperclassmen, 3 of whom pitch and 2 of them play in the middle of the field. Doesn't look like it's shaping up to be a banner year for them. I would imagine that the expecations were high for a team that finished in the top part of the district and only graduated 2 seniors off that team.
This got me to thinking and my question is this: Do you throw away a season by kicking trouble makers off a team and almost ensure a last place finish or do you do your best to manage them and see what kind of season you can muster out of a team of less than stellar integrity players? Is it more fun for kids to win with punks on their team or lose with class? How many other programs can get away with this (I would think the parents of these players have not taken this decision laying down)? When a coach losses after cleaning house, does that put a job in jeopardy or do you get a pass in the win-loss column?
I know when I heard the news I was not surprised and yet shocked. The 2 players I've seen don't have much class but I don't know off many coaches with the baseballs to kick high caliber players off his team. Sounds like the kind of guy I'd like for my son to play for...if we weren't already very happy in a winning program. When I told our coach what I had heard, he smiled with relief and said now he knows where he'll look to rest his #1 and #2 pitchers down the stretch.
