The quote that interests me, especially coming from a Hall of Fame pitcher is: "that baseball's not a year‑round sport, that you have an opportunity to be athletic and play other sports." Is this true? Do you really have that opportunity? How many coaches today would agree that baseball should not be a year-round sport,in practice not theory, or do most travel coaches and then HS coaches demand full participation (spring season, summer ball, camps, showcases, fall team, winter workouts, pitching coaches, hitting coaches, etc)? Does anyone here actually have a kid who was a multi-sport athlete in HS, or is that a thing of the past?
My kids attended a large classification high school. My daughter played volleyball, basketball and softball. Since there are less athletic girls they are encouraged to play two or three sports.
My son's soccer coach went nuts every year my son told him he would be playing baseball all summer. He did attend two weeks of goalie camp each summer. After being the starting point guard on the freshman team he was cut soph year for missing all the off season workouts and not playing in a summer league. The only two sport basketball player was 6'7", 220. The basketball coach told me since my son was already a varsity soccer player and expected to start varsity baseball as a soph he obviously didn't have time for basketball. A former UNC captain thought the coach was nuts for cutting my son. Having the winter to workout helped him put on bulk and muscle instead of running off weight playing basketball every day.