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Reply to "Your Son's College Baseball Freshman Experience"

Anyone willing to answer some or all of the following questions?

Sure - here goes

How long ago was your son a college freshman baseball player?

2020

What level was he playing? Juco, D3, D2 or D1? Something else?

Juco

Did he stay at that school through graduation? If not, how many different colleges did he attend? 

n/a

If he switched schools, why did he switch?

n/a

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? 

Son earned a spot in the fall in the catcher rotation.  Played in 36 games mostly at catcher but did DH and had one game at 1B.  Sprinkled in a 10 or so PH appearances.

What were the biggest surprises and challenges for your son freshman year?

For him the biggest challenge was adjusting to college ball during Covid.  Due to the nature of things last fall there was a lot of start / stop going on between baseball and school.  Son is very much a routine type of person and the disruptions for him were frustrating.  Echoing what others said juggling class, baseball, weight room, homework was a challenge as well.

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?

Son was happy about his experience.  In a lot of ways it was an exceeds expectations, but for him I'll go with met his expectations. The goal was to win a conference championship and they fell short.  As someone mentioned earlier, winning sways perception.

As a parent I tried to go in with an open mind. Learned a lot, learned I didn't know a lot, but settled in and tried to enjoy the ride.  I'll go with met expectations as well (see above).

Based on your son's experience as a freshman baseball player and your's as the parent, what advice would you have for the freshman player and his parent?

What you see / hear / expect coming out of fall, may not line up with what happens during the spring.  With everyone getting looks in the fall there were some surprises from freshman parents regarding playing time in the spring.  For son's team, coach is going to go with the players he knows - especially early in the season. Son was one of the few freshman position players to receive significant playing time, so I learned to distance myself from the parents that fell into the trap above.  YMMV.

To that end, don't be that guy/gal.  It is wasted energy, and you'll soon find yourself only in the company of people with the same mindset. 

Did your son complete 4 years of college baseball eligibility? If not, why?

n/a - that is the goal.

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