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That's awesome Hunter.  

Got final news about son. Tommy John surgery with Dr Kremchek this Friday. Said original MRI was "terrible". Did X-ray, ultrasound, and a contrast MRI with fluid. Showed a significant tear across the middle of muscle. Holding on a one end by a couple threads. 

The difference in the whole process of diagnosis was like mid day at the equator on the longest day of year vs midnight in anartica on shortest day of year. 

He is ok with outcome. He has been saying surgery since it happened. 

More to come but will move it out of this topic. This topic is about boys on the field. Looking forward to all the upcoming updates

Speaking of that bonding the other downside of Surgey this Friday vs later. I was set to drive him 7 hours to North Carolina after appointment today to be with his team for rest of his teams spring break week trip. I was just going to sleep night and come back but was REALLY looking forward to that 7 hour trip today just to hang out and shot the breeze with him.

Our relationship has grown so much since he was off to college and I stopped giving him the vibe that I was interested in him the athlete and was interested in him as my son. Would have been a fun 7 hours.

As an over worried and therefore to involved for dad. Make sure you tell your kids you love them. Not who they are or who you are trying to get them to be. 

Clemson Tigers had their first annual meeting with state rival South Carolina last night.  The Tigers made some mistakes which cost them dearly, but overall, I think that they did pretty well against a guy throwing mid 90's and a ranked team, as well as considering that the Tigers did not have one senior in their line up.

Very interesting to note that the SC pitcher last night Clarke Schmidt, is the brother of the Tigers pitcher, Clate Schmidt who will start the game this afternoon in Greenville (neutral)  for the Tigers.

Imagine being the parents of those boys!  

FWIW, Tiger starting pitcher Clate Schmidt battled and beat lymphoma last season. You always hear about stories of players never giving up, this one surely is a great story.  

That's why it is so very important to enjoy one game at a time and there will be good games as well as bad ones for your players as well as for their teams.  It comes with the territory. 

So stop getting stressed over the silly stuff and enjoy the ride!!!

That is a great story about Clate Schmidt. My girl friend works the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and I shared this note with her. This is how great stories spread! Congrats to the family. (Now I just want the warm weather to come north so we too can start enjoying baseball!)

_____

Amazon: Going with the Pitch SE

Author of "Going with the Pitch: Adjusting to Baseball, School and Life as a Division I College Athlete" (Second Edition)

TPM posted:

Clemson Tigers had their first annual meeting with state rival South Carolina last night.  The Tigers made some mistakes which cost them dearly, but overall, I think that they did pretty well against a guy throwing mid 90's and a ranked team, as well as considering that the Tigers did not have one senior in their line up.

Freshman Ryley Gilliam gets a mention from Aaron Fitt after a good weekend for Clemson.

https://twitter.com/aaronfitt/...s/706612033366536193

 

I had the opportunity to take my family to watch Clemson play opening weekend and sat around a lot of the parents. There were a couple freshman that played on the Saturday game and could only imagine how proud their parents must have felt. 

All the parents actually.  What  great moments. Also got the opportunity to talk to a parent from Maine.

Congrats to all your kids AND to the parents. Lots of time and commitment. Nothing like seeing your child succeed in their dreams.

At my sons game on Saturday, son's housemate, a little if any used backup catcher got a chance to pinch hit late in the game.  First pitch, he drives it out over the left center field fence for a two run homer.

 

It's another of those stories of a great kid, hard worker, who had a great HS career that got stuck behind more talented players. This kid never gripes, shows up every and day does his job.  He will graduate this spring and already has multiple job offers.  He got mobbed on the way to the dugout. It was a great day for him.

i was fortunate to be behind the backstop, got my phone out and got it all on video. His parents weren't coming for the Saturday game, I don't know who I was happier for the kid or the dad. Dad told me he got tears in his eyes watching his boy cross the plate and get all of the high fives and helmet bumps.. 

Afterwards we took my son and the kid out to dinner, I bet he still has a smile on his face.. I still do!

 

 

mmm1531 posted:

At my sons game on Saturday, son's housemate, a little if any used backup catcher got a chance to pinch hit late in the game.  First pitch, he drives it out over the left center field fence for a two run homer.

