What Was Your Son's College Freshman Experience Like?

Son's first year of college was at a JuCo 4.5 hours from home.  His first time away from Mom and Dad.  At little rough at first adjusting to a room mate, college life and baseball.  I know he was feeling beside himself when we moved him and got him registered for his classes, but he soon adjusted.

 

In the fall work outs at 6 am, class at 8 or 9 depending on what day, the practice from 3 pm - 6 pm.   Then he fixed dinner and worked on homework.  Over time he found he needed to get to bed by 10 or 11 pm.  Occasionally he stayed up late to get assignments done.

 

At JuCo they played 15-20 games in the fall - didn't make the travel squad until the last weekend. 

 

He was sort of shocked to see 50+ players at practice in the fall.  Coach was like, don't worry, they'll self cut between grades, health issues, red shirt, etc.  Roster was down to 35 by spring.  He never actually made any cuts.

 

In the spring son managed to work his way into the lineup as DH for most games.  Occasionally playing 1B or OF.  Lost another 7 or 8 players by the end of the spring season due to lack of playing time and grades.  Active roster was down to about 27-28 by the last series.  His roommate was one of those who quit.

 

All in all he did well.

Good question.  I have been wondering if ball players feel like they missed out on a lot of the college experience because they were so busy with baseball or is there actually time to enjoy things like football or basketball games and other activities?

I should add my son's now at a D2 university and even with his baseball and class commitments, he did find time to enjoy football games, basketball games and various other activities.  He and his teammates found time to do non-baseball activities and more or less bonded as a team.  Even at JuCo, it wasn't all baseball and class.  I recall a group of them entered a dodge ball tournament (fund raiser) at the local high school for fun.

       
       
This is why I'm hoping my son continues to want to be and gets the opportunity to be a college ball player. So he has less time for college experiences lol.

JLC

Our son didn't really have time for much else, but he is pre-med, so I think his major had something to do with it.  He had Biology+lab, Chemistry+lab, and Calculus both semesters.  Looking ahead, it won't get any easier.  He was really lucky to be at a smaller school that had professors that really helped him with keeping up when he had to miss class for team travel.  For example, he has to miss one Chemistry lab each week that the team travels and he has a Chemistry TA that meets him at 8:00 am after weights when he has had to travel and lets him make up the lab.  Coming from a large university myself, I am so impressed with the support he has received!

Freshman son this year at a juco.
Fall was shock and aw. He knew long  hours and lots of baseball. Took him a bit to find a routine. They played 25 games in fall. He learned needed 1 day a week to have no baseball and no school. He used Saturday to  watch football all day.
Spring has been interesting. Through first 10 games, he saw 3 innings on bump amd 1 ab. He was frustrated with situation. Now through 34 games, he starts on bump and at 1st. 2nd on team in avg and best era. More comfortable in classes.
Been big shift for him and us. Best advice we were given, "don't let him take a car." He is 6 hours from home and no  car.

Extremely challenging is probably the best way to phrase it.  He was no longer the smartest kid at the school nor one of the best baseball players on the field.  As a pitcher, he learned very quickly he wasn't going to just through fastballs by college hitters as he was able to do in high school.  

 

He learned he had to work harder to compete for grades & playing time and there are no short cuts.  If you aren't willing to do the school work or the baseball physical conditioning you will find yourself changing majors, in the Coach's doghouse or headed home.  Probably the biggest adjustment was organization and time management.  That is a sink or swim proposition for any college student.

 

This is a great topic, keep it going.

So far so good.  Really enjoys each one of his teammates and coaches.  He's been a pitcher only since the beginning of senior year of HS so he was prepared see spotty action.  Got his first start the other day and did well.  He's at a high academic d3 so balancing the schoolwork with the schedule has been a challenge but he's got a handle on it.  The biggest thing for him has been the fact that the team is very fun to be around so it makes going to the practices/games/workouts much more fun.  In fact, he's been more intense about baseball since he got there and I thought his interest would fall off because of the school work but the opposite has happened.  It's been interesting to see the transition.  

