Spring Team Formation

A letter from our Athletic Director

Hello Texans families. Thank you for entrusting us with your boys' high school baseball experience. We do take that responsibility seriously, along with our charge to partner with you in raising godly men. To that end, I would like to explain how Spring teams are formed in the Texans organization.

First, I want to let you know that the decisions are made by the coaching team in multiple sessions of conversation and debate. I will start the process with an initial outline of players that are clearly in the categories of Varsity, Junior Varsity or Freshman teams. That allows the coaching team to more clearly review the needs of each individual player not in that first round of placement, as well as the needs of the three primary teams and then add the additional players to those rosters to complete the respective teams.

We, as a coaching team, not only thoughtfully consider talent and experience, but also where the player is, in our opinion, best served in terms of playing time, at bats, pitching reps and team chemistry.

Please see the team categories below along with a brief explanation of their formation criteria.

Varsity Team

This team will initially be formed of the most dedicated, experienced and well-rounded upper classmen. As this team will play the most games and historically has fewer bench players, the ability to “own” at least two defensive positions, including the pitcher position, is crucial for those in this first group. The second group of players added are those whose skill level at a specific position allows them to be considered a legitimate starter at that position or an excellent back up player at two or more positions to allow them the opportunity for adequate playing time. The third group that rounds out this roster are the role players that may excel and contribute at a high level in one specific skill that the team needs in order to put the best product on the field. This could include, but not be limited to, pitchers only, designated hitters and pinch runners. As this third group, by their nature, will see less playing time at this level, the coaching staff will look for opportunities for these players to get additional reps on the mound, in the lineup or on the field on the Junior Varsity schedule as needed. All Varsity players that live in the Austin area will be expected to attend the majority of scheduled practices and strongly consider traveling with the team to the Florida Home School World Series in May. The Varsity roster players that live outside the Austin area will need to review their availability with the head coach and be prepared to duplicate specific skill advancement outside of Texans events at the coach's direction.

Junior Varsity Team

This team is initially formed of the most well-rounded players that may have some Varsity level skills, but based on the depth chart of that respective class of players and positions to be filled, the coaching staff does not see that adequate playing time on Varsity would be available for the maintenance and growth of those skills. This roster is typically supplemented with upper classmen for whom baseball is not their #1 priority or sport and younger players that are no longer eligible to play on the Freshman team but are developing the skills required to compete at the Varsity level in the future. The JV roster can sometimes be larger as we want as many players as possible to have opportunities to improve, but the roster for game play will be limited to 15 players as selected by the head coach based on the talent level we are expecting to compete against in each respective game. All JV players are expected to be willing to learn new positions, high level skills and pitching acumen in preparation for the future. As commitment level can vary in such a diverse group, practice attendance, high character and a great attitude can certainly benefit your boy's playing time. Some JV players will be asked to travel with the Varsity team when a deeper roster is needed and to be great teammates on the bench, ready to play if the opportunity arises. Many of the advanced JV players may be asked to travel with the Varsity team to the Florida Home School World Series in May as needed.

Freshman Team

Similar to the Varsity team in many ways, our Freshman team can often be, and needs to be our most competitive. As the Texans allow younger players to begin their High School career early if skill level allows, we often have Freshman age players with High School experience and very high skill levels. Additionally, with home schooling allowing for a small degree of graduation date flexibility, it is common for more sports-astute families to join the Texans with Freshman players that are a few months older than is typical (Great idea, BTW. Feel free to schedule a time to talk with me about this if your player has sports ambitions beyond High School). The combination of these two issues can create a roster that competes at a 5A-6A level, and as I alluded to earlier, it needs to. Most schools that we can schedule true Freshman games with are the larger schools with more players to choose from, and a higher number of competitive players in the pipeline. Those schools are always in need of Freshman games, but they will not continue to schedule games with programs that do not offer good competition. Additionally, many small to medium size opponents are hesitant to schedule their JV teams against a Freshman opponent, not anticipating a good matchup, so offering a quality opponent to them helps keep our game numbers up. The Freshman roster can sometimes be larger as we want as many players as possible to have opportunities to improve, but the roster for game play will be limited to 15 players as selected by the head coach based on the talent level we are expecting to compete against in each respective game. In addition to our full time Texans players, we often add 7th and 8th graders to the roster on a part-time basis based on skill level and team needs. Those players are typically still playing on their high-level, pre-high-school travel teams and usually only participate in weekday games. Players in that category are invoiced at a reduced rate reflective of their limited practice and weekend game participation. All Freshman players are expected to be willing to learn new positions, high level skills, and pitching acumen in preparation for the future. The more advanced members of the Freshman team will typically co-roster with the Junior Varsity and Varsity teams as their skill set allows.

Practice Squad

The Texans organization is acutely aware of the social, developmental and communal value of high school sports, and as such, we do not cut any player that wants grow, learn, work hard, make friends, and build character (baseball is particularly good at that last one). The Texans are a family and if your boy has a good attitude and wants to be a part of what we do here, he can be.

High School sports, by nature, is a competitive endeavor and not every member of the organization can be guaranteed a chance to play, but we do commit to giving all players a chance to grow and an opportunity to improve.

Practice Squad players are expected to work to improve their skills during and outside of the Texans schedule to prepare to be on the game roster in the future. Practice Squad players will be uniformed and need to be prepared to travel with the Freshman or Junior Varsity team when a deeper roster is needed, and to be great teammates on the bench, ready to play if the opportunity arises. Developing your player is very important to me. If your player is on our Practice Squad, he is welcome to contact me for improvement directives and at home skill development ideas, most of which can be done in his living room. Practice Squad players will be invoiced at a reduced rate reflective of the limited game opportunities.

Thank you again for joining our organization. I'll see you on the fields!

Brian Reavis,

Texans Athletic Director