College placement Coaches

Not showcasing is a bad idea IMHO.  Showcasing allows one to be seen by many coaches.  Attending a particular team's prospect camp is a great idea, but you are limiting your exposure.  I would definitely suggest doing both. Attend a Showcase first to determine what team's are interested, and then narrow down the choices accordingly.

 

To me just attending the prospect camp of a particular college...and not attending showcases is absolutely putting all your eggs in one basket...the basket of that one school.  Not sure why you wouldn't attend some showcases....though I'll add that not all showcases are equal....and a bad day can hurt as much as it helps...but you'll have that possibility no matter where you are.  The prospect camp at a school does give you more "one on one" time with the coaches from that school...so if there's one he's really interseted in, I would definitely attend...but not get away from showcases altogether

Is this college placement coach asking payment for his services. If so I would go another direction. It is hard work and can be a grind but there is plenty of information that this can be done on your own. 

I agree with Ryno. If a showcase has teams attending that your son is interested in, then he should go. He should not go blind though, hoping to be seen. He should contact the schools and tell them of his interest and let the team know he is going to be at the showcase. That way they know about him and he is not just another name on the showcase list.

Attending a schools camp he is interested in is also a good idea. Same applies as above. Son should contact the recruiting co-ordinator and express his interest. That way they know who he is and that he is coming to the camp. 

Thanks. He has done @ 2 showcases. Has made contact with two colleges from them but now both are hosting their own prospect camp. I guess my bigger question is about placement coaches. Any knowledge or experience there? Different process. Showcase v. connections

My son committed last month....and his organization has 25 kids in the class of 2015.  I don't know everyone's story....but of the ones I know of I've never heard of any of them using someone to help....other than the travel coaches...and the head of the organization (who I will admit kind is basically working as a placement coach).  He has a lot of connections and colleges trust his opinion.  What kind of resume does your guy have?  Can he give you names of kids he has helped....and allow you to verify that he helped them?   Unless he's very well connected and respected among college coaches, I just don't see what he would be able to do that your son, you and maybe his travel ball coach couldn't do on your own.

Thanks...real good resume. ex player in the minors with a few clubs. Placed a few kids in the area....great knowledge of the game....just has a dislike for the showcase method.

Re2pect, I would say a lot depends on your son's age. If he is young, say 2017 or younger, I would go to a PG showcase. They are pricey but you and your son will get a good idea how your son stacks up against kids in your area and the grade given by PG is generally pretty spot on. Then I would use this info to target schools of interest. If he is a 2016, you are most likely going to have to hit it hard as next summer is your best window. I would do a showcase this fall ASAP to get an idea where his talent level is or go have a professional scout give you his opinion after a workout. I completely disagree with forgoing showcases altogether. I personally think that is bad advise. It's easy for the ex pro ball player to say, but has he seen your kid play?  If so, what level does he see your son playing?  Take that info and get started like others have suggested.

I would run quickly in the opposite direction of anyone who advises against attending showcases. It's the best way to be seen by the most college programs. If this advisor is against them maybe its because he sees showcases as throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks. The correct process is to have a business plan of college programs you want to be seen by. Showcases are a valuable part of executing the plan.

Of course he does!  He wants all of your money!

 

We now have "College Placement Coaches"?  Remember what PT Barnum said.

Outside of the expense, I can only think of one reason to advise a player to not attend a good showcase type event. That would be if I thought that player lacked talent!

 

Not sure I understand the "setup for failure" thinking.  Once again, that kind of sounds like something you might tell a player that lacked talent.  After all, the most talented kids tend to stand out and create a lot of interest.

 

Regarding college camps... Three main ways to look at it...

 

1. They pretty much know before you attend whether they plan to actively recruit you. Or they already have been recruiting you.

 

2. They pretty much know before you attend that they are not going to recruit you.

 

3. You might surprise them and create some interest.

 

If they truly want you, they will want you whether you attend their camp or not.  However, they will try hard to get you to attend.  After all, it makes the camp look more attractive in the future if it looks like they are using it to recruit players. This helps the camp make money, which of course is the main reason for having camps. And yes, once in a great while they will see a surprise guy.

 

None of the above is a bad thing, but even if you are a surprise to them and they end up wanting you, you are in a much better position if several colleges want you.  So even if this is your dream school, it is a huge benefit to have several schools making an offer.

 

Real interest in recruiting is very obvious.  There isn't much beating around the bush or playing games... They want you and make it very clear.  Or you are a back up plan and that too is usually clear.  Or they really have no interest and unfortunately, that is not always so clear.  You can't fill camps by telling players you're not interested. Then again, you could always surprise them and create some interest.

 

Anyway, there are many great college camps that are worth every dime you might spend. Make sure you learn something.  Think beyond recruiting!

 

Guess I could be wrong.  If so I would like to know.  How many have attended a college camp they have been invited to?  How many knew they were going to get an offer ahead of time?  How many of the others ended up receiving an offer from that college?

 

Going to college camps is a great idea.  You will gain something from any good camp.  But common sense needs to prevail when it comes to recruiting.  They want the very best talent they can get.  If they see an impact player anywhere, they will try to get him to a camp, but they want that player whether he attends or not. In that case, the camp gives them a chance to get much closer to the player.

 

I do think there are college camps that can and do create interest from other colleges, usually  lower Division Colleges.  I would say the Stanford Camp is the most well known and the biggest. I know there are others that are also very good.

 

Recruiting Coach?  Is that a Recruiting Service?

