High school, travel, college? Any stories or insights to share?
I got to watch a livestreamed scrimmage the other day. In D3 there are no uniforms or numbers in fall ball, so it's hard to tell who anyone is, especially the new players, but it was fun to see the boys out on the field.
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Nice! Fall ball is over here (hs). Freshman son was asked to play on the varsity team and did very well. It’s still football season though so get to watch him play that.
@Dadof3 posted:Nice! Fall ball is over here (hs). Freshman son was asked to play on the varsity team and did very well. It’s still football season though so get to watch him play that.
Be careful what expectations you create based off of fall ball unless the coach is making statements to your son. My son was told he earned the starting shortstop job for the spring in the fall. It was expected. But his fall ball play cemented the decision.
However, varsity fall ball is often only players fighting for positions and to make the varsity. Often established varsity players don’t participate.
I remember a dad bragging his son started every fall ball game. He expected his kid to start in the spring. Then in the spring he was wondering where all these new guys were coming from. The new guys were the seven returning starters who didn’t bother with high school fall ball. My son only showed up to coach first and cheerlead when it didn’t interfere with his travel games. He pinch hit a couple of times.
Anotherparent:
Does your son's College schedule any games with the Southern California Scout teams?
Bob
RJM - agreed, fall ball is definitely a step down from spring varsity. There were a number of starters playing throughout the season. But not all at the same time. He will have his work cut out for him this winter, but he knows that and works his tail off. I have also told him he “can’t be as good as,” and “he has to really outperform the kid on the position he wants”
College fall ball here. Only been a few games so far but going well for the player but not the team. D3 Juco team but has been playing everyone so far: Other D3 Juco, D2 and D1. More Jucos and D1s and some D3s on the schedule to go. The team has gotten trounced by the D1 and D2 (neither of which is a strong D1 or D2). There's just not enough pitching depth at D3 Juco to keep up with older 4-year school hitters. One game was like 20-9. Son did hit a 385 ft. HR against one of the D1 pitchers on a 0-2 pitch. That was fun. My guess is that they are playing schools that are within an hour to save on travel expenses? But, the games are LONG (like 3 hours each) because they are giving up so many runs. FWIW, he's pitching EVERYONE for no more than 2 innings each. And, that won't happen in the spring. IIRC, last Spring he basically rode 3 SP and two RP and no one else would pitch unless it was a blow out. SP would be expected to go long and late. (I don't think there are any pitch count rules. At another D3 Juco in the same conference, my friend said their SP, if going well, would be expected to go at least 125 pitches in a start. And, there were times they would go over 130.)
College (and high school?) fall ball is for the coach to evaluate the players. It's not to win games against other schools. Although inter-squad scrimmages can be pretty competitive.
Often the returning starting pitchers don't pitch much in fall ball, either - they may be on a rest-and-ramp-up program. So hitters aren't necessarily facing all of the best pitchers (or seeing their best pitches), either.
My son and i just got back from WWBA in Jupiter and now he's shut down for 6 weeks or so. I had heard stories about WWBA, and they didn't embellish. The boy had a good outing against a top team and had his best max and sitting velo to date. The best part was zero walks in 4 innings, which is NOT the norm, lol.
Three scrimmages against local (NJ/PA) teams thus far plus intrasquad sim games. Son is healthy and loving it. Off this week for midterms and back to it Monday.
As I posted in another thread my oldest (senior) is rehabbing from UCL (internal brace). Everything on schedule. Surgery on 8/17, started plyos today.
My other (soph) started the fall, and then had elbow pain. Long story, but doesn't need surgery but is rehabbing at school and will likely not pitch in the fall. Fortunately he has a resume and was throwing well the first month of the fall.
Son is on 15U team but is playing up most of the time in tournaments 16U, 17U. No school ball program in the fall. Faced 87 mph pitching for the first time. Struck out, walked and grounded out.
He's having trouble with his hitting which is really stressing him out. I am hoping it's just an adjustment period because he's seeing much better pitching than he's used to. It's seems to be the way it is with him when he starts with a new team or jumps up a level in competition. He's always been a good hitter.
He's also catching kids that throw 10-15 mph faster than he is used to and doing well. His arm strength and mechanics has improved a bit.
