HS

Cleanup14, first of all, welcome to the HSBBW!

If it makes you feel any better, many players have much worse situations in high school than your son. Tell him to keep his chin up, stay positive, persevere, and work hard no matter what cards are dealt him this year. The adversity he faces will only help him in the long run.

Regarding exposure to colleges, your son will need to play on a travel team to achieve that, especially if he lives "in a rural area that is nearly non existant in baseball as it is." Are there any teams in your part of the state that play in front of college coaches?

Cleanup, are there any fall teams that your son can play on? I would also try to attend showcases in the area and maybe a couple of winter break camps or clinics.

Short of moving to another school, find other opportunities to be seen, and I think more importantly, find somebody at one of these events who can be an advocate for your son since it sounds like the HS coach will not be of assistance.

Welcome to the hsbbweb!

quote:

What advice do you have for my son as far as getting noticed by colleges?

Lots of advice.

1) Don't share any of these disgruntled feelings with your son.

2) He cannot control politics or the coach's decision, so get over it.

3) There are seven other offensive positions on the team, encourage him to try and win one of those. For non-pitchers, the best bats are generally in the lineup unless there is a defensive liability situation.

4) College coaches do not recuit stats, they only recruit what they can see. Get him in front of college coaches via showcases and see what they say.

5) Read all the links under this heading:
http://www.hsbaseballweb.com/recruiting_tips.htm

There are dozens and dozens of articles here and I would read all of them.

6) Never make excuses. All baseball players have to learn how to overcome politics at every level of the game. Focus on the things he can control like his strength, fielding, hitting, and running.

7) Use a positive attitude to overcome setbacks.

8) Some kids never start in high school until their senior year and are now succeeding in college.

9) Let the hard feelings go. Don't ever let him feel sorry for himself.

I am sure others can chime in.

Cleanup, welcome to HSBBW. You have hit the jackpot on finding advise on what to do!

IMO, if I were going to spend $600+, I'd find out when the next Perfect Game showcase is and save up for that! The best money a parent can spend on his son.

We have a poster on here named PGStaff who runs Perfect Game. He is here on a regular basis and maybe he can advise you when their next showcase in your area is.

Good luck!

I have two things to add:

1. JV stats so not equate to Varsity stats. We had a parent complaining that their .400+ hitting son was stuck at JV as a sophmore. He came to varsity as a junior and hit about .250 with zero power. But also remember that stats don't tell the whole story.

2. Every year he plays and every team he plays on could have a better player than him at his position. He will need to be more versatile, and willing to move if he wants to play.

As far as the showcases go, I would look for a showcase that gives your son a true evaluation of his standing among his peers and can advise him on what he needs to work on. Ideally this evaluation is performed by multiple baseball scouts or recruiters. I wouldn't spend more money on showcases until after his junior season in high school, after a full season of varsity.

I'd also look for an opportunity for him to play in some WWBA tournaments. They are well scouted. Performing well in a PG showcase can help with getting on one of those teams and is a good reason to showcase a bit earlier.

I agree with the JV vs. varsity stats. Our school had a kid who was hitting about .270 on JV as a sophmore and got pulled up to varsity as an injury replacement. The kid had a so-so swing to go along with lots and lots of fast twitch muscles. He got a couple hits off a 90+ guy that game and spent the rest of the season on varsity. He didn't hit too well the rest of that season or his junior season. I figured he'd be a .270 hitter as a senior give or take a few points but that he'd hit just as well against the hard throwers as against the soft tossers. He hit around .400. The cleanup hitter from that JV team hit well under .200 as a senior on varsity. JV stats mean nothing and generally speaking neither do varsity stats, especially if they are coming out of a small school league.

Cleanup14,

Very good advise you are getting here. My son's HS coach played no part whatsoever with his college opportunities. He even "forgot" about showing up for the signing photo. College coaches want to see the player and they don't have much of an opportunity to watch HS games.

Playing on a summer team that will be at events where recruiters go is important. As others have said Perfect Game is the best showcase forum to be seen. Going to showcases that are put on by the colleges themselves is also a good option. That is how my son was seen by the school that recruited him.

Even if your son's HS coach is not inclined to help him, you don't want to get crosswise with him and give him any reason to hurt his chances. Tell your son to work hard and take advantage of the chance he is given.

cleanup, if your son is an excellent student he would get great exposure to dozens of college coaches at the Headfirst Showcase, which costs $795. I believe the best-attended Headfirst showcases are held in Virginia each August, so next August would work for your son.

http://www.playheadfirst.com/s...l_honor_baseball.jsp

Cleanup, there are many travel teams in north and central Jersey. I know it is more central Jersey you are but Jack Cust Academy in Flemington has a very nice program. Cust has hosted a couple of PG showcases in the past.

