How'd Fall Go?

Hey JD. No I dont mind as long as you dont post about the next game where he got carved up by Alex White and his slider behind that 95 mph fastball! Todays game was rained out and we have one more game tomorrow and then the fall World Series is over. Its been a blast watching the games and all the players. The pitching has been awesome I can tell you that. At one point I thought I was at a Perfect Game National Showcase watching the pitchers mow down the hitters. As the Series has gone on the hitters have done better.

The trash talking has been a blast. The players really get after it and the coaches have allowed the players to add a little to it by allowing them to talk some trash from the dug outs. One player attempted to lay down a bunt and a player yelled out "What are you trying to do , finally put a ball in play?" Coach Fox yelled back "Win a game first then you can talk some trash." It really has been fun.

Congrats, Coach May, on your son's tremendous game! He appears to have a bright future with the Tarheels!

Congrats to Jeff May! I know he's having a blast!

Goodness gracious, they'll be home for Thanksgiving before you know it, then in a blink the new year will be here and they'll be back to school and then before you know it season begins.

Where does the time go? Seems like I just sent mine off to school.

Was looking at a live internet posting of the UNC game the other day when they posted Jeff May hits an absolute bomb! I picked up the phone and called Coach May to listen to a proud pops. (He wasn't at the game, I thought about calling DSS and reporting him, but he said he had to work and sent the better half) We wound up on the phone for a half an hour talking baseball, kids and solving the world's problems. Young man is going to have a long, bright future in baseball despite the poor coaching he has received for years!

It is great to look at the fall world series box scores and see how well all the young men we have come to know over the past few years are doing!

quote:

Originally posted by jerseydad:
I know many of you have players that are finishing up their fall college seasons. Since I have to live vicariously though all of you on the college front, anyone have anything exciting to report?

Hope Coach May doesn't mind me posting on Jeff but I found this on the UNC website. Behind May, Blue Takes Game Three, 2-0 Way to go Jeff!!!

Who else is out there making some noise?

Congrats to Jeff

quote:

Young man is going to have a long, bright future in baseball despite the poor coaching he has received for years!

Oh, I'd bet there are a few sons that have suffered through much worse, my own for one. Besides, the outstanding parenting is really what makes that ball jump off his bat.
Way to go Jeff, and way to go proud Coach May.

Coach May, congratulations to your son. It sounds like he is a tremendous talent. I'm looking forward to following his career. Plus he's at a great school. Congrats.

Thanks. But he has a long ways to go. As long as he is having fun and getting better thats all that really matters. And of course the team wins.

my son had a decent fall and a good fall series pitching. he pitched in 2 games 7 1/3 innings gave up 1 hit 7Ks 4 BB no runs scored, and was chosen mvp of the series. i just hope he can bring that to the spring!! go Trojans!!!

That's pretty impressive for a freshman to be named fall series mvp! I'd say he should feel pretty good about his chances going into the season.

Congrats to little ghoti!

Pretty decent? Haha! Congrats to your son. The first semester is winding down and today was my sons 19th birthday. We made the 45 minute drive to pick him up and take him out to dinner. He said he would not be able to hang out very long he had a paper to write and had to give a speech at 9am in one of his classes. I used to want to talk baseball all the time when we talked but now I find myself wanting to know more about school , friends and just how are you doing?

What I have found is he has grown up so much in such a short period of time. He has to to survive and he is expected by his coaches to do just that. They played paint ball as a team yesterday. They go bowling on Sunday nights as a team. According to my son its like being a part on a big family where everyone takes care of everyone. If someone needs something then someone makes sure they get taken care of.

He says he loves school , his team mates and his coaches are awesome people that are constantly working with them and encourageing them. He seems so happy and so confident. I am proud of the fact that he is taking care of his business and doing what he is expected to do. And he is having fun just being part of something that is very special to him.

This thread is so much fun!

Coach May and ghoti, congrats to your sons on successful fall seasons. I just love reading the updates - please keep them coming!

Julie

I know my son is going to a JC and its not as big of a deal as some of these four year guys. But after 120 players initially trying out he made the spring team. there are approx. 30-35 guys on the roster. he had a good fall. Only a handful if, that made the team as true freshmen. The team won the state JC championship last year so its going to be competitive in the spring and lots of fun.

Sounds like a big deal to me! Congratulations AND good luck...

quote:

But after 120 players initially trying out he made the spring team. there are approx. 30-35 guys on the roster. he had a good fall. Only a handful if, that made the team as true freshmen.

