@mjd-dad posted:peer-to-peer (player to player) recruiting began for my son at 13u when he reached the 60-90 field, when boys realized that a third of their 12u roster was going to struggle on a bigger field. Player to player network continued to self select at 15u, 16u and 17u and also to an extent in my son’s college recruiting process. Kids (and parents) will gossip about college coaching staffs before they make a verbal commitment. I have to believe player to player recruiting through the portal is prevalent, IMO - still not enough NIL $ (beyond the top P5 schools) in college baseball to dampen it.
In 13u my son was invited to play on a very mediocre travel team when we had the weekend off. I asked him to play and buddy up with a kid I wanted on our team. The kid’s best friend from LL was already on our team. It worked.