This has been an up and down year for my son. He did amazingly well during varsity season, seeing the ball well and went from bottom of lineup to the top. He caught every game and stepped up as a sophomore to fill the leadership vacuum from the upperclassmen. Him stepping up as a leader is what surprised (and impressed) me the most.
Come travel season, he can't buy a hit. In the first couple of tournaments, either he hits the ball squarely and it goes right to a fielder, or rolls over weakly to 3rd base (he did this a lot for some reason during travel). As the season progressed, I think it started affecting him mentally as the hard hit squared up ball became less frequent. The interesting (and frustrating) thing is that this was affecting the whole team. All of them struggled hitting.
I'm thinking mostly playing up in 16u, facing much better pitching and using wood bats (instead of BBCOR) are factors. But I'm thinking that all of the attention the team is getting from scouts and recruiters are just as big a factor (if not the biggest). With all of the buzz around their peers committing or being recruited, I think the boys are trying too hard when the scouts are watching.
The good news is that our pitching and fielding has kept us close in most of our games. My son has been doing great with catching. Still no contact from any colleges though. Given his performance during the summer so far, I think he should plan on working harder in the off season and show up better next summer.
He's always had a good amount of self confidence (without being cocky). He's always felt that he's good enough to play for a P5 school. Now, he's thinking mid major/D2/D3. I honestly think this is more realistic. I've wanted to tell him this before but refrained from doing so as I don't want him to think that I don't believe in him. I'm not sure whether to be happy now that he has more realistic perspective or sad that he's had to face reality and lower his dream.
One more tournament to go (15u WWBA). I hope they turn it around and finish at a good note.