Time for a rest?

I also have a 2017.  I feel that if the kid can bat, he should.  Sure there are some kids at this age that know their only chance is as a pitcher.  But why limit them?  I would push for a position player position this summer with an occasional pitching appearance thrown in.  

Is he experiencing any pain or discomfort?

If he does not have pain I would get him to good pitching Instructor, esp if he's going to take time off from pitching w team. Maybe he can work on mechanics and be ready to pitch w team come tourn time. Time to see if he can improve or if pitching is not his thing. 

Great idea, baseball is fun and when your a good hitter it's even more fun. These summers are ticking away from us and playing on both sides of the ball gives him a chance to enjoy to the fullest.

As an incoming Freshman that was throwing low eighties he is in a great spot ... If there is no pain/discomfort and his velo has dropped 7-8 mph in a few months (?) I would be concerned with his mechanics.  Does his instructor videotape?  A good side by side video analysis with his low eighties mechanics should reveal some new found flaws.  I can attest that kids that age are prone to unconsciously developing very small bad habits that can have big changes on velocity and control.  

If you're set on him taking time off the mound, that's fine and it's your call, but I would also consider a new set of eyes from a quality pitching instructor.

Are you saying he is a PO now on his JV team as a Freshman?  I have always said, the best way to keep from being a PO is to hit...coaches cannot keep a good stick out of the lineup, even at the biggest of schools.  If he leads his summer team in offensive stats, I can't imagine that the level of competition of his summer team would be lower than HS, normally summer ball is much more competitive than HS.  What am I missing?

I am wondering why he has to choose between pitching, or playing the field, especially as a 2017.

I think your idea may be fine but I also think you may want to separate the issues.  He enjoys being a position player, so trying to arrange summer ball so he can do more of that isn't a bad thing.  Getting him a bit of a break from pitching may not be a bad thing.  However, I would want to find out what the cause is behind the velo drop.  You have some ideas and you have an instructor that has worked with him for a long time.  I would start by getting his opinion.  If you can't get your son in front of him, bring him some video.  Identifying whether it is mechanics, injury or just fatigue is a smart move regardless of summer plans.

Thanks for the advice, good ideas. Still don't think it's lacking ability to throw harder although some mechanical breakdown may be reason for loss of control.

Also, in a previous thread, you stated that he was working through stride length changes.  Was he able to adjust to that or is that still a factor?

Not missing anything. He's not a PO yet but only plays in field to fill a role occasionally. HC prefers PO's; 25 years plus in same place & to say he's been successful would be an understatement. School has luxury of having lots of good hitters. As for mine, he can hit. Last spring .619 BA, .700 OB, .905 SLG, .133 BB, .033 K 

Billy-

those numbers don't add up. Walking 13.3% of the time doesn't get a .619 batting average to a .700 on base average.

FC's are not counted as getting on base in OB%. They are outs.

Sure, I understand that. But I just thought you might want to know that when you post numbers like that people automatically know they are wrong. There have been lots of discussions here about the poor quality of stats through the high school level. That stat line you posted is a good example, because not only are the numbers pretty outlandishly high, they also are mathematically impossible, unless his HBP rate was also around 13%.

If your son's goal is to play after HS and from my 2016s recruiting experience to date, short of some type of injury preventing so, I would never have my son give up the opportunity to pitch.  On my son's summer team they have several pitchers in the 2015/2016 classes that are committed and only one position player. 

This ratio is consistent with their 2014s as well  8 D1 commits.  6 pitchers and last position player didn't get an offer or commit until just the last several weeks.

My son is transitioning to a PO (DH for HS team when not pitching, but won't do that in summer) and really embracing it.  He pulled catcher and sometime pitcher duty for so long I think he finds it relaxing in a strange way.   I think often times parents have a bigger issue with it.  My wife is not a big fan of it.  Wants to see her boy on the field.  I love baseball and see the bigger picture in front of him, so not that hard for me to accept.

 R we discussing 8th grade stats here?  Please let those pass, he's in HS now. 

if he's that good a hitter the coach will see that at practice and he will get in even as a DH.  Why didn't they just start him on Freshman team and pull him up occas to pitch on JV?

If he wants to play at next level he ll need to be seen in Summer. I would skip the Fall season. In Sept/Oct after a break from Summer ball he may want to attend a PG showcase or college camp/showcase.

Never intended discussion to go in this direction. These were his travel stats from 2013 Spring & Fall. The point of the topic is considering giving him a break from pitching for the summer. I understand getting him looks, going that route after Soph. year. He passed on a stronger travel team for summer because they only need pitching. He wants to hit some this summer. He hasn't brought up not pitching this summer; it's my idea & I'll need to discuss it with him. He normally gets a break at the end of summer before fall season. Freshman worked all summer & threw a lot of bullpens. Thought it would be good to give his arm a rest & let him do other (baseball) things for the summer.   

Sounds like your concern is that he's losing his love for the game. That's the worst thing that can happen, I think.

If he wants to hit, encourage it. PO's are generally comfortable in that role.