LivingtheDream posted:As for my 2018, for the most part he is having a pretty good spring. One really bad inning last week where he gave up 5 hits and 2 earned runs. He was mad as hell when he got home because he said the pitching coach was calling all fast balls in that inning and they were hitting it. To be fair, he obviously wasn't hitting his spots because if he were they wouldn't have been hitting it like that. The next 4 innings he was lights out and gave up I think 2 more hits total and no more earned runs. This was against the number 1 team in the state. He's among the top in the state in ERA having pitched against the best teams on the schedule. He's getting some press this spring from PBR and a couple of the local fall ball teams but to my knowledge is only hearing from one school. Which is the one he contacted because they are his lifelong dream school. If it works out for him that will be great but as a parent I am extremely nervous about him putting all his eggs in one basket. We've had multiple conversations about his need to reach out to more schools but he is stubborn. Honestly if an offer doesn't materialize from dream school he will probably go juco in hopes to still make it there eventually. If anyone has advice on how to get a kid to open up their options I am all for hearing it. Nothing we have said so far has sunk in.
Your 2018 sounds a lot like mine. His first outing was against a team that is turning out to be one of the best in the state. They lit him up. First batter of the game hits the first pitch for a double. He couldn't recover. He realized that he needed to be able to work through those issues and move forward. He's been a different pitcher since then. We have one of the best pitchers in the state as our ace, so he's been a great mentor to my son.
My kid is pretty ambivalent about college right now. He knows he wants to go, but he seems a little intimidated to make concrete plans. I've pushed about as much as I can and I'm not willing to take over the process entirely. He may end up at a Juco and I'm okay with that. It will be a good fit academically and give him good intro to college life as a baseball player. I don't really have any advice for getting them to open their options. In my experience, it really does have to be a process led by the kid. Good luck!