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

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?

Seek out and embrace competition, and work as hard and as consistently as possible to surpass your competitors' level of play. If there's a secret to success for all but the most gifted in an incredibly tough sport, that's it.

When my son was in the summer before his senior year in high school, he taught me this lesson. On our way back from an unofficial visit at a highly-regarded mid-major, I turned to him and said, "Coach 'Jones' told you today that you are his Saturday night starter, perhaps his Friday night starter TODAY. In contrast, all the coaches at Omaha contenders #1, #2, and #3 will tell you is that they'll give you a chance; and your dream school already has commitments from 2 of the best high school pitchers in the country. Why wouldn't you lean toward the mid-major?"

Without hesitation, he replied. "Dad, I intend to pitch in the major league one day. Why would I shy away from joining the best college staff I can? If I succeed in that environment, it will help propel me to my eventual goal. If I fall short, I'll learn that my goal was unrealistic. It's a no-brainer."

From then on, I never questioned his approach to his recruitment. He joined that staff that had the  2 great pitchers committed to it, and in their junior season, all 3 of them found themselves on the cover of "Baseball America" going into the NCAA tournament as the toughest weekend rotation in college baseball. It got them to within one win of the national championship.

My son lacked the physical gifts of his cohorts (both of whom are still pitching in the majors after 15 years), but he used their standard of performance to work his way to their level. A torn labrum in the minors eventually ended his dream of pitching for a major league team, but he would always be able to say that he never shied away from the competition.

Last edited by Prepster
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