Racerx

"Redshirted" means held back a year for whatever reason. Some people do it to give their kid an advantage academically or athletically when they have a late birthday which would make them one of the youngest in their correct class. Sounds like Edwards is a freshman with a late birthday, after May 1st, which is the usual cutoff, which allows him to play 14u. Another instance where a "young" kid can do well and doesn't need to be held back.

Kind of feel for a kid in that situation. You are either the oldest kid, driving before everyone else, which may seem cool, or your young and graduating at 17 and waiting an extra year to drive. Kind of a man with no country. I guess I am naive, but people hold their kids back to perform better in sports? I can see holding them back because they are struggling with academics, but to do it so your kid can be a sports star? Sounds like a parent living out there dreams through their kid. And I am not saying that is the case with Edwards, don't know the kid or his family, so it's not for me to pass judgement. The Flames are a great organization ranking with Midland so he may of tried the 15u and 14u squad both and only made one. Summer ball is so much more competitive than high school that's for sure. I would almost venture to say that some of the 13u and 14u select programs could beat a fair amount of freshman high school teams and maybe give a few JV squads a run for their money. But, back to the point of the thread, either Campbell County has five pretty good freshman or the program is struggling to get players involved.

Is he an 8th grader this year?? If so, and he is playing 14u this year, he is right on schedule. Most 8th graders will play 14u...ones with late birthdays will play 13u (or play up at 14u). If they've been redshirted they'd play 15u

I don't know what "redshirted" is for a high school player. My niece is a sophmore and he is in a class with her, so I can only assume he is a freshman and has a birth date that allows him in the 14u division. I went to Campbell County's baseball web site (campbellcountybaseball.com) and they have two freshman on varsity (Edwards,Metz), three freshman on JV(Becker, Eblin, Reynolds), and six eighth graders on the freshman team. Looks like they carry fifteen players per team. Looks like both the JV and Freshman squad are very good by the scores of the first two games for each of those teams. It would seem that they have a decent crop of freshman if they have five playing up at both the varsity and JV level.

This is spot on. Go watch one of the elite summer teams in this area that these 8th grade kids play on. There are only 3 14U teams that compete on a national level around here, The Cincy Flames, The Riverbats, and The Midland Tomahawks. There are actually 2 NKY kids on the Tomahawks, one of which I know his family well. He was recently listed as one of the Top 50 14U players in the country by Travel Ball Select- yes that kind of stuff is crazy but it's out there- and say what you want about stuff like that, but this kids goal is to play D1 college baseball, and that kind of pub and exposure cannot be bad, and he would not get that by playing freshman baseball (or JV/Varsity) as a frosh. By the time school ball is over, these kids will have played against the best of the best, many against teams from the south which, as a whole, are just simply better because they never stop playing. We have been lucky around here this year, but usually HS/Frosh ball is a battle against the elements and not the greatest comp.

The 14u Flames were ranked #21 last year and Campbell County's freshman varsity pitcher Cameron Edwards plays for them. If he is playing 14u summer ball that would make him an old 8th grader or young freshman? I heard the name Braydon Combs mentioned for the Tomahawks from northern kentucky but can't verify. If these kids are able to play up, why not let them? I don't know, I think if a 6'9" seventh grader walked on a basketball court and could throw in 25 points a game, we would be talking about what a find he was, how many collages are looking at him, and when ESPN could get a camera crew to our schools for pay per view games!

Not quite sure and I could be wrong but I thought it was the Kentucky State Legislators who made the rule and the KHSAA was forced to follow!

Regardless of who made the rule, and forgive my ignorance lol, the coaches are following the guidelines set for them. With the amount of very good select summer teams, quite honestly a lot of the eighth graders who play on them are crushing the freshman who have done nothing more than little league or knothole.

Edwards won his first start for Campbell County vs Holmes. I went to the Highlands game and CC also has a freshman starting at catcher named Robert Metz. Threw out a runner stealing third and hits the ball a ton. Very good behind the plate.

The KHSAA has set the rule, so if a coach is following the rules, why can't he choose a middle school kid? If they thought it was a problem, they would change the rule.