Most parents get one shot at this, and without some standard (for want of a better word) to compare our son with on the readiness scale, we just have to feel our way.
Sounds like you took the conservative approach on gut instinct...and your son proved the family decision right.
"They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance." --- Terry Pratchett
Our son has just finished playing his first pro season....in the NYPL. I asked him several times over the course of the summer if he was enjoying the experience and his response was " are you kidding? I love it" No question it was summer with ups and downs, but when asked if he regretted not finishing his last 2 years of school (he was drafted out of JC)...he said "not one bit". He feels he wouldn't have gotten that much more (draft position)out of going to school one more year and the fact that he has $$$ for his last 2 years of school in the scholarship fund made the choice even better. Yeah, maybe he might have gotten some more money going higher in the draft, but he wanted to play this summer and not wait. If it's all about the money that's not a good way to approach the game. Everybody is different and I think for him it will be much better to be able to focus on school once he goes back. He does have a firm grip on the real world and knows just how important getting his degree is.
Posts: 11 | Location: Bellevue, Wa | Registered: August 25, 2007
Senior fall, this is when MLB visits begin for some and gets you thinking about the future. So much depends on the HS players spring season and his willingness to give up college.
My advice, everyone enjoy their sons last year in HS and push all dreams aside until May, it'll be over before you know it.
Posts: 10788 | Location: South Florida | Registered: July 28, 2003
Welcome aboard HSSBBW, Outlaw. That was a very insightful perspective. I guess some parents worry about "marketability" more than the kids. My opinion on this is that there is no right or wrong decision, it is somewhat like choosing a college.. the best fit.
"It's never as bad as it seems."-- Colin Powell
Posts: 1570 | Location: Washington | Registered: July 11, 2005
I know of a kid from our area who was taken in the 11th round this last spring. He was a Jr from a fairly big D1 school....did not sign because he thought he should be getting like 1st round money. He transfers to another school, I guess, hoping he'll have a breakout year. Now, next year, being a Senior pick, how much more does he think he'll move up in the draft. My bet is, not much higher, or maybe he'll even slide down a bit. I think, he should have signed and he would now have a year of pro ball under his belt.
Posts: 11 | Location: Bellevue, Wa | Registered: August 25, 2007
Originally posted by Outlaw: I know of a kid from our area who was taken in the 11th round this last spring. He was a Jr from a fairly big D1 school....did not sign because he thought he should be getting like 1st round money. He transfers to another school, I guess, hoping he'll have a breakout year. Now, next year, being a Senior pick, how much more does he think he'll move up in the draft. My bet is, not much higher, or maybe he'll even slide down a bit. I think, he should have signed and he would now have a year of pro ball under his belt.
Most think that they should get first round money.
The decision to go back to school is a personal decision based on many factors. The one main reason is to finish school, IMO, it should never be about trying to get a better draft position. That happens to only a few.
Why the transfer? If he was drafted in the 11th round he had to have been an impact player to be seen and evaluated, why take a bigger chance (if he was looking for more $) and start with a new program?
By the time one reaches their junior year in college and is drafted, it's more about opportunity, not money.
Posts: 10788 | Location: South Florida | Registered: July 28, 2003
If a player has a chance for a breakout year, he's also got a chance to get injured. That doesn't even touch changing programs and therefore changing competition faced which could go either way for the player. The player has taken a gamble.
A junior has more leverage as he has someplace else to go; MLB, although they certainly have drafted players high as seniors, obviously knows that a senior's only alternative is the Independent or International Leagues.
But he's done it now.
Sounds like his ego might be an issue however things go from here
"They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance." --- Terry Pratchett
I love Dirk's non prospect diaries, but he's AAA, they travel much better than all of the rest of the farm. The highjinks on the bus is typical, a way to find some humor in their lives. The same stuff goes on in college too.
Posts: 10788 | Location: South Florida | Registered: July 28, 2003
" There's nothing cooler than a guy who does what we dream of doing, and then enjoys it as much as we dream we would enjoy it. " -- Scott Ostler on Tim Lincecum
Posts: 975 | Location: Monterey, California | Registered: May 28, 2004
I told my son to kill-two-birds-with-one-stone, do the minor league stint at college; the bus rides are about the same, the food is better, and you get an education while you play against guys who are learning how to manage both baseball and their time for academics...plus the girls are right there on campus, don't have go hunting so much.
It's much tougher than MiLB.
JMO
Posts: 239 | Location: Nor Cal | Registered: May 04, 2007
LL, I'm on board with Fungo here. I would be interested to hear more about your point of view. From the discussions I had with former college players who were 100 games into a minor league season, and about 130 including Spring Training, college ball was a breeze. Getting your backside out of bed in late July after you have played 100 games, with about 5 days off, to be at the park by noon/1pm, when it is 100 degrees and 90% humidity is grueling. In 2005, our son played 38 straight games in 39 days in late June through July with temperatures and humidity that were oppressive. He said there cannot be anything more challenging in baseball. Your body aches, your mind aches. The last thing you want to do is play another game. The next thing you need to be ready to do is play another game. College, compared to Milb, is a game. Milb is all business.
'You don't have to be a great player to play in the major leagues, you've got to be a good one every day.'
Posts: 2055 | Location: ca | Registered: February 11, 2003
Aside from bus rides (son's longest in AA was 16 hours and that was all interstate highway travel), daily food money (not much different for college and lower level minors), occasional post-game clubhouse food (PB & J sandwiches in college, some pretty good eats at the higher MiLB levels), there really seems to be little if any similarity between college ball ... even at the highest level of competition ... and minor league ball.
From my perspective, at the minor league level, the play is faster, the defensive throws are harder and crisper, the bats are wood so the hits are 'true' hits, and the pitchers may have a whole different arsenal of pitches not seen in college. It is a whole different 'ball game' as they say.
Mary Ann * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged." Deuteronomy 31:8 [8/21/08]
Posts: 3937 | Location: Somewhere out there beneath the pale moonlight ... | Registered: January 02, 2003
MiLB players still have weights, still have workouts, and ply their trade in general for a minimum of 9 hours a day, seven days a week.
And, as FBM just said, those games are against a lineup of all guys who were the very best on their college and hs teams. And you're facing only aces from those same levels.
"They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance." --- Terry Pratchett
Geez I didn't realize there was so such reverberation from an innocuous statement about the difference in MiLB and college ball.
My point was killing-two-birds-with-one-stone, guess that part got overlooked. See it's not just about playing baseball if you go to college and play baseball. Asked my son about it he said he'd much rather play MiLB because he thinks it would be easier than his daily regime. Why? because he has spoken to guys who took the offer didn't make it and came back to school.
Most of them said the rigor of his schedule starting at 5:30AM runs, two hour weight room in the morning before attending 8AM class, then getting thirty minutes for lunch before afternoon classes, practice at 3PM to 6PM; 30 minutes for dinner, study table 7PM to 9PM, then night practice starting at 9:PM to 11:PM before getting back to the dorms for more study and then hit the rack at around 12:AM to start it all over again for your 5:30AM run much tougher gig then practicing/game each day for a measly 8 to 9 hours in the MiLB.
Sure I'll grant you the level of play overall at college level is not as competitive as the MiLB but the college guys are using the "full capacity" of their potential not just the physical regime of routine...and at the end of it the MiLB guys have nothing to show for it except some memories. College ballplayers have that piece of paper that opens opportunity.
...and fungo you know as I do, most of the guys in the MiLB are getting ready to be cut or released, very few of 'em will ever set foot on a MLB field.
JMO
Posts: 239 | Location: Nor Cal | Registered: May 04, 2007
