Academics and baseball in HS

I think you need to discuss and let your kid decide. Making the baseball team on a very competitive private HS school team with no residential zoning rule usually takes the top players from a travel program or league. So if your kid was not one of the best players in the league, it will be very hard for him to make the HS team. For example, my youngest son is a HS Soph in an all boys private HS with strong academics and very competitive athletics (nationally ranked LAX program). There are almost 2000 kids so lots of kids trying out. The freshman baseball team had a reclass almost 16 year old committed to a nearby D1. The kids who got cut were very good players and I am sure some will not be returning to school in the fall to play at another HS, sadly this school has that reputation. Not trying to make this seem dire but if your kid really wants the HS baseball experience, he should go to his public ot a smaller private and you can use your parental influence (bully him) to take the honor level classes to push him academically.

If Prep School is within your affordabliity and academics will secure a better college choice outcome for your child, mention that to your child.

Baaebasll is a game of enrichment at the HS level. His summer program will provide competativeness and potential recruiting looks.

Academics was my sons choice, when he attended a NE Prep School. His school baseball team was not competative, and he was still Drafted out of HS. He attended College and played for a top contender.

ACADEMICS HAS MY VOTE

It's really hard to gauge things from a post, but it seems like you might be putting a lot of pressure on your son.  I think it's one thing for a kid to lead the charge on what's important, but gong through every scenario in your head and stressing about it, will likely be putting a ton of pressure on him whether you verbalize it to him or not.  I don't know his (or your) ultimate goals but there is a ton of time to be stressed out over life, if you can pull some of that back when they are still kids, I'd do that.  I'm not saying that you don't have accountability or expectations, I just wouldn't steer the ship unless it's what he is wanting. (I apologize if I'm way off base).

If his goal is IVY, then maybe just sit with him and make a chart of pros and cons and let him decide what is right for him.  If it's not IVY or HD3, then I wouldn't stress over it at all.

If he is happy where he is, and can have a good baseball experience and get a good education, then what's the problem?  If the school offers honors/advanced/AP classes but he doesn't want to take them, that's telling you something right there.  What you are saying is that you want him to go to a school where he is forced to take them?

Excellent grades are a good thing.  I agree that writing and vocabulary can be an issue in non-honors English classes; my youngest son is in non-honors English, and he has told me this year that he doesn't think what they are doing is English!  But there is plenty of writing in some of his other classes.  Your son isn't even in high school yet, so what his choices will be are not determined yet.  And, I agree with others that you can lean on him to try to influence his academic choices.

I've been down this road with two kids. But, our high school was strong (top twenty in large state) academically. It's why I chose it when we moved cross country. My kids were five and six months at the time. I had no idea it was the league doormat except for country club sports and soccer.

A couple of top privates started recruiting my son in 7th grade. One of them actually came to a LL game when he was eleven. His sister had verball3d to a D1 softball program when she was fifteen and he was ten. His goal was D1 baseball.

At the two privates he would have been very fortunate to start on varsity as a soph. Plenty of players we knew who went D1 weren't on varsity or not starting as sophs. At his high school he might start as a freshman.

You never know what will happen in the future. The high school hired a new AD hellbent on turning the school into a winner across the board. A new baseball coach was hired. Every losing coach was replaced.

The team came in last his first two years. The second year my son was the last cut as a freshman. The high school coach trusting my judgment as a travel coach not to talk told me he preferred my son play with winners on JV than losers about to graduate on varsity. The next three years my son was on varsity ... second and two conference championships. You never know what the future will bring.

The thing is, even though my son's coach was a connected baseball guy all of the recruiting occurred through his 17u travel team he started playing for post soph summer.

Getting back to my daughter I told her her chance of playing softball after college was slim and none. She wasn't going to be Team USA material. Women's pro softball is a joke. I told her the college decision would be 75:25 academics. She worked for two years after college in a prestigious DC law firm then headed for law school.

EVen though my son was told he had potential to be a pro prospect when he was sixteen I gave him the same parameters for decision making. The college he chose made the step up to ranked.

Unless a kid is a top pro prospect the decision for high school and college should be mostly about, "How will I succeed for the rest if my life?" I say this having had little guidance from my parents and having no clue when I entered college. I actually believed I was going to play MLB. Wow! College ball was a shock!

We grow too soon old and too late smart.

- Benjamin Franklin

This is my first experience with a high schooled aged kid so admittedly I probably am obsessing a bit.  Growing up academics was never stressed, work ethic and being a self starter was more important. My siblings and I all went to ok colleges and are successful humans who have made the most of our strengths and have something to be proud of.

