Summer Travel Ball for '08's

Most of the 07's I knew last year just played a light schedule before college - if at all. No major traveling or expense. One D1 player left to go to summer school at his college.

My son was not going to play but ended up actually played on a team with some of his high school teammates and some other friends (dad's coached) and played in some local tournaments. They had a blast! My son did great because there was absolutely no pressure on him at all!

My son also worked and coached a high school JV summer team! Good to keep busy!

There are a few schools of thought; some take the summer off and do senior trips and have fun, others take a summer school class to get in the swing of college and in case they have any problems the first semester or get a jump on classes for early graduation, others just work on conditioning and get bigger, while others continue to play a high level of baseball and keep sharp.

If the player is a pitcher, it would also depend on how much he used his arm in high school as to weather you rest the arm and continue to throw for conditioning or continue to throw through the summer.

As for a batter, it is always good to keep sharp. I have seen players take off the summer and get really out of shape and loose their timing at the plate and have a really tough time in college.

Some guys are lucky enough to get into Summer College leagues and get use to college level pitching or hitting. Mine got to go off and learn to live on his own (with the team) and that was a good transition into college.

If you are not into over doing it, it would be best to play a high level of ball, but not burn yourself out, that would be a good combination.

FF,
Mine joined a summer team before he went off to college with the premise that he would work as well and was allowed and had a lighter pitching load and it didn't cost us as much. he sort of got to pick and choose, his most important role was towards the end for regionals.

Looking back, I think I would have sent him off for summer school and maybe a job at Clemson. Work out with the trainers. He would have less credits at this time to graduate.

My '08 son will be playing for the 18U team of his select organization. All of the players on the team will be playing college ball at some level and will be competing against teams of a similar make-up. The team will have a lighter schedule than usual, however, playing about 5 weeks instead of the 8-9 weeks the 16U and 17U teams play. My son will be opting out of a week or two of tournaments in order to go on a missions trip to Africa with his dad. He never had the available time to do this in the past few years because of travel ball and recruiting, and I know he won't be able to do this in the future, as his college team fully expects all of its players to play in a summer woodbat league each year. My son told me he plans to hit it very hard with the weights and with running in the 6 weeks prior to arriving at college. He wants to arrive well-conditioned and in good baseball shape.

In no way, My Summer team schedule is prob more rough then in the past few years because we all love baseball and we live for it. The team is 90% seniors with few juniors,and we will be playing full 35 game summer schedule with many tournaments. All the kids on the team,will be playing college ball at some level and i would not want to take a whole summer off and do nothing.I will be attending a local JC first so it works out for me. but i think we have one week off for senior week and graduating, and then back on schedule.

Typically, the best graduated high school players in our region continue playing baseball in the summer. Many of them, especially the pitchers, will play a somewhat lighter schedule than the players who're still in high school, but the best players play baseball. Last year, we had a few pitchers who took most of the summer off and then when they did participate in some late summer tournaments, it affected their performances in a substantial way. In at least one case, it also affected his performance in college fall ball. His coach expected him to show up, ready to pitch and he wasn't even close to where he needed to be. BUT, he had a fun summer...

Our program no longer has an 18&U team. I think that summer can be spent lots of ways. First, they can become a professional player and sign. For the other 99.9%, there are plenty of options.

This is the last free summer for these guys. By all means, take your summer trip! If you are one of the top players regionally and don't sign, my suggestion is to find a collegiate league. My second thought is to attend summer school at the school you will be attending and get acclimated. The college coach will help place you in a local league to get reps. Lastly, stay home, hang out with your friends for a last hurrah, and play an abbreviated schedule locally to stay sharp for college.

06catcherdad gives great advice- whatever you do for that summer you better be ready the first day of your first college baseball practice.

Bum, Jr. will be playing a tough 19u schedule against some of the best teams in the Northwest, including from what I understand collegiate Summer teams. I love it. I'd rather he get challenged than take it easy at this point. Why change what's worked?

When he is gone to college I won't get to see too many games, so he is doing it for me as well as himself. Also the competition for college spots will be tight, anything for an edge. Nobody wants to sit. Plus plenty of time to work when you are old.

My son had decided to work this summer and go on our church mission trip, which he hasn't been able to go on for the last 4yrs. Now he has been asked to play for a travel team that is nothing but 2008 signees. He has been asked to pitch an inning here and an inning there. He is currently recovering from TJS, so if he can pitch we feel this might be a way for him to get back in the swing of things before the Fall Semester and Fall Baseball.

One of my former players (05) had already signed with a top 50 D1 and had the following schedule the summer before college.
1. Take English 101 and Algebra 1010 @ a local JC on Tuesday and Thursday
2. Play in a local low level college summer league. The league played 32 games with most of the games being DH
3. Work 7:00am-3:00pm driving a delivery vehicle for his fathers company on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
4. Follow the lifting and running program for the D1 baseball program on the days that he did not have games

It looked like a great program where the kid took some academic classes, played ball, made a few bucks and worked out during the Summer.

just remember whatever your sons do that they are fresh and ready to go for fall practice. That will be the first opportunity their college coach has to really get to see them closely over a period of about a month.My son took the summer off and when he got to college his arm was really fresh and he made a good first impression and the rest is history.

MY guy played in an "adult league" with college players and ex college/pro players---played 35/40 games just to stay sharp and ALSO GOT AN EDUCATION FROM THE OLDER PLAYERS.


Went off to college "ready to go"

If the player is not ready to play when the fall semester/quarter starts he will be at a competitive disadvantage and may end up cut or a redshirt. THis is especially true for position players.

The boy will be playing a full schedule this summer as he has every summer. This is what he wants to do every day so why change up now. If you're a pitcher I could see taking some time off to have a well rested arm going in to the fall but if you're a position player, I'd be playing this summer.

quote:

Originally posted by j2h6:
The boy will be playing a full schedule this summer as he has every summer. This is what he wants to do every day so why change up now. If you're a pitcher I could see taking some time off to have a well rested arm going in to the fall but if you're a position player, I'd be playing this summer.

Agree completely. The fun part about baseball is playing the game - not working out in the wintertime. To borrow a phrase from CoachB25, the time to make hay is in the summertime. It is the same time for ball players.