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Most Valuable Agent with Matt Hannaford
Your 10-Year-Old Doesn't Need Year-Round Baseball (An MLB Agent Explains Why)
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All right, welcome back to another episode of the Most Valuable Agent Podcast. I'm your host, Matt Hannaford. And if you are a fan of this podcast, you know that not only am I the host, but I'm also an agent for Major League baseball players. And so being that I am somebody who is kind of out there in the industry going to these travel baseball tournaments, it does provide me a pretty unique opportunity to share some of these stories and things that I've seen throughout my time as an agent and really most recently kind of on the, you know, on the trail, so to speak. So one of the most common questions that I get from parents is really talking about sports these days, and primarily baseball being a year round sport. And I think that there is this fear of missing out that occurs with parents. So much so that families, even with kids as young as 10, 11, 12 years old, they think that their sons can't afford to play a second sport. And this is something that I've addressed on this podcast a multitude of times. Whether I've had college recruiting coordinators talk about the subject, whether I've had area scouts and national cross checkers and regional cross checkers talk about this subject. The response, and really the, the answer is always the same. It will undoubtedly benefit your son, assuming he wants to play two sports, to in fact play two sports and maybe even three. I'm certainly not telling you that you have to play three. But the reason I'm giving you that bit of information and that piece of advice is because I think the opposite, again, is just assumed. Naturally today there is so much baseball to be played, right? If, if Your son is 10 years old and you're just kind of getting into the travel baseball thing, I'm sure you've looked at a schedule and you've seen how, wow, there's literally tournaments every single month throughout the whole season. How could we possibly play another sport? And the reality of it is, is, well, you can't play another sport if you're going to play in a tournament every single month. So what you have to figure out is, and remember when you were a kid, when is the baseball season? Well, the baseball season is in the spring season, right? And maybe part of the summer. But if your son, let's just say, also plays football, well, when does football practice start? It probably starts over the summer. So your son would be playing baseball up until the point in time where he would then let football take over and then he would play football. And as a parent, you know, and if you're thinking this way, Like, I've gotten this question, well, Matt, yeah, but, you know, is my son going to develop as well as he would be developing if he was just playing baseball year round? And I think the thing that you have to do is you have to listen to the people who are experts in this field and see what they say. And again, having talked to these people, they all say relatively the same thing. Play multiple sports. It's going to increase your athleticism. It's going to improve a lot of things about how you train, but it's going to maintain that athleticism. And that's one of the biggest things that these scouts and colleges look for when they scout players. And so don't, don't think about it from the standpoint of, you know, at, at 10 years old, my son has to hurry up and maximize his abilities. I think what we first need to realize is let's, let's think about it over the period of years. Where does my son need to be at come 16, 17, 18 years old? And how, if we're 10 years old right now, let's say, how can we utilize multiple sports in the time being to give us a better chance at 16, 17, 18? And then you can ultimately decide at what age you want to have him. Just focus on one sport. It just doesn't need to be at the young age of 10, 11, 12, even 13. And so I was somebody who played baseball, basketball, football, hockey. And I recognize I'm 45 now, and this was a different time, but how many players do you know? You know, they get into high school and they've played multiple sports, and then they feel like, oh, well, I can only choose one sport now because they think if they don't choose the one sport that they're going to somehow be left behind. And I think now more than ever, the language around multiple sports is probably as consistent as ever with people saying it is, it is not the time to only play one sport. The other thing that I will touch on as I, as I speak about this is I've gotten many questions from families saying, if, if our son plays another sport, what other sport should he play? And I think what we first have to start with is really more common sense. What son, what sport does your son want to play? If your son doesn't like football, don't make him play football. If he doesn't like basketball, don't make him play basketball. If your son likes golf. Now, again, you have to think about it from the standpoint of, well, he can't play two sports in the spring, right. If he's playing baseball. So he needs to pick another sport that he could play at different times in the year. But I don't think you need to first start with what sport should it be. I think it's ask him what sport would he enjoy? Because if he doesn't enjoy it, he's not going to be good at it and he's not going to have interest in playing it or working at it for that matter. So that's where I would start. So I want to give you an example if you go back and listen to my episode with Michael Garcia Par. Now, Michael is Nomar Garcia Par's brother. Michael was a first round draft pick by the Seattle Mariners. He currently is an area scout with the St. Louis Cardinals. He also runs his own travel ball program that he refers to as a collegiate development program. He was someone who played four sports in high school. He played soccer, he ran track, he played baseball, and he played one more. And I think it was maybe basketball, if I'm not mistaken. But he was somebody who as he was scouted for baseball and he was committed to the University of Tennessee as he was scouted in baseball. If you talk to the scout that drafted him, he was one of the guys that would tell people the reason why he was so athletic as a shortstop is because of the skills that he learned from soccer. And so that's a perfect example of the residual effect that you receive when you're a multi sport athlete. Not to mention, if your son does play multiple sports and he is good enough to be drafted, let's say, or scouted in college, I would assume that those scouts and the college recruiting coordinators not only will scout him playing baseball, they will also want to scout him playing those other sports. Not because he has the chance to go pro in those other sports, but because they're looking to see that athleticism, they're looking to see maybe that leadership. How does he handle himself? How does he lead the team? If he's a basketball player, let's say, how does he play defense? Like it all tells a story. And so think about that. If you, if a scout or a college recruiting coordinator is going to those lengths to watch the other sport, shouldn't that tell you that that actually has an impact, that that matters? Now, with that being said, there's obviously injuries that are a risk as well. So if, if your son is dealing with injuries, I'm certainly not encouraging you to ignore those injuries so that he can play multiple sports. So you just need to be again Think common sensically about this. Just be more mindful. Assuming he can and he has an interest, play as, play as