After the draft?

I don't think keewartson took a car to spring training the first year.  After ST, he was going to be shipped out of the area.  If your son thinks he will be staying in FL for the season, he may want to take it.  Think about where he will park it if he gets promoted, etc.  FWIW-son does take his car to ST now and the team ships it....for a $$$ fee....to the city where he is playing.

I would ask him what he wants for Christmas.    The team seems to provide what he NEEDS, but maybe new earbuds, phone, etc.... gift cards to Chipotle, Chickfila, steakhouse......  Usually what my son wants for Christmas has nothing to do with baseball (like clothes, golf, bourbon).

Iowa Mom;

Talk withe Rays scout who signed your son. He has the experience to answer your questions. Did your son meet the Rays Farm Director?

Bob

We went to Florida for son's first spring training.  Every morning was a crap shoot to which town and which field he would be playing.  Schedules of MLB ST games are already posted, but Milb usually plays on the opposite teams fields.  Sometimes they will bring up players, and sometimes they will send down players, sometimes there are split squads.   Milb games were free, and usually played around 1pm or noon.  We skipped the second year since they were renovating the  large stadium and practice fields.  Then covid.  Then price gouging hotel rates and a cancelled AirBNB.  Maybe this year.

We are finding that each team is wildly different with how they handle things. The Padres had two rounds of winter work outs after fall instructs so he didn’t have a lot of off season down time. So far he seems totally on his own until spring training with the Nationals. Even housing varies widely although with new rules they either provide housing in walking distance to the stadium or they provide a shuttle from the team housing to the facilities (making a car a luxury not a necessity so you can wait a bit before making a decision)  

He should have had an exit interview with someone at a decent level in the farm system but it might take a few conversations for you to get all the details LOL. They should let him know what they want him to work on. Again, details are every different from team to team. James got a very detailed metric break out from one time and the other team told him “keep doing what you are doing and try to get to and stay at optimal weight.” (He lost 20 pounds over the course of his first full season and they want him to stay closer to 240 rather that 220.)

This year we are doing nice luggage for Christmas. He had a huge (nice) Padres duffel bag but he doesn’t love the attention that comes with it. Last year we updated his bedroom for him.

Any kid who needs to put on or keep on weight probably wants one of these, if he doesn't have one already.

https://www.nutribullet.com/shop/blenders/personal/

A few thoughts...

• Avoid the car if possible, lots of toll roads - just bum rides from someone that's brought one.
• Make sure he's got the unlimited data plan, that doesn't throttle down too early - my kid was going thru 40GB-65GB per month on bus rides (a TV subscription that gets ESPN is a plus).
• iPad - with backup charging batteries is nice, can use phone service hotspot when traveling.
• Extra headphones, cheap wired ones if in a pinch.
  

@JCG we definitely have one at home but we will make sure he has one at his place. New Christmas gift idea. 😂 It was easier for him to maintain with the Padres set up (guys were 4 to a two bedroom apartment with a kitchen and two bathrooms). Nationals had them in a hotel without a kitchen. It was definitely a lesson for him. The days are long and there is only one day off so figuring out easy ways to keep calories up is important.

Also I agree with bumming rides/Ubering for as long as you can. As we know, you may have to move at the drop of a hat (trades, promotions/rehab assignments).

@Consultant posted:

Iowa Mom;

Talk withe Rays scout who signed your son. He has the experience to answer your questions. Did your son meet the Rays Farm Director?

Bob

Honestly, no idea. It was not a team any of us realized was looking at him.

@PTWood posted:

We are finding that each team is wildly different with how they handle things. The Padres had two rounds of winter work outs after fall instructs so he didn’t have a lot of off season down time. So far he seems totally on his own until spring training with the Nationals. Even housing varies widely although with new rules they either provide housing in walking distance to the stadium or they provide a shuttle from the team housing to the facilities (making a car a luxury not a necessity so you can wait a bit before making a decision)  

He should have had an exit interview with someone at a decent level in the farm system but it might take a few conversations for you to get all the details LOL. They should let him know what they want him to work on. Again, details are every different from team to team. James got a very detailed metric break out from one time and the other team told him “keep doing what you are doing and try to get to and stay at optimal weight.” (He lost 20 pounds over the course of his first full season and they want him to stay closer to 240 rather that 220.)

This year we are doing nice luggage for Christmas. He had a huge (nice) Padres duffel bag but he doesn’t love the attention that comes with it. Last year we updated his bedroom for him.

I think he just had a conversation with a pitching consultant last week or the week before. Things got crazy at the end — they emptied out Port Charlotte with about 24 hours notice before Ian, so I'm guessing it maybe wasn't as organized as it otherwise might have been.

Love the idea of the gift cards for restaurants. He actually seems to do a pretty good job of cooking — was also in a hotel to start, but when they moved him to an apartment he got the other guys to go together and buy groceries and then he cooked. The hard part is not knowing where he'll be — I think the hotel was pretty far off the beaten path so a car would have been nice, while the apartment was a little closer to things. I hate seeing DoorDash charges on his account!!!

Thanks for all the suggestions. Lots of stuff on there I hadn't thought about.