Thanks for the posts.  Lots of great information and some of it very eye-opening.  I don't want to hijack the tread and if needed, I can start a new topic.  My son will enroll and start classes on June 8.  I have a lot of interest in what to expect.  He has registered for his summer and fall classes.  He will be taking 6 hours in the summer and 15 in the fall.  His advisor spent a lot of time with him deciding on major of study and suggesting that he work a little harder in the fall to take some pressure off of the spring.  I was very impressed and we are very thankful that the school offers this type of help for the student-athlete.  He and I have talked a lot about what to expect and time management, etc.  I just think you probably have to be baptized by fire to truly understand.  I have given him all the information I have, now it's up to him to take it and run.  I know it will be a challenge, but I am ready to watch him grow into a young man and figure out how to handle life.  Hopefully, he will appreciate mom and dad a little more.

My daughter is a senior this year and so, it went by so fast.  Her freshman year was ... heck to say the least.  She was recruited as an outfielder.  She was used to the weight room and cardio work so that was not new although she didn't like getting up at 5:30 in the morning. Then there were the practices that were dog eat dog and especially for the freshmen who were battling seniors for positions. Then, the academic load was also tough.  Still, somehow she managed to hang on to her academic scholarship.  So many of her teammates lost theirs.  My daughter's university is only 34 minutes away from us and so, my wife and I would often drive over, pick up her laundry and do it for her so that she could keep studying.  More than a few times, we came back to find her asleep with her books open all over the floor. 

 

My daughter and her team were headed for Alabama for their first games/tournament when the first baseman quit.  Coach called her to the front of the bus and asked her if she had ever played 1st.  She had but not much.  She became the starting 1st baseman.  Ironically, she is still listed by some schools as an OF.  This sounded great, but to be honest, it didn't set well with the seniors.  To say that she was not treated well is an understatement.  Still, my daughter is big and strong and can take care of herself.  Somehow she dealt with her glove being moved or hidden and her bat/batting gloves/helmet being moved/hidden.  She went on to hit .404 which is the best BA for a freshman in school history.  She has started every game of her college career and so it will be such a shock to her when her career ends.  I'd give anything to have that freshman year back and get to enjoy the ride one more time but we can do that.  Instead, we are so proud of the woman she has become.  Good luck to your son and enjoy his journey. 

 

Sons freshman season ended this weekend.  It was interesting.  Showed up in the fall to 7 D1 transfers into his D3, making the competition for time even tougher than expected.  He had a solid fall, originally thought he would be primary pitcher secondary infielder.  By end of Fall it was reversed, by spring with departures, suspensions, injuries, illness, etc... he was in the OF.  Through 10 games, he had seen the mound for 0.1 innings with No AB.  He got a shot to hit in a blowout loss and delivered an RBI line drive.  Started in the OF for the remainder of the year, hit .394 for the season.  Lost a 15 game hit streak in the last game of the season.

 

Academically, he has done extremely well with a GPA that is matching his BA. Talking to some D1 parents they described the D3 workload/time demands as about HALF that of the D1 experience.  Socially, i think being at the same school as older brother, 90 minutes from home, and seeing us frequently at games kept the home sickness at bay.  I know it helped his mother and I cope with an empty nest.

 

The take away is:  WORK HARD even when it isn't going your way so you can seize the opportunity when it comes.

I encourage everyone to tell their story.  Very helpful for my son and I.

I was wary to give my son's experience because it was not typical for a freshman, but since CoachB shared his daughters I will share my sons.

 

My son was a fringe D1 player, No interest early but some interest very late. By the time the D1's started to take interest he had already had lots of contact with small D3 schools. He always wanted to go to a smaller school and all these schools fit the profile he was interested in. The late D1's were all very big schools which did not interest him.

 

During recruiting he was told he would eventually be a PO. But that his freshman year he would be given an opportunity to compete for a position spot. Coach said realistically he would probably not be a starter, and get some innings on the weekends and pitch some in relief or Start during the week day non conference games. Summer before he shows up on campus he has some injuries that keeps him off the field and gets few swings in before Fall ball starts. Also the college game just made the switch to the BBCOR bats. So his fall at the plate is so-so at best. His pitching on the other hand is better than the coach had seen him throw in the past his velocity is 2 to three miles an hour than when the coach saw him over the summer and spring. 