Baseball U, NJ Mariners, NJ Marlins, S. Bergen Mets and many others in North Jersey. If you advertise a player seeking a team on NJ.com you will likely get a few responses.

As far as HS ball goes just make sure you son gets better this off season and is in ready to play better next year than last year. Like ClevelanDad stated, deal with what you can control not what you can't.
If you son has the talent you claim he has things will work out for him.

Welcome to HSBBW.

I've escorted my 2010 on about ten visits with college coaches since august 1. He has yet to talk about high school baseball with a college coach. The college coaches have focused on performance in summer baseball and performances in showcases where they were present. Many college coaches have told us they never talk to high school coaches because they don't trust their judgement.

High school coach had absolutely nothing with our son being recruited. It all came from summer ball. Get on a decent summer team - email schedule to college coach of tournaments and games where your son can be seen. Go to camp of college your son is interested in attending. Never been to Perfect Game but sure sounds like the real deal. The adversity of the HS coach situation actually will work to the benefit of your child - seen kids where all the baseball opportunities are handed to them and the first time they face adversity(playing time/criticism from coach/being cut etc etc) the kid gives up. And everything the Clevedad said!

quote:

Originally posted by cleanup14:

You see, the coach didn't just suggest he'd bring him up...he brought him before the entire team & 'announced' he would be starting the season...

I can't speak for others on here, but this "coach" of your son sounds either young, deranged, or both from that statement above! IMO

NO coach in his right mind would ever do such a thing. EVER. Key words...in his right mind.

Ballparkfranks gives some good advise. Don't waste much money, if any, on showcases until after his Junior year.

CLEVELAND DAD-Thats one of the best post that I've ever read on any baseball message board. GREAT POST.

Ryan - thank you for that wonderful compliment! I wouldn't say those things if it were not the same advice I have given my son. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately now that I think of it, he was not born with a silver spoon. He has had to learn how to compete for the goals he has set for himself and that in the end is a good thing.

cleanup14 - thank you as well!

I thought you were a father who was upset so perhaps I was a little more brusk than I should have been. The story you told about them announcing your son and then revoking it was a disappointing one to say the least. Obviously, a temporary setback and a blow to the ego. Once the coach made that dubious decision however, there was nothing else you or your son could do about it.

You/he can continue to wallow in hurt feelings or turn those feelings into something positive. ALL baseball players have setbacks. The way to deal with them is double-down, work twice as hard, out-attitude the next guy, show the coach who the bigger person is, and in the end, he will succeed.

Never let someone else control your positive attitude on things. I am pretty positive that the players who are best at dealing with failure are the ones who end up having long term success in baseball and ultimately life.

Remember, baseball ability is not about what you see today. If nurtured properly, it may turn into something very special years down the road. It takes an unbelievable ability to deal with failure/adversity however in order to see that through. Encourage your son with a long range vision and let all the other hurt feelings go.

quote:

it was watching that light in his heart go dim for awhile...

You have a way with words

I am not going to publicy write about all the setbacks my son has had but they are no less disappointing than the one you describe. Everyone here can tell a baseball hard-luck story and anyone who has been in the game for a period of time can tell many of them. There are two choices when these things happen and hopefully your son uses the snub as fuel for the fire.

As far as what people say, it might be better to let that go too. Sure everyone wants to hear nice things but it should not matter to your son's own vision for himself. I think talking is the easiest thing to do in sports - both by the participants and those who talk about them. Let performance do all the talking and let everything else take care of itself. Someone will notice if he performs. Someone will surely notice if his attitude is superior to any other player on the field. His attitude is highly controllable. Someone will also notice if somebody is pouting or feeling sorry for themselves. As I said, there are two choices to every setback, encourage him to make the right one.

quote:

Originally posted by cleanup14:
I know it must seeem naive, but until this incident, I never knew that those things you describe..the hard luck stories, were commonplace. I thought that athletes who worked hard were rewarded for their abilities-that a higher skilled player always started over the coach's bowling buddy...or whatever... Now I understand that politics plays a big role in HS sports. It actually helps to know that many others go through the same thing. I agree about attitude 100%...in fact my two proudest moments last season were that , despite his feeling down about himself, when asked by a team mate for help with his swing, my son quickly obliged. Then again during a game in which his team was up substanially, the ump made some 'mercy calls', while my son was at bat. The umpire made a point to tell his coach, who passed it on to us, that he never saw a player handle 'close' calls more respectfully. They say adversity builds character & I guess its true in sports as well as life.

