My kids' athletic college careers...or not~

[Soonerjeepman]

Tessa - age 21 played bball one yr in HS. She's 5'11 and decent shooter. She comes to me about 6 months ago, wants to try and play college ball. To her credit she has worked hard and did all the information gathering. She struggled in school due to late diagnosis of ADD. Long story short, she talked to the coach from Labette CC in Parsons, Ks and she's willing to give her a walk-on spot. Told her that playing time is up to her (how hard she works) but did say she has a starter that isn't the best athlete but she works her *** off, good grades, good teammate...so there is a chance. I'm proud of her and am pushing her to try. Never know if ya don't try. I'm well aware of her deficiencies as a player but it's a chance.

Caleb - 18 playing HS baseball. Comes to me last yr, after Jr yr..thinks he might want to play in college. Understand he's not been one of those balls to walls baseball guys. He played year round but not super competitive, never showed the desire for cost in my opinion. He's 6'3.5 185, got his FB up to 85 from 78 in about a month with a pitching coach. (Again, this the first time I've paid for this...) Has couple of juco's in Ks, D3 school in Missouri, several NAIA schools from South Dakota to Ks/Missouri. Hopefully he can get Ft. Scott or KCKCC to look at him...by seasons end. The killer is he's carrying a 3.13/25 ACT but a 3.5 or 26 would open more doors...but I think juco is best to get him prepared. His goal is D1...then MLB ( I really have to refrain from the WTH look with that...but preach the work it takes). LOL...


We'll see.....of course MY dream is for the boy to get really good and head to Norman!!!! lol. Tessa will be NAIA bound after juco if she can make it, we went to the ku/OU women's game in Lawrence...wow those girls are athletic as heLL.

[stoops the eternal pimp]

Honestly and a slightly informed opinion here,

The juco baseball talent is probably at level or higher than the D1 due to the MLB draft rules. And you are right, that is a great route to get prepared. Good luck to both.

I scholarship'd in juco playing basketball and walked on d2 to play football and basketball..Don't regret any of it other than the 5 knee surgeries with more to go.

[Soonerjeepman]

yeah, I agree...he needs the reps. only pitched 15 innings last yr as a Jr.

[8timechamps]

Not sure exactly how it works in KS (or even OK anymore), but coming out of high school in Colorado, JUCO is the absolute best bet for baseball scholarships. We haven't gotten to that point yet (my youngest will be a freshman next year, and my oldest only played basketball...not at the college level though). For the first time, my youngest was invited to attend the "Under Armour Baseball Factory" tryout here in Colorado. His youth coach (traveling tournament team) was pretty hyped about it, but I talked with his (future) high school coach, and his opinion was that it's a "nice accolade", but he believed the program was more about Under Armour making money than anything. I tend to agree with his high school coach.

I'm a proud dad, so take this for what it's worth; but my youngest is an absolute beast on the football field. Unfortunately (for me), he isn't very excited about football. He loves baseball, so that's the direction he wants to go. The problem is that baseball (at the youth/high school) level in Colorado just isn't that great.

[Soonerjeepman]

cool, yeah, he picked up an offer last night from Kansas City Kansas CC, here in town and a little nicer (turf field, etc). I talked to a former player at a NAIA school (small 4 yr) and he said juco was definitely the top level (besides D1) yrs ago. Hopefully he'll work hard and move up after 2 yrs.

A fellow player on his club team also did the UA thing. I kind of agree with your coach...a money maker for them. Sure they are betting on one of those kids eventually making it an endorsing them...who knows. He went to Florida for a long weekend. Honestly I don't see the worth...but I don't make a ton of money either. I think New Balance has one in Lawrence (home of ku about 30 min away) it's free....we thought about doing it just for the experience.

[Soonerjeepman]

son got an offer from KCKCC, decent school juco D1 here in town. They just redid their field and but turf in. One of his top 2.

[olevetonahill]

son got an offer from KCKCC, decent school juco D1 here in town. They just redid their field and but turf in. One of his top 2.

Good news. Wish him well.

[Soonerjeepman]

thanks Vet...hope it works out for him.

[Dallasbabe]

i have never pitched, but i have caught a few

[Soonerjeepman]

Guess he is planning on going to Kansas City KS CC. They have a great facility, sitting at 12/15 right now. Thing about pitching...your "team" can struggle with wins, but you can be a decent pitcher. Hopefully he'll get a littler bigger (6'3 180 now) and get something in 2 years.

[8timechamps]

Guess he is planning on going to Kansas City KS CC. They have a great facility, sitting at 12/15 right now. Thing about pitching...your "team" can struggle with wins, but you can be a decent pitcher. Hopefully he'll get a littler bigger (6'3 180 now) and get something in 2 years.

