College Program Evaluations ?

There's a lot you can tell even this early in the season, though it does take a few weeks to settle in for most programs (especially before they face conference play).

If a team is ahead, how do they use their players, if the team is behind how are they using their players. If way ahead, they should be giving everyone an opportunity to get at bats, pitchers in, even if for one inning or one out, if they haven't done well, they should be using others to see how they will do. Watch lineups as well, if the team isn't doing well and sticking to the same lineup, for me that tells a lot about a coach and his philosophy.

If you have a pitcher, you should be aware of how they are used, that is VERY important.

In a few weeks, Boyd Nation will come out with a pitch count watch. Important to pay attention to that.

JMO.

There are times I think that we tend to overthink and overanalyze this entire recruiting process. if the boy has talent and is a team player the coaches attitudes and player moves will be non consequential

I think a lot has to do with choice, if a player has one, and he has the opportunity to make one based on things that he can observe over a period of time then I feel those observations can be important. If the player is just looking for a place to play, then that is a whole different scenerio.

My son did that, he watched a few teams that were recruiting him for a year, it was pretty obvious who managed their pitching staff well and who didn't and that made the choice a bit easier, not the entire reason for his choice but a part of it.

Seeing how we have a couple years to sift thru the differences in approach and philosophies between coaches and programs and a chance to see how certain types of players do in these programs I feel gives us valuable info to make a solid decision. Granted we have to have a balanced approach and remember it is about the education. Just as if baseball was not involved I would still be asking about the percntage of graduates and degrees and what the learning environment was like etc. etc. We have always enforced educated decisions from what classes to take to what summer team to play for and have gone through a process while making those decisions. Thanks TRhit/TPM for your valuable insight we appreciate it.

I would recommend listening to some of the games on the radio via internet feed. I find it interesting to listen to the announcers, some of them who have been with the teams for many years. You can get a pretty good idea after listening to a few games on the coaches style, type of game they play etc.

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Is now the time of year to be looking at all college programs of interest to guage how they handle their players, rotations and lineups ? Can you get a good sense of feel for how they approach underclassman and playing time? Or is it too early in the season since most just got going? I know it is always hard to tell exactly what is going on with a program but there is sure a lot of info available via the internet from being able to watch or listen to the games to seeing all of the stats and write ups.

Absolutely. You can get a definite feel for things by listening and watching non-conference games for schools you are interested in. My son and I were able to get gain some insight into the level of baseball (is it appropriate) and wether or not he could compete for a position as a freshmen. Many of his former travel team studs that went to top shelf D1 programs are sitting the bench or getting limited playing time....and that is fine as long as they knew what they were getting into. They are waiting their turn just as the guys in front of them on the depth chart did.

We also watched how coaches substituted and gave new players experience especially pitchers. Every team has to go through it, but it is interesting to see their approach. I think it says alot about the coach and his confidence in his new recruits.

Another interesting tidbit is how many players travel and who travels to away games. Some teams take less than 25, and it is good info to know how many freshmen are making the trip IMO.

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I would recommend listening to some of the games on the radio via internet feed. I find it interesting to listen to the announcers, some of them who have been with the teams for many years. You can get a pretty good idea after listening to a few games on the coaches style, type of game they play etc.

Many of the announcers have no idea what is really going on and just try to spin it into something it isn't

I would agree with TR that style of play etc. is probebely over doing it, (unless your son is a pitcher and the coach abuses pitchers) I think the interaction of the coach with players and umpires is more important then his style of play.

I would recomend just watching the game to enjoy it. If you aren't enjoying watching the game then perhaps the school isn't for you! Whether or not the coach gets kids in the game is easily ascertained by looking at the stats.

My son's second time around the recruiting process, he had a several good choices and he based his decision on how well he got along with the coach and the opportunity to play everyday. Style of play was not much an issue.