College Commits

There are 3 sophomore commits in Ohio, All to Ohio State. I have know these 3 for years and have to say they are VERY good. (none of them my kid, he just plays against them often). They are the best 1b/ power hitter, c/power hitter and RHP (88 clocked according to PBR) in Ohio IMHO. Although I do feel it is VERY early to commit, I am sure these are type of sophomore that do.

I do wonder how they were offered a scholly since coaches cannot talk to them yet. I am assuming they were on campus

HunterMac95,

It is a nice problem to have as usually the recruits are very much sought after, and high skill guys. But, "ridiculous" is in the eye of the beholder. People have all kinds of different goals when it comes to a college education and baseball.

A few years ago, we saw this early committment stuff going on but now it seems more commonplace and even more early these days. There have been plenty of discussions on this topic at HSBBWeb, and I can only think of a few valid reasons (IMHO) that make sense to commit early. I think most recruits are better served by waiting, truly understanding what it is they want and what is available. For others, their approach is different.....they know they want a particular dream school or a particular dream coach becasue their dream is to play professionally. I guess I can understand that, but it is not something I've ever had to worry about.

There is a alot of self imposed peer pressure on these kids to find a college program while they are being recruited. We certainly felt it a couple years ago, and coaches make no secret that they have other interested recruits. There are also a lot of transfers during or after freshmen year....that doesn't seem to be getting better. I guess I'm saying I'd like to see more research and thought go into these commitment decisions whether it is early or not.

While it is true plenty of players are committing earlier, majority of the players that sign early still commit during the summer after their junior year and the fall of their senior year. This is still the norm.

I remember feeling the same way as you, then during the start of "showcase season" after my son's junior year, everything happened, and REAL fast. He was committed by the end of July. My advise is to give it time and let the process happen. There is still plenty of time at very good schools for a 2013.

I don't know if you have done this as well, but their is plenty of good ball played North of FL. Just something to throw out there to consider...

2014's from Ohio commiting to Ohio State seems to make sense. Maybe they are big Buckeye fans. Wonder if they would choose Ohio State if every top baseball college in the country wanted them? If they would answer yes to that question... Good for them. If they don't answer yes, they commited too early and probably for the wrong reasons.

Birdman14:

What did your son's "showcase season" consist of?

As I've written here before, I am "feeling the same way as you." Our son is a 2013 and we're trying to figure out what very specifically he should be doing this June, July and August. He's on a good travel team, but I'm not sure that he will be playing in tournaments where the colleges he's interested in are going to be out looking. Really, now thinking that he be better served going to campus camps at, for example, Penn, Yale, Columbia in June and Princeton and Cornell in July and maybe Showball in July and Head First in August. Travel ball just doesn't seem to be "targetted enough" for his college list. The college camps seem to include 10-12 college coaches, a number of which are on his college list.

FYI, I've gotten good advice from others (Fenway South and Prepster, to name two) on this board and in our local community, but would appreciate any other opinions.

Thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by redsoxchicago:
Birdman14:

What did your son's "showcase season" consist of?

Son is a P/OF. This was during the 2009 summer. Prior to this summer he had very little "real" interest from schools. In his junior spring, he was invited to 1 junior day at D1 school. At the time he was in contact by email with about 10 different D1 and D3 schools. Most of those emails where rather "form letter like" in content.

He was on a summer team that had the backing of the Northeast Scouting Supervisor of the St. Louis Cardinals (at the time). It was very competitive for our area and would have been considered one of the top teams in the NJ, NY, CT, PA region. The team had 4-5 players per year in the past recruited to play D1 and others at the D2 and D3 level. This ended up being true again of the group of players on my son's team. This was the same team he was on the previous fall. Through the Cardinal team, he was invited to the Area Code Tryouts (Yankees). Although he did not make the team, there were 75+ college scouts there. He did real well pitching and hitting. The same night he had a tournament game 30 miles away that many of the same scouts attended, and he did real well again. That weekend he heard from dozens of schools he never had any contact with before. This was the 3rd weekend in June.

The following weekend he attended a regional showcase in NJ called SelectFest - www.selectfestbaseball.org . Again, 75+ college scouts present and he repeated and confirmed his performance. Again, he heard from more schools that he had never heard from before. On July 1 he was on the phone from 7:30AM - 10:30PM, and quite frankly he was very fortunate as well as humbled with all the attention.

During the first week in July, he was invited to 3 schools for unofficial visits, and made 3 offers. The school he is currently at was probably his #2 school at the time. They made the best financial offer and became his #1 choice over the next several weeks due to several factors. The offer he was made had a 3 week time frame or it would expire (so we were told). He accepted the offer on the last day 3 weeks later. During that 3 week time we went to several other schools for unofficial visits. I probably put about 5000 miles on my car then.

He had planned on attending East Cobb with another summer team (the Cards did not go at that time) and to Headfirst Honor Roll Showcase at Richmond in August (had he not had real interest yet, I would have somehow had him at a PG showcase in August in the NE). He ended up not doing either, because at the time we had some family issues that caused financial constraints. He also had some really nice offers in hand and accepted his current school's offer before Headfirst. He is currently at a very nice, academic, mid-major D1 school in the Northeast. I get to see about 40-45 of his games during the year.

I hope this helps. Please feel free to PM me if you need more information or need more help.

quote:

Originally posted by HunterMac95:
Is it just me or does committing during your sophomore HS season seem a little ridiculous? I see 2014's committing everyday it seems on PG under recruiting section. Maybe I'm a little jealous/frustrated since my 2013 with plenty of upside isn't even close to committing. Thoughts??

I understand why parents/players go through so much anxiety during recruiting.

Stop reading that stuff! Your son has plenty of time, make sure that he will be seen this summer.

My son is a 2014 catcher, but I don't expect him to get too much attention early on. We have initiated a few contacts and got good responses, but they are limited. I am aware of a 2014 RHP on my son's Summer team that is being recruited by a top D1 in this state, but he threw 90+ at their facility as a 15yr old. I'm assuming most very early commits are phenoms like this.

Birdman14 you have a PM.

TPM,
You know from our PM's we will grind it out, I guess we could stop reading the commit list on PG Our summer schedule is very good but like you said you understand the anxiety.

quote:

Originally posted by TPM:

quote:

Originally posted by HunterMac95:
Is it just me or does committing during your sophomore HS season seem a little ridiculous? I see 2014's committing everyday it seems on PG under recruiting section. Maybe I'm a little jealous/frustrated since my 2013 with plenty of upside isn't even close to committing. Thoughts??

I understand why parents/players go through so much anxiety during recruiting.

Stop reading that stuff! Your son has plenty of time, make sure that he will be seen this summer.

PM right back at you HM95.

I would keep reading everything possible on who is recruiting who. Might tell you something about the college program and it might end up helping when you're ready to make a decision. It's part of knowing the situation.

quote:

Originally posted by PGStaff:
I would keep reading everything possible on who is recruiting who. Might tell you something about the college program and it might end up helping when you're ready to make a decision. It's part of knowing the situation.

I agree, but if it is causing anxiety and frustration, then put it aside.

quote:

I would keep reading everything possible on who is recruiting who. Might tell you something about the college program and it might end up helping when you're ready to make a decision. It's part of knowing the situation.

My parents always told me "it doesn't matter what other people are doing, as long as you're doing what's right for you." It shouldn't cause you stress, it should create a more knowledgable prospect.

BM14,

Tag you're it, PM back to you