Is meritocracy overrated?

So is the naturally athletic kid who sits on a couch all day because his parents don’t know what a ball looks like. Should he have the same shot at making the baseball team as the less athletically talented kid who is a much better player because he spent thousands of hours working on his swing and his throw and had a dad that played minor league ball and could teach him everything there is to know about baseball?

What advantages do those poor asian immigrant kids have again?