My son is a freshman catcher and we are basically blindly guiding ourselves through the best routes to meet the goal of college ball. I’ve always tried to keep things in perspective as best as I can with him reminding him to have a backup plan, but we’ve been approached by former MLB players, college coaches, high school coaches, etc for the past 4 years or so with compliments on how advanced he is at his position and how he has the natural skills to make it to the next level. He’s played travel ball since he was 10, but it’s always been local teams with some of his buddies. This past year is when we really started digging into the serious side of getting recognition and that’s when we learned about PG tournaments, showcases and college camps. The team that he’s currently on we’ve stuck with because the coach seems to genuinely care about his players and that’s hard to find these days. However, after promising the parents the team will be playing PG this summer season he’s changed to only Triple Crown. I’ve reached out to him for an explanation but he won’t respond to me.
Basically, what this long winded post is getting at is how important is PG? Do we need to start hitting the pavement to find a new orginization to join? If he isn’t on a team that plays PG tournaments can he still participate in their showcases? And how important are the college showcases and camps the universities put on? Do you go to the colleges you’re interested in or any and all you can afford?
Hes currently in the process of trying out for his HS team, and we should have an answer on that within the next few days. He’s 14, and a late birthday kid, he won’t be 15 until the end of June but he’s always played up a year to stay with his grade and the grade above him. He’s 5’10 and weighs about 155-160. He can catch a 95 mph fastball and has a pop time of 2.2. I’m not sure if any of that information is helpful, but just throwing it out there in case. He’s also a good multi use player, he can play any position other than pitcher. Outfield gets kind of dicey because he doesn’t have much experience out there so tracking fly balls can sometimes be an issue. He has extremely fast hands and quick feet (this is what I’ve been told).
Any and all advice you can swing my way would be greatly appreciated!