He pitches well in the Fall. The team has a big Lefty Senior, who is penciled in as the number two starter. During the Fall he did not pitch at all due to arm health. Well the Senior Lefties arm never comes back to where it was. Another Freshman righty is penciled in as the second starter. But during the spring trip he has issues and comes up issues with his back and needs rehab. Son does well the rest of the Florida trip and becomes the second weekend starter. He finishes up the season in pitching the second game every Saturday and ins named second team and newcomer of the year. He never played an inning as a position player.

So through hard work and some luck my son got an opportunity that most other Freshman do not get. 

 

While reading this post, I just got a text from my redshirt freshman son.  (Not sure if this counts for topic.)  He informed me that he has to be on campus to take a Cellular Bio test at 5:15 am before getting on the bus to ride 5 hours for a midweek game.  He spent Nine hours on the bus from Saturday evening to Sunday morning finishing a research paper that was due today.  The demands of practice, etc. are far more demanding than my time in college.  He is a junior academically and a freshman on the field.  Because of the tough demands on a pre-med student and athlete, he also has to take an Organic Chemistry II class this summer.  Be sure your kid wants to pay the price to be a college athlete!  I am very proud of his accomplishments on the field and more so of his GPA and classwork.  He will be a college athlete for a few more years but Dr. for a long time.  

Glad to see that everyone's son/daughter has had so much success.  Let me give you a counter example. 

Baseball side: Son was recruited as a 2B (started V 4 years in HS, first at 2B last 3 at SS).  Thought this was great due to 2B graduating.  Due to growing and putting on some weight his senior year, he played all fall at SS with two others.  Had an OK Fall and thought he would be the 2B as there was RSSo at SS and played better than other SS (he thought!! In reality while he was probably slightly better with the glove and definitely a better hitter, the coaches loved this kid, the high energy cheerleader type - we all love that type of kid, my kid is much more introverted).  At first practice in spring they do testing and he tested fastest speed, and strongest arm of the IF. He had also put on another 10 lbs since summer. They tell him his future is at 3B an move him there behind established RSSo.  The other two kids stay at SS.  So go from what looks like sure playing time to none, and at a position he hadn't really played before.  The team struggled big time early on, so there was a lot of daily flux in the lineup.  Because of this my son got a few opportunities.  It basically became how you did the last game determined if you played the next game. My son went 2-4 and got the start the next game but was pulled after a K in his second AB.  The pressure was immense for my son who never had to work particularly hard for playing time in his life (he is not the super stud, but was always quite a bit better than anyone else defensively, and held his own with the bat - generally hit in the 2-5 spots in HS and Scout teams).  The very sporadic playing time was tough to get into any kind of groove.  Couple all that with just plain bad luck, the kind everyone has at times where everything you hit hard is at someone, or you get called out on a pitch 5 in off the plate so the next time you get yourself out by swinging at pitches 5 in off he plate.  He couldn't buy a judy or broken bat bleeder to save his life. He was so focused on outcomes that it just spiraled into his worst hitting performance ever.  He started the season something like 6/50 with probably 20K.  His comment about this time was "dad, this game is absolutely kicking my a$$ right now...but it's not going to win."  His defense never did (or has) waivered so that was good.  About 1/2 of the way through the season, he finally got his head on right and concentrated only on the things he could control; his effort at practice, being a good teammate, his attitude, just trying to do your best when you get in and not worrying about the outcome but instead the process (a heavy dose of Springer, Brain Cain, Champions Mind).  The majority of his AB's were so much better, still not as many hits as he would like, but QAB's with a lot less K's.  FF a couple more weeks and due to kids getting suspended for grades, and an injury he was the starting SS.  The struggles that he had to get through I believe set him up to really take advantage of this situation.  He's hitting great right now, hit his first college HR last weekend and seems to have come out of this a much stronger person.  Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't wish those struggles on anyone (man it's tough being a parent in those situations).  Hopefully this has helped him prepare for summer ball where the kids will be even more talented and the competition stiffer.

Lessons learned (these were told to him many times, but with my kid, I guess you have to experience them): Never take a single play off in practice let alone a game.  Be prepared to compete the second you walk on the field and every second there after.  The mental game is HUGE...the game messes with your head, coaches mess with your head, the opposition messes with your head, etc..

