Do You go where you can Play????

It would be my sons decision not mine as a parent.

I agree, but would love to hear the player's reasons for staying.

If the kid likes to play baseball, go where he can play...

It is certainly the player's decision, but as parents/adults, I believe we should help our son's with the pro's and con's and the decision making process.

Bottom line, my suggestion is play at the highest level you can "play" at. Sitting on the bench does not create the same game speed experience as the actual live pressure packed game situation and also potentially slow down future development.

It also does not mean that he would play next year with new recruits.

Also if you sit out a year or two at a JC, you are burning a year or two that you can play at a 4 year school.

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Originally posted by Homerun04:
It is certainly the player's decision, but as parents/adults, I believe we should help our son's with the pro's and con's and the decision making process.

Bottom line, my suggestion is play at the highest level you can "play" at. Sitting on the bench does not create the same game speed experience as the actual live pressure packed game situation and also potentially slow down future development.

It also does not mean that he would play next year with new recruits.

Also if you sit out a year or two at a JC, you are burning a year or two that you can play at a 4 year school.

Yup, it should be the young man's choice. If my son asked, though, I would tell him to go play where he could play right away. I would consider it burning a year redshirting at a Juco, when being able to use the redshirt year at a four year school might give him more opportunities down the road.

Redshirting is often a very good idea.

The players I feel bad for are the players that go to the four year universities and get 8 at bats and 8 defensive innings and waste a year of eligibility for it.

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It also does not mean that he would play next year with new recruits.

Also if you sit out a year or two at a JC, you are burning a year or two that you can play at a 4 year school.

Great points. And you are right there is no guarantee he would play next year.

Thrit, I agree with you as it is the players decision not the parents.Parents are not forcing him to leave.
But with that said, now you have added an extra year at a JC, health insurance might not be covered as he can not be a full time student, car insurance might go up as well.Plus idle time with you can only take 6 units.So as a parent do you eat the cost of the thrid year?

Its tough to judge w/o knowing the player or school. Perhaps the kid is a marginal D1 prospect that wants to play D1 and is convinced he needs a year of red/grey shirt seasoning to get there, rather then playing right away at another school.

My son played at a JC and his main concern for picking the school was to play for a coach he trusted. He was told should go to various different JCs, some coaches were better at "selling" their connections to pro and college guys then others, however I feel the "connection" factor is the least important factor when picking a JC. My son played in Socal and it didn't matter who or where they played there always seemed to be scouts and coaches around. Kids my son played against that were D1 level players, were not missed no matter which JC they played for.

Now if the JC plays in a bad league, there could be a problem being seen.

Fan, ah you are talking grey shirt, that would avoid starting the 5 year clock, but you are right it could have financial implications.

I was thinking he would be a full time student and thus be covered financially but the clock would start and potential playing time for 4 year DI schools.

With so many human variables, how do you give an honest opinion on a situation you don't know everything about? What would I do?

I'd tell the kid, "You make your bed, you lay in it."

Big boys make big boy decisions. I'd let him decide. If he asked my opinion, I would give it to him based on the known facts.

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I'd tell the kid, "You make your bed, you lay in it."

There are many variables.I am just wanting to hear peoples perspective.I agree that if he makes the decison and it is not the rt one he will have to live with it.

I just think unless there are academic problems, or immaturity issues, or physical development needs work, the extra year should be saved in case your injured.

Homerun, I am sorry you are right its grey shirting.

With the help of all the information available on this site, and the willingness of others to share their stories (the good, the bad, and the ugly) over the years, it has really helped me help my boys understand WHERE they will likely be able to play. Then, I turn them loose on research and to come up with their options to begin contact.

In our case, we also have some pretty bizarre factors to overcome (like having lived away from home, overseas, for 15 years - to the point where my kids really have little idea of what day-to-day life in their own country is like!), but in a way it also makes it kind of easy. I would equate it to the cereal aisle at the supermarket. It's sometimes overwhelming to choose from 100 kinds of cereal....would rather have 10 choices.

This site has been great for me - over-shooting levels in all sports is rampant overseas because a kid who may be very good in say, football, at a US overseas high school may get cut immediately at a program back home.....but parents here often don't understand that and there have been some wild, wild overshot walk-on hopes recently that didn't need to happen had the parents really taken the time to inform themselves and learn the lay of the land and perhaps remove the RCG's. I've actually thought of starting a part-time consulting business over here because I know for a fact that I could have helped some really nice kids make a much more appropriate list of options.

Which is all to say....I firmly believe a player should go where he can play right away (although you just never know what will happen when you get there). Just my two cents worth of Korean won.