Our 2019 committed yesterday to a HA school in the A-10. Over the past 18 months he has been engaged with coaches from small Midwestern D3s, to NESCAC, Patriot League, Ivy league, Big 10 and WAC. I wanted to take a minute to thank this community and to pass along what we have learned. I started lurking on HSBBW 4+ years ago, joined and engaged a few years ago, and began connecting with some specific people directly over the past 18 months. I'd like to thank Gooseegg, bransonbaseball, fenwaysouth, Gov, smokeminside, strainedoblique for their interest, great advice and genuine caring about our boy and his future.
Building on yesterday's thread about debunking the myth of D1 recruiting, our experience is that it is truly a myth. Coaches don't stop recruiting ever, but what catches their eye might be very specific. Here is the journey:
As a family, the goal was always to use baseball to get into a school that he otherwise might not be able to attend. Our son was a primary catcher with a good arm for his entire playing career until summer before his junior year when he began to pitch. He attended HF in Sacramento in June of 2017, played in tournaments in the West that summer. He did receive some follow up attention from D3 coaches that summer and he maintained that communication throughout.
During the fall of junior year, he worked really hard to begin transition from thrower to pitcher. We lived on the websites for Eric Cressey and Driveline as he tried to cram years of pitching experience into a season. At the same time he studied for the ACT. He took the ACT in October, played in the AZ Fall Classic and went to HF in Jupiter in November. He performed very well at HF as both a catcher and pitcher and got significant interest - calls, texts - from D3 and D1 HA schools. He attended 2 Ivy camps in January.
Following the HS season where he was focused on transitioning from C to P he played at the NorCal WS, HF in Sacramento, and Showball in Long Island. The NorCal WS changed the game for him because it exposed him to a different set of serious baseball schools that he had not considered. 2 Big 10 schools and a Big Sky school - that conventional wisdom would have said were done with recruiting - engaged him leading to a scholarship offer and a walk-on offer. Each of these opportunities was driven by a very specific thing these coaches wanted - my son throws a very unconventional breaking ball that paired well with his fastball, and these coaches wanted that combination. The NorCal WS also got him an opportunity to try out for the Area Code games which seems to have served as positive external validation for some coaches.
There are some recruiting "rules" we have followed - cast a wide net, truly identify the skill level of the player, tighten the focus to schools that fit, actively engage in relationship building and follow up between player and coach. Here are a few additional observations that may be useful:
1 - Variability - academic and athletic - can be challenging. Our son had very good ACT, PSAT, and AP scores, and a "spotty" GPA. Even though its a 3.5, the combination of scores and GPA make it very challenging to have consistent conversations with colleges. At HA D3 schools there were some that were upfront and said "we'd love to have you play for us, but your grades won't work and good luck", at others it was "you are a yellow light from admissions but we think we can make it work" to "you are greenlit from admissions". At some academic D1s including Ivies it ranged from " all we need is a 30 and a 3.0" to "your tests will make it work" to " your tests are great but your grades won't work". Long story short - academic variability is more difficult to overcome than potentially weaker but more consistent performance.
Athletic variability is also a challenge but easier to understand. Lots of discussion here about projectability vs. near term impact. We have seen this play out. At the D3 level, coaches were willing to let him play both ways, with projectibility being a nice upside if he developed. At the D1 level there are 2 camps. The Ivies seem to want polished impact players as freshman, and others are more willing to bet on developing a kid with a "high ceiling".
So - academic variability was challenging with D3s that wanted him as a player and athletic variability - the gap between current performance and ceiling - was challenging for HA D1s.
2 - Extremely wide range of coaches, and recruiting behaviors. Broadly, it seems there is a generational transition happening, with schools with long-standing coaches (20+ years) and then a new generation of coaches who are 35-40 years old. It's too simple to make it an old school/new school story but the younger coaching staffs who are looking to make their careers at their schools tend to engage at a more personal level, they are "contemporary baseball" students - talking about driveline and rapsodo and hitting philosophies. This can be an easier path to relationship development, and may also provide more comfort about the permanance of a coaching staff. Additionally, the "younger" generation appear to be more interested in player development than in simply coaching a finished product.
We also found that there are widely varying levels of "salesmanship" and transparency that are independent of generation. We chased shiny objects that in hindsight were likely always BS. And he met coaches that were 100% real and straight up and transparent.
3 - Headfirst works. I am a true believer. He ended up with 4 offers from D3 to D1 based on relationships started at HF. AZ Fall Classic works - but only if the kid does the reach out work beforehand. The NorCal World Series is excellent exposure and if your kid is at the right level of development following their sophomore year it could be extremely valuable for him.
4 - Listen to your son - He got an offer in June from a HA D1 that his mom and I thought was a good fit. He wasn't sure and eventually decided to say no. At that time, his other offers were a very small D3 and a state school D1 that was not a fit. He had been having good, very honest conversations with the school he eventually accepted and he believed in the coaches, and in the fit of the school for him. His mom and I lost sleep worrying about saying no and running the risk of ending up in a spot that might not be good for him. In the end - he was right and that belief/confidence and relationship development that got him there was his alone. Which for the 99% of kids who won't play professionally is probably the best lesson he can take from the process.
Sorry for the length, but perhaps there is something in that journey that might be useful to folks on the journey.
