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Reply to "Summer Collegiate Wooden Bat Leagues-Recruting well underway"

Bumping this back up as 2012 summer league team recruiting is well under way so if you're a player looking to play in the summer, recruiting time is now.

Some college coaches are extremely active in placing their players, others are extremely inactive. I know some fine coaches that don't put a high priority on it, and others that do, but the bottom line is that if a player wants to play in the summer, things are happening now, and if your coach isn't real active, be pro-active yourself. (Some schools won't place pitchers until the spring, to see how many innings they throw so if you pitch, make sure you know your coach's preferences.)

Most teams get players from established relationships with college coaches, but players also get signed via their own contacts, and even parent contacts.

To gauge your prospects: Pitchers are the easiest to place as every team, every league, every day, needs pitching. Teams will generally keep 3 MIF types, at least 2 and perhaps 3 catchers, 4 outfielders, 3 1b/3b types, 10-15 pitchers, and then some utility types.

Summer teams will want something to gauge talent, which can be a player's prior college performance, a coach's recommendation, or even high school performances for freshmen. We've looked at lots of on line video of guys shot when they were in high school just to get a look at them, knowing they've normally grown and improved. A college coach's signature on the contract is normally needed so they will be involved at some point, even if they personally aren't real active. Summer teams will look closely at stats-for example, we've signed a soph that only hit .235 as a freshman in college, but we saw two things: His college coaches, in a good program, saw fit to start him in 44 of 50 games so they sure see something there, and while he ended at .235, over his last 20 games, he hit over .300.

Be aware that some leagues/teams have track records of "quick triggers"-meaning that if you sign a 10 day contract and don't produce, you're probably gone. The Cape is pretty well known for this. In many situations, 10 day contracts just fill holes until other guys arrive and no matter how one performs, 10 days will be it. Our team doesn't do 10 day contracts, but it is fairly common in some leagues.


Happy hunting!
Last edited by hokieone
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