@NotABaseballGuy posted:Would you mind sharing approximately how many schools your 2021 reached out to by email? Another thing I've been wondering about is how widespread the outreach should be in advance of the showcases that he is attending. Any recommendations for how many schools is too many or too few? Many thanks...
I don’t remember. Dozens most definitely
We found that when one school in a particular conference had interest, most of the rest in that conference did, as well
A red flag was when only one school in a conference had interest, and the rest only sent back camp invites and automated replies. That told us that our son had a high probability of merely being a dorm filler guy
You need to know where you stand. At my son’s D3 school, only 17 position players get Batting Practice in practices, and only 14 get BP before games. You need to be one of those guys (fortunately my son has been, both Freshman and Sophomore years). The rest literally never get a single BP pitch to swing at.
Its important to understand there is a distinct hierarchy when it comes to D3. Some conferences are way better than others. I have no doubt that if my son had overreached to a school in a higher level conference than where he ended up, it would have been an even tougher road for him to even be on the travel squad, let alone be one of the guys who gets BP at practice. (My son as a Soph hasn’t started a game yet, but had appeared in over half the games so far this season)
Your son is a Catcher, you need to do as much research as you can to figure out if a particular school will use him as a bullpen catcher, or will he be able to be one of the Top 3 catchers who actually get playing time. Even being in the Top 4 as a Freshman is a good sign, especially if one or two of the top guys will have graduated by the time your son is a Soph