Midwest Mom: Here's a couple of excerpts from Tucker Frawley's blog. He is the Recruiting Coordinator for Yale. It addresses some of your questions.
https://www.frawleybaseball.co...e-Recruiting-Process
https://www.frawleybaseball.co...cademics-vs-Baseball
Lots of good info on the blog. It's from one of the eight schools though the schools recruiting methods have similarities.
2019Dad's articles were OK too. Fewer HS's now are ranking students which used to be part of one version of the Academic Index Formula. Fenway was spot on about likely letters. Most of the final recruiting spots in 2019 class will take place June-August next year, after HF camps. (Recruiting for P, C and power hitters may be earlier)