Recruitment Question

This has been one of the best informed threads yet...thanks guys...and keep on posting!!!!

I'd like to hear from the better half ( Sugarjet, mamaslam and ratdd ) on their experience with recruiting

 

No.......

calls and or letters YOU the player go out and get what you want and where youthink you can contribute! Get recommendations verbally i e phone calls from your coaches you have played with or better yet intensive letters expressing your interest! NAME players are gonna get them coming it is those the VAST majority of those "borderline" sub highly touted DI prospects in which will have to be very ver pro active in getting to go and play where you want to! HS Coach can be crucial in this process sometimes! Thoughts?? :xyzthumbs

 

Agreed...a HS coach can play a big role in helping, but it is not his responsibility to promote his players. Some do and do a great job.....but it is up to the player and parents to be active in this area.

Ryan Cook is a great example. He took it upon himself to contact schools...write letters and send summer and fall schedules. Due to his being pro active, Ryan caught the attention of a particular school and signed a baseball scholarship to Brevard. If it wasn't for he and his parents being aggressive, he would not be playing at the next level.

 

I deal with this issue regularly, as it's part of my business. Be open to playing in other than Division I, because the majority of college-caliber athletes are going to be playing D-II, D-III or NAIA ball. It's all about numbers -- there are more baseball teams in the lower divisions than among the high D-Is.


If a coach calls, congratulations. You may be high on his list. If not, it doesn't mean you're not going to get recruited. I have six seniors this year -- four in baseball. Two other seniors decided not to play baseball and soccer in college. My first two commitments didn't come until January, when they signed with NJCAA Region X champion Surry Community College. I had a football kicker to commit in March to Wofford (a month after National Signing Day for football). A pitcher signed with Erskine just after the start of the late signing period, and my wrestler just signed last week with Carson-Newman (same signing periods as baseball). My final senior just last week received an offer from Brevard College.

So out of six athletes, only one went D-I; two went to D-II and two went JUCO, with the last one very close to signing NAIA. In addition, they came all during the year. Depending on your ability and how well you're known, it can happen early for you, but if it doesn't, don't fret; some colleges are still, believe it or not, looking for players -- and they will be again this time next year. That's just how it's done.

 

One other thing: Be careful if you choose to go the route of a scouting service. National Scouting Report is the oldest and therefore has a strong reputation with college coaches. Many of our competitors are literally here now and will be out of business within a year. In addition, some will take your money just to put your information on the Internet (when was the last time you knew a college coach to surf the web for players?) without regard to your skills; I actually scout prospects and decide from that whether or not I want to represent them. If you want to go it alone, good luck; just don't get caught with a fly-by-night that will leave you without your money and without a scholarship. Do your homework.

 

First - each player’s baseball talent, academic talent, and college goals are unique and will make a difference in how you approach recruiting. The schools and coaches you talk to are all different. So don’t take anything you read here or elsewhere as a recipe for the recruiting process – everything is in a particular context and you must apply that advice to your particular case. A top 100 player getting recruited by major colleges is different from an all conference player trying to find a D1 is different from a guy who loves baseball and just wants to find any D3 that will let him have a uniform.

Our situation was a fine player (all conference but not all state), fine student, (but not top of the class), and baseball was a major part of the college decision, but not the only criteria. He signed with a D1 school.

Here are my observations on our son’s college search during the last year…

What does the player want out of the college baseball experience? Some kids want to try to play in the ACC or SEC even if they risk not making a team or playing. Some kids love baseball but don’t want the time commitment of D1. Our son wanted to find the highest level of competition where he would still have a very good chance to get playing time, whether that was D1, D2, or D3.

What is the real talent level of the player? Think about the numbers for a minute. In North Carolina, there are 15 D1 baseball programs and about 350 high schools. Say each college takes 10 new kids a year – then subtract the jucos and the kids from out of state – and that means on average maybe one kid from every three or four high schools is going to play D1 ball. There just aren’t very many slots.

While you can make some broad generalizations about D1, D2, and D3 talent – there are huge differences within each division. A D3 school that is consistently in the top 20 in the nation would likely be very competitive against the lower level D1s.

Here’s something that I have not seen others mention, but I think the best piece of advice I can offer: College counselors talk about safety and stretch schools academically. Look at baseball the same way. Last September we found a D3 that was very interested in our son for baseball, academically was a “safety” school, and had rolling admissions. He applied and was admitted, and so by October he had a place he liked and knew he could go. It was a great feeling and then he could concentrate on seeing if he could find a D1.

I hope that your high school coach is as helpful as our son’s. First, he provided helpful advice and objective conversation about his abilities and was someone our son could talk to who was not his parent. Second, at the beginning of his senior year, the coach told our son to bring him names of 4 D1s, 4 D2s, and 4 D3s that he was interested in, and he would call their coaches. In addition, he called a couple others where he had contacts and he thought would make a good fit. And after our son attended a camp at a particular school, the coach followed up a week later to see whether they had any interest. I can safely say our son would not have the scholarship he has today without the help of his high school coach.

Our son went to a showcase camp the winter of his junior year and summer between junior and senior year. My observation was that 10% of the kids were fantastic, 10% of the kids don’t belong, and the middle 80% look pretty darn much alike and don’t stand out from each other. Our son was in that group, and odds are you will be as well. He got lots of interest from D3s and only minor interest from D1s. Going to a bunch more showcases isn’t going to make you any better. You’ve got to do something to stand out from that crowd and get noticed. We identified some mid-major D1 schools that might likely be interested and went to camps at two of those schools. As a result of going to one of those camps, our son got an offer.

The campus visit is important. We wound up making visits to 3 D1s and 3 D3 schools (we never found a D2 that was a good fit for both academics and baseball). It is pretty amazing how in four hours you can get such a different feeling about each school and each baseball program. Our son spent the night with ballplayers in the dorm at 2 schools, and at a third spent several hours going out to lunch and hanging out. It was really important in getting a perspective on the program and the kids that are in it.

One good place to look for advice is the High School Baseball Web message board:
http://hsbaseballweb.com/6/ubb.x?cdra=Y&s=5316041581

Finally, as much as you think your son ought to be chomping at the bit to find a college, you’ll probably enjoy the journey more than he. From my point of view, I'm thinking college was a fantastic time of my life and getting to play baseball would just make it even better. From his point of view, it's a huge change in his life. He’s a star player right now, and it’s a little scary to think about trying to make a team again at a whole new level. He’s a senior with tons of friends, and going to college means leaving all that behind. You’ve likely been telling him not to brag on his abilities for the last 17 years, and now you’re telling him to write a letter to a coach saying he’s a great player. He’s got to worry about getting accepted at a college.

So be patient and enjoy the time you get to spend with him in the car rides on all those visits.

-jda

 

jda ......

What a fabulous post. There is a ton of wisdom in it too.

 

That is an awesome post, and you can take it from someone who works with this kind of thing every day -- particularly about the 10-10-80.

 

Wow jda...your post belongs in the TBR Hall of Fame. Thank you for taking the time to post such an informative response. It's post like these that helps remind me why I started this forum in the first place....thank you!!!!

 

Great Post jda!!! One of the best I have read on this or any other site! :applause: :applause: :applause: