I agree 04Parent that college is one experience, and one that is totally different at 18 than later in life. But I think mine has gained more than he has lost by playing professionally. Again, we look at this from two very different perspectives.

Both choices require sacrifices and present unique challenges. So far our experience with professional baseball has been positive. I am sure that there are horror stories out there of kids who wish they would have chosen the other path. Professional careers cut short by injury, or college opportunities not fully utilized.

Mine has missed the "college experience" but he has "experiences" that he would have missed had he gone to college. A trade-off that only time will be able to measure. The one thing I do know is that he has no regrets. He has never looked back. He has never wondered about the road not taken. (The reason I know this is because I asked him). I think that is the key to the decision, College or Pro. It must be one that you are totally committed to. Whichever path must be given your whole heart, or both are wrong. If you choose to go to college, don't treat it as professional baseball prep, study, learn, experience the pluralism that is the college campus. If you chose pro ball, work hard, eat, sleep and drink baseball.

Money does become a factor. It can be blinding. I would be naive to think that money doesn't factor into the decsion process. Don't make it the deciding factor. Again, there are numerous stories of kids who took big money to play professionally and all they have left is the money. There are numerous stories of kids who turned down big money and never were offered the same money after college. I bet we could find a story, good and bad, for every scenario.

I wish the answer was easy. I wish I could look down the road and say with absolute certainty that the decisions we have made were the right ones. I feel I would have the same response if the decision would have went the other way. Good luck to all those parents and players over the next couple months.

quote:

Originally posted by deldad:
Jerseydad-that is a very good question. For us it wasn't about life changing money, it was about enough money that he could go out and live on his own. That he could spend his off-seasons working out and focusing on baseball. Enough money that we didn't have to support him anymore and that if he handled it correctly, there would be something left to start his life should the baseball thing not work out. For example would he have enough money to get through college on the scholarship program.

At the time it was a 5 year contract, so the money had to last that long. For me, life changing money would be enough that you would never have to work again. Very few of those contracts every year. But the realities of professional baseball must be considered, and it is very little pay, for only 7 months a year starting out. I hope that helped.

IN HS, for the rounds they were considering son, we and he didn't feel that it would be enough to sustain him for 5 (now 6) years. It didn't have to be life changing money because only a very few get that, but also enough to sustain him on his own through the long haul and to attend college later on and not have to work his way through college. The money that you do recieve twice a month during season, can barely be enough to make ends meet for many players. Here in FLorida, rent is very high and players are forced to live 4-5 in an apartment. Some take the bed and others the air mattresses. Then you have to eat. Bonus money is needed to subsidize season income, and many do have to work off season to save for expenses. With this is mind, son decided to head to college, not knowing if the next draft would turn out better or not. For him this time around, positioning was more important than money received and for him teh three yearsof college made a difference. He knows if it doesn't work out, he only has a year left of school.

As far as I see everyone may be treated pretty fairly early on, it is true the more investment the more patience they have with you. By a certain age, you need to be close to on track in the milb system, college or out of HS. You also may realize whether you may or may not make it or just become an organizational player, which for many is more than enough to fulfill their dreams.

There are facts that one has to confront. The choice is much easier out of college, it is very difficult one out of HS. For many here confronting the choice, the best part is that your sons worked hard to have that choice.

Deldad makes awesome points in his last post.

Also, it's pretty difficult to figure out what you might be missing when you haven't been in a situation. A good example would be my son and Deldad's son both close in age. Both took different paths, both hoping to someday be on a teams starting rotation. Both most likely wouldn't trade one path for another.

As I have always said, making the decision I know is a difficult one, but it needs to be made with conviction and desire and for personal reasons. Looking back at "what ifs" is not an option.

I too wish many of you in the coming weeks best of luck.

There are kids out there that would play for a box of kleenex and a can of tuna a day,...
no matter how irrational the adults say that would be.

My heart goes out to those who dream the dream. I am rooting for them.

What is the college experience??
I went to a very small all womens college...my college experience was not the same as my daughter who went to a larger coed college but lived at home or a student who went to a very large university...

Thats why there is no right or wrong choice. Everyones experiences in life are different.
Provide your sons with information and let them decide. You may not totally agree with the choice but would you want your sons to look back and say "I (went pro/didn't go pro) because Thats what you wanted"

O4Parent:

I think you make an excellent point that folks really do need to put into the "mix" when making this all-important decision. There really IS something about the college experience between 18-22 that can never be captured as a "non-traditional" student. Maybe that's important to the player and maybe it's not, but the player really needs to look long and hard at that issue.

