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Son is HS Freshman (RH power type pitcher) also playing on HS Basketball team. (Early bloomer 6’2-3”now) He wants to play College ball on the West Coast.

Our plan was to continue summer HS/travel/showcase ball after HS season. (working details now) and then play in the Arizona Fall Classic in October. However he needs to get in a 3-month weight lifting cycle to build up some body mass and work on speed & other conditioning. (and for mental rest)

Now I think the ideal timing would be to play summer ball through July (maybe little August) and then shut down and start a weight lifting/conditioning program in the Aug-October time frame. Basketball would start up in Nov and go through Jan. We would start to throw again in December (1-2x/week) and then build up to maybe 2-3x/week in Jan until HS baseball starts again in early Feb.

We had planned to play in the Ariz. Classic for his Soph and Jr years and also go to the WWBA championships in the summer of his Jr season. (We will keep the plan to do the WWBA championship in his Jr year) My concern is that staying in competitive pitching shape until October is problematic.

The question is this: Is there an appropriate substitute in the June/July time frame for the Arizona Classic for west coast focused kids?

I am familiar with the Area Code game process, but it is too early to determine if he is a candidate for this showcase. We will also plan go to a college summer camp.

Any advice/comments appreciated.
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My experience with my own son was that the more structured and intense his baseball pursuits were, the more the other sports began to take a back seat, so some of this may sort itself out. He was a 3 sport guy as a freshman and sophomore, and 2 sport as a junior and senior. Looking back on it, he should have cut the third sport out sooner and maybe even the second.
I am really looking to find out about other showcase opportunities during the summer - if someone has a recommendation or experience in this area it would be appreciated. The October time frame seems odd, but it is what it is.

Just for ref he is 14YO (15U) now, I have not had a gun on him lately but when he was pitching he was 78ish at cruise 80 peak. I not sure where they will play him but guess he will start on JV team and I suspect he will get some innings at Varsity. He has played with the HS team the past two years on their off season teams and has pitched/hit against Varsity players. I suspect that he will need another year before he could compete effectively at that level.
I wouldn't worry too much about showcases for now. Let him mature a bit more and get up to a velocity that will impress the coaches and scouts. Right now he throws fairly hard for his age, guessing that he'll turn 15 within 2 or 3 months, but not for his combination of age and size.

If he's just finishing up a growth spurt then he's vulnerable to injury right now so I wouldn't overdo it.

Sounds to me like your original schedule set up for him was pretty intense this summer. I like that you backed off that a bit. You might want to wait for the fall/winter before his junior year and the summer afterwards to get that intense about it. That along with perhaps 1 showcase the summer before his junior year should be enough.

Colleges are starting earlier these days but they'll see plenty of him if you start trying to get him exposure going into his junior season. There just isn't any real reason to hurry the process.
Last edited by CADad

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