Options for 2022

What’s his height/weight, 60 time, throwing velocity, exit velocity?  What type of school does he want to go to?  How are his grades?

The answers to those questions will go a long ways towards helping to give you advice.

I’m familiar with TNXL. Feel free to PM with questions

I’m very familiar with TCS Postgrad. Send me a PM w/ questions

@FAJA posted:

...  Typically, here in NJ, travel teams for high school age don't start their season till summer.  I have heard that college coaches tend to weight summer travel ball against good competition higher than high school baseball.

...

Well, it is almost May.  What you heard is correct, assuming it is a good travel organization that goes to the right events and otherwise supports the recruiting efforts of it's players.  Get with the right travel program.  Target the right level.  Have a good recruiting plan in place.  If you haven't discovered already, 90% of all the info you will need is here.  Skill set has to come from the player

Agreed, thank you very much for the reply

Of course he measures well in his age group. He’s probably one of the oldest in his age group if he’s young for his grade (my kids have late spring/summer birthdays).  You have to get past youngest in his grade and how he measures in his age group. The people who count at the next level will be evaluating him against his class.

Both my kids had their 18th birthdays after graduation day. We never gave “young for their grade” a thought. The thought process was about getting to the next level. Young for grade is an excuse that may hold a player back. A better approach is “how do I overcome it?” One way is don’t give it a thought. Another is if behind physically get in the weight room. It’s what my son did when he was a 5’11” 135 freshman. And he started eating like crazy.

The first time I ever gave it any thought was this board when others brought it up. My son was playing 17u when he was 15u eligible.

My daughter played 18u Gold when she was fifteen. But this is normal for softball prospects. Girls physically mature sooner than boys.

@3and2Fastball posted:

What’s his height/weight, 60 time, throwing velocity, exit velocity?  What type of school does he want to go to?  How are his grades?

The answers to those questions will go a long ways towards helping to give you advice.

Thank you for your reply to my PM.  I also wanted to post for the group. 

16-year old - primary position is 2B.  5ft 10, 165lbs.  Exit Velo 88 (via Trackman), Infield Velo 77, Max Run'n'Gun from a crow hop is 84.  His 60 yard dash is lagging at 7.8 but he's working hard on this as his time has already dropped by half a second over the past 7 months.

We're fine if he ends up playing D3 ball.  Alot of D3 options here in the Mid Atlantic/Northeast

@RJM posted:

Of course he measures well in his age group. He’s probably one of the oldest in his age group if he’s young for his grade (my kids have late spring/summer birthdays).  You have to get past youngest in his grade and how he measures in his age group. The people who count at the next level will be evaluating him against his class.

Both my kids had their 18th birthdays after graduation day. We never gave “young for their grade” a thought. The thought process was about getting to the next level. Young for grade is an excuse that may hold a player back. A better approach is “how do I overcome it?” One way is don’t give it a thought. Another is if behind physically get in the weight room.

The first time I ever gave it any thought was this board when others brought it up. My son was playing 17u when he was 15u eligible.

My daughter played 18u Gold when she was fifteen. But this is normal for softball prospects. Girls physically mature sooner than boys.

Not an excuse.  Only bringing up age because of the growing popularity of reclassifying resulting in more 19 year olds now competing at the high school level; ( by extension more 16 year old freshman, 17 year old sophomores etc).  On various top prospect lists you'll often see this.

In college, he will be competing for playing time against 4 (or 5) years of players.

Reality check: some kids don't play much on varsity because they go to strong high schools, but still go on to play in college. Some kids start varsity all four years beause they go to weak high schools, and go to play in college.

College coaches don't care how much you played on your high school team. They care if you have the skills to contribute to their level of college team. Is your son not getting varsity practice reps?  If your son is playing this summer, and works at his baseball, it will happen, or it won't, but not because of what happened in high school.

I saw several players on my son's HS team, who didn't start varsity, go to play at D3s.  Some of them had the similar reason that they were stuck behind strong upperclassmen.

good feedback - thank you for the reply. 

The first thing to address is the comment that the kids are reclassed. Age/grade do not matter once you get to high school. If you're a college level player you can play up and handle your own. Now that is not to say that every future collegiate athlete is going to be a stud freshman on varsity or kill 17u baseball the summer going into HS. But, we can't make comments about age, grade, class, etc because they're all on the same field at once. Even if they didn't reclass, they'd still be juniors starting ahead of your son.

The good news is, your kid has time. I know NJ has good baseball despite it's location, if your kid as at a private where most kids are committed or going to commit he will probably have options. If your son is at an average school, I would reconsider planning a future around baseball and focus on the best academic/financial situation possible for college

There is a lot of good advice here. I dont think getting a lot of playing time in HS is going to drastically affect his recruiting. He should be on a good travel program, and target school camps and if he is a good student do a showball or HF showcase.  Did his travel program advise him of what schools to target?

A kid at our high school never got more than garbage innings and garbage at bats mopping up high school games senior year. He probably could have started for a high school that didn’t finish second and won the conference the next three years he was in high school. He played Legion. It was the only team interested. He was a decent player.

He physically grew heading into college. He walked on. He left one of their better players ever. I watched a game on video. He was a different player in college. It wasn’t a winning program. It was a very high academic. He was there for the education and then the baseball. But, I know this kid loved baseball.

Intellectually, most kids don’t even dream at the level this kid is accomplishing in his life.

@FAJA posted:

Thank you for your reply to my PM.  I also wanted to post for the group.

16-year old - primary position is 2B.  5ft 10, 165lbs.  Exit Velo 88 (via Trackman), Infield Velo 77, Max Run'n'Gun from a crow hop is 84.  His 60 yard dash is lagging at 7.8 but he's working hard on this as his time has already dropped by half a second over the past 7 months.