And I will also say that using the MLB college
scholarship plan isn't necessarily easy. Make sure you structure the contract carefully. The parent club will adhere to the letter of the contract and we found that it was a constant hassle to get the full amount of money out of the parent club each semester (probably depends on the team)-- we did it, but not without a LOT of effort.

And at one time I knew the stats about how many HS players actually use the "scholarship" and graduate from college. I have forgotten it, but I remember it is embarassingly small. It's easy for the clubs to offer it because hardly anyone will actually use it.

The main reason the "college money" gets into the deal is a pure business situation---the vast majority of the players will never utilize it---it is money never spent by teams in most cases

I heard that the MLB plan is easy if you can front the money and wait for reimbursement and does take lots of work to get it (even though they put it away for you). And each team is different.

The college scholarship money given to you one year and used years later loses value due to rising costs in education, be aware of that.

College draftees should get monies based on the college attended so they can graduate at that school. HS players most likely will not get the value of what was offered them to play at a particular school.

Also depends on where you live, one team in HS offered son amount that was the cheapest tuition here at a state school. The way we figured with inflation, he was not getting an entire "free" education.

This all is a personal choice in the end.

Do make sure that your read it carefully and ask questions.

No because your price is different than mine....Just do what you want to do.....

Well my response to the deleted post now makes no sense

quote:

Originally posted by njbb:
No because your price is different than mine....Just do what you want to do.....

njjb,

Even out of context your post seems like pretty good advice to me.

BobR-
Unless I missed it somewhere along the way (I'm curious)........

Did your son end up getting drafted?

Was wondering if your son had to make the decision or not and if so, what was it?????

I am glad to step in here, if I may ( pardon,..I hope I am not being rude ) but I do know that YES indeedy,....BobR's son was drafted!!!!

Whoooooooooo hooooooooooo!!!
Still waiting to hear what his son decided,....but extremely happy for BobR's son & entire family!!!

Dreams do come true!

Very cool!!!

I guess the challenge will be how much BobR wants to continue being anonymous.

I would (and I think others reading) would love to hear the thought process that goes in to this decision.

Realizing the situation/circumstances will be different for every player.....would like to get an inside view of the process.

My son is going to play for a DI this year, but was not drafted out of HS, so this was not an issue for us.

CONGRATS to BOBR's son!!!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by deldad:
Jerseydad-that is a very good question. For us it wasn't about life changing money, it was about enough money that he could go out and live on his own. That he could spend his off-seasons working out and focusing on baseball. Enough money that we didn't have to support him anymore and that if he handled it correctly, there would be something left to start his life should the baseball thing not work out. For example would he have enough money to get through college on the scholarship program.

At the time it was a 5 year contract, so the money had to last that long. For me, life changing money would be enough that you would never have to work again. Very few of those contracts every year. But the realities of professional baseball must be considered, and it is very little pay, for only 7 months a year starting out. I hope that helped.

Thanks Deldad, your response helped quite a bit.

My son was drafted by the Twins in the 31st round. He was hoping to go higher.He is seen as a projectable RHP. They have been watching him play this summer since the draft. He has enrolled at Kansas for the fall semester. If the Twins see something they like then there is a possibility that he will offered a higher signing bonus.The longer the process goes on, the more we are seeing that pro baseball is all business. At this point it is really all coming down to the amount of the signing bonus. I am still worrying about the whole process but my son seems happy and okay with leaving it until the drop dead date of August 15, which also happens to bbe move in day at Kansas. Either way, it was a compliment for him to be drafted.

As a side note, I would like to add that we noticed a great number of the higher draft picks were either never drafted out of high school or were previously picked in much lower rounds and attended college.

quote:

Originally posted by TRhit:
The main reason the "college money" gets into the deal is a pure business situation---the vast majority of the players will never utilize it---it is money never spent by teams in most cases

and a fault of the players!

BobR,

I looked up your son who was drafted by my favorite MLB team! It does look like he was projected to be drafted higher, so maybe the signing bonus will be raised before August 15. It sure would be fun to watch your son in the Twins organization. The Twins always seem to have such exciting young players contributing to the big league club.

Best wishes,

Julie

The SS for Georgia was drafted 8th over all (I think) and never drafted out of high school. It happens all the time.

Bighit.....there were two SS taken in 1st rd from Ga. One from HS and one from college. The HS kid went 1/1. Both are named Beckham. The HS one is black and the college one is white.

Also true. The college Beckham was not drafted out of HS. Just contributing to your comments.