Now What? (Dad of HS Sophomore)

Ok, here goes my .o2..

1) take some time off(from throwing) but work out, if he had a heavy summer load of innings..

2) If he plays on a scout team in the summer, that is good..does the scout team play in

    any fall tourny's?  I saw a lot of scout teams... in Jupiter this past fall

3)Never to early to start making contact with schools you are interested in, N E V E R! 

Welcome geckoprof!

First, you live in an area that by default gets a lot of exposure.  Your son will be seen one way or another.

To your questions....

1) Yes, all pitchers need time off.  I have a son who has pitched in MLB, he takes several months off from throwing...your son should too.

2) You don't need to go to an abundance of camps.  Your son needs to play HS baseball and he needs to find a summer team that plays high levels of competition.  Given where you live, you can stretch your budget by focusing on teams that don't travel all over the country.  Playing in AZ and CA at good tournaments will get your son the exposure.

3) There will be differing opinions on this, but my answer is that it isn't necessary.  You can store up video, perhaps create a website with short clips (not too much!) and be ready to send links to coaches so they can watch the videos.  But most coaches are gonna want to see your son perform in person and so keeping schools that you're targeting updated with a HS and then summer schedule is one of the best things to stay on top of...most especially the coach of your son's dream school that you referred too in the beginning of your post.

Lastly, please make sure to stay relaxed and enjoy watching your son play baseball.  These are precious years and you won't get them back.  Make sure you smell the roses along the way.

Good luck.  Ask all the questions along the way that you can think of. 

Many colleges are already finished with their 2015's, and starting on 2016's, so right now (Soph) thru Junior is the prime time for getting in front of the schools your son is interested in....once committed you can take more time off.  If your son has only been stretched out to 80 pitches in an outing twice, then likely he is not in need of any long shut down that is associated with a long summer season of pitching every 3-5 days 100+ pitches per outing.  Provided your son is healthy, I'd be as active as possible from now thru Fall of Jr year, or until he is offered / commits.

Welcome to the site... you found the right place. 

In addition to the responses you get to your post, you can search related posts and find an abundance of info.

To add to what you've heard already..

If the early interest is any indication, your son is likely to get a fair amount of attention and thus, be pulled in many directions.  Things can get really busy fall/winter Junior year, so it will take advanced planning to find that month or two to take off and give the arm a rest.  You'll also have to figure out what his HS does during fall/winter as well.  It is likely that you will have to draw a line in the sand and stick to it - saying no to some of the opportunities that seem so important at that moment.

The scouts that run the scout teams are usually quite well connected to colleges as well, so use those resources.  Also, find out what events his top target schools will be attending so you can maximize any trips you do make.

You already have a few key events that happen in your back yard and if you are doing PG events as well with the scout team, he will be getting a good dose of exposure.  You just have to determine if dream school/s are realistic match and connect the dots.

My son also is a 2016, and i too am somewhat new to the forums. i can honestly tell you that the information here is priceless, i find myself coming back multiple times each day and most times find more useful info or opinions. For the most part people here love the game i mean really love it as i do.

our situation is a little different as we live on a rock in the middle of the pacific with a dearth of summer teams available (none on my island) so our summer consists on drills and strength training. I wish there were more options here but there is not. The costs from getting from here to the mainland are expensive as all hell too, so we allow ourselves one trip a year unfortunately (this year headfirst and Stanford with a total cost of about 7k when said and done).

So for #2 I envy your situation where so many teams and events are within a throwing stone. i would take advantage of them. Even the smaller ones that may not have tons of colleges around, the learning experience can not be a bad thing.

#3  never too early to communicate with colleges. My son has been in touch with quite a few and the feedback has been positive, My son's main issue is that baseball is secondary to education (only so many schools offer the Astrophysics major he wants) and most of the schools he is interested in (Div 3) really cannot get serious until test scores start coming in next year, But at least he is on the radar. The one common denominator that the coaches have asked him for are videos.

good luck on your journey, and as others have mentioned   enjoy it  i know i am

KauaiDad; Astrophysics? Too cool. Your kid's gonna be ok regardless of baseball. I hope he gets to play. Congrats

Great to have a thread begun by the parent of a promising Sophomore and another whose son loves the sport, but who has already cast his line in a very specific academic "pool."

My comments here are prompted by the OP's post, but just as directed to others whose sons, like "geckoprofs's,"  are entering the recruiting pool as high school Sophomores.

First of all, I'd like to assert that baseball is VERY important. Allow me to repeat myself, baseball is VERY important.

I think it's unfortunate that the message that one ought to focus first on the non-baseball aspects of college has been interpreted by some to mean that baseball interests ought to be ignored. Nothing could be farther from the truth in my book. There's no reason why the two necessarily need to be at odds with one another.