 

It's another of those stories of a great kid, hard worker, who had a great HS career that got stuck behind more talented players. This kid never gripes, shows up every and day does his job.  He will graduate this spring and already has multiple job offers.  He got mobbed on the way to the dugout. It was a great day for him.

i was fortunate to be behind the backstop, got my phone out and got it all on video. His parents weren't coming for the Saturday game, I don't know who I was happier for the kid or the dad. Dad told me he got tears in his eyes watching his boy cross the plate and get all of the high fives and helmet bumps.. 

Afterwards we took my son and the kid out to dinner, I bet he still has a smile on his face.. I still do!

 

 

Great story, and evidence of character, patience, work ethic & team by this kid.  

Every employer wanted this kid before, & now he's got a great story to tell.

Good luck to him & your son this season.  Awesome share....

SoxIn7 posted:

I had the opportunity to take my family to watch Clemson play opening weekend and sat around a lot of the parents. There were a couple freshman that played on the Saturday game and could only imagine how proud their parents must have felt. 

All the parents actually.  What  great moments. Also got the opportunity to talk to a parent from Maine.

Congrats to all your kids AND to the parents. Lots of time and commitment. Nothing like seeing your child succeed in their dreams.

That's awesome! I hope that you get a chance to go watch another game at Clemsom.  

After a rough start to the season, the JuCo team my son is a volunteer (student assistant) coach for has hit a hot streak.  They've won their last 6 games. The last four they've averaged 16 runs while only allowing 10 runs total (2.5 runs per game).  They've won 7 of their last 8.  They were 5-8 in the first 13 games and are now 12-9.  Swept the first two games of a 4 game (non-conference) series 17-0 and 10-1 today.  Their ace pitcher pitched his second no-no of the season in the first game.

The  kid is on needles and pins.   JV season has ended.  Varsity is on Spring Break trip. After their last JV game, the JV players were finally told what the plan for them is.   They  will be either called up to Varsity or given a handshake and told to come back next year.   They made it clear that only a few are likely to be called up, based. largely, on what the Varsity needs.  JV season was sort of an extended try-out, in effect. 

The kid did well in the limited JV season. He  hit .350, with .533 slg and .444 obp and played very solid defense.  But the varsity OF is SO crowded with upperclassmen and all but one can really play, according to him and also from what I myself have seen, that seems right.    Plus if only one  JV OF'er is called up, it  will almost certainly be another kid, he believes, who  flat out hammers the ball consistently.  (probably lower BA and obp, but awesome power numbers)  

I'm trying to encourage him to keep his chin up and keep working, no matter what happens from here on out this year.   But it is really hard on him.  I think the main thing is that  the  JV guys didn't know until right after the last game that they would be disbanded as a unit and either called up or shut down for the rest of the season. 

Frankly, from this distance,  it does seem like a pretty cold way to treat them.  I know my guy is finding it really hard to deal with.  He is somewhat disenchanted with the school's approach to younger guys. Only one frosh pitcher and one frosh position player are getting serious Varsity PT.  The rest are on JV, though JV pitchers are double listed as JV and Varsity -- which seems to mean they suit up for Varsity home games, just in case they are needed but don't travel -- though I don't think a single one of the double listed pitchers has gotten a single varsity inning. 

None of this was  fully spelt out to him or to any of the other guys, it seem.  

I actually don't think I've ever seen him this discouraged about baseball  - even with all the injuries and setbacks he suffered in HS.    The upside is that he  hasn't loss his self-belief and he has worked  his butt off from day 1 since setting foot on campus  (and even before).    Nor has it changed his basic personality.  He's the  do  what you can do,  keep working to try to get better, don't complain type.  And he hasn't lost his self belief.  He knows what he is capable of. He believes that he can be a solid and consistent offensive contributor and an outstanding defender.    What he has lost is the confidence that he will be given a chance to really show what he can do. 

I'm trying to keep his chin up, trying to get him to appreciate that waiting isn't  always a bad thing.  Good things can come to he who is willing to wait for his moment and seize it when it comes.  

