It’s really maddening for sure. Especially when the kid clicks every intangible box you could ever want him to. So much for coaches care about the entire player and who he is. ROFL
There was a time where I allowed this to get to me. My son is small, but has D1 measurables and he checks all the intangible boxes. It used to bother me that it wasn't "fair," but I left all that baggage behind. A) it's not forward moving to live there and B) no one can blame coaches for their 21st century approach. What are coaches really doing? They're leveraging efficiencies and they're using math to make educated guesses in projecting players. In this day and age, how many coaches have tons of time to really dig deep into evaluating a kid like mine? Roughly none. You can't see my son's high AVG and OBP in a showcase or camp. You often can't see it over the course of one tourney. It's not sexy when viewed in small sample sizes. Want to get a TRUE picture of exactly what my son will give you? Well, settle it because his overall value - while high - is best viewed over time. Not with 8 swings of BP at a showcase or whatever. You'll need to be patient with my kid and that much quicker with your other recruits because your time is finite. And time is likely your most valuable commodity. Imagine being a coach who puts in the marathon for a prospect and then it turns out that it wasn't worth it. D'oh! How many marathons do you run without finishing before you're forced to try sprinting?
I always put it like this. What would Vegas say about the recruit if they were handicapping the process? The coaches know. Add up all the best college players who were most successful over the past year. Or 2, 5 or 10. Then separate them into 2 groups: 1) 5'10" and under and 2) 5'11 and above. Everyone knows which group will be larger. Much larger. That's not bias or laziness. That's just math.
So when you're pressed for time and resources and are getting pelted with 300 emails every day, a coach (who wants to keep his job) HAS to draw some lines; some thresholds under which he can't put in the time for a recruit. Height, weight, exit velo, etc can all be measured in minutes. Will a coach miss out out some amazing players operating this way? Without question. But the math clearly points to where the risk is less. We can't fault any coach for playing the best odds. That's simply smart.