Freshmen Season @ College

Depends what u mean by struggling. Appeared in 7 games. Innings pitched 11.2. ERA 4.63.

WHIP 1.79. K's per IP is 1.07.

Yes I should let him figure it out. No I am not doing that. I am on him for too may walks.

@Good Knight posted:

Depends what u mean by struggling. Appeared in 7 games. Innings pitched 11.2. ERA 4.63.

WHIP 1.79. K's per IP is 1.07.

Yes I should let him figure it out. No I am not doing that. I am on him for too may walks.

first comment is based on the stats you are providing the boy is not struggling, he is in a new world and is adapting very well it appears.

IMO this is the time to be the dad, if you want to get on him for to many walks so be it but your conversation time is probably better spent supporting him in his studies, socially, staying prepared, growing up...generally just being a father. he has plenty of coaching.

@Francis7 posted:

We have many friends who are college baseball freshman now. They run the spectrum. Pitchers and position players. Juco, D3 and D1 players.

Just about everyone of them is struggling pretty badly in terms of their performance. But, is this unexpected? They are teenagers and (in most cases) competing against some players who are the same age as major leaguers.

I like to point to another college player that we know. He's a senior position player and he's raking right now - which is no shock because he was a dominant hitter as a junior and sophomore too. By the way, as a freshman, he batted .210 with zero power. So, freshman year is not often a prediction for future seasons.

The question is: What is the best way to help that struggling freshman player? I would imagine they are not in a good place and questioning their future in the sport.  Or, is it best to just leave them alone to figure it out?

i believe it is combination of the mental maturity and the physical. the kids needs to buy in to what they are doing, a parent can be supportive to the mental side and the non baseball side. I have found you need to stay out of baseball skill type conversations, there is nothing to be gained.

I watched my son go from starting freshman 4 hitter in game 1, to part time, to first PH off the bench, back to starter, to locked into line up because he is the best hitter on the team...he is a different guy now, maybe not quite mature man but getting close and certainly by college standards he is a grizzled veteran.

If they can play it will work out if they get the right support from home. It may involve a transfer, again support is the key not being the decision maker or leader of.

Correct me if I'm wrong but your question boils down to "what am I going to do next year  if my kid is scuffling or riding pine during his freshman year in college?"

Look, like most of us, I have made a zillion friends both online and IRL who have kids playing college ball.  Many if not most of those kids have been on the bench freshman year.  Of those, some became later contributors and some got little or no PT over 4 years.  You never know until you get there.  Many other kids have had good to excellent college careers starting freshman y ear.  I've seen a few quit at the top of their game.  I've seen many quit at the bottom.

You can't control any of that. Even your kid has only limited control. At the end of the day there are only two things I would worry about:

1 - whatever his role, is the kid enjoying being a member of the baseball team?
2 - is he going to class and doing at least the minimum work required to graduate and start his career?

If the answer to both is yes, you as a parent have nothing to worry about (assuming he's not a draftable prospect).

As Fenway says, just IMO.

"your conversation time is probably better spent supporting him in his studies"

Well in my defense the convo did start with: " how is Macro going? Getting a A".

Good job now focus on those BB's.

Help them how, exactly? What else can you do but leave them alone to figure it out? All you can really do is remind them to sit down with the coach at the end of the season to talk about their role, progress, and future with the team.

I think what you mean is that you want lots of examples like the one you cited, about players who didn't play well as freshmen and then did better in subsequent years. Unless you know what it was that turned them around, using them as examples may not mean much. Plus, it will vary from level to level and from team to team.

Even if you have those examples, every kid is going to have a different take on what he wants to put into baseball, what he hopes to achieve, and whether it's worth continuing.

My son had a very solid college freshman season. His sophomore year his stats weren't as strong. I recall a weekend sophomore year which he went 1 for 11. The center fielder dove and caught a ball. The right fielder dove a caught a ball. He smoked line drive at the pitcher's head who threw up his glove up to protect his head and was lucky enough knock it down. One those crowd gasp shots!  I also recall one also ripped right at 2nd baseman. Somebody looking at the box scores would say he is struggling. I would say not so much.  I usually never bring up or start baseball conversations. I try to talk about other things. If he brings it up than sure I will jump in and just be a supportive dad! I always felt the last thing he needed was me in his head on my advice! I leave the baseball stuff between him and his coaches.

