I know in football it is not unusual for high school seniors to enroll in their college choice in January of their senior year to take advantage of spring practice and for academic reasons.

I did not think a baseball player would enroll early and miss their senior season, however I saw one recruit who is doing that and will be on a college roster in January 2009.

Any thoughts?

Robert Stock, the catcher at USC, did it along with Landon ??? at South Carolina a few years earlier. The thinking, usually, is that it enables the player to play high-level college baseball and then be eligible sooner for the draft.

I understand the reasoning, but it is a high price to pay and a huge risk to take in terms of what is sacrificed.

Stock skipped his entire HS senior year to enroll at USC early. Stock, by the way, was also an outstanding student with SAT's of 1400+ (on the main 2 parts only).

I do not know the ins and outs of eligibility but I have heard talk that one of UNC's 2009 recruits is leaving high school over winter break and will enroll at UNC in January for the spring semester so as to play this spring.

Seems like a lot to ask, to have a kid step out of HS and into the lineup for one of the nation's top teams. I suspect UNC had money available now, though, due to their having had so many of their 2008 guys go this past summer.

Stock's experience was that he did not put up big numbers as a freshman, but they were OK. I think he'll get what he wanted this June -- to be draft eligible again at the age of 19, after his third year at USC.

Jake Thompson of Long Beach St also came out of high school one year early last year.

I would be curious if Stock or Thompson thought it was a correct move now that they have hind sight, both did ok, but not great.

Sometimes this option is given to some who meet specific requirements. Not sure of all of them, but this option was presented to son, enroll in school of January 2003 instead of fall 2004. He was already cleared by the clearinghouse, the only thing missing was his diploma, I think there are provisions for that. He had met all of his graduation requirements. How it was presented to him was that he would be eligible for draft in 2006 not 2007. But he would have to attend summer school. He chose to remain in HS.
I think that this is a viable option for those who are way above their HS class in ability and academics. However, missing all the activities senior spring, playing with your team who have depended upon you, can never be replaced.
There is a baseball player at former son's program who entered in the spring. He is actually on a football scholarship, and many football players who play other sports (not just baseball)take this option. It gives them a jump start on spring practice with the football team and able to take summer classes to catch up.

quote:

Originally posted by Homerun04:
I would be curious if Stock or Thompson thought it was a correct move now that they have hind sight, both did ok, but not great.

As thier perpectives change over time, so may their answer to that question.

For them, it may turn on how they perform this spring.

But the beauty of what they did was, if this spring doesn't work out, they can still come back for a 4th year of college and in Stock's case, that would put him in the pros at the ripe old age of 20. With a USC degree to fall back on (not too shabby).

I don't know anything about Thompson, but in Stock's case this was a reward he was able to reap from his work in the classroom, as much as from his work on the field. So, a tip of the cap to him!

Levi Micheal will enroll at UNC this spring and skip his sr year of hs baseball. He is a very talented mif and was approached by the coaching staff about making this move. He is an outstanding student and a tremendous young man. With the loss of so many incoming players to this past years draft Levi stands to have a serious chance to see considerable playing time. We will see. The big thing for Levi was he has always been a big Tar Heel fan and really wanted to go to college. He felt this was a great opportunity for him to start his college career early and get a head start on school.

I have known him for several years now and he is a very mature level headed young man. This is the type of decision that can only be made by a player and his family because they are the ones that have to be comfortable with it. I agree with Midlo its going to be a big adjustment not going through the fall season. But if anyone can handle it it would be a young man with his talent and his make up.

Levi sounds like a fantastic young man and I wish him much success. That would be a very difficult decision for him and his family. Thank goodness my son will be here for his senior season. It was hard enough watching him sign that NLI (Alabama) on Friday, knowing this time next year he will be at college. As a father, I need this time to better prepare myself for his moving on to the next phase of his adult life.

Trace Adkins expressed my sentiment on this subject at the CMAs when he sang "your gonna miss this...your gonna want this back". Slow down and enjoy all the things you can't get back, like proms and graduating with friends, parties, etc.

If it were my son I will feel the same way as you guys. And I bet that Levi's dad feels the same way. But you can bet Levi had a say in this decision. And if your kid had this opportunity and wanted it very badly its hard to say what you would do or tell him. I know it would be hard for me. I hope it works out great for him just like I hope it works out great for every young man.