Truthfully I have pushed my son academically for years. It is because most importantly I believe in him. He was a kid that struggled in elementary school with learning issues but he was always bright. We got him support which helped tremendously. We lucked out in our school district  in that way. But he used to tell me he thought he was stupid. It would always break my heart.

In middle school I challenged him to make honor roll and sweetened it with some small incentives here and there lol because I knew he could do it. I knew if he could see he could do it he would start to believe it. He has made honor role 8 out of 10 times so far and currently doing quite well in his pre AP class.

I definitely don't see my son at an Ivy and I don't know enough about HA D3 schools. Although if he does play in college I imagine he would probably end up at a D3 or JUCO level.

So do I continue to push? Or should I back off  at this point? Will prep school give him more opportunities? Who knows?

Or is he old enough to choose? As far as skill level in BB, is he is on the top team in his organization? Not sure. They are all new teams for the year and there is definitely some talent (Majors level regionally) on his team but they have not played together yet.

BB328,

Kids today have many choices and opportunities that previous generations did not have.

I recall sitting down with my two oldest kids when they were in 8th grade discussing whether they wanted to attend a good local public high school (1 mile down the road) with their friends, and tryout for a great baseball program or attend a public magnet (engineering) high school 15 miles away with an average high school baseball team.

My wife and I gave them the facts, and provided answers to their many questions.   We gave them some time to really think about it and ultimately the decision was entirely theirs to make.  My oldest son took no time to think about it.   He was all about the education & learning and less about his friends, so he went to the engineering magnet high school.  Baseball did not factor in his decision.  He played hs varsity baseball for 4 years and went on to play in college for 4 years.  My middle son needed more time to think about.  Eventually, he realized engineering was his path and so he went to the magnet high school also.  He played 3 years of varsity high school baseball and opted not to play college baseball.   In both cases, they picked their paths.  Frankly, it couldn't have turned out any better because it was their informed choice.

It blows my mind that kids today have these heavy decisions in 8th grade.   When I was in 8th grade I didn't know the difference between $hit and shinola.

JMO, and best of luck!

BB … Push your son to his potential academically. Athletically he has to want it.  Sports are extra curricular activities. In college it becomes a second job. A lot of kids (non pro prospects) get to college sports and realize they don’t need it anymore. He’s going to need his education until he has a professional track record.

Interesting discussion. We has 2 of our guys adopted from Ethiopia. They attended what is usually described as both the best HS in the state and Baseball state champs( until we took them apart, but I digress).

They both got straight A's at this HS to my complete chagrin. We complained and were told they were doing great. I disagreed and sent them both to a smaller Private Christian HS in a lower level baseball class.

They were asked to really work and had a hard time for a while, but they are much improved academically and lettered in Cross country and baseball as Freshmen.

They of course would rather attend the cooler school where they are passed along. But since it is not a democracy they are actually learning things that will allow them to succeed later in life.

I agree with those who say push your son academically.  8th grade is way to young to let a kid decide to hit the easy button on this.  He can always drop down to a lower level if he truly can't handle it, but he can not move up to a higher academic ladder down the road. 

Unless your son is a baseball stud, I am with those that say push your son academically, it will open more opportunities and help pay more bills later on in his life.

@fenwaysouth Since DK came from a family of engineers,  he attended a magnet middle school for engineering, so we had same discussion going into HS about following through at the HS magnet program vs local HS but chose baseball.

What's ironic is that he later chose a school with a very good engineering program to attend for baseball, but Coach Leggett had told him baseball  and engineering  usually don't work  together with a D1 schedule.

Go figure.

Thanks for all the great responses. We have a lot to think about. I have been reaching out to his current  public school to create more opportunities for him to stretch his wings next year. Unfortunately after much discussion the logistics distance, time, money etc for the prep school may not work for our family. So our best bet may be to do what we can do to make his current academic situation a bit more challenging.

Ask if the high school offers "dual enrollment classes" with the local community college.  The classes my sons took were at the high school, but they got college credit, THAT TRANSFERRED TO THEIR RESPECTIVE COLLEGES.  (Unlike the AP classes/testing scores!)  Each son got a semester worth of credits which really helped lessen the load inseason.

@keewart posted:

Ask if the high school offers "dual enrollment classes" with the local community college.  The classes my sons took were at the high school, but they got college credit, THAT TRANSFERRED TO THEIR RESPECTIVE COLLEGES.  (Unlike the AP classes/testing scores!)  Each son got a semester worth of credits which really helped lessen the load inseason.

Mine did this as well. Is set to graduate college a semester early with a major and minor while playing baseball. My daughter graduated in 3 years. Well worth it.