One other note...

I think sometimes freshmen may be taking a little more direction from their coaches in game. Your son may have had different approaches at the plate high school that he doesn't get away with in college. You can say the same thing about pitching too.

A lot of, most of, the freshman I know are not struggling, at all.  Because they picked the right school and division level that fits their talent level.

There is a logjam on rosters that is causing many freshman to sit the bench, but that’s not “struggling” unless they are a whiny kid that was catered to all their life.  That would point to Mom & Dad struggling to raise their kid right, not anything to do with Baseball.

@anotherparent posted:

Help them how, exactly? What else can you do but leave them alone to figure it out? All you can really do is remind them to sit down with the coach at the end of the season to talk about their role, progress, and future with the team.

Exactly, if you are a 2022 or 2023 parent planning ahead thinking you might be able to help your kid if they struggle with college Baseball, you are in for a rude awakening.

I think it's harder for a hitter to adjust to college ball than it is for pitchers, especially when you're coming off the bench cold having probably never sat the bench in their life.  

Pitchers can also be saved. Walk two in a row, next arm gets a strikeout and a groundball. 0-2 count, pinch hitter doesn't come in and take the k off your back.

One thing I always look at are BBs and Ks for young bats. If they're striking out and not walking at all they're not putting good ABs together. You can hit .230 as a freshman and be lightyears ahead of the .220 guy with 3 bbs on the season averaging a K every other AB.

Use a wood bat in 40º weather with no batting gloves and no helmet.

3 months later in the College World Series.

Bob

@PABaseball posted:

I think it's harder for a hitter to adjust to college ball than it is for pitchers, especially when you're coming off the bench cold having probably never sat the bench in their life.  

I’m not sure if that’s true when it comes to D3. It could be, but it seems to me that there are a ton of D3 hitters who can put the bat on the ball, and they just were not athletic enough to get consideration for D1 or D2.  

adding to that, most D3 hitters these days faced D1 commits in travel ball, and face D1& JUCO  Pitchers in summer ball. It’s pretty difficult to get a D3 fastball by them, especially for a freshman hurler who might leave it over the plate too much.

There is definitely an adjustment in D3 for the Hitters in terms of the filth and movement of D3 pitching, but I think it’s a tougher adjustment overall for pitchers.

To your second point that’s probably the biggest problem for high school athletes coming into college in general, not nearly enough of them are being challenged enough as youths and aren’t facing adversity on the baseball field nearly enough. That is a huge macro issue involving parenting and the travel ball industry.  Talented players should play up as much as possible, get used to failing, and have times when they struggle when they still have the comfort of living at home with mom and dad.

@3and2Fastball posted:

I’m not sure if that’s true when it comes to D3. It could be, but it seems to me that there are a ton of D3 hitters who can put the bat on the ball, and they just were not athletic enough to get consideration for D1 or D2.  

adding to that, most D3 hitters these days faced D1 commits in travel ball, and face D1& JUCO  Pitchers in summer ball. It’s pretty difficult to get a D3 fastball by them, especially for a freshman hurler who might leave it over the plate too much.

There is definitely an adjustment in D3 for the Hitters in terms of the filth and movement of D3 pitching, but I think it’s a tougher adjustment overall for pitchers.

To your second point that’s probably the biggest problem for high school athletes coming into college in general, not nearly enough of them are being challenged enough as youths and aren’t facing adversity on the baseball field nearly enough. That is a huge macro issue involving parenting and the travel ball industry.  Talented players should play up as much as possible, get used to failing, and have times when they struggle when they still have the comfort of living at home with mom and dad.

Valid point, it could very well tilt in difficulty as you shift levels. I'm mostly speaking on what I've seen with my own eyes - which is admittedly way more D1 games than any other level.

