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My son has been blessed to have been asked to fill out a few MLB team questionnaires.  We talk all the time on here about helping our kids grow up by making them send emails or teaching them to talk.  A couple of the questionnaires have the final question of "Did you fill this questionnaire out on your own."  I reminded my son that these are generally the same questions that a scout or some other representative of the MLB club will ask you if you are blessed to continue in the process with them face to face.  Use these as preparation for the future so that you will be confident in your answers when sitting with someone one day, hopefully. 

on a side note, I read through the questionnaires and some of them are truly mind games with interesting questions to get to a certain mindset or traits.

For those in the journey, keep helping your kids grow up by making them learn to communicate with adults.

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These are all so one sided. Funny even. I recall a few for this past year's draft and one team actually asked, "would you accept our offer if we drafted you?" We completed several while son was in HS and he didn't get drafted. The process was exciting though. I was such a homer, newb.....funny. 

Last year when the draft was coming up it was different, he basically sent them all to his advisor and then they sent a boiler plate form as a response to every team who requested one. Things changed a bit for sure.

While in college my son pretty much handled things on his own, by his choice.  After he narrowed down the field to the top 2 or 3, my wife and I were then invited to meet financial advisors, agents, accountants, and insurance to get our opinion.  When dealing with MLB scouts, he met all on his own.  I would think scouts can form an educated guess when they compare what is written on the forms vs talking with the player.  Son kept a notebook of all teams he had contact with.  A copy of the information form along with notes about phone conversations, meetings, name of scout, and important names in the organization.  Son said a few scouts were impressed that he remembered certain things when they met several months later.  Might as well get as many brownie points as you can.  If your son is invited to a MLB pre-draft workout there is a good chance a vision exam and more psychological testing/questions will be conducted.  The team wants to know everything about you, both on and off the field.  Good luck Pitchingfan, it can be a remarkable ride.  Hope many more requests will come shortly!

I will admit I started helping him word things better and answer questions, then we got to the final answer and I made him start over with his words, even grammatical errors because one of these teams knows him pretty well and I thought if they read this they will know it was not the words or language my son uses.  It was also a good opportunity to talk to him about what they might be looking to figure out with the questions and to think through his answers.  I reminded him if he is able to have a conversation with them face to face he needs to be able to communicate his own thoughts and put them into adult words.  Again, a part of the journey and definitely part of baseball leading to life lessons. 

Critical items re questionnaire given to a HS player:

1. You got one.

2. Health History 

3. Amount you want if drafted.

4. Address for subsequent home visit.

If a home visit is scheduled then the interest is real. During the home visit a good area scout will pay attention to everything, e.g., who answers which question, family dynamics, height of mom and dad amd siblings present, etc. 

There is no right and wrong; just be yourself. Ultimately it comes down to: 1. Baseball skills, 2. Money required to "buy out" the college offer,  and 3. Other things (e.g., character issues, maturity (i.e., perceived readiness to face the MILB grind as an 18 yr old).

For families the home visit is the time to ask YOUR questions. Do your homework and prepare to ask all the questions you'd want to know before deciding your son should pass on college and head straight to proball. MILB is no picnic for college guys; its exponentially harder for an 18 year old.  Its mom and dads DUTY to make an initial determination if they think S is ready - they are the ones who know junior the best,  warts and all.

It's easy to be wowed and cowed by the process and clubs count on that; but the consequences of sending a kid who's not prepared into proball are severe (remember a kid needs to finish his draft contract (or be released) to use the MLB scholarship fund (six years I believe). That is a long, long time if a kid isnt having fun amd succeeding).

All that being said, enjoy the process, it is fairly unique and exciting!

 

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