Jake Thompson was 2-5 with a 4.95 ERA in 67 innings (13 appearances). BA against was .337. He did not play his junior year in high school either.

Sounds like he had a decent number of innings and probably benefited from the experience.

Kyle Parker at Clemson skipped his senior spring season and was freshman all american at Clemson. He hit 14 hrs. Also was football qb who participated in spring practice. Talk about an intro to college.

I have a little different opinion on this subject than many. Just like very early commitments during junior year, I worry that mistakes are being made by young men not prepared to make such important decisions. I know, they all want to get into college and play at the next level, and some can do it well; HOWEVER, what about enjoying one of the best years of your life, your senior year of HS? I think that, too often, we tend to look past things like their senior year and encourage kids to do things that they will very possibly regret later on. They lost almost nothing by waiting till the normal time to enter college, and gain a wonderful year of HS when they're the big guy on campus and HS baseball is something they can dominate that year.

One of the young men who plays on our summer teams has been asked to leave HS a year early to join his college team, and his family is very ambivalent about the opportunity, for the very reasons I stated above. He's very capable of playing collegitate ball right now, but there is a lot more to consider than just whether they can succeed or not at that level. Sometimes I think that we, as in anyone who is involved with these decisions, aren't looking at it from the standpoint of what might be in the young man's best interest, but rather saying "go for it" because they can.

Just because they can does not mean they automatically should do it.

Quote TPM:
There is a baseball player at former's son program who entered in the spring.

TPM,
Sorry to hear you gave you son away. From all you others posts it seemed that you liked him alot. What happened??

I think this:

Senior year of HS is the best especially if you are a star athlete

How many kids at that age are mentally ready for College and the stress that comes with it?

Not that my guy (s) had the opportunity to leave early but the last guy was in the centerfold of the yearbook with his uniform on and his bat on his shoulders.

Memories that a kid can never recoup---the honors at the final school athletics dinner---the region and state awards--


Not saying it won't work for the players who leave early but they might well have a void in their life later on

I wish them the best

My question is if these players would have been better in the long run waiting? Did they step in and were starters from the get-go at college? If not, then there would definitely be some benefit staying and playing in high school for the sole reason that reps are better than no reps.

The son of a HSBBW poster did this a few years ago when he enrolled early on a "power house" school . At the time I wondered why lose that senior experience, I still do. With that said, I don't think we can sit and judge what the thoughts of the family, and/or more importantly thoughts that goes through a players head. The cliche "to each his own" holds so true in these cases. There are so many intangibles that we do not know of.

1. The student/athlete was not challenged academically in HS.

2. The student/athlete was not challenged athletically in HS.

3. There were HS player/coach issues.

4. There were HS player/teammate issues.

5. Scholarship opportunity was to hard to pass up.

6. Family issues.

And finally, this scenario which I think is out of the box, but intriguing.

7. If the academically advanced kid has pro tools, but, the player wants to have a 4 year college academic base, and college baseball experience before he begins a pro career this may be a way to "play" the system. You start college at an earlier age, and you become draft eligible a year before your actual draft class. You're playing the odds here, and obviously HS was boring to the player to begin with. However, if things don't work out baseball wise you are still ahead of the game career/academic sense.

Some here may call that scenario crazy, which only goes to show that our opinions are only relevant to our personal situations.

quote:

Originally posted by fillsfan:
Quote TPM:
There is a baseball player at former's son program who entered in the spring.

TPM,
Sorry to hear you gave you son away. From all you others posts it seemed that you liked him alot. What happened??

Oops, son's former program.

I agree totally with rz, to each his own.

Funny thing, HS memories fade, often replaced with those of college.
I asked mine if he had to do it over would he skip, most likely, knowing what he does now, was the answer.
You can't look into the future, but you can look back to the past.
This is not an option avaliable to everyone, usually it's because the coach has some money and they need players (as in the case of UNC).

Look up Kyle Parker at Clemson. He graduated early and signed with the football team. In the spring he played with the baseball team. I think he had the most HRs, became an All American and played in the CWS. I don't think he missed much in High School.