freshman starter offer

Congratulations!  Sounds like your son is in a great situation. 

Point that catches my eye is the promise that he'll start as a freshman.  My son had a similar statement attached to the first offer he received from a D-1.  I ran it by another poster on this site who has loads of experience and the reply was, "No one ever told son he would play as a freshman, he had to earn it like everyone else and he had a 92% scholarship at one ACC and full at another SEC."   Poster went on to say, and I'll paraphrase, "no RC worth his salt would make such a guarantee." 

TAU,  you'd have to agree if you think about it.  A lot can happen on the RC's roster between now and when your son takes field for this Top-10 public university.  Sounds like your son is a sophomore in HS currently?  If so, then yes, a lot can change between now and spring of 2020.

Thing I do like is the fact that you say it is a Top-10 public U??  Not sure what your son's goals are but that sounds attractive.  What does he want to study?  What are his post-baseball career goals?  Does it fit your geographic?  Budget? 

You mention YOU think your son has MLB potential but does he say that?  Does he want that?  Unless your son wants to get drafted at 21,  there are many more considerations for a college baseball pick than PT.   Heck, my son would have sat the bench as a walk-on for his dream school if he had the opportunity.  I know this because he told me so.  Opportunity did not come. 

Sounds like your boy and you need to figure out what you want out of this college baseball thing?  I'm not getting any clear game plan?  Top-10 public U?  Just the educational opportunity alone sounds wondrous.  I would ignore the "start as a freshman" comment from RC and take it with a grain of salt.  It almost raises a red flag to me as it is a very amateurish thing for an RC to promise a 2019 recruit.

Thanks for posting.  Sounds like your son has some great options.

I now see in another thread you say (I'm paraphrasing) that academics are more important than baseball.   So now, I'm officially confused.  Also in the other thread you say son is a 2018.  Ok. 

So, I'm still not getting what your son's goals are here?  

-To play baseball at a high academic D-1?  If so, he now has that opportunity, take it. 

-To play highly competitive baseball at a D-1?  If so, then you've already stated the program that offered is a cellar dweller so not sure what he was even doing talking and visiting with them in the first place?   

-Or,  play highly competitive baseball at a high academic D-1?  Again, they are not highly competitive D-1 program, say no thanks and move on.  Not sure what all the hand wringing is about?

No condescension implied here, but before one gets in the game, it's important to have a game plan, as the game begins as soon as you get in it. 

As you have discovered. 

Totally, 100% agree with #1 Asst Coach's comments and notes.

First, no college coach at any level promises a recruit that they will start.  Either you or your son are hearing something you want to hear or this coach is losing his marbles.  There is the opportunity to start, but never a promise of starting no matter who you are.

Second, it sounds like you need to sit down with your son to discuss his priorities and your priorites as potential college funding source.  One of the challenges of some recruits is sifting through offers to understand exactly what they mean in the context of athletic goals, academic goals and financial goals.  Your job is to navigate as best you can between those points based on your sons goals.  If MLB is the goal then I suggest your son get with a program that offers college baseball as a stepping stone to a professional opportunity.  If he wants to play college baseball and be a brain surgeon then looking at the best school that will position him for medical school.  There may also be opportunities for a full financial ride.  I strongly encourage you to read Gooseggs "Identifying right college" thread.  Believe it or not there are many posters who have been through this before.  It typically works out best when the recruit knows what he wants ahead of time and can differentiate between offers. 

JMO.  Good luck. 

Everything is earned.  No coach that wants to win offers a freshman start 2 years before the player gets there. What to you is a good verbal offer?

Walk on at power 5?  Why would anyone consider this at this time?  

Your son has time, keep searching.

JMO

Congrats on the offer!

There are so many other questions raised by your post, I thought I'd address just one concept.

If your son is proball material, and playing at a D1, it doesn't matter whether the program is great, good, or bad. He will be found, and drafted or signed as a FA.

I agree with Fenway,  It's very easy to hear what you want to hear.  It's more likely the RC said or inferred that your son would have an opportunity to earn a starting spot.  Not that he would be guaranteed one.

No coach worth his salt will guarantee starting spots.  However, as a scholarship athlete the school would have a vested interest in giving said athlete more opportunities to earn and keep the position.

When my son committed to a JuCo, we could have sworn we heard something similar to him being guaranteed a starting spot.  Couldn't be further from the truth.  Especially when there were 50+ athletes the first day of practice (eventually whittled down to 35 by spring opening day).  Son had to earn a spot on the team and then earn a spot in the lineup.  Don't assume anything is a "given".

tao posted:

his public high school,... but not much coaching

power-5 or other high baseball program with presumably better coaching

 

You are in for a rude awakening if you think any coach at any level is going to give your kid individual coaching.  They play whichever kid is producing today.

Congrats on the offer.  Great advice above.  Your son needs to listen to his heart, or his gut, or whichever one does the talking for him. 

As for the bottom of the pile thing - my son faced a similar decision and his thought was that he wants to be a guy who has an impact on turning that around.  

