Coach says, "They will find you."

If he's truly on a top-level select team in the DFW/Texas area...he will be noticed if he's a prospect.

It's always possible that the coach's idea of visibility might be at odds with your son's objectives; and representation from other regions of the country could be a good example of what I mean.

In any case, don't leave it to chance...or to the coach's view of what constitutes appropriate visibility. Start by knowing the team's schedule and determining which schools' recruiters tend to come to the tournaments on your schedule. If the schedule includes major, national tournaments; then, chances are that recruiters from throughout the country will be present. If, on the other hand, the team were to limit its participation to tournaments in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, you might expect the representation of schools to be more regionally oriented. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing. If it lines up with your son's aspirations, it could be entirely adequate.

At the end of the day, it's all about finding a way to get in front of recruiters from the schools that are important to a player. If a summer team's tournaments fail to accomplish that, then, it probably makes sense to consider a camp or two and/or a showcase; carefully chosen to provide the visibility that lines up with the player's goals.

Best of luck to him!

I disagree with that coach. Granted if a kid is a stud, word will travel about him, but not necessarily to all the colleges you and he would like an opportunity to play at. Conventional wisdom says essentially the same thing the coach did, that you do not recruit schools, they recruit you. Even if the kid is a stud, not everyone will feel they have a shot at them and not even contact him. As you pointed out, regions in different parts of the country typically recruit in their own backyards. Much of that has to do with time and cost.

When it came to my son, several east coach coaches asked me why some west coast schools were showing interest, and I told them because we brought him out west to be seen. My sons HS coach said the same thing about schools finding you, not the other way around. However I can honestly say that many of the serious inquiries and offers we received were due to us being proactive and contacting the schools.
We did miss out on promoting him in his junior year, so that might very well explain why so few college coaches knew about my son. Then again, he was not throwing 90+ nor did he attend big events like PG in Jupiter until his senior year.

So my advice would be to make a list of all the schools you might be interested in, and find a way for them to see your son. Whether it be an event they will attend, or a camp they run. I also highly recommend PG events for exposure because you will not find events with more scouts than the PG tourney in Jupiter coming up soon.

quote:

So my advice would be to make a list of all the schools you might be interested in, and find a way for them to see your son. Whether it be an event they will attend, or a camp they run. I also highly recommend PG events for exposure because you will not find events with more scouts than the PG tourney in Jupiter coming up soon.

Does the Jupiter event have more colleges in attendance than the Ft. Myers Underclass? I was always under the impression that Jupiter was more tilted to the pros since it has a lot of seniors, and committed seniors, and Ft. Myers, since they are all mostly juniors, tilted to college???

quote:

Originally posted by justbaseball:
If he's truly on a top-level select team in the DFW/Texas area...he will be noticed if he's a prospect.

If you are playing on a top level team you will be noticed (if anything locally), but you have to make sure that the people who you may be interested in are there watching. I am not sure in this day and age anyone whould take anything for granted.

But in the end, regardless of who contacted who first, no matter what type of player you are, it's the coach who makes the offer, not the other way around. Always keep that in mind.

Elroy,
To the best of my knowledge, the Jupiter event has more coaches and scouts than any other PG event.

Vector,
I may have missed your announcement, at what program did your son end up attending?

Jupiter is loaded with college recruiters from all over the country.

Aleebaba, I'll say don't depend on that statement to be true. I think a lot of people hear "they will find you" and connect it with "there's a program for everyone that wants to play"....you can't connect the two. I think you'll find the "they will find you" statement's true for the 90+ throwers and homerun hitters. So I wouldn't count on them finding you unless you are the 90+ guy or the consistent bomb hitter.

Aleebaba,

Most top level travel teams have contacts with college and pro scouts that is true. Whether or not they are colleges that your son is interested in attending is another matter entirely.

IMHO your son should be reseearching colleges and baseball programs on his own to learn what is possible and worthwhile for his life goals. If your son's travel coach wants to help open some doors, and give him additional exposure and contact that is great. However, it is your son's responsibility for his future not his travel coach.

My son's travel coach opened a lot of doors for some fantastic college programs in our area. He could have gone to some really good schools with fantastic baseball coaches and programs. Between his junior and senior year, he was exposed to a whole "new world" of academics and baseball that his travel coach knew very little of. This "new world" was the direction my son wanted to go in, and so he did.

Best of luck!

No one on the west coast or east coast will see your son, unless his team travels to the national events. Even if you go how are they going to know that your are even interested in their program. NEVER let anyone else but you and your son manage his future. This is insane!!!!

Make up your list of prospect schools and email them his profile and your team and his schedule when going to an event and let them know that he is interested in their program. You manage the process and your travel team is just one of the variables.

I have a business degree from one of the top schools in the state (if not the country). I'm a young, energetic, entrepreneur. I have leadership skills and management experience.

