A friend of my son told him that he should not play summer ball if he is going to college to play ball his freshman year. The reason is he will burn out. This friend went to a D1 school and says he wished he never played summer ball before he went off to school because college ball is so intense and year round, it was just too much. Is this good advice or not?

Nah not really. Summer ball is fresh, it's new, and it's a lot of fun for a great majority of the players. They get to meet lots of new faces; new teammates, host families, community members, and often for them new parts of the country. All that without the pressure of going to class and studying. If the kid loves what he's doing, playing baseball, this is a chance to recharge and renew his interest because the summer game is a bit more like minor league ball. Don't rely too much on one friend's opinion or one bad experience.

If you kid likes to play he won't want to take the summer off. Plus there is nothing worse then a HS player showing up to fall practice going up against guys that have been working on their game all summer. Decisions about who is on the travel roster etc are largely made during fall practice, your son needs to be ready to go the first day of fall practice.

Its not good or bad advice. For some, burn out is a real issue. It depends. Is the summer team intense? Was the sr. year long due to playoffs? Has your son been playing year-round already? The friend's advice is based on the point that D1 is that practice is every day in college, which can be an adjustment.

note: whether you play summer or not, important to show up conditioned, in shape and healthy.