Hello,
My son seems to be at a pretty critical time for college recruiting over this next year as he will be graduating HS in 2020. He is a very hard working ballplayer and seems to be at a crossroads with having to decide on which travel team to play on next summer. I really would appreciate some advice as he needs to decide within the next few days!
So, anyhow, here is the deal. Like I said he is a very hard working ballplayer and recently made one of the top teams in our state. I am stating that based on their record over this past summer of 43 - 4. This team had the best record in our state playing a highly competitive schedule playing all over the country. They are a team that has been playing together for years and have always been one of the top team in our state. The issue is that the organization is not very well known and I am guessing that they likely do not have many connections with college coaches/recruiters. Honestly, this 2020 team is the best team they ever had in this organization likely by a long shot. I also know that he would get plenty of playing time at his preferred positions on that team because he already had a chance to play with them for a few tournaments. They are also great defensively which would only boost his confidence on the mound! They also have some very recruitable 2020’s on their team with several ranked players. My son is ranked pretty high as well in our state.
The thing is my son has been playing summer ball with and is very liked by another organization in our state that is very well known around here. Basically, that team is all about showcasing players and getting them recruited. The problem is that they had a .500 record this past summer and ended up losing many of their top players that are highly recruitable. They did play mostly older 17U elite competition but still, they did not play as well as everyone expected. So with them losing some of their better players, I do not see them being highly competitive while playing at the same level as this other team next summer. But like I said they are all about recruiting and likely have many more connections with college coaches. They also take down each player’s measurables several times a year and if a player’s measurables increase enough they will usually end up shooting recruiting videos for them to send out to colleges. Which the other team will not offer. They also have paid coaches and the other team is coached by fathers and the owner of the organization. His old team only has one coach in the dugout and they do not really run any defensive plays or timed pickoff plays. They kind of leave it up to the players to shift and run defenses. Whereas this other team would practice during the season more often and everyone is going to be more in sync defensively with coaches calling out the defensive plays during a game.
So my main question is do you believe that my son should stay with the old team that will look at him as one of their top 2020 players and will try hard to get him recognized/recruited. Or should he go play with this other team that has a lot of recruitable talent and will likely once again end up playing deep into tournaments next summer that will have many college recruiters around watching them all play?
If you have any experience with this please send me some needed advice…
Thanks, 2020 Father