Small High School or Large High School?

Catherz_Dad-
First--Welcome to the HSBBW! We are in a similar situation. My son is in 8th grade and has been granted a transfer(at least on our districts end). Fortunately for us, he is an A student and the smaller school (our district) just doesn't offer enough high academic classes so they are letting him transfer to a larger school that can accomodate his academic needs. Academics should always come first. Our son, too, plays at a high level in baseball. Our feeling is that he is going to get more exposure through is summer team than he will at HS so it wouldn't really matter what school he attends as far as baseball is concerned. At this point they are still young and should be having fun, learning as much as they can, and not really worrying about college. That will happen soon enough. Our concern is to get him situated in HS and then work on making that team.
Good luck and keep us posted.

I agree with BBFam. I know this will be a little hard to gasp but for the most part high school baseball is not a major launching pad into college baseball. High school baseball can be fun and part of the high school experience but don’t make it out to be that big of a deal in getting a college scholarship. Of all the schools that recruited my son I don’t remember any of those colleges attending a high school game. Granted high school is nestled in the time frame prior to college but high school baseball is “high school baseball”. One quality showcase will provide more exposure than four years of high school baseball. Six months of private lessons will provide more quality instructions than four years of high school baseball. A top quality summer team will provide more competition more instructions and will be scouted more by college coaches than 99% of all high school programs. I know that pro scouts are very active during the high school season. I understand now (after my son graduated from high school) that pro scouts scout individual players --- not high school teams. High school academics however do have a big impact on college options. I would focus on the high school for academics (of course you’ll consider other things like location, reputation, etc) and seek baseball development and baseball exposure elsewhere.
Fungo

At the age of 12 you should be concerned about the education he will get in HS not his possible baseball career


The young mans education is forever---baseball isnt

I have to agree with the above. Just to share my son's experience-we actually did the opposite of what you're thinking of doing. We moved the summer before my son started high school-moving him from one of the top "baseball" schools in the Houston area to a 4A school with a just ok program. Baseball wasn't a concern as we didn't know anything about college recruiting,etc. His school didn't make the playoffs at any time he was there but he still had a good experience and wouldn't have changed a thing. He got to shine like he wouldn't of at the other school(or at least not as early!) He was able to start on Varsity beginning his freshman year which I can guarantee wouldn't have happened at the other school (too many kids!) He's a freshman at a Big 12 school this year-they didn't care that his high school team wasn't great (or really even good some of the time!) but that he could play (and had good grades!)

ORmom,
Great post!

We also moved the summer before son entered HS, and had a choice to move anywhere however, the HS he attended had an academic program that was not offered anywhere else in our county, baseball team was not ranked the strongest but played in a 6A conference divison, good non conference schedule that was good enough to pitch against good teams.

IMO, HS was practice for the better summer travel team and other opportunities that came along in the summers.


School should be the most important factor in HS, sports second. JMO.

Our experience is we went looking for the best academics possible. It so happened that the school also competed at a very high level of baseball. It made my son work harder than those guys he would have gone to high school with, his buddies were a very successful school in a weak league, and they thought they were very good, but found that when they got out of their local level, they did not compete. By thinking that they were good enough to win their league, they did not challenge themselves to get better to the extent my son did.

By looking for the best competition we could find, that also equated to finding the best summer/travel team we could find, causing the skill bar to be raised to the level of competition that he felt challenged. That equated to playing and succeeding at national level tournaments.

It does not matter what size of school you attend as much as what level of challenge the school provides your son and how he responds.

I guess I don't have an exact answer for you today as our son just started HS last month.

We did opt for the smaller, private school for academics and environment. And we realize that the baseball might not be at the same level as the 1800 student public school across town.

However, I have been told by several college coaches that summer ball is more important than HS. The colleges can't come see him play in HS because they're playing at the same time.

As of today, we're very happy with our choice. We'll let you know more after a couple more years.

Catcherz_Dad ,
You've gotten good advice here; high school baseball isn't important to winning a scholarship. But that doesn't mean all high schools are desirable from a baseball point of view.

I think that in a small school, there is a risk that a pitcher or catcher will be overused. If your son's talent justifies his aspirations to college baseball, you may find yourself in conflict with the coach, other parents, and perhaps your son over pitch counts, or innings spent catching. The desire to win is intoxicating, and the pressure to put the best player on the field can be high. If that happened, and the overuse persisted, could you then transfer to a different school and still participate in athletics? Here in California, a transfer without a change of residence is considered by rule to be "prima facie" evidence of undue influence, and the player must sit out a year or somehow prove that he wasn't recruited.

Everybody agrees that summer/travel ball is more important to colleges. Does the high school coach run a summer team? Will he require that high school team members also play with "his" summer team? For a small school, and lots of larger ones, he'll be better off with a different travel/summer team.

Will he be pressured to play football as a condition to making the baseball team? No problem if he wants to play football, but otherwise...

Will he asked to change hitting or pitching mechanics away from what he is learnig in private lessons or as part of his travel/summer team? This could be an issue at any school, but sometimes the least qualified are the most insistent that their way is best.

Just some things to ponder, particulariy the issues which may affect your son's health.

If your going to a private school just hoping to get a baseball scholarship you may be better off saving the money and putting it towards college ....It could be more $$$ than the scholarship

I would like to thank everybody for taking the time to answer my questions. Your input was very insightful and unanimously contradicted what I had previously heard. I will spend more time researching the topic now instead of just contemplating the switch to a different school.

Those that replied and said that we should consider academics first - you're exactly right and I should've mention that in my original post. My son is a Duke Scholar, Straight A, Nation Junior Honor Society student. Academics always comes first and luckily my son has a knack for it as well as being a great athelete.

I've spent a good bit of time cruising this site and there are some great posts with valuable advice. Thank You all for your help.

Catherz_Dad
Congrats on having such a smart son. I suggest you stick around here for a while. This web site has some of the most knowledgeable people in baseball. Be careful though, it's addicting. Although my oldest is just in 8th grade, I feel we are ready to begin the exciting HS years and whatever baseball is to bring us. And it is all due to the people here. You may even find that you change what you previously thought and heard about HS, college and beyond. I know I feel lucky to have this support and information before our HS years. I think we will have a leg up on most of the kids in our area.

quote:

Originally posted by Catcherz_Dad:
I would like to thank everybody for taking the time to answer my questions. Your input was very insightful and unanimously contradicted what I had previously heard. I will spend more time researching the topic now instead of just contemplating the switch to a different school.

Those that replied and said that we should consider academics first - you're exactly right and I should've mention that in my original post. My son is a Duke Scholar, Straight A, Nation Junior Honor Society student. Academics always comes first and luckily my son has a knack for it as well as being a great athelete.

I've spent a good bit of time cruising this site and there are some great posts with valuable advice. Thank You all for your help.

Congratulations on your son's academic ability, you will find if he keeps it up, it will open doors to schools which others will not be considered for, based on their academics and if his baseball skills are advanced that, could help him get into those schools by differentiating him from others.

Don't let baseball drive school choice.

And don't invest in a private school for baseball reasons alone. You are HIGHLY unlikely to get a return on that investment in terms of baseball 'ship dollars.

Visibility will come through the select ball if he plays for a decent club. Being in the Dallas area, several are available to you.

His academics are extremely likely to bring in far more 'ship dollars than baseball.

Thanks again everyone. I'm glad that I posted my questions and concerns. I feel that I am better prepared to make a decision that best supports my son's academic and baseball needs.