High School Rejection

Hi Gary
Whew! that's allways and always, one of a dad's toughest jobs. A couple of thoughts:
You mentioned that as a catcher, his arm might not be strong enough. Read this carefully now...it's crucial. Only one third...read that? one third of a peg's efficiency has anything to do with ball speed. Your son can make his peg absolutely deadly by working on the other two thirds of the elapsed time issue, which is really the only issue. For instance: If his control is perfect, even every throw, if its late it makes no difference. My son is a big galumpus (6'4" 235 lbs. at age 17)
His highschool coach had him in tears almost every night about "slow feet"
He took a long time to uncoil, move his feet, and get the throw away. One night I just got angry at the situation and said, "Aw he-- son, so don't uncoil!
Just drop a knee and throw it from a knee." The very next day, he just did it...in a district ball game for goodness sake. Surprise! That taunted base stealer didn't even finish his run to second. He just threw his hands up and laughed, because our 2nd baseman was standing there with the ball in his hand and a big grin on his face as the runner looked up to measure for his slide.

The coach never said a word after that. He just stood around and grinned a lot. (That year 27 steal attempts and three made it. The next year the word was out: 6 attempts, one safe.)
John was invited down to the astrodome for a one on one try-out and got an offer. Then Padres camp and got an offer. Then Diamondbacks camp where the scout yelled "We don't believe in pegging from a knee in our organization...stand and throw it". A scout from another organization piped up (he had sneaked in, hah,) and yelled,
"Hey idiot, we don't care about your religious beliefs! Look at your stopwatch, stupid!" I cracked up, because I had timed the "pop to Pop" myself....1.85 seconds...probably the best peg he had ever thrown to that time.
What all this is about, Gary, is that when your son is in a corner, teach him to get radical, and attack. Quit being a "mechanic", reach down inside himself, and find that unique suite of gifts God gave just to him.

Thought: A college scholarship pays you or your son about thirty cents an hour for his time.

Thought: College level ball and beyond isn't going to be much fun any more. Too much pressure.

Thought: No matter how good he gets, he's hired help, and one injury and he's gone.

Thought: Most college coaches want to have their players get a degree in basket weaving. My son's pre-med labs drove his coach crazy.

Finally: To peg good, the other two thirds of the elapsed time on a peg are,
1. the snatch-back of the mitt as the ball transfer occurs.

2.The "curled arm-elbow-out" release.

work on those every playing catch session.

Also tell your son that this day is inevitable, (if he's cut), if even only because he gets too old. Then hug him a big one.

Bean