The most promising thing to me is that by the time his cohort becomes juniors, there will be only one senior OF ahead of them  (the only sophomore OF currently on the varsity, who is himself getting almost no PT.)  Plus he is clearly the best defender and one of the two best  hitters in his OF class.  So I do believe that his day will come, maybe not this year,  and maybe not even next year, when there will be  6  senior OF'ers still in the program.  But eventually.  

Hard getting him to fully embrace that thought and trust that the coaches really see and appreciate his talent and his work, though.   He feels like the program is so focused on winning now and brings in so many guys every year -- both freshmen and transfer -- that they aren't really concerned with development.   Help us now, or be thrown aside, because we can always find somebody who can help us now.  At least that's how it feels to him. 

Brutal stuff, but  the way of the much of the world. 

 

Last edited by SluggerDad

Hey everyone, hope all is well and the season is going great.  Proud dad moment today.  Son got his first start.....he's thrown in relief 4 times....2 went great, 1 he got hit pretty hard and another just so-so.  Today was different   4.0 IP (had a pitch count), 2 hits, no runs.  Out-dueled a 2015 17th round draft pick and his team took home a 4-0 win.  Didn't get to make it, but did see it on streaming video.  Hopefully this may earn him the weekday starter spot....I guess we'll find out next week!   Had a great time here over the years....will have to do some catching up as to how all of your sons are doing this season.   Have a great spring everyone!!!

2nd win yesterday.  Only threw 3 as it was a game against a local D2. They had decided that he was only going to throw 50 pitches so he could be available for he weekend.  Found out that there is an NCAA rule (I assume designed for the Northern kids and crap weather) that the starter can get the win without throwing 5 innings if he was on a preset pitch count and leaves with the lead.  He wasn't so concerned with the win, just happy to be throwing well.  He was a SS/P in HS, so up until the last week (2 starts), getting warmed up and ready to pitch was an issue.  It's unreal how much different he looked yesterday after getting his "traditional" starter warm up routine in.  Looks like a completely different pitcher than when he was relieving a few weeks ago.  Weekday game next Wednesday against a Power 5.....he's hoping he's earned the start in that one.  I guess we'll see.

Last edited by Buckeye 2015
Hunter10 posted:

Freshman got to go in relief in the 5th inning vs. Clemson last night at Fluor Field. Wow, That was fun. It was a great game, though we lost 9-7. We gave Clemson a challenge. It sure was fun watching him pitch in that atmosphere. #Blessed

OMG, son is student p-coach at Clemson. Taylor Harbin his former teammate, listened to the game last night.

Go Tigers!

MMM1531 - that's just awesome.

Son sent an exciting text this afternoon.  He's a student assistant (volunteer coach) for the JuCo he once played for.  The team swept a regional doubleheader over last years region champs 4-0 (9 innings) and 14-4 (5 innings).  Both starting pitchers went the distance.  The series concludes with a single 9 inning game tomorrow.  Said they are going for the sweep and since the entire bullpen is available they won't hesitate to change pitchers if the starter gets in trouble.  Back when my son played for this JuCo, they only managed to win once each year against this regional rival.

He did say the opposing catcher hit one bomb in game 2.  The ball cleared the LF lights, hit in the middle of the street that goes behind LF.  They found the ball in a yard across the street.  They estimated it was a 450'+ bomb..........

Well, eventually it had to happen I guess.  Every pitcher has "that day"...and today was my son's.  He's thrown really well so far this spring...ERA 2.66 going in to today....only 1 run the last 4 apprearances....over 11 innings.     

Came in today to start the 7th in a 1-1 game....opponents had 1 hit at the time.   10 minutes later.....6 runs, 6 hits and only one out...and his day was done.   4 blooper singles (2 within 6 inches of being foul) a double that was fair by about a foot, took a crazy bounce to the right and ended up against the fence in foul territory down the RF line....and a grounder up the middle when the infield was in.   He only threw 4 balls out of the 7 batters he faced....just seemed like they stuck the bats out and balls blooped to places you just couldn't get to if you had 12 outfielders.  Surprisingly he took it pretty well.  After the game he said "what could I do....they just stuck their bats out".   As they say.....That's baseball 

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