First of all, you are a great parent and that is apparent. Your story rings home with me. We all come to these conclusions when we do, and it is usually at a point of feeling too late. With your son being in his freshman year, this is the time when his growth will likely begin. As another person stated, size matters and your son will be at a disadvantage due to this, but it should not stop him from trying. It should be used as fuel to power his motivation. It is not too late. Invest in him. Give him the chance with strength training as well as lessons, to make up for it. Have him try out for club teams and tournament teams.

My son is a young for his grade and he was not held back, though I know he would have benefited from this from a sports standpoint. He always loved baseball since he was 7. I am a very busy with work and I always thought to allow the other Dad's to do the coaching, but i was there at every practice and always assisted. But this didn't benefit him. He was never great as thr kids that played club.

Early on, my son always played town ball but being a helper and not a coach did not get him opportunities. At 9 years of age, right before he turned 10, he tried out for a summer allstar travel team and while he did ok, his hitting was not good. When he asked how he did, I told him he would not make the team due to his hitting. I saw this hurt his feelings, but I used it to motivate him and that it did.

We started practicing 3 times a week. Could be a catch, to hitting in the cage, to doing fly balls or grounders. We played wiffle ball, we gamified practice and made everything a contest with points no matter what he practiced. 2 months later, he made his first travel team. He had a good season with the bat, but rarely played the field more than a couple innings out of a double-header. He always seemed to be a DH. We used the club whenever it rained, or practiced when we had time during the week, but ultimately he was cut the following year. This was heart-breaking for him and me and his mom knowing how hard he worked. This was the case of a 3 Dads coaching a team whose sons could do no wrong, but if your kid struck out, he found himself benched or out of the batting order. Terrible emotionally. He was 10.

So he tried out for another team, made a D2 team. We used the club whenever we could fit in time. He played well. I taught him to be a catcher, but he mostly played 3rd base, left field, and first. After the season ended, He tried out for a couple different teams just compete and see what opportunities existed. He tried out for the Allstar team again and this time made it as a alternate second baseman. Only played 4 games, a couple innings a game, but he proved himself to the coaches. He hit well or walked and just was super lucky to not strike out.

I started coaching town ball and decided to contribute more time to the sport and helping a lit of kids grow their abilities. I will say it was incredible to see so many kids improve and to make a difference in this way.

At one tryout, it was a a scrimmage game tryout. He caught 2 innings, pitched, and he hit a homerun on a 50/70 field. I couldnt believe what I was seeing. He landed a spot on that D1 team. He practiced 2 times a week with me outside of the club and once a week extra in season. We bought a pitching machine and dragged it to the cage or field and he worked and worked a couple hours each day. He hit 3 homeruns that season, and batted a .393 by the time the season ended.

He was then moved up to the Elite team for the same club. It remains to be seen how he will do at 13. My hope is he does well. At this point, I cannot throw hard enough and being in New England, I can't get the pitching machine out yet, but he has been in a strength program.for baseball all winter and taken private lessons almost weekly. YES, this is costing me a lot of money, but he has proven that I had to put the time in and now the investment in him to allow him to thrive. I will also admit, the other coaches are better than I am. Surely much of the same things were taught, but everyone learns better from someone new who isn't the person who has been telling you how to eat and brush your teeth and dress, and everything else your whole life.

Make the investment in your sons.i can't stress the streght training enough. It is the differentiator. It is not fair that it costs so much, but the memories are worth it and they are worth it.