Especially at the high school level. You can have great pitching, and a terrible/mediocre infield (or outfield) or a poor hitting team. He's already got really good size for a pitcher. Hope he does well at KCCC. Keep us updated.

[Soonerjeepman]

Thanks...

well, kckcc is on a 12 game winning streak swept (4/0, 4/0) their last 2 DH against ranked opponents.

LOL, yes he's learning to focus on himself. Example. Pitched yesterday, lost 2/6, gave up all 6 but only 1 earned. Should have been out of the first with 1/2/3...but ss had 2 errors in a row on batters 2/3..and and FT dropped a routine fly as well. He does need to get his KO's up and BB down. he's under .500 with that.

[SanJoaquinSooner]

The killer is he's carrying a 3.13/25 ACT

Don't understand this. Athletes with less play D1.

[Turd_Ferguson]

i have never pitched, but i have caught a few

Must be why you have that worn out catchers mitt...

[Dallasbabe]

my chocolate starfish looks more like a blowfish now.

[Soonerjeepman]

Don't understand this. Athletes with less play D1.

for D1, from what scouts have told me, a 3.5 or 26 on act will get you academic scholarships...which obviously doesn't count against athletic ones...unfortunately he's not a stud on the mound yet...lol

[Soonerjeepman]

Signing with KCK Thursday. Pretty excited...KCK has had a 14 game winning streak and now a 5 game streak.

[8timechamps]

Signing with KCK Thursday. Pretty excited...KCK has had a 14 game winning streak and now a 5 game streak.

Congrats!

Baseball is so different than any other sport, primarily because the development can happen in so many ways. Getting to play at any level after high school is a great accomplishment!

Best of luck to him (and his bound to be nervous dad!).

[Soonerjeepman]

Thanks 8t,
yeah, went to get letter and a hat, lol, only had one...none of this 3 hats, pick one deal. Had a talk with coach...couple of things.

#1 wanted to know if he could start working out with them this summer...he said they'd love to have him but didn't have to...( a good for us)
#2 he is playing in showcases this summer, mainly to throw against good competition..he said no prob.

The one thing coach said was he's a pup, he could easily jump from 82/83 to the 87/88 range. So if we got a good D1 offer this summer they were ok, just wanted communication. I really think having college coaches work with him he'll do much better. He's pretty set on juco to get stronger.

pitched 6 innings tonight, no runs, 6 hits, 5 BB 3 KO 1 HBP. ended up losing 0/1 in bottom of 8. Not happy with his BB/KO ratio...but at least no runs.

[8timechamps]

Thanks for the insight into the process jeep. My youngest is dead set on playing baseball through high school. I wanted so badly for both of my boys to play and love football but my oldest just didn't enjoy playing. My youngest is really good at football, and I honestly think it's his best sport, but he just loves baseball so much more. Being in Colorado it's really tough to stand out (there's just not a lot of interest in baseball here surprisingly). CU cut their program years ago, so I think the only college program in the state is the Air Force Academy. Anyway, he's just going to be a freshman next year, so a long way to go. I have no idea if he'll get a college look, or not, but that's his plan.

Oh, sounds like your boy had a pretty solid outing. Probably would have liked to have the HBP and a couple of BB back, but losing 1-0 isn't on the pitcher. He's got to get a little offensive help.

[Soonerjeepman]

He actually got the "no decision"...but yes, he had a good outing. Caught a fly bunt, a foul ball and two pop-ups off the mound...with one probably being 3rd's. Didn't give up a ground ball, everything was in the air. He did get out of several innings with runners on, even on the corners.

He's ready to move on. His hs team just isn't great. That's the great thing about baseball...prob more so than some other sports is even if your team isn't any good if YOU do a solid good job you can play college ball.

I would do couple of things NOW if he has ANY interest...and frankly even if he doesn't say it because if he's like my son he really didn't think of playing college ball til AFTER his jr year.Which you may know all this...but I didn't so I pass it along.

1. get his profile and stats out there now. There are several sites, that all have a basic plan for free. If you pay you get to either load more video or see what college's are looking at your profile, etc.
2. start keeping his stats (our hs coach doesn't keep infielder's stats)
3. have him contact college coaches he thinks he wants to play at
4. make a video (update every year) just google what they want...no game film, skills only.
5. D1 you MUST have a 3.5 and or a ACT of 26 or higher I was told, unless you are just a stud. The first 2 questions out of every coach were gpa and act score.

All of the above got my kid a scholly, actually 3 def offers (D1 Jucos) with several smaller schools (d2,d3, naia) all very interested but we didn't pursue.

fieldlevel.com was the best site
berecruited.com
ncsa (they'll push you to join)