Playing guests over rostered players is BS

It sounds like the coach has already written this kid off and has "moved on" to these new additions. Which sucks for the kid, and is a terrible job on the coach's part. I feel bad for the kid and the parents, getting cut or demoted isn't an easy thing to deal with at any age.

My kids have played travel/club for years. The biggest thing that impacts team chemistry is expectations. What is the owner's expectation for the team? What are the coach's expectation for the team, and what are the parents/players expectations for the team. If all of those aren't aligned then there will be problems. All travel/club teams aren't created equal. There are local, state, regional, and national level teams. You need to know which one you are on, and is everyone on the same page? The tricky part is that organizations can have multiple teams at the same age level with differing levels of play and expectations. So, you may think that you are joining the USA Stars Gold, and you are really joining the USA Stars Pyrite. But, to be fair, all players aren't created equal either. A kid who was tearing it up at 9U may be struggling at 11U due to any number of factors. It's very cutthroat and organizations will do everything they can to get you to sign up, and have very little loyalty if "expectations" aren't met. At the end of the day it's a numbers game. Tournament costs X, team dues costs Y multiplied by number of players. I've seen teams with 18-20 players on the roster, with some not playing or getting 1 or 2 innings a weekend.

As always, buyer beware.