 

Scholastically:  My kid was, well lets just call a spade a spade, lazy as a kid can be in HS, and still pulled a 3.5.  Never even saw him bring home a book his Sr. year.  College has been extremely difficult to get into the habit of studying.  He's still trying to understand that you have to do "what is required" not simply the bare minimum.  Still maintaining 3, but it has been VERY hard.  If it weren't for baseball and wanting to stay eligible I really wonder how he would be doing.

 

Great story Arizona!

I think the hardest part of my kids college career was, as AZ stated, "controlling what you can control."  When you are a parent, it seems so easy to say and hard to understand why your child can't accept that.  Then, you hear about your child struggling over things that they can't control and can't help themselves doing so.  One of my signatures on another site is, "Don't play your Senior Year like it is your Senior Year. Play your Senior Year like the 12 year old girl I met who truly loved the game." Advise to BB from a long time highly respected D-I Coach."  Finally, FINALLY, my daughter realized that this was some of the best advice she could ever get and she has done better trying to control what she can control.  That might be the first piece of advice I would give a freshman player now. 

For a lack of a better word, my son's freshmen year was horrible.

 

He spent his junior and senior year being the number one pitcher in high school.  Not a  whole lot of interest, and he needed academic work, so he went to a local JUCO, that is very strong, just coming off a couple trips to the world series.

 

Anyway, fall starts and he does pretty well, throws just as good as most of the pitchers, and makes the Dean's list.  Then the spring semester hits, coach says he is in line to be one of the starters.  Then the mental game hits.  Starts realizing that every pitcher on the staff was the number one in high school, most throw harder than him, etc.  Has a horrible live BP session and gets relegated to the bullpen.  First appearance is about game 5 and his first pitch is deposited over the right field fence.  (At least that guy got drafted)  He calls it the "yips"  Fast ball about 7 miles slower, so it was just bp for the other team.  Ended the year with about a 10 ERA in about 11 or so innings.  It was worse.  He was able to right the ship at the end of the year and finish with 4 scoreless innings.  You can imagine how bad the ERA was before that.  

 

He took the positive from the last few outings, had a great summer, helped his team to the Prospect League title, started his sophomore year last fall, had a great fall, and is having a good spring so far being the first out of the pen.  Has 2 D 2 offers on the table and a D1 looking to set up a visit in the next week.  He just had to battle through the rough stretches, which included a call home to inform us he was quitting.  He had some great teammates that helped him through it.  Mom and dad just had to sit back, hope for the best, and let him get out his frustrations.  We always said we would always be here for him.

I have two - one who is now a Senior and the other is now a Freshman...

 

For the Senior, not heavily recruited as a PO, but needed an academically challenging or high profile school (desire to be a lawyer). We didn't expect much Freshman year, but he'd call/text saying practices were going well and he was consistently getting "outs" against his teammates in the cages (little did we know that was something other pitchers seemed to do regularly too ;-)), but at the time it was really encouraging. As a freshman he earned a starting spot and did quite well for the first 6 games especially since his style contrasted well with another pitcher and they'd pitch the dblhdr day (conf has dblhdr sat and two single games midweek).  Coach moved him to midweek games, but he didn't fare as well there... Didn't help that the defense wasn't helping him out and the aforementioned offense struggled too with conference pitchers that knew them.  He finished with 4-3 record and second most innings on the team. Sophomore year was going OK until he got injured. I think by this time he had started to realize and understand that he wasn't at a top D3 program... Needing to get 4 or 5 outs in many innings wears thin after a while. Junior year was derailed by an incident with a coach in a game where the defense was horrendous, it was raining, and things just snowballed when the coach tried to blame him. After the incident, he was used sparingly to put it mildly - funny/strange how a pitcher gets the blame, but the fielder who makes 3 errors in 2 innings keeps playing. Fortunately that particular coach "moved on" over the winter break this year and thus Senior year has been positive and great statistics wise, although he's no longer a starter. He's become setup guy out of the bullpen.  Up until this past weekend, no earned runs in 9 appearances. Gave up a couple though in a tough loss on Saturday - defense didn't help... 3-2 lead you'd think perhaps we'd play "no doubles defense"...  Nope and yet again the pitcher gets the blame, <sigh>...  Looking back now - baseball was a good outlet and learning experience. He's got a great education (at a high cost), but will be going onto UNC Law in the Fall. I cannot complain - I got to see him live out his dream and I got to watch him play collegiately. I'm glad I let him deal with his own issues with teammates and coaches - it's not my place.

