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PitchingFan posted:

I would think we are being messed with except you can look up the Mississippi track state championships and see the kid's name.  I won't put it on here but he seems to be a decent high school pole vaulter.  I just don't see his pole vaulting getting much attention in larger colleges.  I think he is a small college pole vaulter yet granddad thinks he is a D1 baseball player after sitting out for 6 years.  I'm with PABaseball.  Pretty much every juco in Mississippi is free if you have decent grades not adding in Track.  Go that route.  If you are really serious, almost all of the jucos in Mississippi will give you a tryout for baseball.  Just don't tell them you haven't played in 6 years because they would laugh their heads off.  If he is throwing upper 80's with control, pm me and I will get you a juco scholarship tomorrow.  Seriously.

If he’s throwing upper 80’s with control I’ll run stark naked through Starkville. The kid should sign up for a camp at Ole Miss, State or Southern Miss and get an instant reality check.

Last edited by RJM
Kingsman posted:

His parents had hired a company to act as agents to get him into college. We haven’t told them about pitching because he has not gotten into the mind to find out yet if he still has anything.  Several SEC schools and Conference USA schools have graduate schools in architecture and with full athletic programs.

As to why he never played high school ball. He did try out a couple of times in Junior high but apart from pitching he was only average in other aspects of the game…good but nothing special, and they never tried anybody out as pitchers. I guess they thought they could just take hard throwers and make them pitchers. And he had some conflict issues with some of the other players when they were all allstars in little league that carried over. Of course as you all know high school football and baseball has a lot of ‘politics’ involved as to who gets to play and his family were not the ‘right’ people. But I have gotten him to pitch to me over the years. His very good control has always come back. He is really tall and lanky and just naturally throws hard now.

It has gotten too dangerous for me to try to catch him anymore the speed it is and the way the ball moves. I just get behind the backstop net and hold the mitt in place now.

I would agree with Pitching Fan on his vaulting but he has another track season to go get the all time state record for all classes his Sr year. He is getting some coaching from a former Olympic vaulter. But it is plain he is not going to get his education just on his pole vaulting. And Juco is a good idea. That may be what he can afford to start out. As to speed, I said once before I don’ t think he will ever make it as a fastball pitcher. He was never the fastest in little league, only the best at getting playable balls. So his speed would not impress you and as I also said no coach can tell how good he really might be until he starts making his best hitters look bad. Pitching greatness is an intangible. We discussed that before.

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I will be working on that. We can afford the cost fine. We really need to find out if this is an option to get him the education he needs. Miss State is not that far away. Great engineering graduate schools...but the track program does not pole vault!  So even if he got a baseball scholarship there he would still only be covering half the cost. But no matter the camp is a great opportunity. Does anyone know if these showcases and camps are held  at colleges only during baseball season or throughout the year?

Your grandson and you are a lot alike: neither will do the requisite leg work to even get to the starting line.

Rather than ask us, pick up the phone and call a school, ask for the HC/RC/Volunteer/Director of baseball Operations, and lay out your and your grandson's requirments/demands. Start with  DD All-stars (where he didn't miss bats, but rather got outs), lead into he would have pitched in junior high but for politics, didn't bother to either play or try out in HS, needs a 100% athletic scholarship (dont forget to explain he'll need a full meal card also), and also needs new set of baseballs as well as the coach's best hitters to hit those balls he doesn't throw hard (but does throw accurately).

Report back.

What are his grades and scores? (Asked, but not answered, a while ago.)

Kingsman posted:

I will be working on that. We can afford the cost fine. We really need to find out if this is an option to get him the education he needs. Miss State is not that far away. Great engineering graduate schools...but the track program does not pole vault!  So even if he got a baseball scholarship there he would still only be covering half the cost. But no matter the camp is a great opportunity. Does anyone know if these showcases and camps are held  at colleges only during baseball season or throughout the year?