My son went to a D1 SEC-type school camp in August of 2013 as a rising Junior. As I remember it, he hit 85-86, sat 81-83. Struck out 6 of the 7 batters that he faced. Never threw a 4 seam FB, only a 2 seam FB. Pretty dominating.  I asked after it was over with why he didn't throw a 4 seam to get velocity peak higher. He said that he didn't need to. They couldn't hit 2 seam and/or CB. He thought he did well. I did too

.

Results: ZERO...never heard anything back from this college (until he hit a much higher MPH late this Spring)

 

What we learned (1) He should have thrown 4 seam to get a higher MPH. (2) Results don't always matter,and often don't matter, at camps and showcases.  (3) What you or your son thinks is a good showing (or a bad showing) may not be the same as the opinion of those coaches,scouts that really count

 

This is just my opinion in my limited experiences.

 

 

 

Re2pect, I suggest you read PG Staff's post very carefully. He, as usual, is spot on. I know some probably think his post's are self serving, but truth is truth. Think about it from a coach' perspective. If you were the coach looking for talent. Would you wait at your campus for prospects to "show up" or would you go were the talent is. I know what I would do. There is a reason the best talent tends to show up at the same place. The best players want to play against the best players. Right now that means PG Showcase, WWBA, World Championship in Jupiter, USA Baseball, etc. That is also THE reason these events are attended by every major baseball program. The college recruiters and pro scouts are gonna focus there very limited time where they will get the most bang for their buck.

 

I'll just add this.  Although my son garnered some interest from some mid level D1 schools, he wound up going D2.  It is a very good D2 school in a very good conference with a very good reputation and track record, but it is a D2, so keep that in perspective.  Although, I honestly found that basically, the same principles applied to the D1 schools we visited.

 

My experience has been that the people out looking for talent at the PG and other showcase events and tournaments are usually the recruiting coordinators.  For the schools that were looking at my son, the head coaches were not out and about.  I also found that the recruiting coordinators were not the decision makers, although I'm sure they had a big influence on the head coaches, the head coaches wanted to see the player before making an offer.

 

We had two different situations regarding playing at a school.  In two of the circumstances, the travel team my son was playing for put on their own workout including their 16, 17 and 18 year old teams at the college.  In other words, the organization made arrangements to put on a showcase day at the school in front of the coaches of that school to promote their kids.  We did one of these at a D1 and one at a D2 that my son wound up going to.  At the D1, they liked what they saw, but said they were out of money.  It was kind of late in the game, so I don't know if it was true or they were blowing smoke.  Either way, son didn't go there.  At the D2, the recruiting guy saw my son at a local recruiting event.  Liked what he saw and made arrangements to come watch him pitch at a PG event.  Liked what he saw again, but said the head coach wanted to see him pitch before they made an offer.  We went to the school with his travel team where he pitched, the head coach liked what he saw and gave him a pretty generous (in my opinion) offer.  We wound up accepting it.

 

Then there were the two (one of each kind) he went to for the other D1 and other D2.  The D1 was a prospect camp we went to (no invite, just showed up) and they had interest for a while including follow up emails and phone calls, but it wound up dying out.  For the D2, we went in blind (did send an email to the coach letting him know we'd be there), but we had never spoken to them before.  After my son pitched, coach called him over and told him he really liked what he saw.  Asked if he was truly interested in the school and wanted to set up a visit for us to see the school.  Somewhere along the process, I made a comment along the lines of their expressing so much interest never having seen him before.  The pitching coach/recruiting coordinator was there and told us they had seen him before and knew exactly who he was.  But they had never approached son for some reason.  Anyway, we came back for the visit and they gave son a pretty good offer that we wound up rejecting.  

 

My point is two fold.  One is you never know what might happen.  We got a good offer from a school that had never talked to us, but did know who son was.  The other is, sometimes, if the school knows who you are, they may just need the head coach to see you or they may just want to verify one more time what they saw before.  So, it can't hurt to go to a college prospect camp.

 

Obviously, for the PG 10, it's a no brainer that these top schools will take you.  For the rest of us that are 8s & 9s, it takes a little more work and exposure and verifying in the coaches minds what they want to do.  The more they see you and the more you perform for them, the better your chances are.  

 

Hope all this ranting helps and puts some kind of perspective on it.

bballman makes great points. Our experience was similar but different. I will agree that I typically saw recruiting coordinators or pitching coaches at the big PG events, but I would have to assume the head guy trusts their opinion. I guess it's different for each program but son's dream school that he wound up getting offered by and commiting to saw him at PG WWBA. Son did attend a camp at their school last fall, but it was on his on and not an invite. Interestingly enough, they knew who he was when he signed in at the camp. The head coach was out of town. We went back this past spring on an unofficial but again didn't get to meet head coach nor pitching coach due to some weather issues. Pitching coached watched son throw at PG WWBA and head coach called and offered. He explicitly stated he trusted his pitching coach's opinion. This may not be normal but it was our experience.

Younggun, I'll add something to mine. At my son's school, the head coach is the pitching coach. Maybe that's why he needed to see him. A little different for sure.

I would say that at most major colleges the recruiting coordinator handles the recruiting.  The very best recruiting coordinators end up as head coaches at top colleges.  the current head coaches at this years college World Series final (Vanderbilt and Virginia) were both recruiting coordinators before they took head coaching jobs.  (Clemson and Notre Dame). So was the current U of Florida Head coach.

 

At many colleges the recruiting coordinator is responsible for the roster.  At the same time we see many head coaches at certain events.