@TV posted:Adbono - Thanks for the feedback.
As a follow-up, how important are relationships between a travel program coach and the college coaches in terms of creating success ? fishing in the right pond, pre-selling or positioning the player in front of the correct audience
or travel programs that have successfully placed players on college rosters, will the recruiting coach build on that prior success look for more talent in that same org again?
Vs.
the "if you are good enough they will find you" approach of showcasing talent in front of large audiences and hoping someone will notice?
Fair question and I would answer it like this. IF your travel program has a proven track record, and credibility with college coaches (at the right level for YOU) having them pre-sell to college coaches is very effective. Much more so than “if you are good enough someone will notice.” However, if your travel ball org lacks credibility (ie they oversell the ability of their players, don’t have relationships with college coaches, etc) it can actually hurt a player’s chances. If someone tells me that a P is throwing 88-90 and has plus secondary stuff I’m probably gonna go see him if I can because that is right in our recruiting wheelhouse. If I show up and the kid is 84-85 w/ nothing special behind it I’m not gonna be happy. And whoever told me about the kid will lose credibility and I won’t listen to them next time. It takes a while to know who to trust but there are a few travel ball orgs in North Texas that I now avoid altogether because I don’t trust their coaches to be honest. IMO players would be better served if parents did a better job of vetting travel ball orgs before they join them.