Summer play before Freshman Year

Congrats on his finding a school.  You are right about conditioning.  Nothing wrong with taking that break and traveling but at most JC's, players will pretty much be jumping right into positional competition at the beginning of the fall semester, if not a bit earlier.  So, along with conditioning, he should at least be getting reps in and some competitive sharpness toward the end of summer.  So, he should be coming up with a  plan that let's him relax (and travel) after graduation and then ramp back up as school nears.  The staff should be able to provide more detail specific to what their fall program is and what he will need to be prepared for.  

I would ask him if he will enjoy the traveling more now than hating the sitting during the season if he doesn't win a starting spot. 

Are we talking about a 3-5 week road trip across country?  (I did this after college)  or just a few beach trips and a family vacation?

My son played Legion baseball the summer before college, which around here is relaxed.  The coaches understood if he needed to miss a few games.   He got his reps in, but he also traveled some and we were able to take a long weekend family vacation that wasn't in the Atlanta area lol.

Try to do a family vacation this summer.  You won't get too many more, if any.

As Fenwaysouth  would say, "IMHO".

Iowa solves this problem. Summer HS baseball. Son will (hopefully) be playing through late July and then pack up and move to campus soon after.

It's a 2 week trip out of the country after graduation but he comes back the day before his summer team is play a major event.  He won't be ready to perform.  Is that something that should be concerning or just let it go and use it as a teaching moment that you have to be ready to go at a moments notice.  I hope to do a family vacation before he leaves for the summer as well but this one is just him.  I'm concerned this puts him in the mindset of being relaxed and not ready to fight.  

Going back to what Cabbage said, I would be more worried about reps than playing with a team at a major event. Whether he plays that or not or plays well or not doesn't matter as much as the dozens of AB's afterwards. Like Keewart suggests it could be Legion or Connie Mack - it doesn't have to be a team that plays big events.

As for the vacation - go for it!  Players and their families deserve to take a break. And it is possible to get some work in while traveling. My kids have fond memories of getting kicked out of parks in Paris and London for playing catch.

UtilityDaD2018 posted:

It's a 2 week trip out of the country after graduation but he comes back the day before his summer team is play a major event.  He won't be ready to perform.  Is that something that should be concerning or just let it go and use it as a teaching moment that you have to be ready to go at a moments notice.  I hope to do a family vacation before he leaves for the summer as well but this one is just him.  I'm concerned this puts him in the mindset of being relaxed and not ready to fight.  

One vote for travel. That baseball event when he returns is not major for him. Major for him is using July and August to get stronger and faster, and be in the best shape of his life. If he can also find somewhere to take some hacks against college level pitching (games or otherwise), all the better.

keewart posted:

Are we talking about a 3-5 week road trip across country?  (I did this after college)  or just a few beach trips and a family vacation?

My son played Legion baseball the summer before college, which around here is relaxed.  The coaches understood if he needed to miss a few games.   He got his reps in, but he also traveled some and we were able to take a long weekend family vacation that wasn't in the Atlanta area lol.

Try to do a family vacation this summer.  You won't get too many more, if any.

As Fenwaysouth  would say, "IMHO".

My son did the same (He also went to a JuCo).  He played Legion which wrapped up around the end of July.  Had to report to the JuCo by mid-August if not earlier.  We did do a preliminary move in mid-July once we secured an apartment for him.   Then it was just a matter of moving the rest of his stuff just before classes and practices began.

In addition to the reps, he had a list of workouts the coach supplied in the packet he sent.  He did expect the players to be in shape and ready to go once school started.

Sounds like I'm the one that worried for nothing from what you guys have experienced.  He just need to be in the best shape of his life when he shows up on campus as well as be ready to perform.   Maybe time spent with his catching coach a few weeks before leaving and maybe some local play.  We don't have Legion ball in DFW but there's some MSL Collegiate ball locally that I could probably get him some live AB's in before end of summer.  His team options are Connie Mack qualifiers & Connie Mack WS if spot earned. 

I wouldn't be concerned about where he plays as long as he plays somewhere.  Take the 2 weeks off and even another week with the family...just get some playing in.  Shouldn't be too tough to find some games...even if it's with more than one team.  As others have said though, he needs to be prepared to play when he gets there in the fall.  Fall is essentially the "tryout" time for colleges....it's not like HS where fall is practice/training and tryouts happen in the Spring. 

At this point you he has to make decisions for himself.  Playing baseball in college is a full time job with no time off for position players. 

He needs to consider his top competition won't be taking time off and it may cost him PT opportunities.