@anotherparent posted:Have to say I don't agree. The model is the college process generally.
To be admitted to a college as a student, you apply and are accepted, you pay tuition, and attend classes. They don't give you more tests after you get there, and turn some people away. If you do the work, you will get a degree.
That's the model I think people assume for college baseball. You get recruited, are accepted with some kind of offer, work hard, and have a roster spot.
The assumption is that if you have been offered a spot on the team, the coach has already kicked the tires, just like the admissions office has. Obviously the coach will be evaluating you for playing time, but why would anyone assume that the coach is going to be doing more evaluation with an eye to rejecting you? Unless he has told you that is what he does.
This sums it up so well.
This was my wake up call that I would have never known about until I found this site.
I am strictly talking about that freshman year. The idea that you can be offered a spot on the team ,even be offered an athletic scholarship, but still be told you will never see the field and if you want to play baseball that you need to leave ASAP after maybe 2 months of observation?
That is the "secret" I know that the vast majority of baseball parents are completely oblivious to.
As @anotherparent so eloquently stated, it doesn't work that way for the non-sports students and to my knowledge I don't know if it happens in any other sport? That's why I asked about lacrosse and soccer as the roster composition is similar to baseball.
And the "dirty" part of the secret is that even if we accept the fact that as of today a coach can bring in an unlimited players for a defined number of roster spots they never present it to the high school athlete and family as a an offer to *try out* for the team. Because they know full well that very few would accept the risk of enrolling in a college with absolutely no guarantee of at least 1 full year to prove themselves.
Why would any 1st time parent or player even think to "do the research" about getting cut fall freshman year if they didn't know that was a possibility? Meanwhile the people who have complete knowledge and control over the situation purposely choose to withhold that information for their own benefit.
Now you can say "welcome to the real world" , but there are tons of laws and regulations for deceptive business practices in this country. And it would not take a genius to come up with simple rules so the freshman athlete knows exactly what they are signing up for.