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My son got a camp invite from a high academic D3 college. At first glance, it has all the normal camp advertising stuff. He was about to delete it, when he noticed some interesting notes from the RC at the end: "After reviewing my notes, I wanted to say that I noted your ability at several events this summer. At this moment, we have some players ahead of you on our board, however, I would like to offer you the chance to come to our camp and improve your standing. "

Question: Is this just another tactic to get our $$$ or a genuine interest from the school?

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I would say definitely attend if your son is interested.  2018 received a similar generic (but doesn't look generic) email from a powerhouse D3 that had a reasonable ($60) priced camp.  We went, he did phenomenal...coach text him on the way home and told him he would be in contact.  Day after that, head coach called him to confirm his grades and told them they want to get him up for an official visit.

If that is a tactic to just get your money, it's pretty low-life stuff. I'm going to assume it's a genuine expression of how they currently view your son. Agree with Cabbage - call the coach and try to get an impression as to where they saw him and exactly what they saw. Not only will that help ease your mind as to the legitimacy of this email, but will let him know what they want to see from him, if you do go, that will improve their opinion of him.

IMO, this is a real long-shot for your son. First off, D3s are not looking for guys to move up their boards at this time of year, they're looking for guys who have D1 talent (or close to) and haven't landed a D1 offer. August and September are prime hunting season for those guys. Your son could very well be even further down that board (assuming he's actually on it) by the time the camp rolls around.
 
I agree that there's no harm in your son calling the staff and asking where they saw him, and what kept him from being at the top of their list. Most people have a harder time "exaggerating" over the phone than in email.
MidAtlanticDad posted:
IMO, this is a real long-shot for your son. First off, D3s are not looking for guys to move up their boards at this time of year, they're looking for guys who have D1 talent (or close to) and haven't landed a D1 offer. August and September are prime hunting season for those guys. Your son could very well be even further down that board (assuming he's actually on it) by the time the camp rolls around.
 
I agree that there's no harm in your son calling the staff and asking where they saw him, and what kept him from being at the top of their list. Most people have a harder time "exaggerating" over the phone than in email.

So on the timeline, is it still early for D3s? I can image them chasing D1 talents until the D1 prospects commit to D1 schools. If that's true, is late October / early November the time for D3 guys to move up the board? 

phillyinNJ posted:

I would say definitely attend if your son is interested.  2018 received a similar generic (but doesn't look generic) email from a powerhouse D3 that had a reasonable ($60) priced camp.  We went, he did phenomenal...coach text him on the way home and told him he would be in contact.  Day after that, head coach called him to confirm his grades and told them they want to get him up for an official visit.

Congrats Philly.

This camp is way more expensive than $60, and only half day. Plus we have to fly across the country and stay overnight, so at least a couple thousand $$. 

Bogeyorpar posted:
MidAtlanticDad posted:
IMO, this is a real long-shot for your son. First off, D3s are not looking for guys to move up their boards at this time of year, they're looking for guys who have D1 talent (or close to) and haven't landed a D1 offer. August and September are prime hunting season for those guys. Your son could very well be even further down that board (assuming he's actually on it) by the time the camp rolls around.
 
I agree that there's no harm in your son calling the staff and asking where they saw him, and what kept him from being at the top of their list. Most people have a harder time "exaggerating" over the phone than in email.

So on the timeline, is it still early for D3s? I can image them chasing D1 talents until the D1 prospects commit to D1 schools. If that's true, is late October / early November the time for D3 guys to move up the board? 

Yes, This is the time of year they are getting in touch with their top guys, who have not committed, to a D1 or other school. This is the time when my sons suddenly had an explosion of D3 colleges start making contact. Remember even at the schools where they do not do ED, or require Tips or coaches help through the admission process, there is still Early Action. 

In my sons experience, they wanted to get him to apply EA. The assumption or we were lead to believe that Students who applied Early Action as opposed to Regular Decision, had a step up on Merit money and grants. 

But my sons experience was from 2010. 