 

For the Freshman - he's at a competitive D2 school. On the field, things haven't been great for him, but I think he's still learning and understanding what it's going to take for him to get onto the field more frequently. If you don't perform, you don't get the chance unless it's in a mop up role. He's also a PO and really only started pitching seriously as a HS Sophomore.  He'd never been a "workout guy" like his older brother, but as a HS Senior he started seeing the light. He's been able to get it up to 90-92 in practices, but he's also learning D2 batters can hit that, so you have to be able to come with something else too! His curve is very solid, so that's good, but I think he still needs to figure out how to adjust his FB to keep the hitters off balance - I've told him that, but whether it "gets through" is another thing ;-). Sitting the bench is a very powerful motivator, but still I'm not quite sure he's figured out that he needs to put in even more work. He's a 3rd child and sports have always "come easy" to him, so while "he thinks" he is just is good and should get time, his chances/opportunities haven't borne that out - so he's frustrated. Couple that with a strange shoulder injury this year (not a tear, but the shoulder will "pop" some times) has him focusing on the wrong things - perhaps in his mind making excuses. Academically he's not like his older brothers - school has always been hard and the ADD doesn't help. Like others have noted - the games and travel are killer on the time necessary for class.  Nothing like a long bus trip each way with an overnight stay at a hotel to put you behind the 8-ball in your classwork - something he cannot afford. We can only push so much being 800+ miles away (although that will change next year as we're moving closer to him). I'm sure I'll be here in 3 years and it might be fun(ny) to look back on this... At that time I should have a Law School graduate and a college graduate all in the same year - oh and hopefully a lot more opportunity to see one of my children live out their dream of playing college baseball.

Important stuff first.

 

Life is not fair

 

He learned he had to stay up to 2AM and study to get through his curriculum with decent grades

 

He drank alcohol for the first time in his life and learned about the consequences of drinking too much.

 

To get good grades he figured out he had to:

• Read the course work
• Do the assigned work and turn it in
•  Ask intelligent questions in class
• Always go see the professor in his office hours and ask intelligent questions or ask for legitimate help

To get great grades he had to be very efficient with his use of time, and tuned out all other distractions - he would be doing homework on weekend nights quite often when others were not

 

Hang with others who are serious about baseball and school, yet still have fun

 

Timing is everything, and he could go out on the weekends and have fun as long as he got his academic stuff done first.

 

Dump clingy girls immediately, don’t waste your time, it only gets worse (fortunately learned through observations with some of his friends)

 

Girlfriends are great, but better when they are also athletes as they “get it” and are not clingy

 

Stay with other high academic kids when on the road with the team.

 

Baseball is hard work and a bit of luck is required to get on the field. When you have the opportunity you must perform, if you don’t then the next guy gets a shot.

 

It is a marathon not a sprint. Work hard and wait for your opportunity, when you fail keep working hard, eventually it will pay off.

 

Stay positive and have a good attitude and be a great teammate even when you are not playing, it will pay huge dividends later in your career. The coaches are always watching and remember.     

 

No you don’t have to play summer ball and sometimes it is best not to.

My son tore his MCL and PCL in his first showcase post junior year. He was in a brace and on crutches until the end of October senior year. He missed senior year of soccer. Then in November he tripped in rehab and separated his shoulder requiring surgery. For both situations we took him to where the pro and major college sports teams send their athletes. 

 

After the shoulder surgery the surgeon told my son he wouldn't be playing baseball that spring. He wasn't going to be able to throw until May. My son looked him in the eye and said, "I'm going to be in the lineup opening day. You're going to help."

 

On March 1 my son tossed the sling. He couldn't reach first from second. On March 15 he was the DH opening day. Two weeks later he was in left. In another two weeks he was back in center.

 

That was the setup for freshman year. While my son was high school ready to play He wasn't college ready. He lacked strength. The plan became play Legion with a focus on working out and gaining strength in the summer. Showcase in the fall. get noticed and start college in January even if the offer was for the following season.

