After you blow it.

When you say "he tanked" do you mean he has a bad game and made mistakes?  Baseball is a game of failure, and a lot of scouts like to see players fail in games to see how they handle it.   They want insight in their character.

Or did something else happen?  Throw his helmet?  Get kicked out of the game by an ump?  Cause a brawl?  Visibly show up his coach?  Have a tantrum in the dugout?

Other than that, I don't know if one bad game is really that big of a deal.  Unless he usually throws 88 and was topping out at 73 or something.

3and2Fastball posted:

When you say "he tanked" do you mean he has a bad game and made mistakes?  Baseball is a game of failure, and a lot of scouts like to see players fail in games to see how they handle it.   They want insight in their character.

Or did something else happen?  Throw his helmet?  Get kicked out of the game by an ump?  Cause a brawl?  Visibly show up his coach?  Have a tantrum in the dugout?

Other than that, I don't know if one bad game is really that big of a deal.  Unless he usually throws 88 and was topping out at 73 or something.

Didn’t have great control, walks, got hit.  His had his composure just couldn’t pull his game together. 

Thanks for the response.  Then I really doubt it was a big deal.  In fact the P5 might even be more interested now because he kept his composure.   If his velocity was still the same I bet schools are still going to be interested

You own it. Since his velocity was the same he’s ok on talent. Hopefully he kept his composure and moved on to the next hitter with confidence. When coaches have seen what they like sometimes how a player deals with failure helps them judge character and mental toughness. 

Sounds like you also got the reinforcement from the school that offered.  Bad outings happen, coaches realize that.  I think you're all good!

With my son in college, talent gets you on the bump.  It's how you respond when the "lights are on" in a college game and also while facing adversity and adjusting that keeps you there.

If he handled himself well, then own it and move on. They'll respect that and no excuses,  it sounds like your son doesn't lean on those anyway.  Let us know how it goes!!

Thanks everyone for the input.  I wish he could have turned it around in the next few innings but he didn't.  He is usually fine at showcases and things like that and doesn't let pressure get to him. He threw last week at a school that he really wanted and I thought it might be an issue but he was great.  Hopefully he can learn from it.  He was very disappointed.

I wouldn't sweat it.  They all struggle some time...

Yeah. Been there. A couple of years ago at WWBA, my son had attracted a lot of attention and was going head-to-head with  a future first round pick. There were north of 100 scouts watching - his big chance. K'd the first two batters, then couldn't even get out of the first inning. Five walks, a hit batter and a double later, he was pulled. It was, at the time, devastating. In the long run, it was just a little blip on the radar.

May have missed it but what year is your player?

TPM posted:

May have missed it but what year is your player?

2020

Your son, as a rising junior has a lot of time left don't worry about it and DONT have your son contact any coach about his poor outing.

Coaches understand that often pitchers have rough outings.  Position guys do as well. Those that are truly interested will continue to watch his progress. 

Don't let him feel that he has to make a decision because of his last outing.

JMO

Relax, a bad outing is not anything to worry about. One time I watched the short stop on my sons travel team miss 3 balls through his legs and throw 4 over the head of the first baseman. at the end of the game there where 6 coaches lined up to talk to him. Results do not matter as much as most parents think

greatgame posted:

Relax, a bad outing is not anything to worry about. One time I watched the short stop on my sons travel team miss 3 balls through his legs and throw 4 over the head of the first baseman. at the end of the game there where 6 coaches lined up to talk to him. Results do not matter as much as most parents think

Agree.  Senior year Son had just made a commitment to a JuCo and that night (District Championship game) with the coach in attendance had a Bill Buckner moment at first base allowing two runs to score (ball took a weird bounce).   Made up for it with a RBI double with two outs to tie the game in the 7th (after the coach left) - they went on to win in the 8th.  Batting wise he had a mediocre night - a walk, scored a run, ground out, fly out and then the double.

TPM posted:

Your son, as a rising junior has a lot of time left don't worry about it and DONT have your son contact any coach about his poor outing.

Coaches understand that often pitchers have rough outings.  Position guys do as well. Those that are truly interested will continue to watch his progress. 

Don't let him feel that he has to make a decision because of his last outing.

JMO

 

Great Advice by TPM here . I suggest you take it. RC's know kids have bad outings . They also don't look at the game the way you do. They are more process than results oriented. A good D1 pitching coach can watch your son pitch and see why he's not getting results . For example, They can like a guy and watch him struggle and think ' Yeah, his front side is opening up' or 'He's finishing to quick' and determine why things aren't going well.

The main thing is the talent. The question they're asking is ' Is the talent there?' If they see talent , they'll be back to watch him throw next time

Lastly, a talented 2020 hasn't yet become what he's going to be. Remember that. He's gonna look different this time next year. The RC's know this too

You and your son are receiving excellent advice here.