As for the freshman being promised a starting role thing, we heard a lot of coaches saying things like "I want you to start as a freshman" or "you're the kind of player who can start as a freshman".  This is not quite the same thing as as offering him to start as a freshman.

I'm guessing the dad and/or the son heard something to the effect of, positions you have the ability to play have openings. Or given the program loses more than they win, positions are open and have to be won every year. Then dad and/or son mistranslated

Only in the case of top shelf, big time pro prospect studs is it assumed they will win starting positions freshmen year. I know a kid where his very well respected, highly regarded, very successful college coach of an annually ranked team called him maybe the best prospect he ever recruited. The kid lost the starting job every year by the start of (major) conference play.

Nothing is handed over. It has to be earned and held onto. 

#1 Assistant Coach posted:

I now see in another thread you say (I'm paraphrasing) that academics are more important than baseball.   So now, I'm officially confused.  Also in the other thread you say son is a 2018.

#1, Tao's profile says he has 3 kids.

tao posted:

Son was verbally offered a good D1 scholarship from a  top-10 public school program, and RC also offers him to start as freshman, and said they won't pull the offer as some other programs may do. It all sounds good, but the concern is their baseball program is at the lower half of a very competitive conference. If we pass on this offer, the travel coach said my son may get a shot for walk-on to the power-5 program next year, which is tough to get play time.

My son starts as freshman in his public high school, he got all the play time, but not much coaching from what I see. Now I'm wondering, if we take the offer and really get started as freshman, versus walk-on to power-5 or other high baseball program with presumably better coaching, after 4 years of baseball training, which program do you think will make the player better? If you don't care about the MLB draft after college, I'd think we take the offer, get the degree, graduate and find a job. If you have MLB draft in mind after college, which I certainly think my son could have a shot, then it's a tough decision! 

Some very good comments in the previous posts and I might reiterate some of them.  First, it sounds very much like where my 2010 son was and what was going on with him at the time.  So, it all sounds very familiar.

It needs to be really clear as to what your sons priorities are, which will help a lot in such decisions.  

Though we (my wife and I) tended to emphasize college, my son was VERY interested in going pro.  But through our conversations and his observations of players he knew, he understood that his goals for pro could end very suddenly, like due to an injury.  He was highly recruited and had servery offers on the table along with coaches saying he'd likely be a starter as a true freshman (but no promises or guarantees of that).  The baseball program he chose was one struggling in conference that's one of the highest in the country.  And as it turned out, the competition in the conference was great and he really liked that, the college program he was in really didn't help him all that much (it didn't really hurt him either, though some think it did).  He wound up playing as a freshman starter all season and thereafter until drafted at the end of his Jr. year along with only one other player from his team.  

I feel my son made the best decision by choosing the school he liked best over a baseball program that may have been more beneficial.  I've watched quite a few of my son's former team mates who have gone on to a variety of schools (all not as high a level of a conference as my son's) who have wound up playing pro ball and some of them were kind of surprise to me in the pro carrier advancing quite well.

So, from what you've said, I wouldn't be concerned much about the pro-ball future as it sounds like that's likely to come about anyway if he's that good to be considered as a freshman starter.  I would suggest to do as my son chose to do in choosing a school that is a better fit academically and socially.  Just remember, there's never any guarantees of the role your son might play at college as all of the team are competing and the coach is going to use the best players he feel will get him the wins he needs to keep his job.

fenwaysouth posted:

Totally, 100% agree with #1 Asst Coach's comments and notes.

First, no college coach at any level promises a recruit that they will start.  Either you or your son are hearing something you want to hear or this coach is losing his marbles.  There is the opportunity to start, but never a promise of starting no matter who you are.

I think Fenway, and others, have hit on something that is probably quite common among us parents.  I mentioned that my son's first offer came with a "similar attachment" about PT as a freshman.  I must say, I was not actually present when first offer was extended to son.  I could not make the trip, so son made visit by train by himself.  He called me later that night and explained how it went and about the offer. 

Like many folks on here have already stated, perhaps the coach said something like, "You've got a shot at being a starter as a freshman."  Or, "We've got two freshman starters like you..." or something like that.  My son then heard that and read a lot into it, probably.  Then stated it to me as if fact.

In my son's case and yours TAO, I'd give benefit of doubt to RC in that he did not flat out make such a prediction or guarantee most likely.  And why would anyone even entertain saying such a thing or hearing it?  Really is a useless thought beholden to so may variables, factors, and time. 

Lots of good input here.  Thanks for posting TAO.

First off, congratulations on the offer. That is fantastic, and a nice compliment to your son!

tao posted:

It all sounds good, but the concern is their baseball program is at the lower half of a very competitive conference.

 

 

 

 

 

Many good posts on the topic. Agree with others about the concept of time being earned and competition exists each year. Not sure of the hesitancy, but there is time if your son is 2018. Is the school a good academic fit--does the school have his major? As for the excerpt I quoted above, son committed to his "dream conference" with a team that was a basement dweller. Last year he was part of the team's first division title in 20 years.