 

He drew attention from colleges at Legion states. His hitting coach/previous travel coach and pro scout decided there was no reason to wait to showcase in the fall. My son had applied to colleges in case he didn't want to wait a year. His grades were good enough to get into any college except Ivy and other top equivalent academic colleges.

 

The third week of August the hitting coach made a call. My son was off to college three days before classes started. He had to attempt to walk on freshman year. But he was guaranteed a spot for he following year.

 

He had a great walk on tryout (according to him). He's played seven positions. But the only opening went to a pitcher . My son took a humble pill and asked if he volunteered to be a manager could he take BP with the team. So he was a water boy freshman year. But the BP gave him good exposure. He also caught bullpens. He said it was a little scary at first catching pitchers throwing 90. He hadn't caught since 13u.

 

Then there's the college life side. He was arrested for underage drinking in the parking of a football game. He said, "90,000 people and they pick me." I told him he was lucky he wasn't on the baseball team that year. He would have made headlines in the local paper. He might have been tossed off the team. It's a revenue generating opportunity for the town. A first time offense charges are dropped pending passing a $500 alcohol awareness class provided by the police department. My son asked for $500. I turned him down.

 

He also got a 2.7 the first semester. His academic ride requires him to average a 3.0 for the year. I told him the local JuCo (they couldn't beat our high school team) is looking real good. That lit a fire under his tail.

 

The he only difference between my son's first semester and mine was he got caught drinking.

Very open and honest replies from BOF and RJM.

Sit down with your sons before they go off to college. Be open and honest.

 

A good thing is that the team usually looks after themselves. Older guys who once were freshman will help the younger ones settle in.  There is nothing worse than having to answer to your older been there and done that team mate.

Unfortunate update, son was injured 1 week ago.  Trainers are saying 3-4 weeks.  He has been doing rehab with them and today, they say it may be worse than what they first expected.

You never know what will happen.

I will be hoping for a quick recovery!

14prospect,You wouldn't mind telling me what school your guy goes to?

Great thread. My son will be a freshman at a d1 in the fall. He said he gets it, I don't think he really does yet. I will be making him read this.

What a great topic. My son learned more about himself and grew more as a person in his freshman season than any other period of his life.

 

He wasn't heavily recruited in HS, but he did get signed by his dream school. It looked like a great situation: plenty of opportunity for playing time, because he and the other freshman catcher were going to be the only catchers on the roster. (Very unusual for an ACC program, for sure.) The team was a perennial doormat that a new coach was 4 years into turning around, and he was making progress. 

 

So he gets there as a freshman, and pretty quickly realizes that he is in no way ready for the demands of top level D1 baseball. "Fat, slow and clueless," is how he describes himself. 

 

On top of that, the coach is a complete tyrant. Hearing his stories all season of the coach's behavior I first dismissed, coming from a kid who was struggling. But it was very over the top. It got so bad that more than half the team actually went to the office of the AD and told him what was going on. 

 

The coach also seemed to really dislike my son. Openly ridiculed him in front of the players, constantly yelling at him. He yelled at everyone, but the other players told him that this coach liked to choose one guy each year for special treatment, and he was the lucky one this year. 

 

As the season started, playing time was scarce. Just a pinch hit at bat or two here and there. Got one start at DH, didn't see the field on defense all year. Got 14 AB's on the year.

 

He took the fact that he was not playing in games as an opportunity to spend extra time in the gym. He could work out on game days knowing he was only going catch bullpen. So he changed his diet, worked extra hard, and went from 220 lbs down to 185 by midseason. His speed obviously increased - he ran sub 7.0 60 and he could squat 500 lbs.

 

After the season in the end of season session with the coach, he is told "You are not in my plans. Unless you come back in the fall and prove otherwise, we will part ways." They didn't even find him a summer team to play on.

 

So he comes home, wondering if he wants to continue. He decides: screw that guy. If I am going to keep playing baseball, I am going to do it my way. Not going to listen to his hitting approach, I'll just work hard and have nothing to lose. 

 

So he spends the summer on a team in a low level local college league, but still works out every day. He goes back to Duke in the fall, and has a great fall. 

 

The season starts with him in the lineup, batting second. He has a breakout year, ends up top five in the ACC in batting average and on base%. He also won a coveted athletic award at Duke, the Olympic Award, for dedication in the weight room. They give it to four Duke athletes each year. 

