I believe that a HA D3 can offer after seeing a kid for the first time if some or all of the following happens:
1. The kid has reached out with some pertinent info prior to HF/Showball/other. This info includes a current official transcript from his school, a screenshot of an ACT/SAT (both very easy and my kid had those saved on his phone and he emailed those things several times to various HA coaches).
2. It also helps if the coach knows of/about the school the kid attends (right or wrong a lot of kids that go HA are kids from prep/private or elite public high schools) and knows the kind of kids they have offered and admitted in the past.
3. Video and metrics emailed or seen by HC/RC prior to event.
I believe that some players/parents have some idea of the landscape of recruiting these days while others know that baseball is their kids ticket to a highly selective school (like some parents/kids here).
I also believe that coaches who have been at places like Tufts/Johns Hopkins/others for a while know what a great pitcher or player at their level looks like when they are 17/18 years old and are ready to offer a stud who wants to attend. If the right kid knows he wants to go to Middlebury or Amherst (for myriad of reasons) it can be a one and done. These coaches are not recruiting the portal or waiting for mid season drop downs from D1.