New team is holding it's own .600 record playing up. As a parent I can see he's grown alot as a player. Unfortunately son is just frustrated that he's not hitting well and having trouble seeing the positive side of being challenged.
I am hoping he can rebound a bit in the last games of the season, end the season on a good note and realize how much he's grown.
BB328;
Ted Williams said "if you want a longer look at the ball, move off the plate and choke up on the handle" swing hard!!!
What is the role of the hitter? SEE THE BALL!
Bob
2023 Freshman son just had his fall review session with the coaches. They gave him great feedback and what to work on before the season starts. It’s kind of funny, in 4 years his HS coaches never held these meetings. Not once. He said it felt great to get honest feedback and know where he stands rather than speculating.
My soph kid just finished his fall season at his HA D3. This is the first time the coaches are running fall ball. He is meeting with his coaches this week for feedback. He thought he did well but his weight dropped to 185lb. He will be using this winter to bulk back up to 195-200. The team lost several players in fact his recruiting class lost 3 players. The freshman are doing well with one kid from our borough and it turns out his family knows our family, should be a fun family weekend tomorrow. More importantly his grades have been good so far, the mid-terms are coming so we will see.
This is the difference between Northern Teams and Southeastern Teams. My son has only had about 5 scrimmages so far and will practice until the middle of November.
@PitchingFan posted:This is the difference between Northern Teams and Southeastern Teams. My son has only had about 5 scrimmages so far and will practice until the middle of November.
Northern schools do the same thing. The difference is they’re wearing Under Armour that retains body heat instead of cooling.
@PitchingFan posted:This is the difference between Northern Teams and Southeastern Teams. My son has only had about 5 scrimmages so far and will practice until the middle of November.
Same. We had our first practice the 5th. First 2 intersquads last weekend. We don't play an actual scrimmage until the 21st and our last is mid November.
Most of my kids playing up North are finishing this week or next. They then do what we did in August and September which is sad. They are judged without the time to develop. They are just thrown in the fire either straight out of HS or straight out of summer or transferring.
Yes, our boys spent mid August to now doing position specific and weights/conditioning. I'm sure it's the same at most southern schools.
Isn’t there a cap on Fall practice hours per NCAA so it would be the same everywhere but perhaps different timing? Or do southern teams actually practice more over the course of a semester?
Same rules but you can do workouts and individual position training. Normally Southern teams do workouts first then scrimmages and Northern teams do the opposite
@PitchingFan posted:Same rules but you can do workouts and individual position training. Normally Southern teams do workouts first then scrimmages and Northern teams do the opposite
Having been around northern baseball programs - I haven't found this to be true
I have been looking and find very few D1 true Northern teams that have not already or will this coming weekend have played both of their scrimmages. There are several mid-atlantic that have not but they are not Northern. I think there are three regions in the East with Northern, Southern, and Mid-Atlantic. In the middle is midwest, northern, and southern. I don't know about out west.
Just ending fall ball this week. Kid's first year on the big field. It's been interesting. Thanks to everyone who has talked about transitioning to the big diamond. It's been useful to set expectations. I was still surprised how things went. After a brief adjustment kid was fine off the mound. Not exactly striking everyone out, but throwing strikes at a similar rate to before. By the end he said he "feels like himself again" on the mound. Hitting on the other hand was a bit of a mystery. Could have been getting used to a bigger bat and a new trajectory from pitchers.
@Richpra posted:Just ending fall ball this week. Kid's first year on the big field. It's been interesting. Thanks to everyone who has talked about transitioning to the big diamond. It's been useful to set expectations. I was still surprised how things went. After a brief adjustment kid was fine off the mound. Not exactly striking everyone out, but throwing strikes at a similar rate to before. By the end he said he "feels like himself again" on the mound. Hitting on the other hand was a bit of a mystery. Could have been getting used to a bigger bat and a new trajectory from pitchers.
This takes me back a few years. The big field transition does begin to weed out players. We have a transition to 54/80 here at 13u but most teams play some or all on 60/90. It’s a big change for both pitchers and hitters. 60mph pitches look like moon balls and what would have been line drives into the gaps are just line outs at the infielders chest (or even infield grounders). One bit of advice that you didn’t ask for 🤣, is don’t worry about stats in the transition. They get bigger and stronger at their own genetic pace and things start to work out if they are putting in the time to be their best.