 

I can't overstate what it does for a kid's confidence to realize that he is lacking, and then take steps to overcome it, and eventually succeeds. 

 

He played two seasons of independent league ball after college - he was not drafted. He just this year decided to hang up the cleats, after an injury last season that ended up being career ending. He had success in indy ball also, and is disappointed to not be playing this season.

 

In the job market, he found that employers were eager to talk to him. He had no problem at all finding a very good job. They LOVED the profile of high level D1 athlete/top notch college, and especially liked the story of what he overcame.

 

That first college coach was fired after my son's junior year, mercifully. He is now out of coaching, I hear. He was tempermentally unsuited to it.Looking back on it, I am not sure I am sad my son had the experience of enduring his abuse. It forged a strong young man from a soft but talented teen baseball player.

 

How Rob's son handled the situation reminds me of my father. My father was a WWII Marine veteran. He walked uphill (both ways) with a fifty pound pack on his back in combat boots. 

 

When things got tough he told me I could be a pussy and quit or man up and deal with the situation. Too many parents today interfere. Their kids don't get the "man up" opportunity that will make them stronger and more confident.

I wanted to revisit this topic as I first responded to it in April and since then have had more of an opportunity to watch my son and talk to him about his overall experience.

 

 As a little background, in HS he was the no. 2 pitcher as a junior behind a stud classmate (low 90s).  Sr. yr. after his 1st start he was sort of benched (given very limited innings) after his first star (he did  well) as he had missed a weekend tournament to visit the college on their Campus Preview Weekend.  Pitched about 18 innings as a senior.  He was sort of down on baseball I thought after that.

 

Fast forward, he goes to college and captains practices start in September.  The workouts start and the seniors are very welcoming and one captain makes it a point to lift with he and other freshmen as much as possible.  Other seniors do as well.  The other upper classmen follow the same pattern as the senior leadership and are all very encouraging.

 

Spring season starts and he is still telling me how he likes everyone on the team and the coaches but very low key.  Season goes along he gets first star mid April after several relief opportunities where he does well.  He earns several more starts and actually pitches and does well in the final game of the regular season.  The team won their conference and gets auto bid to  NCAAd3 regionals. They end up making it to the regional finals as the winner of the losers bracket.  To win the game to put them in the finals they win 2-1 with a walk off homer by one of those seniors.I mention the seniors but contributions to winning are coming from each class.

 

They then have to start the first game of the finals 1.5 hours later. Game goes back and fourth 3 or 4 lead changes to where they went down 5-4 in in the bottom of the eighth.  Top of the ninth BOOM another senior hits a home run to tie it..

Bottom of the ninth comes up I look at the computer screen (we couldn't get to the tourney), sons on the mound.  Happy to see him but wish there were 10 more runs on the board.  He goes 4 innings lets up 1 hit 0 runs.  Bottom 13 1st batter hits a double, bunted to 3rd.  Intentionally walk 3 and 4 hitters.  #5 comes up and lofts one to left to win the game.

 

He ended the season with a 2-0 record 1 save 27 IP.  Said that being on the mound in that game was the best!!!(of course he wishes the outcome was different).  

I picked him up yesterday for the ride home and for 2 hours all he talked about was the team and how fun baseball was (of course this was after 4 finals). Another note, the kids were in the study period between end of classes and finals which started this past Monday so all players had their books with them to study.

 

I wish every person's son  on this site  could have this type of experience but I know that is unrealistic. I will leave you with this thought: the mother of the senior captain that I first mentioned, said he played sparingly as a freshman his playing time gradually increased and this year has grown into a true leader.

 

My son's freshman year wasn't at all what anyone expected on the baseball side.  He made the team in the fall but had a lingering injury that wasn't getting better.  He needed surgery in January and has been rehabing the past 5 months.  He'll be back on the mound next weekend and we will see how it goes.  

 

School wise he's a good student so that part was fine.  However, he did have to learn how to live with others.  Didn't get along with his roommate but had to work it out.  He drank for the first time (wife was surprised, I wasn't).  

 

I will say that he left a child and has returned as a young man.  College can be good for that.

 

Good luck to those 2015's who will start their journey soon.