My son is a rising senior who will graduate from high school in May 2019 and turn 18 in July 2018. . We live in Fairbanks, Alaska, where baseball opportunities are very limited. 2 years ago he was excited about baseball and starting to think about playing after high school. His sophomore season he struggled, with lots of errors in high school season and just not feeling it during Legion. This summer he is completely burned out on his Legion team -- he's not getting anything from the coaches, he's tired of his teammates, he's tired of playing on a team that is constantly losing to the bigger and better teams out of Anchorage. He's told me he's seriously considering not playing Legion next summer, and has also talked about taking a year off of school after he graduates.
The only real baseball opportunities that I know of in Alaska are tied to American Legion. I believe this eliminates any possibility of him staying in state and playing on a different team. We have known other players to leave the state and play elsewhere in the past. I am interested in looking into this possibility for my son for next summer. The best options for us would be anywhere in the Chicago area, Springfield, IL, or St Louis but we are just looking for any kind of ideas to look into at this point.
My son is 5'9-1/2", 190 lbs. He has consistently played short stop through all three years of HS ball and the last 2 summers of Legion. This year his Legion coach is moving him around -- he has played every position but catcher and dh at this point (and his goal is to play those before the season ends in a couple of weeks). He's not a serious pitcher or catcher and prefers infield but is a utility player. He participated in Baseball Factory last summer but we're locked out of his account and can't find the results from his "tryout." I do remember that his running speed was slightly above average, his hitting velocity was average, and his throwing velocity was slightly below average. If I'm being completely honest he needs to lose some weight, get back into shape, and build upper body strength. Right now he just hasn't found the motivation to do so. I'm hoping that if he has something to look forward to next summer he'll work at it this winter.
Edited to add -- our goals are to get him more/new experience. He could really benefit from new and more intensive coaching and teammates who care about baseball as much as he does. We also hope for him to get a feel for a different kind of baseball than what he's used to. He has several people in his life encouraging him to consider continuing to play (Dad and I are not pushing that, it's coming from others) and I feel like an experience like this might help him decide what direction he wants to go. He has to be the one who wants to pursue future play but I think he's not sure what he wants to do at this point.
Thoughts? Where do we start?