Last week our son went through a 2 hour workout with MLB Area Scout. We talked a bit after the workout but not much. I took him up on his offer to talk in more detail this week. Very interesting observation that I thought was worth passing on to coaches, players and parents.
I asked for honest evaluation of my son, in a nut shell, knows he can hit but concerned about his DEFENSIVE position. Said my kid has only played 1st base for last 6 years, there is a concern that he hasn't played other positions.
Moral of the story, unless its a pitcher or catcher, pegging a player to a postion "may" hurt a player in the eyes of a college coach or scout if a player has skills to play beyond HS. I am not blaming anyone, to be honest I never thought of it.
It just so happened that his future college coach called us last night so I ask him the question about where he see him competing for playing time - he said OF, 3rd base, maybe catcher and we know he can play first. He may have played a combined 15 innings at these position since LL (other than first) - he' got some work to do if we wants to win some playing time.
I will give a big high five to 20Dad who has "always" been an advocate of giving kids the chance to play other positions - now I can see what he was talking about.
I know its tuff for HS coaches to take their players out of their core positions because they want to win. I guess this shows the value of summer travel ball where development is more important than winning. Maybe its time to buy less bats and add a few more gloves and a good fungo.
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