Humble Pie...

I got to actually speak to my son today for a whole FIVE minutes. I'm just overwhelmed.

Anyways, his velocity is a few MPH lower than it normally is. Hasn't pitched since 1st of April so perfectly normal. He says that his legs just need more strength. They are working the lower body alot at practice. Said it may be Spring before his legs are "back under him again".

Anyway, he said that he wasn't worried about the higher velocity. told me "Dad, it has to be fast AND move!" Working more on movement now and keeping it low.

ps:son hasn't given up HR, YET!. Double off the wall, oh yeah. Several long, long, long fly outs, yeap, that too. As I discussed with him several,years ago, if you pitch enough, it will happen. 

Congrats to both you guys.

The learning process begins. Velo got them there; now on to the next stage. 

Exhaustion for freshman is the norm. Not enough time to eat, study, practice, lift; very few days off. AND they are facing themselves - except it's what they will be in the next few years.

Boys they left; men they return!

FWIW, freshmen generally are not the stars of the team and playing time (innings) will not be as abundant as in HS. Do not get discouraged - it's part of the process.

Similar experience last year for a freshman I know. First game on school's live stream is the alumni game one week before real games started. 

Freshman enters game and broadcasters rave about what a great fall, spring, expect big things, etc.  First two pitches he throws get deposited over the left field wall. 

He recovered nicely to start and win a few Tuesday night contests. 

good Luck to your boys. 

The higher a player goes the more they are measured not just by the skills, but by their grit in handling failure.  

The game become more mental and why Yogi said 90% of the game is half mental.  

My son's first live pitching was against a guy from his school who got drafted last June and played in the rookie league this summer. He is back for a couple weeks working out with the team.  Son got a ground out to 3B.....probably should have just taken his 0.00 ERA against pros and called it a career....

Your story shoveit reminded me so much of our older son's first college scrimmage experience.  Very similar.  Brought into a scrimmage for the first time with bases loaded. His first pitch was to Jed Lowrie who promptly doubled off the wall for a bases clearing double.  The Stanford message board included a summary that night of practice that said something like, "welcome to college baseball Mr. D."

Felt a little like rubbing salt in the wound. 

I plan on remembering this and will probably refer back to it often.

I sure appreciate all the posters who remain active and continue to remind/encourage/admonish some of us that are beginning the college journey with our sons.

Freshman players are being groomed to take the place of those upper class-men.  And when they have their chances, and they very often will, during their 1st year, it'll be opportunities to show they deserve to play more often.

When my son first started playing as a Freshman, that was the time I was most nervous about his performance, as I felt it sets the stage for the following year.  

Son's first (non Intersquad) scrimmage is this Saturday night. We thought it's possible he may play a little. Severe viruses to some of players moved that up to quite probable. He'll probably learn more about what position-- MI or OF today. He's been mainly 2B and a couple reps at SS so far. He's been confident and solidly performing in intersquad games. He's also looking forward to playing games where the third baseman plays his usual position back on the dirt. (We'll see how long that lasts)