Bogeyorpar posted:
MidAtlanticDad posted:
IMO, this is a real long-shot for your son. First off, D3s are not looking for guys to move up their boards at this time of year, they're looking for guys who have D1 talent (or close to) and haven't landed a D1 offer. August and September are prime hunting season for those guys. Your son could very well be even further down that board (assuming he's actually on it) by the time the camp rolls around.
 
I agree that there's no harm in your son calling the staff and asking where they saw him, and what kept him from being at the top of their list. Most people have a harder time "exaggerating" over the phone than in email.

So on the timeline, is it still early for D3s? I can image them chasing D1 talents until the D1 prospects commit to D1 schools. If that's true, is late October / early November the time for D3 guys to move up the board? 

Absolutely, it's still early for D3. I just checked a handful of the top D3s on PG and none list any 2018s commits. That doesn't mean there aren't any, but it is an indication of how early it is for D3s. Depending on the school, many will be trying to get their "B" list guys committed while also going after the "A" list guys. Remember, no roster limits in D3.

From a numbers perspective, I think there will be many more "D1 prospects" hitting the D3 market over the next 3 months than the other way around (D3s losing recruits to D1s).

Your son went to HeadFirst, right? Did any schools tell him he could absolutely play for them? To me, that's the goal. Don't worry yourself with tryout camps, JV teams and 60 man rosters. Go where you can play, and get an education.

Bogeyorpar posted:

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This camp is way more expensive than $60, and only half day. Plus we have to fly across the country and stay overnight, so at least a couple thousand $$. 

Bogeyorpar - Not really sure if this is the best use of your time or money.....and the camp is only half-a-day.   I would reserve that level of effort for a dream school that has seen him play and is begging your son to come to the camp.  I'd suggest considering larger showcases with many coaches/colleges that meet your son's requirements.

Best of luck, and JMO.

FYI...  We have noticed that many DIII colleges subscribe to scout level crosschecker.  There they can get all the information they need to contact a player and have knowledge of the player's ability.  Actually many, many others simply scour the PG profiles to recruit players and fill camps. I would say that pretty much every player that has attended a PG event gets camp information from various colleges. 

By the way, this is not limited to DIII, but DIII colleges typically have the smallest recruiting budgets.  Because of that they can't travel as much and they will look for events that will actually pay them to attend.  For many, not all, all they need to see is academic achievement.   If baseball is important and DIII high academics fits your son's goals, I would suggest researching the baseball program as much as the academic stature of the colleges.  If baseball is not important then base things on cost and academics alone, or whatever else is important to you.

I will say this, if you have amazing grades and test score, there are colleges out there that will want you on their baseball team.  They won't care if you are a good player or not.  It isn't very hard to find them with a little research. If you don't believe, send them an email with all your academic records and add "I would also like to play baseball". When I coached in small college we were instructed to follow up on all of those types and we were rewarded, in some way, if they ended up at the school.

One thing about DIII camps, they really are looking for recruits. 

One last thing,  none of the above pertains to the many outstanding baseball programs at the DIII level.  And some of those are also highly regarded academic institutions.  There are DIII coaches out there that are just as good as the top DI coaches.  Academics all alone won't get you on their roster, but it still helps.

Any personal email from a D3 for my 2018 at this point has stated exactly where they saw him play.  And it was stated in the starting paragraph.

Top D3's are cherry picking D1 level players they've seen at a showcase with the hopes they'll snag one... still early in the D3 game.  If there's a D3 your son is really interested in, then by all means attend their camp, especially money is not an obstacle.

Dealing with this stuff right now...few Ivy's not panning out, quite a few D1 offers but from colleges my son is not interested in.  The Ivy's aren't panning out because of our timing...and I thought I had the latest intel.  Ivy's are much further along with their recruiting than most people realize.  Baseball has really become popular with the high academic athletic directors and alumni. 

Son emailed the RC and RC immediately replied. He listed the two events where my son attended, and he had detailed notes of what he saw. There is definitely interests. But here's the issue (GOV knows this for sure) -- they are only looking for 1 infielder this year! So, if you are not the top 1 or 2 guys on the board, long odds. 

Notes to young baseball players: stick with pitching! 

