RJM posted:I know someone who went into the recruiting consulting business riding the baseball reputation of his two oldest sons. He charged $1,000 per client for advice.
One of his client’s was one the son of a very good friend. I had mentored the kid in baseball and coached him until 17u when our kids went in different directions.
The consultant knew little of the kid’s talent. He helped the kid plan how he was going to get in front of Stanford and Vanderbilt. After all, he was all conference. I almost lost a friend when I told the mother the kid had D3 potential. He should be going to Head First, not East Cobb and the Stanford Camp.
Later in time the mother thanked me for responding faster than their paid consultant. She asked how I knew what the consultant knew. I told her experience from softball recruiting (older kid) and if I don’t know, hsbaseballweb where there’s always at least one person who has experienced anything you can throw at the board.
The kid played at an top academic D3.
I think this is THE biggest issue that people have when they start the recruitment process. Sure, if you're starting with a freshman, things can change...height, weight, speed, etc, but you need to have a "baseline" to start with. When my son was a sophomore he was small, but was throwing hard on the mound and starting at SS on varsity. He wanted to play in college...and had already been told by a local D3 coach that "he would take him right now" My son wanted to play at a D1...both because he thought that's where he would be challenged the most and the fact that he wanted to attend a bigger campus than most D3's provided.
I went to watch a game between two D1's close to here...actually one of them was the school he ended up at. They were mid-pack in the league and playing the top team in the league. Sunday afternoon, 3rd game of the series. Game ended up 13-11 or something like that....30 hits, 6 errors...and just not what you would consider to be a "good game"...lol. Ok, I knew this wasn't typical and that things happen, but after that game, I went home...sat down with my son and said "I think you can play at that level". I really felt that having coached a good 15U/16U team for two years and knowing quite a few kids who had gone on to college that I could "objectively" make the observation...and felt comfortable doing it. If you don't, find someone who does....knowing that you might not like the answer. My best friend's son (also a HS teammate of my son) wanted his son to try to play D1. It was tough because he would ask me my thoughts. I did my best to "answer without really answering" as I wanted to keep him as a friend lol. His son eventually did go to walk on tryouts...realized what he was up against and told his dad he was done with baseball. His dad was crushed, but I think eventually he understood.