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The kid played hurt in the Arizona Senior Fall Classic last week.  Unfortunately, he  just couldn't swing the bat without serious pain -- due to an injury to the wrist from being hit by a 90 mph fast ball two weeks earlier.    Still not whole.  Bad timing.     We know several recruiters came to watch.  I was actually sitting next to one who told the guy next to him that he was there to check out the right fielder -- who happened to be the kid.   

 

Bad break for the kid.  He toughed it through but he was in pretty  serious pain.  Probably not much to be done about it, I know.  But the thought did cross my mind that the kid could write follow ups purporting to up date the coaches to whom he sent his schedule -- not sure how many of them caught a game of his -- to report on something -- not sure what.  And then he might mention his recent injuries in passing  in the course of it.

 

Good idea?  Bad idea?   I'm just not sure.  Advice appreciated. 

 

Last edited by SluggerDad
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Originally Posted by IEBSBL:

As a coach here is my opinion.  I think it would be good to follow up with the coaches.  I believe you should leave out the injury.  These coaches you are emailing are going to view it as an excuse or they or going to question why you were there in the first place if you were hurt.

 Seems reasonable.  He wanted to try to tough it out.  Big stage.   Big opportunity.     I should have exercised parental wisdom and sat on him, but he really wanted to give it a try.  

I do kind of admire the kid's determination.  The way his injury is, it mainly hurts when he takes a full swing and then the  pain lasts  for a few minutes, but eventually subsides until he swings again.   What  he did to try and cope was to be very selective and hunt for one pitch to swing at.  Once he swung he would be in pain the rest of the AB  pretty much.  So he ended up looking at a lot of pitches. It made him pretty limited unfortunately.  

Last edited by SluggerDad

SluggerDad, this information won't be helpful to you or your son now, but might be helpful to another player or parent (as will your post about your own son's experience) in the future.

 

In a webinar we did a couple of years ago with current Oklahoma State head coach Josh Holliday (an assistant and recruiting coordinator at Vanderbilt at that time), one of my questions was about a prospect participating in a showcase when still not fully recovered from an injury.  Here's a portion of his answer:

 

"If I had a son who was anxious to get back on the field, but only because they needed to be seen - I think you don't return to play until you're healthy!  It doesn't do a young man a whole lot of good to go out, unhealthy, and play at less than his full potential and then maybe be evaluated and viewed as a lesser player because of physical injury."

 

To review Josh' complete answer and other insightful info, here's a link to a transcript of the webinar (which lasted nearly an hour):

 

http://informedathlete.com/pro...-the-eyes-of-a-coach

 

 

Agreed. I had a son who loved playing football, yet still played fall ball, going to showcase tournaments. For  a month he got up on Saturday mornings, grabbed ice bags, and headed for the tournaments (he played both ways on Friday nights, QB/DB). He was beat up and sore every time. His baseball performance was clearly affected...but you don't know that unless you'd seen him healthy. My vote goes to only playing when you're healthy enough to show your stuff.

I agree with not showing yourself if you are injured. I dont agree with NOT telling the coaches he was hurt.

Meanwhile what you as the parent of "the kid" should be concerned about is his injury, that takes priority over everything.

Take care of it so he can have a good senior year. Nothing else matters at this point.

JMO

Last edited by TPM

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