At least where I am (northeast), you will run into very few 90+ arms at the HS level unless you're playing on the high level travel circuit. When is 90-98 - it is a hard adjustment. That is why I'm a big advocate for playing travel at a level as high as possible - at least up in age. In our program (D1) you could tell who was ready for the next level and who wasn't. The kids who played in local and regional events were behind those who went to the big boy events and played 4-6 games every week against other talent at their level.

Whether it’s baseball or any other aspect of college life parents who snowplowed their kid’s way through K-12 didn’t do them any favors. Now the kids are on their own even if the parents are still paying.

I always told my kids, don’t like your grade, go stand up for yourself. I will only coach you through preparation on how to handle yourself. Through K-12 I only intervened one time when I felt my daughter belonged in the highest math class in 7th grade.

if kids are 100% pampered before college they don’t go away understanding how to deal with adversity. I told my kids (daughter played softball) after the 6-8 studs it’s all about who is mentally tougher and wants it more.  

My daughter was a fourth outfielder for four years. But she played a lot. My son’s first six appearances were as a pinch runner outside a couple of insignificant  9th inning defensive appearances.

I told my kids to stay physically and mentally ready. One successful at bat leads to a second opportunity. The right mental outlook and hustle in practice leads to the next opportunity. My son was starting against RHP by midseason.

After freshman year my son told me I was right (I believe pigs flew that day). He said some of his freshman teammates had one foot mentally out the door by midseason freshman year.

Baseball is difficult, and every level up there’s a learning curve. It’s the rare kid that can step onto the field and contribute in a meaningful way as a freshman.

I watched my son fail to make JV as a HS freshman, even though the dad at that moment thought he should have, today’s dad knows differently. I watched my son fail spectacularly as a college freshman at a Texas juco – one fall outing, I lost count of how many runs he gave up - glad that game didn’t have official stats…

My son’s junior year at Arkansas, there were several vocal freshman parents upset about playing time – yet 2 years later, their kids were drafted within the first 5 rounds.

Struggling as a freshman in college ball doesn’t mean there will be success over the next 3 years, but most successful college players are not stars their first year.

@Francis7 posted:

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The question is: What is the best way to help that struggling freshman player? I would imagine they are not in a good place and questioning their future in the sport.  Or, is it best to just leave them alone to figure it out?

Francis - This isn't a unique situation.  It has been stated on HSBBWeb many times that first impressions by a college coach are lasting impressions.   Freshman recruits need to be ready to play against established college players that have figured it out.   Here's the deal....if the kid is doing everything (and I do mean EVERYTHING) the coaches are asking of him then most likely he'll get another shot to prove himself somewhere down the line.  A positive mental attitude, additional reps during the college summer baseball season, a willingness to learn and figuring it out can go a long way to turning around a poor freshmen season.  Essentially, it is up to the poor performing freshmen to change that coaches mind and demonstrate he has the tools to play college baseball.   

It is the guys that didn't get in shape prior to Fall baseball, who aren't coachable and won't make adjustments are the ones who are really in trouble, and probably won't be back.  There were a couple guys my son played with (in his class) who figured out their passions lied elsewhere, and didn't want to spend the time or effort getting out the coaches doghouse.   Two other guys figured their way out of the coaches doghouse and were 3 year starters.

Attitude is everything, and college baseball is no exception.

Experience of one of son’s travel teammate …

Freshman year the kid wasn’t on the travel squad. By midseason he never got off the bench in lopsided home games. He was the only player who hadn’t got an inning on the field.

All he got from assistants was, “I don’t know.” The kid went to the head coach for a “What’s up” meeting.

The head coach told him by October he knew he wasn’t going to have the kid back next year. Told the kid he didn’t have P5 talent. Was planning on telling him at the end of the season.

The kid verbally went nuts on the coach. Had the coach told him in the fall he could have transferred to a JuCo in the spring. The kid told the coach where he could put his team. Something about the sun not shining. Needless to say this was the kid’s last day on the team.

Blowing up on the coach wasn’t a smart idea. Baseball is a small world. But the coach did jerk him around. The coach lasted three seasons.