Recruiters are looking for a combination of talent and how a player performs over a series of outings, as all players are subject to occasional bad ones.

In addition, they want to see how players handle the inevitable adversity when they confront it. If your son plays college baseball (and, it sounds like he will), he's going to get thrown into a meat grinder of a sort he's never before experienced; beyond even that in which he found himself at the recent tournament.

The pressure will be intense. A freshman will be facing batters who have 2 and 3 years of facing college pitching behind them. An error will be made behind him, he'll miss his spot, a good hitter will hit a good pitch...in a game when there's a lot on the line. His ability to cope on the mound in those inevitable situations will be of very real interest to recruiters because they all know what's down the road.

So, occasional bad days can work to a player's advantage; if he demonstrates that he can cope with the circumstances. "Coping" in the case of a pitcher means, generally, that he continues to compete; that he doesn't give in to the batter after he makes a bad pitch, that he doesn't blame his teammates when things aren't going well, that he doesn't hang his head, that he "doubles down"on his commitment to make whatever adjustments that need to be made to make things go better.

Why? Because those are the sort of qualities that the best pitchers on the recruiters' college rosters demonstrate; the ones who contribute game in and game out.

He's 15/16...as the parent of a 2020 I can say their ability to do what they know varies by a lot of little things.  Girlfriend, sleep, what they ate, what they are thinking about eating LOL!!!!!  No big deal.

Some of these posts illustrate why incoming freshman don't play as much and then sent off to summer leagues to get work in, with exception.

There is a huge transition to make. In these tournaments, wood is used, then to college, bats change and so the pitcher has to adjust.

Good points about coaches watching multiple times, even over a course of maybe a year. If a pitcher has a particular bad habit, the good pitching coach will decide if it can be corrected, same as the good hitting coach will decide if he can correct any flaws.

Many times, they can't wait for the results so they move on.

Son pitched a CG SHO with several coaches watching , but was not impressive at all.  Had nothing on his fastball and no breaking ball.  Gonna shut him down and hope he's done enough.  May rest for the next 2 weeks and go to HF in August, fresh and ready to go.

During my 2018's junior year he texted every coach he was talking to after every game he pitched, even the ones that didn't go well. He was always careful to own his own mistakes, but took he approach of — this didn't go well for me and I'm going to focus on this during practice over the next week. Didn't focus on the problem — told them he knew there was a problem, and that he knew how to solve it or was going to find out how.

Had a couple of coaches comment that they knew he could pitch, they liked knowing how he handled adversity.

Update: my son was contacted last night by a coach from a strong program  that saw the blown game.  He said he saw him pitch and he’s very interested and he’s coming to see him pitch next weekend.  I have no idea what they saw, maybe velocity, maybe composure, regardless, I think it gave us all some reassurance that it wasn’t all riding on that one game.  Thanks again to those that talked me  down. It helped in conversations with him.

1. Lots of good advice here - esp from IOWAmom.  Having the kid own it and then explain how he plans to work on correcting mistakes shows maturity and resilience on his part (the kind you need for baseball).

2. From your followup post, it sounds like the coaches knew what they were looking at even if his performance was off. That's great!

3. I'm confused. I thought coaches weren't allowed to contact rising juniors until 9/1. Yes, I know there are many previous discussions about this on the board, but it still perplexes me how they work around it.  

Justdey posted:

1. Lots of good advice here - esp from IOWAmom.  Having the kid own it and then explain how he plans to work on correcting mistakes shows maturity and resilience on his part (the kind you need for baseball).

2. From your followup post, it sounds like the coaches knew what they were looking at even if his performance was off. That's great!

3. I'm confused. I thought coaches weren't allowed to contact rising juniors until 9/1. Yes, I know there are many previous discussions about this on the board, but it still perplexes me how they work around it.  

They just contact the travel coach, the travel coach sends a message and the coaches number.  The recruit sends a text  saying what time he will call, they answer.

So, it's not that they can't be IN contact.  Coaches just can't be the ones to initiate it. 

Justdey posted:

So, it's not that they can't be IN contact.  Coaches just can't be the ones to initiate it. 

Correct, it's how coaches have been getting around these pesky rules for years.  

I've also seen current players, and sisters of current players, approach a recruit to give them the coaches number.

The only thing the new rule did was say they couldn't approach a kid, who hasn't reached 9/1 of junior year, at the schools camp and talk about recruiting. In the past a coach would mosey on up to a kid and his parents, or they would ask a few kids over to a different spot and talk about grades, coaches, visits...etc.  They can't do that now.

Justdey posted:

So, it's not that they can't be IN contact.  Coaches just can't be the ones to initiate it. 

Sent you a private message