Skip to main content

As cabbagedad stated having just seen all of this go full circle with son finishing his first year in college I would say its about 50/50 for the boys I know well after their first year.  You would be surprised how many are unhappy even when they played a bunch.  

Truthfully to be fair I think several of these could have been avoided but others you simply won't know until you get there.

His summer team had four early commits.  One drafted and in Padres org.  Three others were pitchers.  Only my son is at the school he committed early to.  One was told 18 days before school not to report (he committed during sophomore year) and other was cut right before final spring roster announced (this was following a head coach change after signed NLI).

Remaining five or six on that team committed along the rising senior timeline.  Like I said 50/50 on how satisfied they are with their choices.  

Guess my point is regardless of when you commit things can and do (most likely will) go differently than expected.   For me knowing everything I could about who was recruiting my son was the one way I felt like I could guide him in the process.  Find players, find parents of kids who have been in program.  Don't be afraid to ask questions.  Good luck.

I like the nature of the question.  But I think it should have been reworded:

For those that had the opportunity to commit early (prior to junior year).....

How many committed early, and are extremely happy they did so?   How many committed later and are extremely happy they did so?  

The pros and cons are a personal thing and unique to each recruit.  It is about outcomes.   JMO.

Last edited by fenwaysouth
cabbagedad posted:
Go44dad posted:

I put up a hypothetical example in a post earlier in the thread hoping people with more knowledge than I could take a guess as to how a Coach's recruiting budget is shaped at the end of this summer (2017) vs ten years ago.

Forget dollars, but just scholarships.  Assume the school is a D1 that has a realistic chance of hosting a regional in the next couple of years (maybe 32-36 schools?).  That coach has already made some verbal commitments to players, as well as incoming class that has signed NLI's.  I am postulating that by year, a coach's uncommitted budget for scholarships for the four classes of 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 are zero, zero, 30% and 70% by the end of this summer. Anyone else care to guess, or hopefully put forth an educated guess?  Can anyone put forth an educated guess for what it was at some point in the past?

This is on average, understanding that players get drafted, get injured, give up baseball or transfer.

I'm not smart enough to take a good guess on this one, Go44, ... wouldn't be surprised if your current numbers are pretty close.  But I do think there is a tremendous degree of fluidity to those numbers, which sort of offsets the argument a bit.  I think some coaches will hold out and keep an emergency stash when they can.  And, heck, there have been plenty of recent threads outlining stories of returning players being told their money for next year is going to be used "elsewhere".   I know too many of them personally.  Well, there it is... money available when there was none.  And now that four year deals are becoming more common at the power schools (I think?), can the coaches be more creative with the promise of more "make-up" money on the back end?

I agree this is a primary driver in compelling a player/parent to accept/commit early.  The money will be gone.  If it is the right school, take it.  If you don't take it, they will find another very good player that will.   But, on the other hand, if you are the player they thought you were and still available later, quite often they can find a way to come up with the money even if it isn't there at the moment.  Still, it's Risk vs Reward.  Will THIS school be able to come up with the money later?  Is THIS school the right one?  Is THIS school and THIS offer going to be your best?  If I don't take it, will I be left with far less appealing options?

I loved Younggun's story.  But I'm sure there are plenty of similar stories where the happy ending doesn't happen like it did for him.  VERY few will have that event with 50 college RC's and pro scouts there primarily to see THEM.  His remark rings true, though...  

"If your kid has the tools, the schools will find the money if they really want you. If you get that offer and say yes as a 9th or even 10th grader, you better go into it with eyes wide open. He schools have all, not some but ALL, the leverage. Once you say yes, you are essentially off the market. If things change for you at the school over the next year or so, now you are scrambling for a spot."

Even with all the great info and insight available on this site, there most often are no easy answers and everyone's situation is different.  Even if you are able to determine, early in the process, where your kid's tools will play, that is just one of many steps, many decisions, often many things out of your control.

