Tagged With "England"

I have little to no context of skill or coaching as a player in the United Kingdom, as the baseball infrastructure here is severely lacking. I'm 6'0, 175lb, with a hand-timed record pop time of 2.05. I try and self-coach as much as possible when practices are few and far between, emulating players on Instagram and YouTube. I've played international baseball with Team GB, which is probably at the same level as US high school, and I have a career average in those tournaments of .445. I will be...

Ben, I'm not an expert on high-academic D1/D3 catching stats (my son is a 2019 1B/RHP/3B), but others here have Ivy and D3 experience and great perspective, like BucsFan, 9and7Dad, Gov and others (you can always private message if they don't respond here). I will say that I'm really impressed you have this goal and that you're reaching out here to ask. I'd suggest that you send some video to coaches at the schools you're interested in now if you haven't. Also, have you filled out the...

Ben, if you do send video try to make a really tight edit with nothing but simulated game reps and/or game action focused on you. A recruiting video should be 2-3 minutes, top. I tried watching some of your videos but honestly there wasn't enough going on. Your situation is a challenge but if you could shoot on ball field not a soccer pitch that would be good. You're doing the right thing going to Head First. Don't know about the Swarthmore camp, but it's a great school, so why not,...

Hi Ben, Welcome to the site. Thanks for sharing your videos. It would be interesting to see a few hitting videos. Regarding defense/catching - I want to give you honest feedback, positive and negative... You have some interesting physical tools and a good build but catching mechanics are still raw and very much a work in progress. I like your quick release and decent athleticism. But most of your throws, you spin off/fall off too much. Your feet are reasonably quick but they are often going...

Hi MidWestMom, thanks for the reply. I've filled out the recruiting questionnaire for my ED, Swarthmore, and I'm in the process of contacting coaches from the rest of my shortlist. I have family in Oregon, and I've attended the Oregon State overnight camp for the last two years, and am planning on doing so again this year. This website has some great resources, and I've sort of lurked in the shadows for the past few months haha.

Hi JGC, I haven't sent any video or edited anything yet. That video on my Drive is what I've been taking to evaluate myself and try and improve. It's still below freezing here in London for most practices, so the field is out of commission until April 8th. My club ball coach, a Dartmouth grad who holds single season records for hits and runs scored, has told me as an international student I need to send two emails where everyone else would send one, just to maintain interest and recruitment...

Hi CabbageDad, thanks for the response. That's very useful feedback, I'll incorporate it into my training. I'm a regular at my school weight room, and I'm actively trying to make myself more of a physical specimen with good projection. At this time, I'm throwing long toss into a net in my back garden most days. At this point, Ivies are mostly a second option, and to be honest, if I had offers from my favourite D3 as well as Harvard, I'd take the D3. Some hitting video should be up on the...

Ben, HCs at D3s Vassar (NY state) and Pomona (SoCal) both played ball post college in Europe. They might be interested in learning more about you. Top academic D3s, both with solid programs. PM me for more specifics or names and email addresses if you need.

Ben, are you an American playing in England or are you British. Not that it matters in the end, but I am going to give an example of a German player who came to the states and successfully made it into college ball. Depending on your situation it maybe helpful to you. My sons sophomore year in HS a player transferred in from Germany. He was a pitcher. Its tough to compare skill levels to what I have seen on your videos, but he was big and athletic. Similar to what I saw in your videos. His...

You are looking at 2 great schools. Swarthmore's campus is so beautiful, and it will be just cold and wet enough to remind you of London sometimes. Pomona's campus is wonderful too but walking around in tee shirts and shorts all winter might make you homesick. Good luck!

joes87, I'm an American citizen living in London for the last 14 of 17 years. I can't foresee myself transferring to a US high school, or attending a JuCo, but I have considered a gap year in the past. My intended major would be Political Science, and I have some contacts in Oregon politics, so working on a congressional campaign during 2019/2020 is a possibility, and would really strengthen my application. At the same time I could be seeking coaching on my catching and working on my physique.

There's video of me hitting on the google drive now, if you're interested.

Ben, no one has said this yet so I'm going to give you some advice I've seen given on this site many times: focus on picking a school that best fits your academic and career/life goals. As a high academic kid who has his major selected already, you need to focus on finding the school that best fits your academic/career goals. I would strongly caution you not to lower your academic standards in order to play college baseball. If you can attend an Ivy or other prestigious academic school and...

If your son is a candidate for Head First quality schools there aren’t many D2’s in the region (PA to New England) up to his academic standards.

We are attending Head First in NY which covers a lot of the D1 and D3 schools on our list. Really trying to find a central showcase that D2s would attend as we think that will be his best chance. He is a RHP averaging 85mph.

We are from PA, but my 2022 son is mainly looking at New England schools. Wondering if there are any good showcases attended by D2/D1 in New England area. Interested in St. Anselm, New Haven, Assumption, Bentley,, Bryant, Merrimack

Check out New England Baseball Complex. Not sure what they offer as far as showcasing but their tournaments draw some of the teams you mentioned + similar schools. I will say that Bryant is pretty far above the rest in terms of talent. They're a highly competitive mid major D1 and wouldn't be recruiting the same pool of players as the others mentioned.

Lynn Invitational ... The Lynn Invitational LLC is one of the top showcases in the New England area. https://lynninvitational.com/

Lots of good D3 schools and baseball programs in the NE area as well. Some of them are on the road this summer, though most have canceled any on-campus camps they might have had. So far, the fall camps in that area look to be on but that could change depending on COVID. Not aware of any showcases, other than high academic, in that area.

Look into any of the firecracker baseball showcases. You can attend the showcase even if you are not playing in the tournament. Not expensive at all and usually gets the teams you are mentioning above to attend. Only thing I would mention is that the D2/3 schools are still on ‘21’s at this point but it never hurts to get in front of the schools you are interested in and then do a fall camp possibly. Position? Numbers? Might help just to point you in additional directions .

To add on to what others have said D3 is significantly superior to D2 academically. I can probably only name 4 or 5 D2s that I would consider strong academically. The good news is he's only a 2022 and you have a full year to map out what he's looking for in a school. D2 baseball can be much better than D3 baseball, but once you get past the top set of schools (at least in the NE) you really wouldn't be able to tell the difference between D2/D3. And at that point when you factor academics...

I would agree with RJM, probably not the HA fit among those schools. Way more D3 fits.