Help interpreting feedback from camp

The pop's for a D3 are solid. the notes say to me he needs fundamental work.

Offensive notes are exit Velo is very very low. The comments of needs to connect lower body with upper, utilize lower half and develop extension, combined with the catching notes lead me to think that he hasn't had enough if any high level instruction.

if he is going to play in college my thought is a local CC first to work on his swing and over all game for a year, then reevaluate.

Learning,

This evaluation and your questions about it show the basic difference between how parents and coaches/scouts evaluate players.

Parents look at the outcomes of plays and extrapolate success at the next level from success at the current level.

Coaches and scouts aren't particuarly impressed when high school catchers make good enough throws to catch high school base stealers who don't have the speed and technique that college base stealers have.  Their focus is on the next level. How will his tools and technique play in college? What woud happen if you put this catcher in a college game, trying to hit college pitching, trying to receive college pitches, and trying to control the college running game?

This evaluation tells you that although your son is making plays, he needs to work on his game to be ready to make that jump.

I think you have received a very valuable assessment. It gives a basis to believe your son has ability worth developing, but it also says he needs to get busy right away with qualified instructors to develop that ability.

Best wishes,

Agree with what Swampboy has said.

Excellent arm strength (DI level) Need to improve release time. Pop times still play, but if improved would be much above DIII level. The other comments are simply about improving technique. Think of being a sponge rather than a shield.

Weak bat at this point.  Sounds like it is more because of poor technique rather than physical weakness.

This actually sounds like a good evaluation that can be very beneficial to your son if he wants to be as good as he can be.  This sounds like the kind of camp I would send my son to, if they weren't all in their 40s.

I believe it's important that all players that attend a camp learn something that can help them.  Even better would have been to show the proper technique.  So often kids go to camps for recruiting purposes and only care to hear about their strengths and how good they are.  When what would benefit them the most is hearing what their weaknesses are.

You didn't mention anything else.  Did they do any other testing at the camp? Best of luck to your son.

Agree with what everyone else has said.  My thought on the "target down" comment is not where his throws are going, but where he holds his glove, as a target, for the pitchers.  My guess is he is holding his glove too high up in the strike zone.  He should be giving the pitcher a target at or below the knees.  My guess is he's up above the knees somewhere.  If a pitcher threw to a target between mid-thigh high and the belt, those pitches would get crushed.

I haven't seen what he actually does, but that's what I would think that comment meant.

Thanks everyone - very helpful feedback.  bballman what you say about the target makes sense -I didn't think about it that way - I saw a high throw down to second during the game at the camp (still got the runner out) and assumed it was about that  - but you are probably right I will look out for that.  Can't say I've noticed one way or the other.

Not sure what other testing they did - will have to ask him.  He only caught two innings during a game - got one out stealing 2nd and a close one at 3rd but didn't get the out there.  Went one for three at bat.  We will start looking for someone to work with him on batting technique.  Sounds like a very clear area for improvement to focus on.

Reads to me like your kid has some upside potential as a catcher but that he needs to put in some serious work to realize it.  Also it reads like his hitting mechanics need some pretty serious  work. 

If I were him and I wanted a chance to play at the next level,  I'd make working on those things very high priorities for the fall and the winter.   

But that does leaves the question, how does he get to play at the next level and what level is appropriate?

 I think for a player like your son appears to be -- with some discernible upside but also with some real work to do to get there -- you've got to think longer term.  So maybe the JC route would be best course right one, as old_school suggest. 

But a lot depends on what he wants out of school  and what kind of student he is. If he's more academically ambitious than baseball ambitious but still wants to play, a solid D3 might be the thing.  D3 come in a wide variety though, so finding the right fit takes some leg work. 

Thing is he probably wouldn't be regarded as  "the man" coming in for the most highly competitive D3's.  That is, he's probably not the sort of player that a coach at  a strong D3 will want to spend chips on for early admissions for example -- the deadlines for which are coming up pretty darned soon.  

But even if he doesn't get the coach's help and has to get in on his own, if he can do that and if he shows up in the fall having worked hard to get to where he needs to be, at many D3's he'll be given a chance to compete at the minimum.  That's not much, but it's something.  

Of course, I should also say that  it seems that some  D3 are more welcoming  to players who show up "over the transom," as it were, than others.  So you'd have to choose wisely there, too.

I would tell the  kid that it is in reach if he really wants it, but that if he really wants  it, he has to go and work his butt off to get it.  Plus you guys have a lot of leg work to do to figure out where that best fit might be.

Best of luck.

I wish all camps gave honest and helpful assessments , sounds like a great camp.

I got this email from a college coach. Not exaclty sure what it means.

Congratulations you have made my recruiting list. As you know, I am not allowed to have any recruiting related conversations with you via email until next year. However, I would like to get an evaluation on you ASAP. I would like to personally invite you to one of our remaining camps. This is a great way for us to get an evaluation on you. You will also receive recruiting and compliance speeches as well as, a facilities tour. 

Was the coaches phone number included?  This sounds like a generic camp invite to me. I'm sure if you use the search function up top you can get a look at other invites people have posted questions about on this site, with some information on how to tell if an email is true interest or a mass invite. 

Sounds like a blanket email going out to MANY players to get them to attend their camp.  Unless he provided his phone number or that of the recruiting coordinators, I wouldn't read much personally into it.

I assume your son is a 2018 or later since they cannot directly contact your son yet.  You can always call them (they can't call back if you get their voicemail) to see how interested they are, but this sounds like the first of many invites your son will receive as he is hitting the mail lists.

You and your son need to start considering what he's looking for in a school, baseball experience, etc.  Try and get some honest feedback (attend a showcase event) as to what level your son realistically should be targeting (D1, D2, D3, Juco, NAIA, etc) and start putting together a plan to make it happen.

A ton of info on this forum about what to look for, what to ask, etc.  so search around and enjoy.

Good luck.

I agree this sounds like a generic invite. Just wanted to add that  the presence of a coaches phone number does not make it personal. Son has received several emails with coaches phone numbers that were attached to generic camp invites.  

I don't know if this is true, but I feel any invite followed with a cost say $200 to attend is simply marketing.    

Do colleges recruiters ever invite true potential recruits to their camp at NO cost?  

official visits,  but those aren't cattle calls. 

No. They aren't allowed to even give discounts. They often invite guys to camp that they are interested in, but they have to pay.

Got the same one.  They are what they are. 

Honestly, we just started with this with my 2018 and get tons of these and have gotten a few that were obviously showing genuine interest. My take has been that when you get one from a school that knows who he is and wants to see him, you really don't have to ask the question - they're pretty obvious.

Probably going to open a can of worms here with the following: The only issue that I have strong opinion about goes to the advice to "work on your extension through the ball after contact" for I believe that most have to work on their extension "before and at" contact. We don't really concentrate on what happens "after contact" because that's a by-product of all the preceding steps. The ball only stays in contact for such a small fraction of time (.0007s) that whatever happens after contact is not all that productive to worry about. Some players will roll their wrists if they choose to keep two hands on the bat. Others will let go of the top hand

http://www.acs.psu.edu/drussell/bats/impulse.htm