What type of team do you reccomend for the summer season following his senior year of high school? Is it necessary or beneficial to play on another high powered team that will travel all over doing tournaments playing other top teams. Or is playing on a local team that plays a couple of games a week against local talent along with workouts, lessons etc.the way to go? He is an outfielder and will be playing d2 after this season. Not sure the way to go with this.
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Does his future DII coach have a preference? Since he's an outfielder, I would want him to see the best pitching possible over the summer in preparation for the fall season in college. Some summer collegiate leagues will take freshmen. You may want to explore that option.
JuniorOF,
MidAtlanticDad brings up a good point and something you should seriously consider. However, there aren't a lot of openings for rising college freshmen. Certainly, something to try but don't be disappointed if it doesn't happen.
My oldest played travel baseball at the highest levels before he committed. Once he committed, he wanted to play local summer baseball (Legion), workout and get a job. He'd never held a job before so we thought work experience was essential. His college coach gave him a workout schedule & routine which he closely followed. As a pitcher, he got his reps on the mound in weekly Legion games and through bullpens. He also played the field and got to hit which was fun for him. He pretty much knew that he'd never pick up a bat again. If he could do it all over again, he'd do the same. He had a fun summer, and got into great shape & condition before the grind of college baseball in the Fall.
My son heads off to school in late June 2015 through early August to get in 2 classes and familiarize himself with college life and the campus. He will work out with the 2015s who are there as well. He will play one last abbreviated season with his travel team and have fun, get his reps on the mound and probably hit a bit. Low to no pressure this last summer and primarily focused on staying in the pocket in respect to his routine.
That's what we were thinking. He also always played on the top teams in the area. Once he committed he/we figured he would play local summer baseball, workout and work part time. I didn't even think that travel teams at this stage were still traveling and playing highly competitive tournaments after committing to college. I thought the all consuming baseball summers were over after last season, until college began.
Although we have about 13 committed guys on our roster, there are some that still need looks. The summer will be local, around Atlanta (Astros/Yankees) and end up in the PG 18U at Lakepointe and the 18U BCS in Ft Myers.We will miss those but my son has lots of friends on the team and wants to enjoy the last bit of time with them before the real work begins in college.
Your son's goal is to prepare himself as thoroughly as possible to arrive at school ready to hit college pitching, compete against 20-22 year old men on the field, and keep up with them in strength and conditioning work.
Relaxed local competition can be fine for pitchers who were used heavily during the high school season and want just enough work to stay sharp.
Hitters have different needs. Your son's sense of where he stands now should determine the mix between competition and strength/conditioning. But the pitching he does face should be as close to the quality he'll face in fall workouts as possible.
For most position players who don't attend summer school at their future colleges, I would recommend a summer plan that includes:
A few highly competitive tournaments.
A lot of skill work.
A ton of strength/conditioning/speed work.
Best wishes,
I agree with Swampboy and would stress the strength and conditioning part of his summer. He will be competing with bigger stronger and faster athletes so this should be his first priority IMO. Skill development is important but as an OF hitting should be his priority (other than speed development). Facing good competition is important but more reps are better IMO. He must come into fall in the best shape of his life, and playing summer leagues tend to break down athletes due to their heavy schedules.
A position player can't afford to take a summer off against lesser competition. He will risk getting cut if he's not ready to play at the highest level in the fall.
I would check with your son's coach and follow his advice. In my son's case, his college coach suggested that he focus on getting stronger and coming to school uninjured and ready to go. Although he's lifted weights for the last four years as a HS player, my son followed a baseball-specific strength-building program based on CrossFit training that significantly improved his strength, power, and muscular endurance. He also continued taking hitting and fielding lessons and worked to help defray college costs. Based on his fall exit meeting, he may end up seeing a fair amount of playing time, so I think the advice he received was beneficial. He didn't end up playing very much summer ball, but he had a chance to work on batting and positional skills, earn some money, take a few trips with family and school friends, and start fall training mentally refreshed and in the best shape of his life.
Try the Arizona Collegiate Wood Bat League. Really easy to sign up, and there are always a few players in the league that are fresh out of high school.
