Camp Invite mailed with a personal message written by the coach on the envelope

I would have your son try to call him.  Just say you saw the note....and wanted to thank him for the invitation and tell him you're considering it (even if you maybe aren't).  See what his response is.  Your son will know right away if it's truly a "want to see you" type of thing....or if it's something that they wrote on a lot of envelopes

My guess - Uconn.  2016 received multiple invites from them with the same sort of handwritten note you describe from the HC.  I'm going to say 4 of them.  All with the same note.  My thoughts - welcome to the wonderful world of college baseball recruiting.  Your son is going to get a lot of camp invites over the next two years.   

That said, if your son is interested it couldn't hurt to call or email the coach as Buckeye describes.  At the very least its good practice for down the road when he's interacting with coaches.  

Agree with all above!!  

He already has a few offers so he doesn't need the practice, but I just don't wanna waste time if it's a standard letter.  

If he already has offers, then I'm going to guess it's a "real" note and the coach is really interested....but again, no reason why your son can't just give him a call, thank him for the invite and see where it goes.  I would guess he'll be able to decide based on the response if it's more than just a standard invite. 

Yes, if he's a 2018 with offers than that seems different.  Although if they were really interested I don't think they'd let him know by writing a note on the envelope of a camp invite.  I still think that's a standard thing they do and someone is just writing that message on all the envelopes that go out.  

Trick of the trade that college coaches do to make the players feel as if they're receiving personal attention from the program while it comes at little personal cost for the coaching staff. Considering your son already has some offers as a 2018, there is a possibility that this might be slightly more than a 'personalized' mass camp invite but as you've probably seen from the other schools it should be fairly obvious if they're actually recruiting your son or not. 

Thanks all!  I tend to think it's something that's on lots of invites.....just seeing what you guys thought.

I'd have your son call the HC or RC to find out about their intentions and learn more about the program.  At the end of the day, he is trying to learn as much about them as possible relative to the other schools your son is considering.  The hand written note is kind of irrelevant.  They initiated communication so take them up on it.  If he's already received offers, you are playing with house money.  Use your leverage, and learn why they are interested in your son.  The college baseball universe can be vast and extremely varied depending on what you are looking for.  At the least, It is an opportunity for your son to network and learn more about another school and situation.

Good luck!

Great point!! That's what we are going to do.   I feel like no interest is bad interest.

One of the least productive expenditures of time and energy for a baseball player or parent is attempting to read between the lines on camp invites, emails, and other routine communications to discern the existence or intensity of coach interest.

Baseball coaches are not coy or shy. They do not secretly signal interest through notes on camp solicitations. 

If they decide they want your son on their team, they will move quickly and unambiguously to get him on campus and make their pitch for him to commit. Anything short of that means they have at best tentative or contingent interest. 

There's nothing wrong with using the note as an excuse to follow up and see if they really know anything about your son. And there's nothing wrong with sending your son to the camp if he wants the high priced group instruction being offered, or he wants to scope out some competition, or he wants a look at the school. 

But don't read anything into the note on the camp solicitation.

MKbaseballdad posted:

My guess - Uconn.  2016 received multiple invites from them with the same sort of handwritten note you describe from the HC.  I'm going to say 4 of them.  All with the same note.  My thoughts - welcome to the wonderful world of college baseball recruiting.  Your son is going to get a lot of camp invites over the next two years.   

That said, if your son is interested it couldn't hurt to call or email the coach as Buckeye describes.  At the very least its good practice for down the road when he's interacting with coaches.  

I am a little late here, but +1 on the above.  As soon as I saw the thread title, UConn came to my mind.  They sent my son a few of these, but yet never called him (and he never called them or attended).  They probably have admins or make vol ACs sit and sign 100s of these to try to get kids excited.  I am sure it works quite often. 

To my understanding, the mailing of a standard camp brochure/solicitation to a 2018 at this point in time (April of sophomore year) is kosher under NCAA rules.

But recruiting letters are not permitted that soon to a sophomore.

I would be concerned about whether the addition of the personalized note morphs the standard brochure into a personalized letter, in the eyes of the NCAA.

To me, this is a red flag.  If your son went there, would he find himself locked in to a program that had cutesied itself into NCAA sanctions?  Where there's smoke, there's fire.  If they are willing to play fast and loose with the rules in one place, who knows where it stops?