@baseballhs alluded to this in an earlier post. And she is 100% correct.
Top high school players don’t have that mentality. And when you try to tell them what they’re up against they don’t believe it.
They’ve never failed. They have a level of talent where they’ve never been challenged. They’re like the guys who got drafted late in the draft (before reduced to twenty rounds) and believed they actually had a real shot.
They can’t grasp what it’s like for an 18yo to compete with a 21/22yo. Pre Covid everything worked out for my son. But he was 6’1” 175 when he entered college and 6’2” 190 two years later. Put him in this era I would have advised him to go ranked HA D3 for the education and baseball experience.
A predecessor to my son at his high school signed. He told me it was the biggest mistake he ever made. He could have gone to a ranked HA. After dominating high school ball he didn’t grasp what it would be like to be 6’1” 170, seventeen and away from home for the first time in pro ball the summer after high school. He was competing against mostly 21 and 22yo men. He washed out in four years of short season and Low A. He never succeeded in the minors.
I think you were also seeing some proven guys in the portal that want to take a chance of playing for the right team to move up in the draft for the next year or even two years after. Plus playing for proven coaches and get them seen in bigger opportunities than they had at the school they were at
I agree it is awful times for incoming college freshmen. I know a kid get his SEC offer rescinded and was fortunate to get an opportunity at another D1. A teammate of my kid changed his D1 commitment 4 times! HA, Ivy, B10 and now ACC, he has a lot of ability and I am confident he has the mindset to succeed and a cruel part of me is happy he is sticking it back to the coaches who started this merry-go-round. But on a more supportive note, my kid's other HS teammate was a stud lefty torching 90s at 15. He committed to an ACC school then got TJ surgery. Missed his junior and senior season. The coach honored the agreement and he is in school now taking summer classes and will be given an opportunity to make the team.
@2022NYC posted:I agree it is awful times for incoming college freshmen. I know a kid get his SEC offer rescinded and was fortunate to get an opportunity at another D1. A teammate of my kid changed his D1 commitment 4 times! HA, Ivy, B10 and now ACC, he has a lot of ability and I am confident he has the mindset to succeed and a cruel part of me is happy he is sticking it back to the coaches who started this merry-go-round. But on a more supportive note, my kid's other HS teammate was a stud lefty torching 90s at 15. He committed to an ACC school then got TJ surgery. Missed his junior and senior season. The coach honored the agreement and he is in school now taking summer classes and will be given an opportunity to make the team.
A LHP with a history of throwing in the 90’s will always get more opportunity than any other player. But good for that coach anyway.
@adbono posted:A LHP with a history of throwing in the 90’s will always get more opportunity than any other player. But good for that coach anyway.
A lefty receives opportunities until three years after the death certificate is filed.
Terry Mullholland
@2022NYC posted:I agree it is awful times for incoming college freshmen. I know a kid get his SEC offer rescinded and was fortunate to get an opportunity at another D1. A teammate of my kid changed his D1 commitment 4 times! HA, Ivy, B10 and now ACC, he has a lot of ability and I am confident he has the mindset to succeed and a cruel part of me is happy he is sticking it back to the coaches who started this merry-go-round. But on a more supportive note, my kid's other HS teammate was a stud lefty torching 90s at 15. He committed to an ACC school then got TJ surgery. Missed his junior and senior season. The coach honored the agreement and he is in school now taking summer classes and will be given an opportunity to make the team.
I don't believe it is a bad time for incoming freshman, if they make the right choice in the first place.
Instead of being the small fish in the big pond, why not be the big fish in the small pond and be the man!
I have seen a lot of players in mid D1, D2 programs get drafted. Most don't get lots of $$. Some have been first day pics, others not but have made the ML team.
JMO