quote:
Originally posted by Coach_May:
There are many ways it can happen for a player. Some go to a college camp and that does it. Some are actually seen playing in a hs game. Some are seen at a showcase or a showcase tourney. Some are seen at a legion game etc etc. But there is no doubt that playing on a summer / fall team that gets you out in front of college coaches from all levels will give you the most opportunities if you can play.
My son was recruited by his college program based on camps and later they attended a couple of hs games. He had other opportunities based on performances at WWBA events and with his showcase team in tourneys. I know kids that went to a college camp and were offered based on their performance at the schools camp. To me its all about creating as many options for the player as possible. I understand that some can not afford to everything others can do. But there are plenty of opportunities out there for everyone.
Excellent post! Here is a very long story...
My son was lucky - very lucky. We didn't know anything about recruiting or showcasing. Everything I know now about showcasing has been learned from the hsbbweb and my membership here did not occur until after he had signed his NLI.
Due to our ingnorance, we believed that college recruiting was mainly limited to how well one did during their high school baseball season and perhaps some serendipitous summertime exposure. I mean, that is how football players are recrutied - right? I have since learned they have football camps and showcases as well.
Why was my son lucky? It started by playing on a high school team that almost won two state championships. He started getting noticed as his team went deeper in the state playoffs. In essence, some of his exposure/luck was because of his teammates. What if his team was not that good? I guarantee none of the coaches who contacted would have known about him. I should add most of the contact was indirect. Coaches asking his high school coach about him.
In the summer between junior and senior year, he participated in the CABA highschool world series tournament here in Cleveland that is decently scouted. He was lucky that he played decently during the tournament and that his team played decently enough to advance in the tournament where more of the heavy scouting occured. After one of the games, a coach from a southern D1 school approached his high school coach and inquired about the shortstop. His comments were the kid can play but he appears too small to play D1 baseball. If we would have left it at that, it would have been the end of it. I went home and looked them up because I had never heard of them before. I could not believe how good they were and would even take the time to ask the coach about him. I sent him to their college camp in August and frankly, things did not go all that well. They said he was not fast enough, throw hard enough, nor was he big enough to warrant further recruiting. The throw hard enough comment shocked us because his whole life he had been told he had great arm strength. At this first camp, he was clocked at 76 mph from short, ran a 7.3 60 yard dash, and weighed 147 lbs at 5'9". He had just turned 17 in July.
Maybe people can tell from some of my other posts, but I am not big on people feeling sorry for themselves and I refused to let my son feel that way. He was a little down and I told him point blank, "You can either feel sorry for yourself or do something about it." He seemed challenged by that and jazzed up frankly. We devised a plan that we would enroll him in a speed and strength program, get on a rigorous healthy diet, long toss, and take thousands of swings in the batting cages. He did all these and more. He was consumed with the "idea" of improvement. He got his weight from 147 up to 165.
We sent him down to a second showcase camp at the same school in South Carolina. This was about 10 days before the early signing period was to begin in late October. First day was mostly running, radar gunning, and individual drills ending with batting practice before all the college and pro scouts. My son recorded a 6.86 60 time which was almost 1/2 second faster than his 60 time in August. He clocked at 86 mph across the diamond from shorstop which was 10 mph faster. He learned a few things from his first unsuccessful showcase. He learned to let the ball rip from shorstop rather than worrying about accuracy of his throw. He learned running techniques in his speed program that no doubt helped. His added strength no doubt helped his running as well. Until the first camp, neither of us had ever heard of 60 times or radar guns on position players before. We both thought recruting was based soley off your performance in high school games. We indeed were ignorant.
The next day, the camp featured actual games between camp particpants. I believe they had five games scheduled with 10 teams of participants. I believe luck entered here again. On one of the innings, my son rotated to third so another kid could get his looks at shorstop. During that inning, my son made numerous (four or five) full extension dive plays on rocket shots hit down the third base line or in between thrid and short. They had to give the other team extra outs that inning so everyone could get their at bats. After the inning, he got a standing ovation from everyone in attendance including the scouts. He played like Brooks Robinson that day and lucky it was the best he had ever played for sure but he was also lucky that someone hit some balls his way. He was given the opportunity to turn heads. He was 1-2 at the plate and immediately stole second and third when he got on. In short, it was impossible not to notice him. We left the camp without speaking to any of the coaches.
When we got home, he wanted to contact them and see what they thought. I was tempted but I thought he had already done enough. I told him "If they will not recruit you after all you did, then you do not want to play for them!" About five days later, the head coach called and it changed his life. The offer was tiny and he was disappointed by that and so was I. I thought about it for a day and asked him if that is where he wanted to play and he said yes. I told him I would worry about the money and it was up to him to worry about his academics and finding a way on to the playing field. He lived up to his end of things and for us it turned out to be the best of times.
My message to kids is a simple one - do not leave things up to luck or chance. I know in my heart that they may not find you if you do.
Here is an article that ran on him from this past summer that does a pretty good job of describing the journey and the hard work/dedication. Hope people can find some benefit from reading his story:
Never Give Up
