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I mentioned this in a previous thread I started, but didn't want to go into detail at the time. Several members reached out to me via DM. Thank you! I'm going to leave this initial post as more of a summary, and get into more details that may help parents in the follow ups.

Background: Pretty much what the title says. 2020 soph son was told he no longer had a spot on the team after his team's last game. Unfortunately it was right after an 8 hour bus ride at 01:00 when exit interviews were done. He wasn't alone, was the biggest purge his school has ever had. But not making excuses, if he had shoved he'd likely still be there. He really liked his teammates, and pitching coach who recruited him. He called me at 01:30 on which happened to be my birthday. Needless to say; worst birthday ever.

What's happened since:  He had breakfast with several teammates, packed up his car and drove home. This was on a Sunday. On Monday or Tuesday he entered the transfer portal. Within 10 minutes got emails and DMs via Twitter. It ranged from a previous D1 that had previously offered him, to various D2s. None of these initial schools were a fit.

Fast forward 2 months, and he committed yesterday to a close(ish) D1 in NY. They won their conference last year and made it to a regional. So it'll be a step up. He had an option of 2 D1s, the other being about 3 miles away from us in Queens, but chose this one because he wants the chance to compete for a conference title his last 2 years. He was given athletic money. I only mention this because people are always asking if schools still have money this late. Lots do.

This school was not his first choice. He wanted to go to a very good D2 (Hi Francis!) because of the pitching coach. They were waiting to see if they lost a pitcher in the draft or if a 5th year was coming back, kid wasn't drafted and 5th year came back. Francis, your kid is in a good place, the coach there is a stand up guy and was great to deal with.

More details to follow. Just wanted to get this summary out. It may be slow as I now plan on going away for the weekend. It's been a hectic 2 months and now we have to get the ball rolling with the application, etc.

P.S. On the day he got his offers, news broke that my 2022's coach left for another job! FML, never a dull moment.

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@nycdad posted:

His coach left for a Patriot League school , also in NY.

Yes, the coach at that school is filling a vacant opening across the country. Somebody will take the job at your sons school and somebody will fill that guy's job, and it will go down the line.  And all those kids will be in greatly different positions than they were a week ago, some don't even know it yet.

But the good news is that the coach who left was essentially promoted. Recruiting wasn't the issue at the school he will be attending so a new coach is unlikely to come in and dramatically shake things up to change the culture.

@nycdad posted:

I mentioned this in a previous thread I started, but didn't want to go into detail at the time. Several members reached out to me via DM. Thank you! I'm going to leave this initial post as more of a summary, and get into more details that may help parents in the follow ups.

Background: Pretty much what the title says. 2020 soph son was told he no longer had a spot on the team after his team's last game. Unfortunately it was right after an 8 hour bus ride at 01:00 when exit interviews were done. He wasn't alone, was the biggest purge his school has ever had. But not making excuses, if he had shoved he'd likely still be there. He really liked his teammates, and pitching coach who recruited him. He called me at 01:30 on which happened to be my birthday. Needless to say; worst birthday ever.

What's happened since: He had breakfast with several teammates, packed up his car and drove home. This was on a Sunday. On Monday or Tuesday he entered the transfer portal. Within 10 minutes got emails and DMs via Twitter. It ranged from a previous D1 that had previously offered him, to various D2s. None of these initial schools were a fit.

Fast forward 2 months, and he committed yesterday to a close(ish) D1 in NY. They won their conference last year and made it to a regional. So it'll be a step up. He had an option of 2 D1s, the other being about 3 miles away from us in Queens, but chose this one because he wants the chance to compete for a conference title his last 2 years. He was given athletic money. I only mention this because people are always asking if schools still have money this late. Lots do.

This school was not his first choice. He wanted to go to a very good D2 (Hi Francis!) because of the pitching coach. They were waiting to see if they lost a pitcher in the draft or if a 5th year was coming back, kid wasn't drafted and 5th year came back. Francis, your kid is in a good place, the coach there is a stand up guy and was great to deal with.

More details to follow. Just wanted to get this summary out. It may be slow as I now plan on going away for the weekend. It's been a hectic 2 months and now we have to get the ball rolling with the application, etc.

P.S. On the day he got his offers, news broke that my 2022's coach left for another job! FML, never a dull moment.

Sorry you went through that, but sounds like a good resolution to a lousy situation.  Best wishes on your '22's situation.

