So here is the latest on John. He has transferred to a Region 5 JuCo in North Texas. He did not play summer ball but also has not trained very hard. His velo is down and he isn’t in top physical shape. All that info was provided by someone that was at his recent workouts. His JuCo decision was influenced by his HS travel ball coach - who is involved with the North Texas JuCo that he chose. On the surface this may appear to some as righting the ship. But I don’t think so. The JuCo he chose has no PC and no history of developing pitchers. All John will get there is innings if he is healthy. Nobody there will help him get any better. It’s basically just a return to his travel ball team where he feels comfortable and has status. On top of all that, my partner in pitching instruction has cut ties due to something John’s father did. That’s also bad for John as Mike was a good influence in every way. School begins in 30 days so it’s virtually impossible that John will be in good form when he reports. I guess we will see.
I heard a comment (or read a comment here) about the difficulties of navigating the recruiting trail today and it was was framed in a way that got my attention. He said, “with all the misinformation out there, and so many people in your ear, it’s very easy for parents & players to make bad decisions. Maybe easier than it’s ever been.” I couldn’t agree more and IMO John’s saga is a case in point. Since signing his initial NLI I don’t think John and his parents have made one good decision. You can only get away with making a certain number of bad decisions before there are no longer any decisions to make. I’m hoping that’s not where this is headed but I certainly can see that possibility. And I would hate to see that happen to a kid that had so much promise just a little over a year ago. I feel like this has changed from “A Recruiting Story” to “A Cautionary Tale.”