College camp invitation

I would reply back with "Please call me to answer a few questions".  

A lot of colleges do send them out. We received one from USC last month. If your kid is a top player on his select/ travel team then ya. Just use a little common sense about it.

It also want hurt to get your kid used to playing in front of college coaches/scouts & exposure to other schools. Good luck...

At this point the coach can not contact a Freshman in HS directly other than camp invite/brochure. I would follow up with an email to the coach.It would seem to be more than a mass email where he states that recruiting coordinator gave info.  Did the coach leave a phone number? Cell number would indicate something more than mass email I believe.

We (2017) receive many camp invites. A lot of schools send these out off of lists they've received or purchased from tournaments or travel programs. It's exciting to receive these the first time, and I hate to be the bubble buster, but these camps are a way for the school to generate money.  Yes they do look at kids at these camps but unless your son is already on their radar odds are they won't pay attention to them at the camp and they are only inviting them for your money. 

So how do you tell if it's a legitimate invite or a money grab?  First look to see if it's a mass emailing. Look for a unsubscribe link on the email, or if the To: list has been hidden. Also, try to figure out if they've seen your son some place recently. Has he attended a showcase where the school may have had a coach?  Finally, look for a phone number. If they've provided one (especially a cell phone number) then they most likely are interested and want a call back. Your son needs to be the one doing the calling, not you.

As I said my son received at lot of these things in the fall. A few were from the same schools that were just a little different. The generic ones contained info on the camp and an email address.  We also received ones from the same schools that were, again, camp invites but these contained multiple coaches names and phone numbers and in a couple of instances cell phone numbers. 

Thank you for all the responses.We have responded indicating that we could not make it this year but would be interested in future events.

joes87 - there was no unsubscribe link on the email. The To: list was not hidden. The email has names of several coaches and a phone number and the from email is the email address of the coach - not a generic email address like info@.... Curious if you attended any camps where the letter looked like the one I got and what your experience was like. 

From all the responses, it seems like this is not a mass email. This is encouraging,

Also, what are the approximate GPA/SAT/ACT requirements to get in as a baseball athlete in D1 schools?

Good answer ne_lefty, just goes to show that there is a lot to learn regarding the rules in college recruiting.

howdybaseball,

My suggestion is not to spend money on camps at this time unless the reason fort attending would be to pick up pointers. Your son hasn't played one game of HS baseball yet. Be prepared to get lots of invites to college camps.  

There are some coaches that run excellent camps and teach skills, but usually they are very expensive, so for now, just sit back and be patient.

My suggestion would be to visit the NCAA site for basic requirements GPA/SAT/ACT for D1. However, keep in mind that usually just basic requirements doesnt always apply.   D1 programs and their  academic requirements are all different as well as state school vs private.

We have not attended any as my son plays football and basketball and has not been able to work the camps in. We have emailed each coach back that has provided a phone number. Interestingly one coach responded to an email with a one line response about seeing him at a future camp being run by an organization in our area. We have left voice mails for some of the other coaches. 

Regarding your grades question. There is the NCAA minimums and then their are the requirements to get into the school you are looking at. The NCAA mins are based on a sliding scale the accepts a lower GPA with a higher ACT/SAT. But those are only the NCAAs requirements. Unless your son is a total stud don't expect a school to lower their admission standards just because he is interested in playing baseball there. Its been stressed to us over and over again, by folks that have gone through the process, that the first thing any school is going to ask about are his grades. luckily for him he is currently carrying a 3.89. 

Thank you for all the replies. 

All Schools are different with what they require for admission, it isn't a size one fits all D1 baseball schools.

For example, here are two D1 schools close to me admission site requirements:

School #1:SAT = 950 combined Critical Reading and Math minimum on the SAT (minimums of 450 Critical Reading and 450 Math). A minimum ACT composite score of 20 (minimums of 18 in English and 18 in Math) will also be considered satisfactory.

School #2: SAT = 2050 min. (Verbal = 670 min, Math = 700 min., writing 650 min.; ACT = 30 Minimum

I'd say they vary by individual schools...GREATLY!