You keep mentioning graduate degrees. College sports are played during undergrad. If you happen to redshirt and do a 5th year then a year of grad school could get covered, but even if were to get a track/baseball scholarship - it is not going to cover the cost of grad school.

I’m sorry! I can’t take anymore! Anyone who thinks a kid who hasn’t played since his preteen years can go to a Mississippi State camp and draw attention to get a scholarship to play there is out of their freaking mind or 100% clueless about college baseball.

Here’s the athletic bio of the least effective Mississippi State pitcher ...

Lettered four times for head coach Rusty Cagle at Lewisburg High School…Tabbed honorable mention All-American by Perfect Game as a senior…Garnered honorable mention Underclass All-America honors as a junior…Named first-team all-state by the Clarion-Ledger as a junior and senior…Selected as the Metro Player of the Year as a senior…Also lettered three times in football and twice in basketball…Named all-region at quarterback as a senior

Kingsman, turn on ESPN at 7pm Eastern tonight.

Last edited by RJM

If there was a golden thread for best trolling, I think this would lead it off. It is truly a masterpiece because you cant really tell if the OP is on the up and up. He has taken many of the topics that most of us view as universal truths, reversed the thinking, and used it as justification to support his argument. ie. little league stats, competition in little league is comparable to HS and College, training doesn't matter, just show up and they will give you a shot at a scholarship. etc.   The thread has already received 2 pages of responses and has survived for almost 2 months.

If I am wrong, I didn't mean to offend the op. If I am right, it has been entertaining and I give the op a high score for the creative writing. 

I truly thank everyone for their informative posts. I have made a note of it all we need to pursue and in the right directions but I had a good talk with him yesterday and he is just not of a mind to want to find out about his ability as a pitcher yet. He is a 17 year old kid who only had his first job recently to pay his car insurance  and travel costs and doesn't have a conception of what things cost and the value of an education he may have to work years to pay for after he gets it .....things we all learned the hard way as adults long ago. Common sense and logic doesn't apply and the smart thing to do don't apply to someone like him where he is right now.

His parents certainly understand all this and they have more  influence on him than I do and they will be the ones trying to fit the bill for some of this , so they certainly understand the need for him to use as much as he has got that can  help him get better scholarships and to better schools if has it to use. But I suspect it will be mid senior year before financial realities in where he might get to go to college begins to set in and he will be sufficiently motivated to find out what he really does have as a baseball pitcher....if anything.

The option of getting a fully paid education to play both sports at a quality prestigious school  he probably couldn’t get into otherwise, up against  still owing more than half the cost when he finishes even at a lesser school puts the question in a different light if he is really offered that choice finally. And he never will be until he finds out himself through some of the venues suggested here that he does have something to offer. For this knowledge I truly say thanks, Kingsman

Kingsman posted:

... I had a good talk with him yesterday and he is just not of a mind to want to find out about his ability as a pitcher yet. ...

...The option of getting a fully paid education to play both sports at a quality prestigious school  he probably couldn’t get into otherwise, up against  still owing more than half the cost when he finishes even at a lesser school puts the question in a different light if he is really offered that choice finally. ...

Ahhhhh, all for the best, I suppose.  Now, you will be able to carry that dream with you 'til the end of time.

And the dream got even better!!  ... Now, not only was he likely to get a full ride based on his LL pitching ability but it was also going to get him accepted into a more prestigious school !!

Look, sir, in all seriousness, if financing a bigger portion of college is a true motivator, choosing an affordable school, utilizing any help pole vaulting can provide, exhausting all grant and need money available and having him work 10-20 hours a week while at school are all viable options.   I PROMISE you, baseball was not going to get him in a better school and/or more scholarship money.  

If he does make good gains in vaulting, maybe there is more scholly $ to be had there.  But the heavy rose-colored glasses have to come off so that the most effective real plan can be put in place.  Maybe the parents are already working that plan.

 

Last edited by cabbagedad

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