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Reply to "Baseball in 15 - 2O years."

  There is at least one thing that everyone on this site can agree on.  We all love baseball.  We wouldn't be here if we didn't.  It is the greatest great game in the world.  But the points made in the OP are real concerns.  Youth baseball has been monetized at every turn, and a lot of us don't like it.  Its not due to any one thing, person, or organization.  Its due to a lot of things - almost a perfect storm that has been created to profit off the dreams of children, and I really don't like that.  In hopes of helping someone else, this is my story - and the experience of the friends who went along with me.                                                      My youngest son came to me when he was 12 and said, "Dad, I have 3 goals." I said, "who are you?" He said, seriously dad I want to focus on baseball and here are my goals : 1) I want to start on varsity as a freshman ; 2) I want to play baseball in college ; and 3) I want to be selected in the MLB draft my senior year in HS.  Will you help me reach my goals?  So, who on this site would turn a deaf ear to their kid if they heard that? None of you would. My son is now a senior in HS and he isn't going to be drafted but he checked the other two boxes. We had a lot of fun along the way but looking back I would have done some things differently.  I also have a son that was a 2015 that was recruited to pitch at a good D3 program. So I have been thru the recruiting process with him too.  Besides my own kids, I have helped other families get their kids recruited.  I am a former college player, current HS pitching coach, and a volunteer asst. coach at a JUCO. I was also a travel ball coach for 5 years.  Point being, I have a pretty good perspective on all of this.  And even with my background, and connections, I made a ton of mistakes.                                           What are the contributing factors ? How about we start with the soaring cost of a college education.  Many parents are hoping that a baseball scholarship will offset some of the cost of college. Reality is that parents spend way more on baseball getting their kid thru HS than they will ever recoup in baseball scholarship money in college. I know I did.  You are better off focusing on grades as a means of scholarship money.  Spend reasonably on baseball and put money in the bank.                                                                                                       Next factor ? How about the proliferation of select travel ball organizations - many of which have a slick salesman at the top that for thousands of dollars in fees promises all kinds of things to players & parents, marginally qualified coaches that don't teach kids how to get better, and teams full of players that aren't select in any way other than their parents can afford the fees.  So you have too many teams & too many players that are paying too much money for false promises. I avoided all these by doing the coaching myself but everyone cant  do that.  Do your homework and choose wisely.                                                 Now lets tell all these players that they need private instructors if they want to compete and those instructors have to be paid of course. And once the instructor gets that income stream going he will tell Johnny and his parents that he can get Johnny to the next level if Johnny will keep showing up and they keep paying. Can he really get him there? Maybe or maybe not. But the money has been spent and the expectation has been set.  Be realistic.                                 Lets add to the mix recruiting services who tell parents that they can get your player placed - and it will only cost $ 4000 which is nothing compared to the value of the scholarship they will help him attain - except that they wont actually do that, but you find that out later.  What they will do is find a D3 school where Johnny can play that you could have found yourself without them.  And btw D3 schools don't offer athletic scholarships. But wait, you said....................I never hired a recruiting service but many of my friends did and with one exception it was a waste of money.                                                         Oh, and lets not forget scouting services that promote their expensive high profile events as necessary to the recruiting process for exposure to scouts and college coaches. Oh, and lets be sure to play on a travel team that attends these high profile events that result in traveling halfway across the country twice each summer. And why are we doing all this ? Oh yeah, its because our travel ball coach tells us that all the best teams do this. Oh okay, that's a good reason. Wait, the organizer of this event is paying for your hotel room on the beach ?? You didn't tell any of us that !!  But I digress.  Just focus on those measurables !! Gotta hit 90 on the gun!!  But dad, I'm not getting anybody out ! And my arm hurts.  Doesn't matter - throw harder!!  That guy in the stands looks like a scout !                                                                                                               And some baseball parents actually  think that the more money they spend the better player their son becomes.  So many are taken for a ride by travel ball organizations, private instructors and recruiting services resulting in unrealistic expectations of players and parents. I once heard an arrogant parent of a good HS player say (at a HS game), "if your son isn't on the varsity field as a sophomore you are fooling yourself if you think he is playing college baseball." Was she right? Not totally - but more right than wrong.                           I agree with the post that said the whole experience seems to have turned into a quest to get recruited.  And in this quest so many people lose proper perspective.  All of the nonsense that I related in this ramble is a combination of real things that happened to people that I know very well. These are the stories they have related to me.  Many parents that I know feel pushed, pulled, taken advantage of, and even jaded.  And these are the ones that have had success - their kids are going to good JUCO, D3, & D2 schools. What they have realized now that its over is that they didn't have to go to Georgia & Florida to make this happen. They didn't even have to leave the state, and they certainly didn't need to spend all they spent. Now don't get me wrong - its great for the experience if you can afford it. And it can be a lot of fun.  But, unlike how it was presented to them initially, its not necessary.  I cant imagine that the quest to be recruited is very good for the player either if so much focus is put on the end goal that it takes away from the fun of the journey.  Avoid that mistake.         The great players are always gonna make it. They are so good that anyone can recognize their talent. They go D1 or get drafted right out of HS.  But they are a very small minority.  If your son is one of these players you will know it. Parents of these players wont relate to this post because their experience is different.  What I have related is more common - it is the experience of the majority. And its crazy. But youth baseball is big business, with lots of money at stake. So good luck trying to change it. You can wish for Little League to return to prominence but I just don't see it happening.                                                            The best advice I can offer is to get some experienced help, develop a good strategy, buckle up tight, and stick to your plan. If your son is good enough to play beyond high school, your job is to find the person with the most baseball cred in your community that will promote him.  Happy trails to you all !

 

     

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