My understanding is that some summer collegiate leagues may accept only up to 2 rising freshmen per team, if at all. You will have to check the league rules if that is the way you go.
keewartson's D1 coach told him after senior year to 'play somewhere and have fun'; Legion was fine (which he did). It didn't hurt him any, and he got to play with friends (and against friends) for the last time.
If you read the above posts closely, and from what I have seen, many coaches have their pitchers take the summer off, do conditioning, and maybe come to campus for a few classes. So, a position player may not face the 'best' pitching in the area, but as long as he is playing, getting ABs and doing conditioning on his own, he will be fine playing locally.
Take a nice vacation this summer.....it may be the last for a while.
Sons 18U team was based in Central Ohio. Team travelled extensivley as 17U's. As 18U's the stayed local during the week, but still played in some Good tournaments in Ohio, with a trip to indy and anther out of state. Rules were more lax than 17U. More about getting work in playing well and keeping skills honed, than trying to win tournaments. Not all players came to all tournaments, coach knew before the season started who was going to miss and when.
The young men had a fun season and did fairly well. If you can find a team like this it might work out well. Travel was acceptable hotel costs stayed down and son could had time to work if he had not busted up his kidney.
kind of same as Bishop for my son, at 17U played best of best tournaments in a Ohio and surounding states since that is where almost every player wanted to play. At 18U, made only one trip but it was to Omaha during CWS. Lots of fun. Basically same team, but way way more relaxed.
Interesting part was at 17U pitching rotation was set up to be seen, At 18U it was about best match ups
Enjoy your last free summer before the grind begins. Be sure to show up in great shape!
kind of same as Bishop for my son, at 17U played best of best tournaments in a Ohio and surounding states since that is where almost every player wanted to play. At 18U, made only one trip but it was to Omaha during CWS. Lots of fun. Basically same team, but way way more relaxed.
Interesting part was at 17U pitching rotation was set up to be seen, At 18U it was about best match ups
This point exactly. There was low pressure 18U but son learned some that wasn't stressed during the 17U showcase year. Coaches discussed who was gonna pitch when and why. That happened some during 17U but not as as much as 18U. Since he did not need to worry as much about who needed to be seen, he could set his pitching and positions up a little differently. He learned a bit more of the strategies of the game. He had a better understanding of what his HS coach had been trying to do, when he changed his rotation or started a particular pitcher.
My son has a late Bday. So his 18U year he was able to play 17U as well. During some weekends if the 18U was not in a tourney, he would drop down to the 17U and start a game. He would pitch the first game usually and then bat lead off and play OF for the rest of the tourney. I was originally concerned that he was taking Playing time away from kids who were trying to be seen the first time they asked. They said that they were not going to bring my son in for the tourney only to have him pitch one game and sit. They wanted to make it worth his time. and they said that the other OF were going to have plenty of opportunities. My son only did this a couple of tourneys.
As keewart suggested, a few leagues will allow an incoming Freshman to play in a collegiate summer league. That's what my 2015 rising freshman will be doing. It will be a grind - 56 summer games, but he is an RHP, so his work will be more spread out. He'll be jumping into the deep end of the pool right away, I guess we'll find out if he can get high level collegiate hitters out pretty soon. The League actually starts play a few days before he graduates. He'll be living with a host family. The offer came to him through his college coach, though I think it was the collegiate team that likely initiated the conversation. He signed his contract back in early September.
Like shoveit and younggun kid has to be at school in june.Depending on when H.S. spring season ends(state) he may have time for 1-2 tourney.But will be off to school mid june.
I thoroughly regret that pitcher son did not head off to college earlier to prepare for the fall. A few classes and conditioning definitely would have helped to better prepare him for the college experience and for the spring.
IMO no way should a pitcher entering their freshman college season be out throwing in summer games that mean absolutely nothing.
Yeah TPM, i hear you on the meaningless games point, but my kid uses them as active bullpens. I'm think he might get to throw in 5 games until he heads north to the lake.
My son is a freshman in college as a pitcher and position player. His coach said he could pitch but no more than 15 innings over the summer. He said he didn't care if he played or not because of the fall juco schedule; they will get plenty of work. He ended up pitching 10 innings and playing in about 5 games as position player. He spent the summer working and took about $2,500 with him to school for spending money throughout the year. Nice relief for the folks!