That IS a big deal.

He is STILL playing..................

85 or 90 of them may not be.

Ask them if it's a big deal.

beating out that many to make the team is a great feat no doubt congrats to your son and good luck to him. Coach May sounds like my son and yours have had nearly the same path with all the other events they have taken part in and enjoyed. they had a huge bowling league were all players from all sports men and women mixed and matched along with the diffrent coaches. and of course Coach Norwoods team won it all (he wins at everything haha!!) good luck to your son as well. and thanks everyone for the kind words. i to enjoy reading about the players and how they are doing.

Fanofgame- Congrats to Matt on a successful fall season! You have to love seeing a kid succeed that is a great young man and a hard worker!! Since I won't be seeing too many of my son's games I look forward to seeing some of Matt's!

Too all thank you,

Catchersdad08, thanks, you of all know whats gone into all of this esp. with my son. Hey how did your sons fall go? shoot me an email when you have time or post here. My niecs is at Uof A and loves it. loves the weather. love to here how Michael is doing.

Congrats to Coach May, ghoti, and fanofgame's sons at the college level! Impressive Coach, UNC, way to go Tarheels. I see your son is a catcher too.
fanofgame, my son decided to go to out of state JC, lets keep our fingers crossed. Pop Up.

PUHD,

sent you a PM. good luck with son. Now it will be up to him. Fan

fanofgame, no PM received. How does one do a PM?

did you check your email address thats with HS baseball web. it should be there. let me know. if didnt get send me a message through my private and leave your email address.whatever email that you have on your HS web site that someone clicks on to leave a private message.

Typically you would see a blinking icon on the top green strip:
GO, NEW, FIND, NOTIFY TOOLS, REPLY, NEW PM
click on it and it will take you to Private Messaging. You will be able to reply to your private message.
Hope this helps.

PUHD,
Click on my name on the right, it will take you to my registration page. there will be a comment for leaving a private email. click on that and shoot a message.

Son had a very solid fall. As a freshman, he appears to be making the transition to college pretty well.

He hit .375 in the fall intrasquads and the Annual "World Series" (Best of 3).

He loves his coaches and teammates.

I will believe when I see it, but he tells me he has a very strong shot at being the starting 2B come spring!

fanofgame,

I agree with the others, that is NO small feat! Best wishes to your son this spring.

jbbaseball,

An excellent report on your son! Hitting .375 as a freshman will tend to get you a shot at being somewhere in the lineup!

I'm enjoying all of your reports.

Julie

After the fall practice/season, do the coaches at your son’s schools sit down with the players individually to critique what they need to work on over the winter? Also do they give the players a sense of what their role might be for the regular season?

Yes they do sit with players and discuss what they need to do and what they might expect from them. The only thing I would caution is that fall doesn't always mean much. You have to continually perform.

At my son's school, they don't sit down with each player.
They met with some of the players individually at the end of the fall, but not my son specifically (along with others).
He tended to get feedback as the fall season was progressing.
For example:
-Need you to work on making your hands softer (he is a 2B)
-Need to continue to work on your footwork around the bag (he played SS in HS)
-We love your bunting ability and will use it in games
-Don't worry about the long ball. We want you to drive the ball to all fields, move the runners.
-We see you hitting in the 1 or 2 hole.

Based on various circumstances (injuries to others, one player being suspended for cheating on a quiz), it appears he will start at 2B, at least to start the season........

While he is continuing to work on his game, he is hating school right now because official practices have been/are done.

He comes home for winter break on Dec 12. He will be doing strength, speed & agility training, as well as taking cuts in the cages.

The purpose and importance of the sit down is to give and get feed back. Most colleges have a sit down with every player at the end of every semester. To me they are important for the coach and the player.

Same thing at my sons school Bobble. Each player had a meeting this week with the head coach. The coach gave them an evaluation based on feedback from all the coaches. He told them where they stood right now and where he thought they could be in the spring. He told them want they needed to work on the most and what he thought their strengths were. Also he discussed what he saw their role was right now and where he thought they could be in the future.

