I thought I would provide an update regarding my son Bobby's journey. He kept grinding away this Fall and Winter on his JV team, countless of hours in the cages, and instruction both one on one and at a winter camp through U.S. Baseball Academy. He also asked us if we could sign him up for Athletic Republic, a gym which came highly recommended from a friend of mine. Though it's not cheap, we couldn't say no because Bobby just wants to get stronger and faster. He also just passed me up height-wise, he's now 6'0.5" 160 lbs.
Just before Bobby's first JV game, we prepared him not to play at all this year, given his lack of experience. We were all surprised when he started in his first game, batting fifth. In his second game, he discovered he couldn't hit a curve ball--we hadn't prepared him for that. A long weekend working on hitting curves with his instructor paid immediate dividends. He knocked in all four of his RBI's off of a curveball against Santa Ana, Estancia, and Orange. His hitting is so far ahead of his other skills.
Bobby tried out for Michael Garciaparra's developmental team last month. He didn't make it. There were many, many polished young players out there, and Bobby simply didn't have some basic skills to compete with them (except his hitting). He had one of the weakest arms in the outfield. Since then, Bobby has learned how to execute a crow-hop throw and to get on top of the ball in his throwing motion. He's already put about 50 extra feet and more zip on his throws. We just taught him how to execute a proper slide yesterday (he was just plopping himself in a heap previously).
Bobby gets down on himself occasionally when he has a bad cage session, a bad at bat, or gets chewed out by the coach for making a baserunning mistake, and I have to keep reminding him how far he has come in such a short period of time. Each time, Bobby gets after it even harder than before. He is always asking to go to the batting cages; we never have to ask him. We have to limit how many swings he takes in the cages because he just wears himself out.
We're trying to find him a team for this Summer and Fall to continue his development. It's been quite the journey for Bobby and us so far.