Love this topic. Mine is a 2018 so not sure yet how it will play out but probably a little bit of both. We know he is good. We've seen how good he can be at his best. But we are still sometimes surprised when we see other people recognizing how good he is. Sometimes I think that they have higher expectations than we do and I wonder if they've lost their minds. LOL! But I do work hard to keep myself grounded. Our oldest was a 2010 who tore his labrum sophomore year and was never the same. Didn't play his senior year because even repaired he had trouble with recovery. We still have a long way to go and the most important thing right now is keeping him healthy and progressing. If both of those things happen the rest will come along.
Originally Posted by 2020dad:
Originally Posted by bacdorslider:
Well I under estimated 2013 thought he was D3 out of HS ended up D1... Thought 2014 was D1 ended up juco ( still hopeful) was on the mark with 2016 ( but his grades are crazy good) and under estimated 2018 ...( but still too far to go to really tell)
BTW way wife saw this and said she under estimated 1984 as well ....WTH
You sure she didn't say she overestimated you? Lol.
Uh , yes that's correct she did say over estimated .... I need to have a talk with her....
I might have mis-underestimated myself?
I think if anything, I underestimated my son. The truth was, I just didn't know. I didn't know if he was a D1 level prospect when he was in high school. We looked at lots of D1s, mid major D1s and D3s during those years and I was never sure where he would fit in.
His goal was to find the best combination of high academic school and competitive baseball, and that worked out well for him. But during the process, until he had signed, I just did not know what level of baseball that would be.
Right before my son's junior season, the coach sent home the form for the letterman's jacket and you have to pay for it. I asked him if he was actually gonna make varsity and play and he says yes. I was unsure and see the coach at grocery store that night and ask him and he laughs. Says yeah your son will play alot. 2 year starter and team captain...I didn't think he was ready b/c mind he wasn't there yet.
I've read through this thread in detail and given this some thought.. Time will tell, I suppose, but so far I've consistently underestimated 2019Son. Although in fairness to me, he wasn't very good when he was younger!
Beginning about 18 months ago, independent folks (i.e., not coaches paid by me) started noticing him -- for example, when a local high school varsity head coach came out to see a couple of 2019Son's 13U team's games in the fall of 2013 (4 of the kids on the team were in a junior high feeding into that coach's high school) it was a complete shock to me when the coach, after watching the team play, specifically asked "Who's that kid? Do I get him?" I never did speak with that coach (we're not in that school district), so I'm not sure what he saw, but it did surprise me.
A similar surprise occurred shortly after his 13U season ended (the team wasn't continuing into the 14U year, as a number of kids were entering high school last fall). The coach of the team (who had coached the team in 12U and 13U, but who at this point had no further business to be gotten from me; also his older son is going to play baseball at a D1 next year; the coach himself was a college basketball player -- in other words, he knows more than me) asked me who I thought would end up being the best player from that team. I quickly named 3 kids -- the three best kids on the team, IMHO -- and didn't mention 2019Son. The coach disagreed, and told me that he thought that 2019Son would end up as the best player, gave me his reasons for thinking so, and told me that 2019Son (who had just finished 7th grade at the time) ought to be thinking about playing in college. I was completely incredulous. Whaaaat?!? And the next thing I did was join HSBBW to try to educate myself!
The funny thing is, my perception is the same (that 2019Son is a decent player, but not a great one), it's just that the goalposts have shifted. Instead of comparing him as a rec ball player at age 10 to the kids who were playing travel ball at that age, I found myself last week in Arizona comparing him to kids who have made a U.S. national team, or are strong candidates for one. And that is not 2019Son -- you see, he's a decent player, but those national team players are great.