I HATE things out of my control 

 

You comment on 4 yr deals . What is the difference with the regular commitments 

Old timer posted:

You comment on 4 yr deals . What is the difference with the regular commitments 

The NCAA approved, I believe in 2011, a rules change that allowed schools to offer multi-year scholarships.  Traditionally, scholarships are considered year-to-year and are reviewed and often changed or retracted at that time.  I am a bit unclear as to what extent D1 baseball programs have put this into effect.  Others can address that better than I.  You can also search that topic here.  It would be interesting to hear from others what is happening recently on that front.

Go44dad posted:

Heard from an RC of a pretty decent D1 that his recruiting target in out years is generally 6 full time equivalent scholarships per grad class. Higher than I thought. He said attrition usually gave them enough room to commit 6 full time equivalents. 

Attrition or release does give them that money every year.

All programs are different, some coaches spend all of their money on pitchers, some give more to offense. 

Last edited by TPM

Somewhere I referenced a local kid, no names,  I knew who had committed to a perennial top 10 / WS regular in August prior to 10th grade. I said he was very talented, lazy and exactly not what every college baseball person said you needed to be....fast forward to September of 2017 and lo and he behold he has "decided" to "reopen" his recruiting process.

I don't know the details and have no interest in finding them out, at some point I am sure I will hear the truth, but it really sucks for him. He never should have put himself there, they never should have recruited him there....the whole process was bad from the beginning.

So here he is little over 2 years later in October looking for a home, I assume he will end up at weblow county CC or some other place like it where the primary plan of education is draft prep - I expect in about 5 years we will see him coaching the XYZ Elite team in GA and he will be considered something of a baseball expect by many.

It is a sad story that could have been avoided if the coaches / the institutions / and or his advisors had at any point been objective.

old_school posted:

Somewhere I referenced a local kid, no names,  I knew who had committed to a perennial top 10 / WS regular in August prior to 10th grade. I said he was very talented, lazy and exactly not what every college baseball person said you needed to be....fast forward to September of 2017 and lo and he behold he has "decided" to "reopen" his recruiting process.

I don't know the details and have no interest in finding them out, at some point I am sure I will hear the truth, but it really sucks for him. He never should have put himself there, they never should have recruited him there....the whole process was bad from the beginning.

So here he is little over 2 years later in October looking for a home, I assume he will end up at weblow county CC or some other place like it where the primary plan of education is draft prep - I expect in about 5 years we will see him coaching the XYZ Elite team in GA and he will be considered something of a baseball expect by many.

It is a sad story that could have been avoided if the coaches / the institutions / and or his advisors had at any point been objective.

It also could have been avoided if the parent(s) and kid did their recruiting research and due diligence.   Caveat emptor.  Responsibility starts in the mirror.   I've seen this story before and it is a bad situation.  There is a lot of blame, but I'm sorry it has to start with the recruit and his family. 

fenwaysouth posted:
old_school posted:

Somewhere I referenced a local kid, no names,  I knew who had committed to a perennial top 10 / WS regular in August prior to 10th grade. I said he was very talented, lazy and exactly not what every college baseball person said you needed to be....fast forward to September of 2017 and lo and he behold he has "decided" to "reopen" his recruiting process.

I don't know the details and have no interest in finding them out, at some point I am sure I will hear the truth, but it really sucks for him. He never should have put himself there, they never should have recruited him there....the whole process was bad from the beginning.

So here he is little over 2 years later in October looking for a home, I assume he will end up at weblow county CC or some other place like it where the primary plan of education is draft prep - I expect in about 5 years we will see him coaching the XYZ Elite team in GA and he will be considered something of a baseball expect by many.

It is a sad story that could have been avoided if the coaches / the institutions / and or his advisors had at any point been objective.

It also could have been avoided if the parent(s) and kid did their recruiting research and due diligence.   Caveat emptor.  Responsibility starts in the mirror.   I've seen this story before and it is a bad situation.  There is a lot of blame, but I'm sorry it has to start with the recruit and his family. 