However, if approached by any high school Sophomore who showed promise in the sport, my first recommendation would be to devote considerable time to figuring what sort of college I wanted to attend. Close to home? Academically rigorous...or not? Strong in an area of particular academic interest? Populated by people like me...or not? Significant social element...or not? The sort of dimensions that attract or repel students who aren't sufficiently gifted to consider playing a varsity sport in college.

Then, as the outline of a preferred college environment emerges, take that universe of schools and try to figure out which ones have baseball programs that are appropriate to the player's skillset and aspirations in the sport.

Returning to geckoprof's original post, the answer to Question 2 (which is considered a very significant one from the baseball perspective), naturally falls out of the player's deliberations about what he wants out of a college and its baseball program. The showcases/tournaments to be pursued should end up being the ones that attract the most number of recruiters from the universe of schools identified by the player.

In my opinion, a player's effort to try to figure out what sort of college best suits his nonbaseball-related interests is a great place to begin trying to determine which programs best suit his baseball profile. When the two are both satisfied, the player stands the best probability of landing in a place that suits both his on-the-field and off-the-field interests and capabilities.

Thanks to you all for your replies.  I appreciate all the information and opinions in the forum.  I have a few other questions regarding the process.  How do the verbal offers work?  Are they typically made face to face with a hand shake?  It seems so informal for such a big decision. "Do you want to play at State College?" "Sure." 

Also, reading the thread on early commits, how are these commitments made when the coaches aren't allowed to contact players?  Is it after the player has set up an unofficial visit to the campus?  It seems like a dating situation where a girl can't ask out a boy, and the boy can't call the girl, so the girl keeps calling up the boy just to talk in hopes of him asking her out. 

I appreciate the info, and I'm sure these questions have been answered on this forum before, but in skimming through other threads these are a few questions I still have.

"Face-to-face with a handshake" is not a bad way to characterize the verbal offer. It's made by a coach, considered by the player and his family; and, if the player wants to go there, he agrees verbally. Then, when National Signing Day rolls around, both sides make it official via the National Letter of Intent.

This relatively simple and  straightforward process has been followed with what I consider an overwhelming degree of integrity; especially when compared to that associated with football. However, quite a few of us are concerned that if the early offers become more pervasive and even earlier on the player's timeline, the integrity of the process could be seriously threatened.

While it's true that there are rather severe limitations upon a coach's contact with a recruit until his Junior year, coaches can still talk with recruits in venues like unofficial visits and camps. It's also possible for recruits to talk to coaches if the player calls the coach; just not the other way around.

I will add that while it's true many of the top Major D1's have verbally committed the cream of the crop in 2015's and some even have a few 2016's it's never a static situation from year to year depending on where your located on the map (geographically speaking) and the talent level in your area in combination with the needs of a program.  A 2016 still has a lot of time while a 2015 needs to be committed this year by fall IMO. 

 Having spoke with several D1's and a 2015 parent the next 5-7 months is key at that level.  These Big 12, Mo Valley and Big10 schools still have room with respect to pitching, there are too many variables (growth spurts, velo gains).  Your major D1's want the kids that are throwing at there speed & spin the ball as well, but not all kids do that until later.  For those that are they have verbal commits already your kid is at the velo or projects.

  My kid is interested in a couple of SEC's and had a couple of looks last summer but was told he needs to throw harder, not quite there yet but we'll keep in touch as he's got projection and a LHP.  I know factually these schools have already committed 5-6 2015's and only have room for a few more.   Long winded but these are the conditions you have to deal with and it will vary depending on several factors which cannot be predicted.  At the end of the day my son knows he may not get to a D1, not the end of the world b/c it's not where you start, it's where you finish regadless of level.

Thank you all for your feedback.  He's decided to play on the Scout team this summer, then we'll decide on the fall later.  We'll put a video together after the HS season and send out links to it this summer. 

I have another question.  As I mentioned this coach has asked my son to call him and keep him updated on how things are going.  How often should he call?  Just once during the HS season to let him know how it's going?  I'm guessing during the summer it's good to let him know in which tournaments he's pitching. 

Thanks again.

geckoprof,

Your post reminded me of a funny story.  A while back a coach asked through travel coach that my son give him a call.  It was my son's first coach call.  I give him some pointers before hand and he wrote down a few questions he could ask if needed.  I was listening from the other room and I heard my son say in a surprised voice "every WEEK?".  The coach wanted my son to touch base once a week.  He did keep in relative touch but not quite on that frequency. 

His experience through the process was that coaches wanted to build a relationship with him over the phone.  Assess what type of person he is, what excites him, etc.  Sometimes they never even talked baseball.  Your son will "gel" with some coaches better than others and some are easier to talk to than others.  But it is VERY important to make the calls to all coaches that are interested.  After that first one is out of the way, it gets easier.  Best of luck to your son!

Many are finished?  No way.  Name 5 that are finished.

It sounds like your son is lined up for some good exposure. Coaches who are interested will ask him where he will be playing so they can come see him. And our course he can tell them.

My advice is to do the most difficult thing of all...relax. Things have a way of working out.