That is a great post. I don't think you are naive - no one would think otherwise until things affect them personally. That is why we stress all the time around here at the hsbbweb about being versatile - it gives the player a tool to overcome things that may be out of their control e.g., coach's decision, another player is better, politics, etc.

My son got called up to varsity at the end of his sophmore season as a reward for having a fine JV season. He never got into a game but him and I were the two happiest people on the planet. One man's dilemna is another man's joy

As parents its hard to be objective. We always will feel that our son/daughter is better in some way or another, which is OK.

ClevelandDad gives you some pretty sound advice.

Our son spent 2 years on JV when perhaps his Junior year he could have made Varsity, except that there were 15 seniors on a roster of 21. So he just had to wait his turn. This year he is doing just fine and probably will start. These are lessons that in the long run can help strengthen your son's character.

Just remember, politics will always be there to some degree, but all Coaches in the end want to win and will play the good player, so if your son keeps his head down, works hard, keeps a good attitude and has the talent he will play.

Greetings Cleanup14 (and fellow mom)!! And welcome to the website. There are lots of moms posting here. But it isn't just the feminine view that arbitrary and unkind (to downright evil) people are involved in youth sports..not just baseball. I have a hoops daughter who has the devil-incarnate for a couple of coaches. I don't know if these are necessarily important lessons for kids to learn..but sadly, they learn them: nobody has to be fair to you at all ever and that's the way it goes. Your son has experienced this first hand. Hopefully, it will not embitter him. Even better, it will make him want to play and work even harder to show the jerk the huge mistake he made!! The fact is, that the recruiting process has so many ups and downs..the kids seems to handle a lot of this so well..but us parents take a beating. You already know it's best to let it go and move on. Find better opportunities for your son..good players are made in the off-season, so they say!

Two years ago my son excepted an offer to play at an SEC school. He announced it to his high school team it was on the colleges web site and in the local papers in our city. We went out and bought all the gear. Two days before he was to sign at an assembly at his high school he received a call from the coach telling him "this is the hardest call I have ever had to make but we don't have room for you and would like to send you to a Jr. College 14 hours from your home. I say all that to say this, I got a e-mail from my son which I would like to share parts of... Dad, I feel like I have had many doubters in my way, but I use Jason Aldean’s song to keep myself on track and following my dreams. This line in particular has kept my head up: “Keep truckin’ along, work up a sweat, pass every no, after no, after no, till’ I get a yes I don't worry about what I'm not I use what I got, yeah.”(Jason Aldean) I feel like I have to pass through the bottom to reach the top. I have never had a problem taking the long way; in fact, it does not bother me at all. I will do whatever it takes to succeed.
We did some frantic calling and he excepted a generous offer to play at a Mid-Major. He started 52 out of 56 games as a Freshman and loves the school.
Many times in the baseball world people (coaches) forget they are dealing with young people. I am so proud that my son has used the experience to motivate himself and not dwelled on what could have been.
I am sure your Son can do the same. Use this to feed his fire.

That's a fabulous and very applicable story, williekc. Thanks for sharing! Congrats to your son on keeping his chin up in the midst of adversity and succeeding in notable ways as a freshman. Best wishes to him as he begins his sophomore year!

Willie,

Your story sounds IDENTICAL as to what happened to my son's friend. He signed his NLI in November his Senior year to play at UGA and a week before school started in August the HC called and told him the exact same thing. AFTER he had went a couple weeks earlier and purchased a lot of t-shirts, room signs, etc. for his dorm. He ended up playing for a local JUCO, tore it up big time, won all kinds of year-end honors, and just finished this summer playing his first year with the Danville Braves! Got drafted in the 7th round by the Atlanta Braves! So there are good stories that happen to these young men who face adversity and overcome.

I wanted to change that saying a little bit that Cleanup said above - "adversity builds character". Adversity also reveals character.

I will also say that you should not count on anyone but yourselves to get you where you want to be, no coach or recruiting service can do anything but help you on your journey. We hunted out the best team in our area, My son was lucky enough to play for a former major league player on an excellent team from the age of 12 through 17. All 15 guys from that team are playing some level of college ball. I spent numerous hours on this web site reading and asking questions. There are a lot of people on this site that have unlimited knowledge about everything you have questions about. Don't be afraid to ask. Don't get wrapped up in the whole D1,D2,D3 thing. We spent a lot of time worrying if our son was D1 material. In the end things took care of themselves. Hunt out the best showcases in your area, we did as many as we could afford. Camps at the schools he is interested in are the best way to get in front of coaches and are probably the least expensive. And finally we did a lot of praying that are son would end up at the school he was supposed to. We choose to believe that God has a plan for our Son and are very excited to see what it is.