Your thoughts...

It sounds like he's a smart player. But I would guess at this point HE does not think he is where he should be. A JC would give him a chance to make peace with himself before pushing on. You have to be satisfied with your own development before competing with others at a high level, or you set yourself up for disappointment. I'm sure it will be much clearer at the end of May.

Canes, I'm sure someone will have some good advice for this kid as far as schools, but I just wanted to point out how much more complex the situation is for this kid than most. You have the usual factors of exposure, etc., but he will have to find a coach that understands his illness and is supportive him. He and family will also have to consider the stress level involved at individual programs as this could play a part in an exacerbation of his illness. I really had not thought about kids with various medical issues and how this compounds recruiting for them. It could be a huge factor. Good luck to him - I'm interested in seeing what some of our really knowledge folks have to say on this one.

Canes,
My oldest child ... a daughter... has Crohn's disease and has had it since she was a teenager. Once she got it under control her problems ceased. She is 35 and has to take medication but eats what she wants and has no problems at all with the exception of being lactose intolerant. The bad thing about Crohn's it stays with you for life and could flair up at any time. Hopefully your player can work through it. I might add that Chron's is sensitive to stress so pitching might be a problem...I don't know.
Fungo

Canes,

The first thing I think about is... Who is he? Sorry it's my nature. If you wish, could you email me with this players name. Never know we might be able to help him. pgjerry@qwest.net

Research Omega 3 Fatty Acids via Fish Oil. I have a friend who has a son and it worked well in high doses.

Jerry,

I know who this young man is and he is a great kid! I'll email you his name as he has been to several PG events.

I think that he is the type of player who can be seen this summer and sign with a Division I school after the draft. When healthy he has a chance to be a bigtime pitcher.

CanesFan, please PM me as I would like to hear how this young man is doing? If I can help I'd be happy to make some calls for him. He is certainly in my prayers.

Canes - lots of good advice already. The strange thing is Crohn's affects people differently. I know 3 kids with it - all boys, all 16-18 now. All three take different meds. Oldest has had operations - used to be a pretty good ballplayer before they moved to VA - not sure what he is doing with baseball now, tho. Youngest lives across the street - seems to be doing OK , but not an athlete. Both of them are on the "slight" side.

The third one is my son. He has rheumatoid athritis on top of Crohn's. For whatever reason, he seems to respond to his med's better than the other 2 [PM me if you are interested in the details, or put your friends in contact with me]. He was diagnosed in 7th grade - he weighed about 100#. By the time he was a soph, he weighed 190; he is currently a junior and weighs 195# [ not what you would consider "slight" by any definition], but he is pretty solid.

He has no trouble with what he eats - just has to keep up his meds [14 pills a day, 8 extras on Saturday night, that replace the injection he used to get].
I have heard that the fish oil helps - but I don't think anything replaces ther real meds, especially in kids. Junior doesn't like them b/c he "takes enough freaking pills already" and when he burps it tastes like TUNA!! I'd be happy to give you more details about his med program.

So far it hasn't adversely affected my guy too much - except that meds supress his immune system,and he has to be careful about infections, since his body doesn't fight them very well. He plays football too, and gave up basketball after freshmen year - so there is hope - he is very active - did fall baseball all through football season.

I was giving this some thought the other day, thought about starting a thread to ask opinions. My guy has his very much under control - no flare-ups from the time he was diagnosed and put on meds [prior to that he looked like he needed a transfusion whenever he went to the bathroom, borderline anemic, etc.] He is now the picture of health -- so what are our responsibilities as far as informing coaches etc?? How big of a deal should we make it if he gets recruited for college? He won't go past college level, so there are no real long term affects to consider regarding a baseball "career" i.e. pro team making an investment in him - he isn't THAT good [I guess that makes me an outcast on this site - my son is not Big League material - there I said it, and now I feel better !! ]. So there appears to be no problem getting 4-5 years out of him at the college level. Canes - sorry to piggy back your thread, but what do the rest of you think?? ANd let me know if I can be of assistance.

Left one thing out, after I re-read some of the posts in this thread - Windmill Jr is a pitcher, and not a kid that has ever been over-endowed with confidence. He has pitched a few pressure type games [started first game of Legion finals, first varsity start as a soph was of the emergency variety when announced starter got hurt prior to the game], but is fortunate enough not to have experienced any flare-ups.. Stress has yet to affect him from a GI standpoint - Again - a lot of it comes down to the person, the meds, and how they respond to those meds. Maybe the situation would be different at a high profile college program.