Thanks all for the posts. I'll post a few things we learned along the way and what my son went thorough that may be of help to others going through it. This will read like a stream of consciousness.

- Conversations with coaches once you've played in college seem a lot more straight forward than during recruiting for obvious reasons. There was much less "leading on" so to speak". For my son, many conversations were "we need to see what we lose in the draft" and "send us your top 3 preferred majors along with transcript".

- Good luck figuring out what credits will transfer. Sure we looked at majors, but besides a pre-read through admissions, they aren't digging in on your transfer credits, at least in my son's experience.

- Your kid likely isn't graduating in a normal 4 year window. I can't say for sure, but my guess is all credits won't transfer, so unless you're taking extra classes in the summer sessions, it may be difficult.

- Transfers don't seem to get as much merit aid. I posted about this before, but my son was getting 5 figure merit aid (3.5GPA 1290 SAT) at original school, barely getting anything now at a school with a 90% admission rate. Obviously this is specific to the institution, but in general it seems like transfer get less.

- Baseball money is still possible and more available then many believe. Again will be different for different situations, but not as scarce as many think.

- You can ask admissions for more money. This happens all the time for students having nothing to do with sports. It's a business, and if you show you have other offers they will work with you. Of course you may not get it.

- Depending on your kid, this may be the first failure he's had in baseball. It sucks. I have a a type A personality and grew very frustrated when I felt that my son was not moving fast enough to figure out what he was doing. Fortunately I had some good guidance that got me to relax a bit and reminded me how difficult it was for my son. This was not easy, and I regret some of my behavior during this time.

Some other details;

My son's velo was down a good part of the season. He had a very good slider, but was wild with 85-86mph fastball. In pens he was sitting 89-91. His freshman year he had Synery verified 94mph. When he went into the portal and posted on social media, he was very honest about current velo, schools were obviously concerned. The school he is committed to didn't have a lot of interest initially, but he told them he would be back up to 90-91 in a few weeks, and he was against live batters.

For us my son wants to coach when he's done. For us baseball is the most important thing. He'll graduate with a finance degree because that's a good degree to have in NYC when you don't know what else to major in, but staying involved in baseball is the ultimate goal.

UPDATE:

Shortly after my 2020 committed to his new school the PC/AC that he'd been in contact with and recruited him....left (took same job at an Ivy). I think I was more rattled by this than him, mostly because the athletic part of his aid had not shown up yet. Based on what's happening in college baseball to say I was very "glass half empty" and apprehensive would be an understatement.

Going into the holiday weekend it still hadn't shown up. The HC did acknowledge it was coming and blamed the finance office. Long story short he started classes today, it still wasn't in his account and we hadn't paid a dime to the school. He showed up to his first class today, and they let him stay ;-) and the money showed up this afternoon. So all seems to have worked out. Feel pretty fortunate this worked out for the best. Was even able to have all his credits transfer over.

The school replaced the PC with a guy that just stopped playing in the minors (AA), who was going to the same facility as my son over the winter so they know each other. So hopefully an easy transition.

Interesting. Blantons has been my regular favorite. I’ve only had Pappy a few times but it was hands down the best. I don’t really drink much these days but I used to love sitting down on a Friday night and pouring a glass neat and reflecting on the week

Funny, the first time I had Blantons was about 7 years ago. My 2020 was playing an away tournament somewhere, and me and a few dads used to always try and find new bourbon's and rye's, and get a bottle, then someone would get to take it home. I think Blantons wasn't even $50 then, we only got it because of the bottle shape and horse on the top. I just checked around me and prices are all over. Ranging from $79 to $199 it seems. Was recently given a bottle for father's day. I didn't realize the price went up so much.

Sometimes you can get a deal on a few of the Wellers which is Pappy rejects.

Son was playing in the Battle of The Bourbon league in Lexington KY during covid (2020).  While out there to watch some games, we toured Buffalo Trace.  The tour guide very softly whispered to our group, that we could ask for Blanton's behind the counter since we were on the tour.  DH could care less, but I MADE him buy his one bottle so we could have two (you know there are 8 different horses on top for those that collect).  We did a blind taste test at Christmas when we broke open the Blanton's.  Makers Mark wound up being my favorite with Woodford Reserve a close second.  Btw....Blanton's cost $60 at Buffalo Trace's shop. 

Back to topic:  drink up and celebrate!

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