IT IS THAT TIME

The HS season in the Northeast is now winding down and summer/travel/showcase ball is right behind. Make sure you have it all co-ordinated so you can give your best at all times

HS playoffs can wear players out, especially the pitchers and catchers because of the compressed schedules and then the rain gets in the way and compresses the schedule even more. Be honest with yourself and your coaches and do not put you in a position to hurt the team and injure yourself.

The reason you play summer/travel/showcase ball is to better yourself and get exposure. It does not do you any good to be subpar when you are in this situation. I do not know what other travel teams similar to ours do but we ask the pitchers to let us know if they feel under par--if you feel bad for a Friday mound date then tell the coach---there are usually at least two more game dates that weekend--we consider our starting pitchers to all be # 1 arms so does it matter really if you pitch on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. We want you to be at your best every time you go on the field not just so you can win but more improtantly so that you can show the college coaches what you have. Most showcase/travel teams are not too worried about trophies but more importantly getting their players proper exposure so they can move to the next level inb a good situation.

The same goes for catchers and position players who feel tenderness in their arm. SPEAK UP-- a days rest can really help--be the DH or the EH and ease off on the arm for a day or so--it can work wonders--this is why the good travel/showcase teams have a deep bench--it helps to protect the players.

Have a great run thru the HS playoffs if you are in them adn have a great baseball summer.

A Lesson Learned

This is something you HS players need to put in your memory ---a number of years back we had a player with us who was recruited by and received a baseball scholarship to a major Division I program-- as it turned out things did not work out--the recruiiting coach left for another program and things changed--after two years the young man left for a Division II program--had a solid two years--Honors--a trip to the NCAA Championships (Division II)---he got drafted and is now at the Double A level in the Toronto Blue Jays system-- was in major league camp this spring and is currently hitting .316 as their lead off hitter in Nashua.

The point here is that even though you think your college choice is solid, things change and you had better be ready to adapt--it is not the end of the world--the other aspect in this picture was the young mans grades--it eased the transition--HINT HINT

All I can say to you is that as much as you do your due diligence in the recruiting process things can go awry---do not go in thinking that it is all "roses"---there can be problems in any year

PS--sorry for the delay in posts but we are in the process of putting our team and schedule together for the summer/fall--now that we are in true baseball mode look for more timely posts