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I’m concerned these are stupid questions, but that has never stopped me before:

Fall baseball just ended and my son (2020 RHP) is shutting down for the winter. (He’ll be lifting, etc., but no throwing for a while.) He has gotten a few encouraging emails from HA schools he is targeting (has heard from some D3s, some Ivies, a couple of other D1s). I know D3s aren’t recruiting 2020s yet. The D1s have told him they want to keep in touch, but there’s been no discussion about an offer (and I’d say he needs to keep improving to get there). 

1). What, if anything, should he be doing re: recruiting between now and summer 2019?  We live in the south, almost all the schools in question are in the northeast.  Their coaches would see him in person again, at the earliest, in July at the WWBA.  What would warrant an email update to coaches?  Anything else he ought to do (besides work on his game and school)?

Also, son played in a showcase last weekend attended by several of the coaches he has corresponded with.  They knew he would be there and he talked with some of them at the event.  The boy played well enough that I think those couches would want to keep following him; he had no expectation of leaving the weekend with more than that. He has heard nothing at all from any coach about the showcase. Is that cause for concern? Should he follow up in some way? 

 

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It's not a stupid question and one we always wondered about. To answer your question I would sit tight for now. No need to update if there's nothing to update on. A text message saying lifting/training is going well will most likely go ignored. If you want you can probably send a text now saying it was good talking to you at the showcase last weekend - did you see anything I should work on in the offseason? Maybe not. We did this in person and the question was always well received. Others can weigh in here. 

The good news is that the northeastern schools aren't really recruiting in the winter months. So your son will not be losing his spot or interest by not updating them. Maybe a text when HS season is starting back up saying my I put on 5 lbs of muscle or lost 15 lbs or gained 3mph, we open on XX/XX look forward to hearing from you. 

I hear some parents say they texted the coaches every week updating them. Whether it was high school games, summer games, winter training, etc. The coaches don't care. They're not looking for friends, they're looking for players. They don't want to hear about your hs game or how hard your teammates battled. If you are texting with a school for months at a time and they have not made you in offer yet, they're waiting for others to say no first. 

 

My oldest is a year ahead of your's. Slightly different scenario, but enough similarities that it might be useful:

  • Junior year fall he played scout ball and travel ball as a position player only -- he didn't pitch from mid-July to mid-November -- so that limited pitching interaction with coaches (obviously)
  • Once he started pitching again (Nov.) he sent email updates maybe once per month or every six weeks, with video highlights -- for your son, maybe that is Jan or Feb? Not sure when your son will start pitching again or when your HS season starts
  • Over the course of the winter, I know there were communications going on between my son's HS coaches and various colleges, too, so if your son's HS coach can help, that's a big plus
  • Once his season started (Feb) he sent more frequent updates -- weekly texts to the coaches he was texting with, emails to others he was trying to get attention of. 
  • Don't assume that they won't see him until the WWBA.  Your son should definitely send his HS schedule and when he is pitching, If they are interested, they'll come and see him -- well, some of them will come see him (obviously, the closer the school, the easier it is to do that). First week of March, as soon as the quiet period ended, an Ivy RC flew out to see my son pitch in a HS game. Since you are in the South, it's not super close, but they can and are getting from the Northeast to the South to see kids.
  • If your HS (or its opponents) webcasts any of your son's games, that is another opportunity to "get in front of" college coaches. For my son, it was a big plus in getting seen by colleges on the other side of the country -- he would send the link and they could watch an entire game if they were so inclined
  • If they have invited him for UVs, you may want to consider doing those over the winter. If a kid from the South is going to go to school in the Northeast, it's worth seeing the school in the winter.

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