<p>My nephew started getting invited to showcases after soph year of HS and had been on a summer travel team for years. Also was varsity at his HS starting in 9th grade. College coaches started talking to him at the showcases and at travel team tournaments. Not so much at HS games.</p>
<p>By senior year he had a couple of junior college offers with $$$ and a couple of D-I schools (including his top choice for academics) without $$. He had a 29 ACT, 3.5 UW, four APs, so was an attractive candidate in terms of academic admissions, too. Being a strong student will help a lot with being able to balance classes vs. athletics. He chose a junior college in the midwest that noone on CC has heard of, but has an excellent reputation for developing pitchers and placing them into D-I programs as juniors (with $$) and into the pros. </p>
<p>My sister said that a lot of my nephew’s decision focused on the coach and his philosophy. There were a couple of schools that he steered clear of, because the coaches were more focused on winning games now vs. developing students for the next level (academically and athletically). A couple of his friends burned out arms because coaches didn’t emphasize training enough. He has been very pleased with his coach and the suggestions he has made to improve velocity and preserve the health of his arm via strength and weight training. He has built up his legs in the past year and it really helped his pitching. </p>
<p>He is now a soph, has gotten his fastball to 92 mph, and has had 14 D-II and 9 D-I colleges contact him so far this fall, as well as four professional teams who are interested in drafting him. His coach loves that my nephew understands the science behind pitching and is able to explain it to others. Thinks he will make an excellent pitching coach down the road. </p>
<p>This has been my nephew’s dream since he was six years old. He may never get to the major leagues, but he is giving it every thing he’s got.</p>