Your Son Is A Pitcher

If he really has another career that he is more excited about, then college. Then the question is which is the best academic school that will give him a full ride scholarship. The baseball program ought to be a very distant second or third (after how does he like the school) in the criteria.

I would advise him to go to Long Beach State. Good team with a huge field that doesn't seem to abuse pitchers. I might even advise going to a Junior College as a draft and follow. I would avoid programs such as Stanford or Rice that push the limit on pitcher usage. The educational opportunity will always be there later, but the money may not.

I might try to get the team to let him spend the fall semester in school and working out per their regiment, and the rest of the year playing. Especially in the tender early years, it might be a good way to limit injury and prevent injury.

Choose the best school in terms of academics and baseball program (one that won't abuse him) and go from there. At least if his arm falls off, he can still be a Biochemist like his old man. If he does develop, he'll have an education to go along with the big money and the fabulous prizes.

Why not have your cake and eat it too?  ;)

What sort of masochist wants to play in the minors for 3-4 (or more) years before making it to the majors? It can't be much fun compared to the college atmosphere.

Ultimately it comes down to what my son wanted.  If he's not dedicated to being a true student/athlete and they crave the pros, it's better to take the money and run rather than waste their time and possibly talent at a school.

At University you learn more about yourself and what you want to do than at any tie in your life, only point you are free to really choose your own destiny.  Who knows, maybe he is just pitching because I pushed him into it, in which case he aint gonna make it anyway.

By all means if he can get into a place like Stanford, you take it a million times over!

An 'education' never comes later, it is pretty much a one time ticket.  How many flameouts have gone back to school?  How many that DID, went to good schools?  Not many that is for damn sure, "I spent 5 years in Oklhoma working on my curve doesn't really make em bang down your door eh?

Even if it is a gauranteed $400,000, you tell him to get his ass to school.  The difference in expected lifetime income of somone who doesn't go to school in the next generation DWARFS that $400,000.  Remember what is used to be like if you didn't have a high school degree?  That is what it is going to be like for people who don't have a BA soon, just look.

If you push the kid into the draft, you are completely gambling his future, he probably isn't going to be a hall of famer, so if develops he can do it in school, he might hurt his arm a little, but the tradeoff in terms of if he fails is just too much to ignore.

Better be smart and go to school.  I guarantee college is a hell of a lot more fun than playing in the minors.  Plus you get an education that can lead to even more $$$$ down the road than a minor league contract.  Besides, I wouldn't think that going to college was a huge hindrance on his development as a player.

It'd be an easy decision for any child of mine.

Second, I get someone smart (Like John) to lay out accurately just what his options are and tell him that he's a man, it's his decision.  A friend of mine faced a similar situation recently, graduate school or returning to play soccer for the Mexican Women's soccer team.  Like my advice to her was, I would say to him that college will still be there in 2 or three years if things don't work out, but this opportunity might not come around again if you wait until after 2-3 years of college/grad school.  Though he MUST put his signing bonus into savings because there's no way I'm paying for him to go to college if he blos a 100k signing bonus.

He could also start working on a degree during the winter.

Second, he could take some classes over the winter, and if the team thought highly enough of him, he could probably sign and be assigned to a junior college  to be developed there instead of in the minor leagues.  

Go pro... unless he doesn't want it.

My other thought is that with pitchers- they can injure their arm at any time so why not take the shot while it's there and get the money.
I'll have to stick with that thought-  go for the draft and take a shot.

Go to a warm weather school where you are able to play more outside and get use to the weather.  

Stay out of trouble, and dont get injured and themoney will be there in budles when you are out.  If you get hurt or pro ball doesnt pan out, then you have half your way through college and can get your degree.

How much does the money mean to you, and are you willing to risk it all for more?  Could easily be called, "What's your price?"

We're all whores... all we negotiate on is price.

Someplace where he can place ball and get a great education.

Sending him to someplace like U. of Kansas, while great, doesn't cash in on his athlete status.

Get him into the best school you can while he has that young arm.

If things look like they're working out, he can turn pro as a junior and finish school later.

However, after playing four years of college baseball and watching many a game over the past few years, my answer today would be to SIGN ON THE DOTTED LINE ASAP!  College coaches are paid to win first, develop second.  I've seen way too many 143-pitch, 8-inning outings for my liking.  Also, take a look at what professional organizations are doing with their teenage arms (Brandon Erbe comes to mind).  5 Inn, 75 pitches.  There's no way Erbe comes out after 75 pitches if he's throwing for LSU in a weekend SEC tilt.  

If it's your son's dream to play ball professionally then he'll probably choose to sign.  If not, he'll probably go to college, get smart, and hopefully improve enough to get picked higher in four years.  

Both choices are solid, well-reasoned approaches and both can serve a young ballplayer well.  To argue which is the correct choice is fine and dandy; just remember whose choice it is...Mr. Marinovich.

High school seniors aren't adults and I thought the question was what advice you would give, not whether the kid should take it.

I didn't realize college baseball didn't provide full-ride scholarships. The bonuses in the third and fourth round are in the $300-400,000 range. That puts the weight heavily on the side of signing. Unless the kid has a clear direction for school, he's better off taking the money. He can spend his winters going to classes while working out. Or go back to school when the baseball career is over.  

Not really. Not in the context of making decisions about their life without adult guidance.

If he develops accordingly, he'll still get his chance to try out for the Show in the future.  If he doesn't (as is more likely), then he has an elite education to fall back on, and will have a wide array of options open.

Even down the line, the smart jock does pretty well, especially should he be interested in some field of work where networking is important (i.e. banking, lobbying, politics, etc.)