Tribal posted:... bottom line is he's a legit player that has a few disappointments.... they are real disappointments in his eyes and that's all that counts ..
...I am glad to see someone say that their son didn't sign til May, because that is what I am being told now, coaches are always looking to upgrade their teams. So part one is the not giving up part because and would like to hear anything regarding this. ...
... (yes I do realize committing to a college doesn't mean you will actually play). I'd also like to hear anything about this.
You ask specifically about not giving up, being late in the recruiting process...
Of the last six players we have sent on to play in college from our HS program, only one committed before his senior season. Each player from this group looks poised to finish playing four years of college baseball - one D3 just graduated, two are college seniors D2/NAIA, one a D2 college junior, one a promising D1 sophomore and the other, a fairly heavily recruited D1 freshman. Three of them went the JC route and transferred. Needless to say, there were many disappointments during the recruiting process (that they didn't sign sooner) for most of them. Persistence, desire and faith in his abilities (even when he is struggling to show his best) will help your son reach his goal. It is not too late.
You also ask to hear about committing to college and not necessarily playing...
There are many here who can tell you first hand stories with their sons. My son went the JC route and, due to injuries, went through three different years of tryouts at that level where the average number of players trying out was about 90 for about 30 roster spots. The majority were all-league or better in HS. Each year, roughly 2/3 were sent home for good. Ten more rarely saw the field. When son transferred to D2, he went into the fall as a preferred walk-on after an all-conference year at a strong SoCal JC but came in listed as 9th on the depth chart of OF's. He clawed his way up to 3rd/4th to earn a spot on the roster and decent playing time. There were 20+ other similarly skilled and decorated players who didn't make the roster or never saw much PT. I never did this math before but, by the end of his college playing career this May, he will have seen over 200 teammates get cut or quit.
There was another OF that came out of our HS that broke school and league records for hits, BA and stolen bases, was a very hard worker, 6.6 speed, solid student and "settled" to play at an NAIA for academic reasons. He didn't see regular playing time there until his junior year. He had earned his way up the ladder sooner, only to see mid-year transfers brought in to play ahead of him.
Everyone that has been around the college game will have plenty of these stories to tell.
There must be a willingness, a mindset, to constantly push through disappointments and setbacks. And, then, expect more to come.