Summer Collegiate League Experience

When my son was young, and I thought about the future when he was a college player, I used to think "he's going to play in a college summer league EVERY summer." Now that he's done it for the first time, I have changed my thoughts on it.

First, if you are a stud P5 player and a legit major league prospect who has been invited to play in the Cape, YES, you should be playing summer ball.

Or, if you are a freshman who was redshirted or a sophomore who almost never played during the spring with your college team, you should consider playing in a summer league to get those ABs and IP that you missed all spring.

Or, if you are a HS grad who has been offered a chance to play in a college summer league then it might be a good opportunity to see how you fare against some older players.

But, if you were a kid who played or pitched A LOT in the spring for your college team and you are offered a spot in a run of the mill, average, and not prestigious summer college league, then maybe it doesn't make sense to do it and you're better off resting, training, working and enjoying your summer. And, it's not the end of the world to not play summer baseball.

Not saying FOR SURE DON'T DO IT. Just saying that it's MAYBE really not necessary if you got tons of playing time in the spring, maybe could use the rest and recovery, AND if the summer league wasn't a real high end opportunity.

The team won yesterday and have the semifinals this morning. The kid is asking his boss but is likely not going to make the game. Players, coaches and family were upset/disappointed the league would only schedule very few afternoon and night games during the season and only one game in the late afternoon for the whole playoffs. I am sure field and ump availability came into play here.

@2022NYC posted:

The team won yesterday and have the semifinals this morning. The kid is asking his boss but is likely not going to make the game. Players, coaches and family were upset/disappointed the league would only schedule very few afternoon and night games during the season and only one game in the late afternoon for the whole playoffs. I am sure field and ump availability came into play here.

Really doesn't also make sense with the heat wave in the area now...unless you are playing at 8 AM before it gets super hot. Better to play when the sun is low or down. Championship game is scheduled for Friday and last time I checked the real feel that day is 104. You really have to play in the dark that day. FWIW, our game last night started around 740 but the players were there since 545.

This sounds like what happened with teams in our youth rec league.  As the summer wore on, families planned vacations, and the teams thinned out.  By the time of the playoffs, key players were gone.  Those of us who remained would complain about this, asking why these people didn't understand that they were committed to a TEAM for the full season.  The team that won the championship usually was made up of the kids whose families were, in fact, committed for the season.  Many of those families eventually left for travel teams.

Having said that, I agree that morning games are pretty absurd for college-age people.  Were players told this when they signedup?  If a league doesn't have fields and umpires for evening games, that should be clear from the start.