In no particular order, here are some thoughts on my son’s (’22) recruiting experience:
1) Agreed on being physical. Our travel program played the 18u SGV Arsenal (LA team, former players like Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, etc.) as 16u/freshman and ALL the Arsenal 18u players were committed to P5s. Prior to the game our coach brought the team and the parents into the dugout, this had never been done before, and told us to take a good look at what it takes physically to be a D1 player. I recall the 2B was 6-3, 220# (currently at Stanford). We lost 5-2 respectably
2) Be selective about recruiting services. Not a knock on them but we did not participate with NCSA. We did use the SportsForce basic service to access their 17k Twitter followers which I thought was a good value. Very nice people but just don’t expect any personal service w their basic deal. Conversely my son was one of the first clients of Joe Oliveira at OBC. Joe lightly recruited my son, meaning he followed him on Twitter, while he was RC at SD State. (RC for nearly 10 years). He reached out to my son after leaving SD State to start OBC. I can’t tell you how important it is to have someone who knows the coaches you want to play for in college. My son played for a prominent travel team with a great coach who works colleges tirelessly for his kids however the relationships are 99% West coast. My son wanted to play East coast HA D1. Joe would make a phone call and come back with info like, “They are not recruiting any more ’22 RH hitters” or “the coach said they have an offer out to a NY player, if they decline you are next on their board”. Simply put, info your son can’t glean on his own typically. Find someone who can make those calls and has the respect of the coach on the other end. Ideally, it’s your son’s travel coach but it might not be for some.
3) It’s incredible how many schools are interested in your son who never make contact until you get to #1 or #2 on their board. During my son’s process he found out that he was #3-#8 on several school’s boards who had never contacted him (including the HA D1 he committed). So, keep sending those emails and DMs!
4) The very HA schools (think 1550+ SAT min) recruiting processes are SUPER challenging so buckle up if these are on your radar. As a parent, I thought these schools were the most professional with their approach/communication. That said, they also have the toughest job in recruiting finding great players that have a 4.0/1550 SAT that want to play in the cold Northeast not Florida St or TCU
5) Apologies ahead of time for this last one as it’s a downer. The anxiety you feel as a parent in the process prior to offers/commitment…is here to stay. First it is “will we get from verbal commit to the NLI without any disruptions?" like the RC & HC leaving for another school -- yes this happened to my son. After signing, it’s things like “do you play basketball for fear of potential injury senior year”, next it will be Fall ball cuts Freshman year, next it will be playing time anxieties, next it will be draft status, next it will be coaching changes junior year…I think you get the point. Yes, I understand these are all great problems to have but my naive expectation was that once my son signed last week we’d be living on a cloud. It’s great for sure to be over the first hurdle, but I didn’t realize that the anxiety would persist.
Happy Thanksgiving!