Couldn't it also have been avoided if the kid did the work he needed to do?

fenwaysouth posted:
old_school posted:

Somewhere I referenced a local kid, no names,  I knew who had committed to a perennial top 10 / WS regular in August prior to 10th grade. I said he was very talented, lazy and exactly not what every college baseball person said you needed to be....fast forward to September of 2017 and lo and he behold he has "decided" to "reopen" his recruiting process.

I don't know the details and have no interest in finding them out, at some point I am sure I will hear the truth, but it really sucks for him. He never should have put himself there, they never should have recruited him there....the whole process was bad from the beginning.

So here he is little over 2 years later in October looking for a home, I assume he will end up at weblow county CC or some other place like it where the primary plan of education is draft prep - I expect in about 5 years we will see him coaching the XYZ Elite team in GA and he will be considered something of a baseball expect by many.

It is a sad story that could have been avoided if the coaches / the institutions / and or his advisors had at any point been objective.

It also could have been avoided if the parent(s) and kid did their recruiting research and due diligence.   Caveat emptor.  Responsibility starts in the mirror.   I've seen this story before and it is a bad situation.  There is a lot of blame, but I'm sorry it has to start with the recruit and his family. 

Iowamom23 posted:
fenwaysouth posted:
old_school posted:

Somewhere I referenced a local kid, no names,  I knew who had committed to a perennial top 10 / WS regular in August prior to 10th grade. I said he was very talented, lazy and exactly not what every college baseball person said you needed to be....fast forward to September of 2017 and lo and he behold he has "decided" to "reopen" his recruiting process.

I don't know the details and have no interest in finding them out, at some point I am sure I will hear the truth, but it really sucks for him. He never should have put himself there, they never should have recruited him there....the whole process was bad from the beginning.

So here he is little over 2 years later in October looking for a home, I assume he will end up at weblow county CC or some other place like it where the primary plan of education is draft prep - I expect in about 5 years we will see him coaching the XYZ Elite team in GA and he will be considered something of a baseball expect by many.

It is a sad story that could have been avoided if the coaches / the institutions / and or his advisors had at any point been objective.

It also could have been avoided if the parent(s) and kid did their recruiting research and due diligence.   Caveat emptor.  Responsibility starts in the mirror.   I've seen this story before and it is a bad situation.  There is a lot of blame, but I'm sorry it has to start with the recruit and his family. 

Couldn't it also have been avoided if the kid did the work he needed to do?

yes to both of your comments, that was part of my point. The kid and his parents never should have put him there, he is not a top student and never was. The school is pretty highly ranked academically and he never should have looked at by the coach. And to top it off the kid never had a good attitude, he was always a selfish player. He is / was a hell of a player...and ultimately that was about the only thing anyone seemed to care about or at least so it seems.

Old-School,

As I stated earlier I've seen these situations before.  Hopefully the recruit and family learned something, were slightly humbled by it, and can move on.  Many times another school will learn of the situation and give the kid an opportunity because of his skill set.  It isn't the end of the world.  Possibly the worst thing would have been for the kid to go to his original school, struggle academically, lose a year of eligibility, and be put in a difficult transfer situation.   Because of his talents he'll get another shot if he wants it.  But that is always the number one question he is going to get asked by any 4-year or JUCO recruiter..."do you want it and are you willing to work for it".  

ive mentioned it before  but I know a kid that commited to top 1 or 2 SEC school after freshman yr,  was 6"5 220   he threw 20 pitches in game  all over 90 mph hit 93  but only threw 4 strikes.     Now after pretty good high school career,  pitched no hitter in state championship last summer but did seem to wilt a lot at big PG events   SEC school advised him to look around and he finally decommited.     Recently got offer from top 1 or 2 team in big 12,  with a lot better academic reputation as well so I would say worked out.   

so if D1s are lookign to spread out 6 full scholarships per  yr  that gives them 10-14 signees per class on avg?

Add Reply

×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×