PGStaff posted:

I will say this, if you have amazing grades and test score, there are colleges out there that will want you on their baseball team.  They won't care if you are a good player or not.  It isn't very hard to find them with a little research. If you don't believe, send them an email with all your academic records and add "I would also like to play baseball". When I coached in small college we were instructed to follow up on all of those types and we were rewarded, in some way, if they ended up at the school.

PG, any examples of schools like you described? where to research this info? I'll PM you also in case it's not good to name names in public.

BOGEYORPAR,

I won't name the colleges.  I am not interested in creating enemies.

However, it isn't difficult to figure out.  Just check their record to see if they lose most of their games every year the coach has been there.  Check for improvement.  Check what they have for facilities.  Check to see if their players appear to develop from one year to the next.  Check the statistics and any nonacademic honors the players received.  If possible check their roster for players that might have been recruited based on their baseball ability. But for the most part, there record should tell you something.  Perennial losers just don't take baseball very seriously.  Good college baseball programs do not lose every year.  They work hard to recruit the best possible players that they can get into their school.

Bogeyorpar posted:
phillyinNJ posted:

I would say definitely attend if your son is interested.  2018 received a similar generic (but doesn't look generic) email from a powerhouse D3 that had a reasonable ($60) priced camp.  We went, he did phenomenal...coach text him on the way home and told him he would be in contact.  Day after that, head coach called him to confirm his grades and told them they want to get him up for an official visit.

Congrats Philly.

This camp is way more expensive than $60, and only half day. Plus we have to fly across the country and stay overnight, so at least a couple thousand $$. 

Since that is the case, then i would pass.  As mentioned throughout, there is still a lot of time for D3's (and probably D2's as well), so to spend $$ on a flight based off of a vague email probably wouldnt be the best of ideas.

Thanks for the congrats...looking forward to the day when he commits, so i can come on here and post about my 2018's recruiting journey :-)

d-mac posted:

My son got a camp invite today from a D1 that said they'd seen him play this Summer. I was very confident that they had not since they are pretty far away.  I just looked on his NCSA profile and sure enough his profile had been searched by a D1 from that state.  That's a pretty sorry tactic. 

Yeah. My son got a few of those along the way that were pretty obviously BS. I especially loved the three or four that said they saw him at Jupiter last year and really would like to see him at their camp so they could further evaluate him. He was on the roster for Jupiter, but didn't make the trip.

I can't say one way or the other in your situation BUT... My son was at a Top Prospect event that a local D1 college was at, and one that we 100% KNOW was not recruiting him and yet got a letter like that.  That is how I KNEW it wasn't personalized to my son even though it was intended to look that way.

I have learned that there are some schools who use shameless tactics to get your money even though there is NO INTENT on recruiting your kid and some parents will pay it. 

Last edited by JLC
roothog66 posted:
d-mac posted:

My son got a camp invite today from a D1 that said they'd seen him play this Summer. I was very confident that they had not since they are pretty far away.  I just looked on his NCSA profile and sure enough his profile had been searched by a D1 from that state.  That's a pretty sorry tactic. 

Yeah. My son got a few of those along the way that were pretty obviously BS. I especially loved the three or four that said they saw him at Jupiter last year and really would like to see him at their camp so they could further evaluate him. He was on the roster for Jupiter, but didn't make the trip.

Nothing false here Root. They forgot to say they SAW his name on the roster.

Ripken Fan posted:
roothog66 posted:
d-mac posted:

My son got a camp invite today from a D1 that said they'd seen him play this Summer. I was very confident that they had not since they are pretty far away.  I just looked on his NCSA profile and sure enough his profile had been searched by a D1 from that state.  That's a pretty sorry tactic. 

Yeah. My son got a few of those along the way that were pretty obviously BS. I especially loved the three or four that said they saw him at Jupiter last year and really would like to see him at their camp so they could further evaluate him. He was on the roster for Jupiter, but didn't make the trip.

Nothing false here Root. They forgot to say they SAW his name on the roster.

Or maybe they thought someone else was him. Hopefully, they mistook Ethan Hankins or Kumar Rocker for my son. 

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