Team Cut Red Shirt

So he's a second semester freshman, right? First year on his five year clock, and he hasn't played anywhere yet?

What happened? The obvious answer is the coach looked at his roster math different in February than he did in December.

The more important question is what can your son do now with the hand he has been dealt? 

Step one is obvious: Spend the semester eating and working out like a horse. The weights are just as heavy in the NARP gym as in the varsity gym. Hit it hard. Sign up with a competent baseball-specific conditioning coach, even if it's off campus. Three months of hard work with good instruction and good nutrition can transform that long, skinny body.

Step two is also obvious: Work every contact he has from high school, travel, and college ball (including current head coach) to find a collegiate summer league to play this summer. He simply must get on a field against legit college competition as soon as possible if he wants to continue playing.

Step three is harder: Analyze baseball options for next year.

--Option One: If he stays where he is and this disappointment is repeated, his college baseball career will effectively be over. This option requires a lot of trust in a situation where none has been earned. I'd evaluate this option as "no scholly, no second chance" unless he's willing to remain at his current school as a non-varsity athlete.

--Option Two: Transfer to a JUCO with the goal of playing the 2016-2017 season and transferring to a 4-year school. The risks here are 1) not getting enough playing time to attract interest from a suitable four-year school. Most D1 baseball players who drop down to JUCO do not make it back to D1. It's a hard road, 2) ensuring he is academically eligible to play at a D1 right away as a 4-2-4 transfer; 3) not being able to map coursework taken at four different schools toward a degree he can earn in whatever number of school years you're willing to underwrite. This option can be perceived as assigning baseball a much higher priority than academics, so think it through carefully.

--Option Three: Transfer to a D2 or D3 at the end of this school year. The advantage is that he can play as a sophomore and have three years on one campus to restart something like a normal college baseball, academic, and social experience.

For all options, read the NCAA transfer guide carefully and maintain the best possible relationship with the coach as long as possible. 

Best wishes,

Awesome advise! Thank you for that! To me, a road off to div 2-3 schools can def make a good match between academics and athletics. He has a desire and skills to play and have no time to wait! Exactly how you described it.

i will bring this options up to him to make a final cut! 

So many unknowns doesn't make me comfortable  but he needs to make that decision. 

Again : how is the view on the team needs can change so rapidly? Still don't get it. Also where are the ethics and morals in this case? What should I learn from this and teach my kids?

Thank you so much

Coach knew anyone who gets scholarship money, wether they left or not is counted for Spring roster numbers. This meant your son did not have an open spot.

But, if your son was on scholarship at another D1 and left mid yr, he had to be counted for that school right, which meant someone there got screwed.

he he wants to play right away then look at D2 or D3 options for next fall. If he had talent to get first scholarship to a D1, they should want him.

curious, why did he leave first D1 where he was released while having scholarship before ever playing.

It was a wrong school for him. We went for the baseball scholarship attraction (DIV 1 WOW!!!) and didn't look if his major(which is not offered  in many schools: Political Science and  Foreigh language.

I believe that 17yo senior in high school is getting too much pressure..academically, athletically. They all pushed to make a decision that in most cases are impulsive and uncertain.  Coach who has approached him first got the deal.

Overall, His goal in that college was to get possibly drafted and stay focused on academics with absolutely NO time for celebration prior to the win. He became socially awkward to have  a different approach to his college and athletic  life.

We decided to leave and now exposed to all the unknowns .. He DID NOT  deserve that..He just has a desire to study hard  and play ball . Not to offend anyone but sounds like an Ivy League School will be a good match. The problem is that while his class mates were exploring AP classes-he was down to ABCs trying to advance his English since he wasn't born and raised in US...

SHE19434, I hate that this happened for your son. I know this has to be as close to possible for him as running head first into a brick wall, getting up, and THEN asking "what just happened??" The politics and "business" of collegiate sports is unnerving, unpredictable, unpleasant, unrewarding, and unknown more often than not for many. Your son's lesson about getting caught up into the "WOW' factor of signing with a D1 program because of the notoriety and prestige rather than going somewhere that he was REALLY wanted and would have fit in best at is a valuable lesson for other players and/or parents. But it's certainly quite hard to press the pause button at times like this as you are aware of. 

But here is why I am responding to your post mostly. What lesson's in all of this can he learn....can you learn?

As much as you want to run to his side and rescue him from this huge let down, unfairness, and disappointment allow me to suggest this - don't. And here's why. By doing so you take away and rob him of his opportunity of learning how to face adversities, disappointments, and set backs. And when faced with such things the power and abilities to deduce for himself what happened, how he's going to handle it from here, and that as a young man now figuring things out on his own helps mold him to figure things out and think for himself. Yes, I know it's easy to want to blame it on (name all the culprits here), point fingers at them, and become calloused, jaded, and bitter, etc. Sit down with him and look him straight in the eye and look at what happened objectively with no escape routes or blaming anyone. Life isn't fair and this will be just one of many times he's going to feel pains and discomforts like this. 

Right now the best thing you can possibly do is - Nothing. Just listen as he talks. Let him think this through. Process it. And if he knows you're going to "just listen" so he can get his thoughts out then he will be more apt to talk about all of this to you rather than dreading it. Here is where you teach him about overcoming, focusing, pulling himself up by his bootstraps to go after what he REALLY wants next, not to blame others and hold nasty bitterness in, et al. 

How would I have any kind of knowledge on any of this? My son went through something very similar to this as he wasn't able to play for 1 year due to low GPA after JUCO and wanting to transfer into a 4yr program. He missed one full year of playing baseball. I had many, many long conversations with him but mainly, I just listened. It allowed him to figure out on his own if he wanted it (to do whatever it took to get eligible for the next season) or not.

Best of luck to your son and you!

YGD

Thank you. Very painfull but so true!

Good opportunity for him in the process of finding out who he is and what he really wants-so true... Very hard watching  him struggling like that but at least I got an idea on how to handle this...as a parent and his "best" adviser.

thanks

Swampboy, I'm disappointed in you for referring her to the NCAA Transfer Guide rather than to InformedAthlete.com!  :-)

Also, D2 is NOT an option for immediate eligibility next year.  That's because your son will be a two-time transfer between four-year colleges.  D3 or NAIA is an option for next year (as is JUCO), but not D2.

Finally, I believe that the D1 rule ought to be changed to require the coaches to set the 35-man roster at the end of the Fall semester.  That way, the athletes that are cut at least have the opportunity to decide whether to continue at their college through the Spring, or to transfer to another program where they would at least be able to practice and work out with a team.  I actually posted this same comment just last week on our Twitter and Facebook page.

Fair enough, Rick. You got me.

Perhaps I was subconsciously trying to avoid getting accused again of being in the tank for you.

She91434, Rick does know his stuff.