many sports as he can. Right. If he has no interest in other sports, then don't make them. I don't think you have to force him to do anything that he doesn't want to do. I think the initial goal is you want your son to be a kid and you want him to enjoy himself. So start there and then work and operate from that place rather than, you know, at 10, 11, 12. We need to hurry up and make sure that our son is going to be a professional when he has an opportunity to. That is not how this thing should be going. So I hope that is helpful and it addresses the question about whether or not your son could or should play multiple sports. So I get asked the question a lot is the pressure to play year round baseball killing multiple sports? And I would tell you I think that certainly is having an impact on players feeling like they can play multiple sports. I think it comes from a couple different places. Number one, I think it comes from the travel baseball industry. I think the travel baseball world, whether it's travel ball coaches, you know, these tournaments do happen kind of throughout the year. There is, there is a little bit of a downtime, you know, which is right around like the holidays, but otherwise there are tournaments going on all the time. And so oftentimes when you commit to play for a travel baseball organization, that organization, depending on which one you've chosen, may tell you you can't miss a tournament. You got to play with us with all these various tournaments. And so I think the pressure from some of these coaches certainly adds to feeling like you can't possibly play another sport. I think it also comes potentially from a high school coach a, at a really competitive high school. Now I know plenty of high school coaches at good high schools who encourage their players to play multiple sports. But I also am aware that there are others that actually don't encourage it, that don't feel like it's okay that their star baseball player plays football because they have fall ball and he wants that player to be training with them or being around the team as much as possible. And so I think that certainly has added a layer to why so many people are no longer doing it. And then the last thing I would say is just the money involved in, in youth sports nowadays. Right. I think so many families could see the, the signing bonuses out of the draft increase year over year. And I think parents and players see that and recognize, well, if I have a chance in a couple years to do that. I want to make sure that I am leaving no stone unturned and I'm doing everything possible to be that potential first round pick or second round pick or whomever. And so I think all of that kind of collectively comes together and makes a player feel like, you know, maybe I'm better served just to pick one sport and just leave it at that. But I will tell you, I'm certainly not telling you what to do, but if you are an athlete who enjoys playing multiple sports, and you are, you know, anywhere from 10 to, I would say 15 years old, I certainly would encourage playing multiple sports and then giving it time. And then if eventually you get to a place at 16, 17, 18 years old where you feel like it's now time to choose one, then do it at that point. But you don't need to hurry up and make that decision and, and minimize the ability to play multiple sports that early. So if your son actually does play year round baseball, then you can't play another sport. I'm certainly not suggesting that you go to baseball practice, basketball practice and all these various practices. I mean, I think there might, maybe you could thread the needle a little bit. I just think it's probably a little reckless physically. You know, if you're training with baseball and let's just say you're also training with basketball during the same time, I think you got to be mindful that, you know, if you're choosing to play multiple sports during that sports season, you need to devote your time and energy to that other sport. So if you're considering playing two sports, I'm not saying you need to continue playing baseball year round and then add a sport to that. What I would recommend is during the baseball season you play baseball and again, depending on the sport that it is, if it's football, then over the summer, obviously you have to play football. I don't think there's going to be time for you to also play baseball and football. If it's basketball. I know basketball takes place more in like the winter months. So during that period of time then obviously you need to devote your time to basketball. And then come the springtime, baseball. Now if you're listening to this and you're thinking, well, my son's 17, 18 years old and we want him to get recruited for college. This feels a little reckless, like shouldn't he be devoting more time to baseball? And yeah, what I'm saying is if your son is younger, then that is the time to play Multiple sports. If he has not played multiple sports and now he's 17, 18 years old, I'm not suggesting that just like, forget baseball, go play multiple sports now. I'm saying if Your son is 10, 11, 12 and he has a desire and a passion to play multiple sports, or he's currently playing multiple sports and you're wrestling with, should he give it all up just to play baseball? I would tell you I don't think it makes sense to give it all up and only play one sport unless he is completely just done with the other sports and no longer has a passion for it and feels like, you know, he's wasting his time, then sure. But I guess the thing that I want to make sure people understand, I'm not. This isn't advice. That's like a math equation where it's, if you do A plus B then C will be the result. Like that's not what I'm telling you. It's, you need to be a parent to your son, like talk to him. What does he want? Does he want to play multiple sports? If he does, then I think, and I'm encouraging you to be open minded to that idea. But if he doesn't, then don't force him to do it. It's pretty, I mean, this may sound basic, but it's, it's pretty basic. Just don't fall victim to this, this, this noise from the industry that at 10 years old, at 12 years old, you've got to hurry up and play year round baseball or you're going to be left behind. That's not the case. If you're going to be left behind at 10, 11, 12, if literally not playing year round is the reason why your son's not going to make it, then he's probably not good enough in the first place. And I know that may sting a little bit, but like that's how crazy that is to say he's 10, 11, 12, you don't know how good he is yet. And so what I'm suggesting is if he plays multiple sports, let him continue to do it and then make the decision down the road. When you have more information, when you figure out how good is my son now, right, at 15, when now you maybe have a little bit more leeway to see how he's grown, how he's improved, then make the decision. But just, you don't need to hurry up and make the decision at such a young age. I think that's, that's a mistake a lot of parents are making. All right, thank you for joining another episode of the Most Viable Agent podcast. I'm assuming that this episode may have struck a nerve with you. And for that look, at the end of the day, I just want to make sure that each one of these episodes gets us closer to a smarter player and a stronger family. And so if I've done that today, then I have done my job. As always, if you enjoyed the episode, please, like, subscribe to the podcast and share with the family. We're here to serve. So any future episodes or any future topics that you guys want me to cover, please send them to me via dm and I'd be happy to. So until next time, make it a wonderful day.