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Our local newspaper ran a nearly full-page article about my son today. He currently plays Legion baseball and has been catching the eye of the media lately. He is a very young 2010 catcher with outstanding abilities, but has been largely overlooked (sort of a late bloomer). He has been getting some general interest from some colleges but really has not been recruited much as we have not been able to afford to go to showcases, etc. Is it appropriate for him to send copies of the article to some of the coaches who have shown some interest or should a coach send them? I don't want him to seem pushy or like he is bragging, but he needs to get noticed. Any advice anyone can give would be greatly appreciated.
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There is no harm in doing that.

You can accomplish the same thing by e-mailing a link to the online version of the story.

But bear in mind, a lot of those stories are fluff pieces, not on par with a serious scouting report. The best you can hope for is that it at least prompts someone who needs a catcher to start asking around or looking for a chance to see your son in person. But, nothing wrong with that.
And ....believe me there is no such thing as being pushy if you have some talent, and it doesn't have to be the best talent. coaches love to see a kid ....not the parent ....take a active role in their future. Send the link along with a phone number of a coach or scout for verification. If he is a '10 he should be in contact with at least 20 coaches by now any way.
Have the player email or call. Most parents do this (call and email) for there child and you can use it to your advantage. When a player takes the step, it really stands out because it actually is pretty rare. And it doesn't make the preception that this is really "mom's" or "daddys" dream not the kids....

Also, I used to get emails from players with emails like LadiesLoveMe5353@whatever.com or BigTimeBlueChipper@asdfadsfdas.com ----big turnoff, and plays up the immaturity card. Have them create a standard FirstName.LastName@whatever.com and write in proper english. Nothing better than reciving an email from a player with that email address showing and then:
Coach John Doe,
I would luv to b on ur team, pleeze send me some more information.

It happens enough, where it should be mentioned!
Thanks for all the advice. My son does all the contacting and yes, his email is simply first name, last name (we learned that from this board!) I actually was wondering if a feature article would be considered fluff by college coaches, but it does have some good quotes from his current coach and seems to state the facts, so I guess it can't hurt for him to send the link out to the coaches that he has already been in contact with. At this point, I guess getting his name out there more is his aim right now. It is getting to be a very stressful time since colleges are getting verbals from younger and younger players.
The recruiting process does have an element of marketing to it. The marketing aspect that should be utilized here, is the expression of interest your son has in the particular schools. Coaches sometimes have a hard time getting a read on how interested a recruit truly is in their school, vs. whether the recruit is simply casting a net and seeing what he can catch. By showing genuine and sincere interest in a school, the recruit puts himself on a different playing field than many others and if the coaches have need at that position, and are somewhat interested, you can see the level of interest sometimes jump.

Emailing a link to a story like this, with a personal message about the level of interest, if that interest is high, is never a bad idea. The more GOOD reasons you have to contact a coaching staff on a regular basis, the better. Just make sure that your contacts have something of interest to the coaches and are not just the "fluff" that Midlo warned of.

Good Luck to you and your son.
Last edited by CPLZ
And let me add this...

Ryan Sadowski, a pitcher for the SF Giants who has won his first 2 starts, had so little interest from MLB when he finished at Florida (where he threw a grand total of 6 innings), that he had his MOM call all the major league teams asking a scout to come see him pitch. Eventually he was signed by the Giants and now he is in the Bigs. So Mom, go ahead and publicize your son. It worked for the big Sadowski.

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