Thought i would pass along our freshmen fall semester story. First off we were headed to an AZ Juco (Yavapai) when a D1 private liberal arts school (St. Marys of Ca)came along in July and offered a deal we couldn't turn down. Needless to say academically there was a much larger hill to climb this fall. Our son was up for the challenge so we said go for it...our first goal was "stay academically eligible" because going there without baseball would be a disaster.
Good news is He Did...just under 3.0 and on the field looks to have an opportunity to be starting in the middle infield AND leading off!!!! Of course he has done nothing but lay on the couch all break and says the stress level of classes and baseball have taken their toll. NO social life, no girl friends, no trips into San Fran for fun......study, eat, play, eat, class, eat workout, eat, and sleep.
We are very proud and so happy to see him adjust to the next level so quickly. We must give credit to the school and the players who all seem to be on the same page...they are definitely doing something right!!!!!!!!

DD AZ,
That's terrific that your son was able to get that chance and adapt so well. The resiliency of kids is simply amazing to old geezers like myself. I hope your son has a wonderful Spring campaign, and maybe he'll get that chance to venture into the City for a little well deserved R&R.

quote:

Originally posted by Diamond Dog AZ:
Thought i would pass along our freshmen fall semester story. First off we were headed to an AZ Juco (Yavapai) when a D1 private liberal arts school (St. Marys of Ca)came along in July and offered a deal we couldn't turn down. Needless to say academically there was a much larger hill to climb this fall. Our son was up for the challenge so we said go for it...our first goal was "stay academically eligible" because going there without baseball would be a disaster.
Good news is He Did...just under 3.0 and on the field looks to have an opportunity to be starting in the middle infield AND leading off!!!! Of course he has done nothing but lay on the couch all break and says the stress level of classes and baseball have taken their toll. NO social life, no girl friends, no trips into San Fran for fun......study, eat, play, eat, class, eat workout, eat, and sleep.
We are very proud and so happy to see him adjust to the next level so quickly. We must give credit to the school and the players who all seem to be on the same page...they are definitely doing something right!!!!!!!!

That is quite the report! infielddad has talked about this program and how they play a very tough schedule. Looks like they had one heck of an offense last year and beat some really excellent programs like Stanford! If they can get a wee bit more pitching... Congrats to your son on his baseball and academic achievement thus far

Thanks Cleveland...Ironically I grew up in Ohio, and a MAJOR Tribe/Browns fan. Brought up my son the same way as we made an annual trip back to BeeGee to visit the Gparents. Of course that would include a side trip for me and the boy to the Jake for a weekend, usually around July 4th , (like 12 years in a row) I joke that Chris grew up knowing the Jake better then the BOB (in AZ)...
We can't say enough great things about St Marys, they have a big lefty coming in next year, hopefully they can develop a solid Friday night starter this spring.
We will see...DD

The Browns

The Indians might be improved with the acquisition of Kerry Wood

The Cavs might be Cleveland's first championship since 1964

Again, all the best to your son. Playing at just about any California D1 is quite the achievement imho

DD AZ, Great report on your son! It is great to hear of a true student/athlete meeting the challenges of college life. Much success in the spring!

Well, I haven't been on here for a while, but my son didn't have a fall season as he had planned! In late summer his hand was bothering him to catch and hit, and in the 3rd game of fall ball, he hit a solid double but heard a crack in his hand and it hurt like everything. After a few trips to the orthopedics, an xray, MRI, and sitting around waiting to see if it was tendonitis that would heal up, he had a CT scan. Diagnosis: broken hook or horn of hamate. One week later, surgery to remove the bone the size of a pebble. Felt much better after a few weeks and has been getting better and better. Except for the 3 inch scar, you'd never know it. He was scoped in surgery for damage but came up clean. So, he sat out the whole fall ball season. He did, however, go to every single practice, did everything but catch and hit(!) (like filling pitching machines, shagging balls, grunt work, and of course, run with the team. He lifted with his legs, ran on his own, took a bucket of balls to the hs field and threw them across the field, then went and picked them up and threw them again.
Needless to say he didn't get to show off much in the way of baseball skills.
But he is on the team for spring, he is determined to make a difference behind and beside the plate for them, and I would guess he has earned the respect of his teammates and hopefully coaches for being a trooper.
His grades were fine. Calculus - he's crossed engineering off his list (didn't want that anyway - it was the only class left for math by the time he signed up). But he found he has great interest in psychology and continues his interest in nursing or therapy.
So, no, we haven't spent any time at the ball park, he didn't want us to come. We are looking forward to the new season, and it will be a big day when he can step out on the field to play again. Hopefully he'll tear it up and get some interest from some 4 year schools!
Hope you have all had a very nice holiday and I wish you a great new year!