How long ago was your son a college freshman baseball player? Fall 2019
What level was he playing? Juco, D3, D2 or D1? Something else? D2 -> D1
Did he stay at that school through graduation? If not, how many different colleges did he attend?
No - Transferred after 4th semester. He’s attending 2nd school now.
If he switched schools, why did he switch?
Many reasons - it made more sense to change than stay.
The 1st school was very small and rural, and really academically more like a high school than a university. About 750 total students and over 50% were athletes.
He plans to be an engineer, and had already taken most of their math and science courses. If he stayed, he would have to major in math, but not get many courses relevant to his grad school goals. Admittedly, he/we knew when he enrolled the school had no engineering degrees and he already planned on grad school afterward, but he was really underwhelmed by the available classes which would prepare him for grad school. Our thought going in was to do the dual degree program with a nearby larger school, but that turned out to be impossible with demands of the baseball program.
On the baseball field, he felt like he was able to compete and do well at that level, but he wasn't getting a chance to show it. He had several appearances first season, but the season was shortened to about 20 games due to Covid. The team then brought in 13 Juco/Transfer pitchers before his 2nd season, and there weren't enough innings for everybody. Halfway through his second season, he still hadn't seen the field.
How much did your son play as a freshman? If he did not play, was he redshirted? If he was redshirted, when was he told about it?
Started off pretty well - he came in to the very first team game of his freshman career in the bottom of the eighth inning with his team losing by 1 run. He threw a clean inning, and then his team scored 2 to walk it off and he got a win. 2nd game of the double-header, he came in trailing again, and did OK except for leaving a fastball middle-middle and watching it sail 400 feet.
So, after the first day of his college career, he led the team in Wins, Appearances, and Feet/Hits Allowed.
Finished the season with 7 appearances, but had a high ERA due to a couple rough outings in limited innings pitched, and was just really settling in when season was cancelled.
What were the biggest surprises and challenges for your son freshman year?
Like everyone else, I think Covid really threw a big monkey wrench in his path. The first season was cancelled when he was still getting better acclimated to everything, and then he actually caught the infection during fall of his second year. He was forced to miss practices and scrimmages during a critical period of fall season, and for whatever reason he didn't perform very well in the chances he did get. He lost the confidence of the head coach, and like everywhere else, they had plenty of other guys willing step up.
Overall, how was your son's experience as a freshman baseball player? Did it meet, surpass or miss his expectations? How about in regard to your expectations as a parent?
I think he was reasonably satisfied after the freshman 2020 season, except for the whole cancellation halfway through thing. He felt like he was just getting into a groove and starting to establish his role with the team. But things were a lot different the second season. He felt like he never really was given the chance to get anything going.
He learned the value of hard work, and he did make some friendships which will last a lifetime. He also learned the negative consequences of missing his moments and falling out of grace with the coach.
As a parent, I was initially pleased as well. It was great to see him on the college field getting to do what he loved. It had been tough for us making the choice to go to this D2, because he had excellent high school academics and had been accepted into some very top-tier schools, but his dream was to keep playing ball. We evaluated all the options together, but let him make the final decision.
We as a family have had both good and bad ramifications of these decisions, and we all learned many valuable lessons. I probably had my head in the sand a little on the academic situation, because he didn't complain too much the first few semesters. He was making great grades, and I just assumed he was satisfied. As it turned out, that school was never going to be able to get him where he needed to be for the future.
Did your son complete 4 years of college baseball eligibility? If not, why?
He's now in his junior year academically, and has 4 years of eligibility. He is on track to get his first undergrad degree after next fall, and then will use another 2 or 3 semesters to finish up a 2nd undergrad degree in engineering. At that point, he will still have a year or two of eligibility, and can then decide where to go for grad school.
Based on your son's experience as a freshman baseball player and yours as the parent, what advice would you have for the freshman player and his parent?
He has worked exceptionally hard to get to this point, but has been fortunate to have help from many former coaches and mentors (including some folks on this board), and also has been blessed with more than his share of good favor from Amohalko and others in The Baseball Gods clubhouse.
Entering the Transfer Portal was a leap of faith, because he had to realize that when he entered the portal, he might have played his last college game. We knew the situation with the overloaded rosters, but he made the decision to believe in himself and take the chance.
He has been one of the few to actually go up a division and improve his lot by entering the portal. I feel for the 2021s and 2022s, but the strange actions of the NCAA have actually benefited us. He got the extra Covid year, and he took a “red-shirt” by not playing last season, and they suspended the sit-out rule to allow him to go D2–to-D1 without penalty. Right now, things are looking good for the future. He had a great fall with the new team, and everyone is excited about the coming spring season.
So, now the hard part - the advice...
Every kid and every path is different. You can read and hear about a thousand other kids (and I have), but in the end, you have to do what makes sense for your kid and your family.
Baseball has been a huge part of his life ever since he first put on a glove. He was also blessed to have a lot of choices of where to go for school, but it came down to the fact that he wasn't ready yet to quit on the game. It's often easier to say "it's too hard" but I respect and admire him for sticking to his plan. To quote some wise men, "The walls aren't there to keep you out, but only to see how badly you want in" RJM (with inspiration from Randy Pausch) and "The hard is what makes it great" Jimmy Dugan.
There is a very fine and well-disguised line between “going where you will be happy even without baseball”, and “doing whatever it takes to keep playing.” Take the time to fully investigate this question within the constraints of your family situation.
Learn as much as possible about every situation going in before committing to anything, and once you're there outwork everyone else and make every opportunity count. But, always keep your eyes on the long-term goals, and if your current situation isn't getting you closer to those goals, have the courage to make a change. I don't know for sure who first said this, but I think RJM had something to do with putting it into my brain as well: "You don't lose when you fall down - you lose when you choose to stay down in the mud hole."