Great to see this thread…I’m looking forward to hearing many success stories throughout the year.
My son is starting out in High A again this year, while he was hoping he would be promoted to Double A (don’t they all), he was pretty realistic about his chances since he had an up and down year (more down than up). The good news is he had a good spring training so while he didn’t get promoted he knows he’s a least back on the radar (which is half of the battle).
A few things that I have learned over my sons 5 year journey… (Sorry for the long post in advance)
Level of play – Where your son ends up playing has many moving parts, most of those parts are out of your son’s control. While you may feel he has been pigeon holed where he starts the year, with injuries, promotions and other factors that affect rosters…if they perform well they can move up (sometimes pretty quickly). I have seen numerous players make 2 level moves in one season. As we keep telling ourselves…it’s not where you start, it’s where you finish.
Communication - This is a job now…I doubt that you share a lot of what goes on in your daily routine with your family. While baseball is a much cooler job, it’s not much different for the boys. Baseball is usually the last thing they want to talk about. Especially if they aren’t playing at their best. Don’t get too discouraged if they don’t share a lot with you about their game. This was probably the hardest thing for me to get used to. One of my favorite things was to talk baseball with my son. As difficult as it is, I have accepted that when we talk I’m probably not going to get a blow by blow on how he’s doing.
On the plus side we have discovered new things to talk about (current events, TV shows, movies, books…life). In reflection, I now realize how much of our past communication was centered around baseball, once I quit asking for the “baseball report” I found the frequency of our text/calls seemed to increase. It’s kind of nice to discover new things with him (and about him). And yes when he does throw in a few baseball related items, it’s just that much sweeter.
Groundhog Days - It’s an incredibly long and sometimes lonely season. Their hours are much different that most normal people so many of the things we take for granted are lacking for them (prime time TV, hanging with friends, etc). The best thing we did was get a Netflix and Kindle account for him. Our cable network also has a free online service that he can use to watch current shows. Armed with an ipad he has plenty of entertainment to get him through the groundhog days that make up a season. He just found out their buses have free Wi-Fi this year...huge bonus.
Another tedious part of the season is the daily routine of sometimes boring clubhouse food …every once in a while we will send him a gift card for Chipotle, Starbucks, or Chick-fil-a. I don’t care how much money he may have, free gift cards seem to make his day.
Find a support network (for yourself) - I have been VERY lucky to have developed a close relationship with a couple of other parents that have boys in the minor leagues. It’s so nice to be able to talk to people that get it. While my “normal” friends are very supportive, unless you have someone going through minor league baseball it’s just not the same. Having friends that “get it” have gotten me through a few anxious times…their friendship and council has become invaluable. The cool thing is I find myself rooting for their boys as much as I do my own. I can’t remember a day during the season where I didn’t check to see if they played and how they did. I don’t know what I would do without them. Much love to “The Crew”, you know who you are.
I guess that this is my long winded way of saying...don't fret, it's a long season and many things can happen. It’s a new year with new possibilities…It doesn’t matter how they did before (good or bad). It’s now time to “Reset to Zero”…and start it all over again.
Good luck to all our boys…some are close to their dream, some are just getting started and some are somewhere in between. As challenging as the milb may be, it’s still one of the best experiences they will ever have. They (we) may just not know it yet. 