Whats a 15 year old to do?

Question
My son is 15 years old 6'3" 182 lbs and began playing baseball when he was in 3rd grade.  He played in the Fall and Spring.  He attended a private school that had baseball starting at 6th grade.  A few of his teammates began playing "select baseball" during their 8th grade years, but our son also played football and so opted to just play with school.  Because of the economy, we had to take him out of private school and we enrolled him the local public High School (with a reputation for competitive sports).  After football season, we were approached about getting our son into a local select baseball team but once we found out it cost $1200 we decided to workout on our own.  He is a freshman and during baseball tryouts last week, we noticed that things were a bit "easy going".  Last Monday they announced who made the Freshman team and every kid on the "select" team made it.  We watched the tryouts and there were clearly other players not selected that were more talented than those selected.  This is not about sour grapes. Now that you know our history and situation, I'll try to get to the question.  What is a 15 year old boy who is very talented (really) and loves the game of baseball but doesn't have rich parents who can pay these ungodly prices for select ball supposed to do when the politics of HS baseball shuts him out? I've realized that there are many talented boys at our HS and their dream of playing ball will just die because there is not a way for them to play that's affordable that I can find.  I think most of the Little League (Pony level) thinks that if the kids age 15+ want to play, they'll make the HS team or pay to play select...we can't.  We are disgusted at the tryouts for our HS team and how they were conducted. It seemed like the team was chosen prior to tryouts and many other parents are catching on as to what went down.  I'm pretty much just racing against the clock to find a place for my son to just play so he can continue to improve his skills and stay sharp so next year he can tryout again and really be ready.  Thanks for your help with this matter, but we are just NOT in the loop with all the massive network of business in youth select baseball.

Answer
As I read your letter this place sounds exactly like two small towns I lived in.The one I recently lived in near Houston had it bad.The coach gave prefrence to the kids from the select team.And the problem with that is this every kid who plays select is not always the best player around.Some kids are on there because their daddy sponsers the team or has lots of money or influence, and the kid is not very good but is playing second and batting second.

What I would say is this.Not making the high school team as a freshman is not that big of a deal.The baseball at a lot of high schools on the freshman level is not very good so he is not missing much.

If you can afford to hire a private instructor do that and use this offseason as a time for him to better his game.This may be more affordable since you can pay as you go.

If you live in the Houston area come see me and we will work on him at a rate you could afford.If you dont and have a video camera and a computer. I can send you a link to my website that you can download your video of your son and I can watch it and give you some feed back of what I see.

If you really want him to play in high school this year I would suggest that you get a group of parents that feel the same way as your son and go to the AD of the school and try to voice what you think is an unfair practice by the coach.This may not make your son the most popular player but it may shed some light on a situation that is going on that is not fair.

I am sorry this happened to your son but it is sad to say, that since select baseball has become so popular this is happening more and more.