Conditioning

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Followup To

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Followup To

Question -
I am an 18 year old freshman entering college and I'm trying to train to get onto my college's baseball team. The problem though is that I have not played competitively for about 4 years and therefore have not been scouted, and have not played beyond 2 games in high school. But I've been training and according to others around me they say I can still make it if I try. They say I'm fast and have a great outfield arm. I can hit 80 m.p.h. just fine. I have a couple questions. Should I even bother with this little experience? If so, how should I go about training? (As a left fielder who goes for hits rather than home runs)

Answer -
Mark,

It would just depend on the school and how good you are.  I would work on my speed, leads, breaks, and trying to excel in a tryout setting.  If you can find a team to latch on to - do it and play a few games during the rest of the summer.

Good luck,

Pat


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OK, thanks for the advice. Unfortunately the team is a D-1 school, the Wright State Raiders, which made a trip to Oregon State and lost there during the NCAA tournament. I've been told I could try out for my Community College, Sinclair, if I do not make the Raiders. The Raiders had their Left and Right Fielders graduate last year, leaving my position open. How likely is it that they've found someone to take those positions?

Answer -
I would tell you that walking on to the WSU team would be tough.  Coach Cooper is really good and it will be competitive.  I'm certain that he wouldn't leave those 2 spots to chance.  I would consider Sinclair.  Coach Goldschmidt does a good job and success there could lead to a scholarship to a 4 yr school.  Urbana University is right up the road and their coach is one of the best young coaches in the game, Brian Harrison.  If finances are an issue, Shawnee State in Portsmouth is cheaper than WSU and has been down for a few yrs.  There are certainly opportunities there.  There coaches name is Tom bergan and his # is 740-351-3537.

Hope that helps.

Pat

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Thanks for the advice, really thats going to help a lot, but I have one more question. I have already been accepted into WSU and due to my major I really can't attend anywhere else to get the quality of education I want without going overboard, since baseball is more or less a chance route due to my lack of play. My friend claims that although I attend WSU, I can still play for the Sinclair team. Is this so? If it is, how do I go about doing so? If not, what options are available for me to get scouted if I cannot play for any colleges?

Answer
You would not be able to play for Sinclair unless you were a full time student there.  While there are creative ways to do that (transfer there for the semester of there season only to return to WSU the next) it's probably more trouble than it's worth.  As far as getting scouted...there are typically numerous tryout camps all over the region in the summers.  Paste the link below into your browser and you'll be able to access some dates:

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/official_info/about_mlb/tryout_club.jsp

Good luck -Pat