@2022NYC posted:This is gospel to me but the end of the day, what is your kid's goal for college baseball?
Well, to be honest, for 99% of the college players (just making that number up)...the end of the baseball line is their senior year in college. So for those, I think they absolutely need to focus on the school and getting the degree that will position them for success after college. Now in conjunction with that decision should most certainly be the baseball program (will I play? do I fit in with the guys I meet? do I like the coach?, etc.) For those 1% that have actual potential for continuing after college, their choices might be different and based on exposure and what positions them for their best chance at pro ball (although education still has to be considered strongly).
My son has a good friend that he played with in HS. This kid was an average to slightly above average player and was getting recruited by two schools. One school he loved the campus but wasn't crazy about the coach. The second school he loved the coach and would have definitely played, but hated the campus. He and my son were talking and he was trying to figure out his choice and my son told him (maybe because I drilled it into him)..."Pick the school where you would go if you weren't playing baseball." The kid chose school number one (loved the campus). Sure enough, he gets there, gets a slight injury in the fall and misses most of the workouts and the coach cuts him in the spring....baseball done. However, he was as happy as he could be there and still absolutely loves it.
At the end of the day, it is the kid's decision and they often get enamored with just the baseball side of things. I think we as parents (at least 99% of us) have to be that "voice of reality" and really push them to where they will get the most out of that college AFTER their playing days are done.