We're fine if he ends up playing D3 ball.  Alot of D3 options here in the Mid Atlantic/Northeast

Make sure he really learns how to play 3B and 1B.  Without getting his 60 time to around a 7.2, he’s a corner guy, even at a D3, and most D3 coaches want their middle infielders running 6.9 or better.

It isn’t as simple as thinking any middle infielder can play the corners, there’s a learning curve to it.  The ball gets on you quick.  And coming in on a slow roller and throwing out runners who get down the line with 6.7 or faster speed is tough, especially if you don’t have an 85+ mph cannon (and many D3 third basemen do).  If you can’t do that, now you are a 1B/DH, and they expect you to hit bombs.  Even at D3’s

My 2021 had similar measureables (although he’s 6’2” 190) and got recruited as a 3B/1B.  He had previously played 2B.  Getting him lessons with a former college coach on the finer points of playing third and first really helped.

He worked for well over a year and his 60 time is now around a 7.4-7.5... still considered a corner guy.  The Head Coach of the school that recruited him expects him to hit the ball over the outfielder’s heads.

With no disrespect meant - and sharing this with the hope that it helps and apologizing if it comes across too bluntly - be very careful with labeling or referencing your son as "primary position is 2B."

When many people see or hear that, their initial reaction is "His arm isn't strong enough to play the left side of the infield and his bat isn't strong enough for 1B or the outfield."

This may not be true for your son. But, it's a common perception for those who are "primary position is 2B" at the youth level. Most college 2Bs were SS in HS, I would think.

I'm with @Francis7 on this.  I have almost no knowledge of your son, but I see a lot of "2B" that sort of run to calling that their primary position and it's often because they FEEL it's easier to sell to someone.  You don't see very many players say "I really want to be a 2B," so I think some latch on to it thinking it improves their odds.  I see WAY too many little league and HS 2B that will never play it in college.  LL and HS coaches try to get by with kids like that there, but that ends after HS.  My 2021 has basically been a SS his whole life.  He's been successful there.  As of February 2020 (last time it was measured), his INF velo was 86 and he runs somewhere around a 6.60 60.  He had some legit interest from D1s, but is starting out going the JUCO route this fall.  As good as he is and his measurables are, my money is on him being a 2B at the next level.  I think he'll at least get a shot at SS, but ultimately lands at 2B (possibly CF).  These days, great SS's seem to grow on trees, so only the very best ones actually end up there.  The rest get transplanted to 2B, 3B, the OF and even 1B.  If you take the time to dig deeper into some college rosters, you'll see that many of the starters (across most positions) were SS's in high school.  Not catchers or pitchers, usually, but everything else is on the table.  Defensively, it's a great time to be a post-high school coach.

The best thing for your son (and any non-pitcher) is to hit the snot out of the ball and do so consistently.  Other than being a P, it's the only place I know of these days "hide" subpar measurables/tools. 

SAT and GPA? Does he have a specific major in mind?

@DanJ - just to backup what you're saying. We have a 3B, SS and 2B on our HS team who are all more than capable of playing SS. You're not losing much defensively at SS with any of them if the 3B or 2B are filling in at SS.

We have another kid who is smaller (under 5-7) and very slow with an average arm at best. He is listed as a 2B only. And, on the depth chart at 2B, he's #3 best. Usually only plays in the last inning of a blowout.

GREAT KID by the way. Just not suited for anywhere else but 2B.

@Francis7 posted:

With no disrespect meant - and sharing this with the hope that it helps and apologizing if it comes across too bluntly - be very careful with labeling or referencing your son as "primary position is 2B."

When many people see or hear that, their initial reaction is "His arm isn't strong enough to play the left side of the infield and his bat isn't strong enough for 1B or the outfield."

This may not be true for your son. But, it's a common perception for those who are "primary position is 2B" at the youth level. Most college 2Bs were SS in HS, I would think.

The first day of practice my freshman year of JuCo ball our coach lined us up and had each player, one by one, step forward and introduce themselves and state what position they played. (Think the gymnasium scene in the beginning of Remember the Titans). Eight of us said we played SS. Our coach pointed at Bobby Merrifield and said, “that’s my SS - I will find another position for the rest of you.”

@anotherparent posted:

In college, he will be competing for playing time against 4 (or 5) years of players.

Reality check: some kids don't play much on varsity because they go to strong high schools, but still go on to play in college. Some kids start varsity all four years beause they go to weak high schools, and go to play in college.

College coaches don't care how much you played on your high school team. They care if you have the skills to contribute to their level of college team. Is your son not getting varsity practice reps?  If your son is playing this summer, and works at his baseball, it will happen, or it won't, but not because of what happened in high school.

I saw several players on my son's HS team, who didn't start varsity, go to play at D3s.  Some of them had the similar reason that they were stuck behind strong upperclassmen.

Agree,  In 2018, our hs had 12 seniors, 7-8 of whom saw 2-3 innings of play all season.  Every one of them was signed to play baseball somewhere.  

@adbono posted:

The first day of practice my freshman year of JuCo ball our coach lined us up and had each player, one by one, step forward and introduce themselves and state what position they played. (Think the gymnasium scene in the beginning of Remember Gatorade Titans). Eight of us said we played SS. Our coach pointed at Bobby Merrifield and said, “that’s my SS - I will find another position for the rest of you.”

A friend’s son headed for a top ranked program as a state Gatorade Player of the Year. The shortstop didn’t sign and returned for senior year. The kid had to play first freshman year.

Just  want to chime in about kids not getting HS playing time, but are playing in college (D3).  My 2017's team had  16 seniors, 11 of which got decent playing time in college. However, only 5 of those 11 had extensive playing time on Vars.