Rob Ludeman is back. When he first came on The Struggle Bubble in Season 1, his son Matt was a two-sport senior at Los Gatos High — starting at center in football playoffs and on the mount for baseball's post season. Matt's now a freshman pitcher at University of the Pacific, and Rob stopped by to discuss what it took to get there and his takeaways as a father.

The recruiting process that came down to two late-season outings and a phone call between coaches. The D1-vs-JUCO decision that almost went the other way. The summer training programs that started the day he signed. The daily grind of college baseball where every hitter in the lineup was the best player at their high school and some of your teammates are 24 years old.

Rob talks about what travel ball actually contributed (zero recruiting videos watched, for the record), why multi-sport athletes have an edge, and what he'd tell himself ten years ago: put the scorebook away and just watch the game.

If you're a parent in the thick of youth sports wondering what the end of this road actually looks like — this is the episode.