Yet for some reason the Fortune 100 company whose headquartered 3 miles from my house has never knocked on my door. They have never called me. They have never emailed me.

Not worried though. I'm sure they will find me.

Rich
www.playinschool.com

Why risk it? There's no downside to being proactive.

No matter how connected your travel coaches may be it is very important that you contact schools of interest and do your own leg work. Don't leave something this important to anyone else, regardless of how well intentioned they appear.

Remember the coaches are dealing multiple coaches regard 15-20 players. You are dealing with the most important player only.

attend the south texas pro showcase, its cheap, run by the scouts, its a charity event that will have nearly every mlb team, the scouting bureau, and 50 or more college programs there. jimscout.com has the info, check around with kids that have attended.

no matter how well known the travel the player must let colleges know when and where they are playing

Lots and lots of college level players in our area, are not found every year. The reason, top level d1's and might have a decent recruiting budget, but no one else does. D2's and d3's might hear about studs from their area, but rarely in other areas of the country.

If your son is not a top 200 prospect in the nation, you'll have to help him get found.

Heck,the former coaches at Charleston came dadgumm near to not finding Brett Gardner when he was already enrolled and standing right in front of them. I wouldn't rely on anyone "finding" me unless there was evidence that I was already found.

There is a A LOT of great advice in this thread, personally I would pay attention to it. There is a TON of knowledge from parents who have gone through this already, time and time again.

It was MUCH different when I was in HS playing baseball more (just a bit lol) than twenty years ago. I never even suspected I'd play at the next level. The mentality around me at that time, including "experienced coaches" was, "Bring it and they will come."...at least concerning pitchers.

The only reason I got on the radar at all, was largely luck. I was the sacrificial lamb as a JR in the V pitching rotation. Everyone else "Didn't feel well" when it came time to face a team with two major prospects in a pre-season tournament. So I pitched. I did well enough that the scouts/coaches there looking at those other two kids actually talked to me as well.

I definitely wouldn't depend on that kind of luck if your son really wants to play at the next level.

I JUST had a conversation like this this past weekend with a friend, who's son has the potential to be a possible D1 player. He's big, strong and very physically mature for his age (2014 grad). He now plays for a Coach's travel team who has a reputation for being around the game a LONG time and was involved with an organization that saw more than a few kids go on to play at the next level. He has contacts at several colleges, and this draws a fair amount of players to his teams. I was a bit surprised, considering the reputation of the kid's coach, that my friend didn't even know what the 11.7 rule was and how it applied to baseball. He didn't know the significance of the Sept 1 date and what it entailed for colleges before that date. The team in question did an informal "Work out" at a high level D1 with the coaching staff there. The kids got to meet the coaches, and work out on the field. I'm sure it was a great experience for the kids. However, that bit of exposure is making my friend think that that is all that his son needs, as far as getting in on coaches' radar.

I tried to explain the importance of grades, attending at least a couple well respected and attended showcases, I even mentioned the more heavily recruited tournaments (historically), and even making video clips of game play and being proactive in contacting coaches at multiple colleges to help with exposure and recruitment. The response I received made me believe he thinks that he doesn't need to that. I hope I'm wrong.

I know there are A LOT of things that can and will prevent many players from advancing to the next level, that have nothing to do with ability or skill. That being said, I wonder how many potential college, or even professional players will not move on because their parents (or the players themselves) didn't know how proactive they SHOULD and COULD be in helping the journey continue?

It was a sobering moment for me, as I know the kid and the parents quite well.

I agree with what has been said...showcasing at this age MIGHT NOT be worth it. BUT...it might...IF you have something to showcase. As a catcher, if you swing it very well or can throw it well, it may be worthwhile to get to a showcase.

In my experience, all it takes is that one time for them to see you do something great ("look pretty") and it puts you on the map. Do you want to wait until you are a rising senior? That is up to you.

As for videos/youtube links, etc...they are good if the right person is pushing the link. Meaning, if a coach gets an unsolicited link or video from a player, 99 times out of 100 he will not watch it. BUT, if he gets the same link from someone he trusts, he will most likely watch it.

From our experience, "they will find you" only works if you are "blue chip".
Don't leave it to chance.
Establish yourself with a team who has sent players to college before, they have connections.
There are so many good baseball players (generally speaking especially out here in the west where the kids play 24/7/365 and we have climate for it ) (NOT to say there are not good players everywhere!!!!).
We live in Central California. We were told so many times - why would we go all the way up there (or down there) to see kids when we have a whole slew of them right in our back yard who are just as good?
Get your name out there, CALL the coach, CALL the coach, call the coach.
Did I mention your son should call the coach?
Unfortunately, this is also a who you know arena, not always a how good you are or what you do kind of a thing.
Recruiting for all college sports falls into this.
Get at it!