It’s a process with any athlete, regardless of talent
You don’t finish your high school career and debut in MLB the next day
Even if you’re a once in a generation Derek Jeter type prospect, there’s still multiple years in the minor leagues maturing and growing before you’re ready for MLB
And in this case, 74-76mph HS SR rooted to the bench and might get cut, it was going to require a lot of the hardest aspect of The Process: “working in the dark” as we call it
Working in the dark is the hardest work. It means applying yourself daily in many ways with no one cheering, no one caring, no one even knowing what you’re up to.
What we all enjoy is the above ground work. The stage, the work everyone sees, where everything comes together and I’m enjoying the low ERA and the velocity PR’s.
The reality though is that the stage only comes with the work put in with no one looking, with no one applauding you. The frustrations, the ups and downs. Only with the work in the dark is the success in the light possible.
We discussed the goal was a 4 year school, and a scholarship.
Not trying out, not showing up at a Juco, not filling the back end of a roster paying 60k a year, but scholarship. That was the goal.
Bearing in mind only 7.1% of high school baseball players play at ANY level of college, let alone scholarship
He would take General Education credits at UNLV that would transfer easily when the time came, devote himself to his new program, and prepare for summer ball the following summer which would serve essentially as a tryout for college ball
That would leave him basically 17 months to transform himself from a high school bench sitter, to a scholarship college athlete.
It was time to go to work in the dark
-Fenske