@RJM posted:Were you an associate scout? I’ve known, and known of umpires and coaches who are associate scouts. For those who may not know an associate scout gets paid when he submits information on a player to his affiliated team and that team drafts and signs him. Otherwise, he’s not paid.
So from what I have gathered, associate scouts tip off the area scouts of good players on their team or other teams? My family knows 2 associate scouts very well.
https://community.hsbaseballwe...89#67612830685228789
Yes. They feed info into MLB scouts. This past year some colleges also tapped into the MLB scout network since they were unable to hit the road themselves. Hopefully this spring college coaches will be able to hit the road again.
2025 ... Size isn’t everything. But lack of it has to be overcome. It’s all about talent. But those with ideal size get noticed first. How tall are your parents? Older brothers and sisters?
My son was 5’4 120 in 14u. But with me being 6’1”, his mother 5’8” and his older sister 5’10” we weren’t worried about growth.
You are probably close to having a growth spurt. My son was 5’11” the next year. He was 6’1” senior year of high school. He grew to be 6’2”.
In the mean time you can borrow my son’s old line. When he saw an non athletic tall guy he muttered,, “What a waste of good height.”
@2025prospect posted:I already use that line lol. We know a few people who are 6’2-6’4 and do not play sports at all. My mom is 5’2, dad is 6’0.
Chances are you will be 5’10” to 6’. It’s big enough if you have the skills.
Lot's of great advice here. I enjoy seeing someone your age with the maturity to seek advice and you definitely articulate yourself very well, bravo. You should use those resources in both your travel program and family scouts to help with making connections with the different programs you are interested in addition to reaching to them. A multi-pronged approach is not overkill and imo would demonstrate your resourcefulness to the program recruiters. Hopefully your genetics puts you over 70" but that is something out of your control and keep grinding and being the best student you can be. You will be facing a lot of distractions and it will definitely test your commitment to playing in the next level. Try your best to stay in circle of like-minded kids so you can challenge each other to improve everyday, especially with grades. Best of luck
This is a for you to consider when you are a bit older but D3 and NAIA (and I believe JuCo) don’t have black out periods say like D1 and D2.
Here is a nice overview.
https://www.ncsasports.org/nca...ter/recruiting-rules
My son started reaching out the summer before his sophomore year to recruiting/assistant coaches to about 15-20 colleges he liked with video/recruiting profile and PBR profile. Would send updates with new video every few months to establish a relationship. He was personally invited to some winter practices/campus visits over his junior year. Signed his LOI in October with a NAIA school that was good fit for him. Athletic/Academic $$.
2025prospect,
As you have no doubt discovered, HSBBWeb is a GREAT resource. There are a lot of HSBBWeb people that have taken many different paths to play baseball in high school, college and professionally. It is a very confusing time right now with Covid-19, so anything you learn now will be far and above what it is like normally.
Keep at it, keep asking question and learning as much as you can how it works and why it works the way it does....think like a Coach! I love your dream schools. There are posters here who know all about these dream schools (and schools like them) and what it takes to get there. Keep working hard on your baseball skills and your education. Great grades and great baseball, opens many coaching doors.
Good luck and don't be shy!
@CTbballDad posted:I stand corrected and highly impressed at your writing ability at such a young age. Props to you.
Unfortunately, when it comes time for you to email coaches, you might need make some adjustments, as your written words come across quite advanced for your age.
Keep up the good work!
I"m sorry, I call BS on this. Having the ability to express yourself at a high level is a huge asset — among other things it helps reinforce the idea that you'll be able to handle college level work. Be who you are and be proud of it.
Telling you to dumb down your emails smacks of when I was in high school and people told me to stop volunteering so much in class because boys don't like smart girls. Hopefully we're past that in the classroom and in athletics.
As long as you communicate as well in texts and conversations with the coaches, you'll be fine.
@2025prospect posted:1. My travel team branch ranks pretty good in our organization. 2022 team has a few commits, CSULB, USC, etc. My team(14u) has only got to play one tournament due to COVID and they lost in semi-finals to teams with pretty good players. I would say we are high up in the organization. Top 10.
2. I bat 5-6 in the lineup and my positions are OF,1B and when I am rehabbed, will be working on 3rd base.
3. I do have dream colleges with or without baseball. Stanford, UCLA, Berkeley, Pepperdine and Vanderbilt.
4. I have seen college baseball games and seen them take BP, pregame etc. USC vs Vanderbilt and TCU vs Vanderbilt. I was planning on attending games for UCLA, Pepperdine and Stanford.
5. I am not sure what level of college I can play at. I have not started lifting weights really.(I am doing strength training but very light and heaviest I will go is 25lb kettlebell) . Right now I am still small and have not hit any growth spurt, 5’3,130 but I have a pretty strong arm. My swing is good too, but I could use a little more power. Right before my injury, I had just started to really discover my swing and what I can do. Was starting to really drive the ball with a wood bat and get solid hits. This summer, I plan on starting training with either 90MPH formula, Driveline, or another well known baseball strength training facility near me. I feel that when I start lifting I will tap more into my potential.
Thank you to everyone for the advice.
Thanks for the reply.
Great list of schools. If Pepperdine is on your list, you might consider the rest of the West Coast Conference as well.
To get a better idea of what play looks like at other divisions, once things return to near normal you might check out a D2 game, like at Cal Poly Pomona, and a D3 game, like at Cal Lu or Occidental.
You have gotten lots of great advice here already, but none better than the advice on working as hard as you can on your academics. You will be very glad you did.
@Iowamom23 posted:I"m sorry, I call BS on this. Having the ability to express yourself at a high level is a huge asset — among other things it helps reinforce the idea that you'll be able to handle college level work. Be who you are and be proud of it.
Telling you to dumb down your emails smacks of when I was in high school and people told me to stop volunteering so much in class because boys don't like smart girls. Hopefully we're past that in the classroom and in athletics.
As long as you communicate as well in texts and conversations with the coaches, you'll be fine.
Agree with this because when son was being recruited it was noted to us that he spoke very well and they enjoyed the conversation.
Nowadays, with emails and texts, the written word has replaced the spoken word, and I am impressed with how you express yourself.
@JCG posted:Thanks for the reply.
Great list of schools. If Pepperdine is on your list, you might consider the rest of the West Coast Conference as well.
To get a better idea of what play looks like at other divisions, once things return to near normal you might check out a D2 game, like at Cal Poly Pomona, and a D3 game, like at Cal Lu or Occidental.
You have gotten lots of great advice here already, but none better than the advice on working as hard as you can on your academics. You will be very glad you did.
Thank you, when things are back to normal, I will want to go see Orange Coast College as well as some other D2, D3 and JuCo programs around me. I was told by someone to attend a practice if I could. Would you recommend it? Or just games and get there early to watch BP, pregame e.t.c.
I would not attend a practice uninvited, and I don't think seeing one would be important until you are ready to start choosing a college. For now, you just want to see what the level of play looks like to get an idea of what you need to do to be able to fit in. Sounds like you may be in OC. If so, Chapman would be a good place to check out. They practice and play in a public park, so if you really did want to check out a practice you probably could.
You have a good D3 option to watch a game in Biola right in your backyard.
As a note, Biola is D2. The only D3s in California are in the SCIAC.
I'm not sure about the advice to "go watch teams and see if you could compete at that level." Kids who are confident, especially when they are younger, think that they will be able to. The question is, what level do your coaches think you will be able to play? As already said, if you have the size and skills for D1 right now, they will say so. Otherwise, it will be "wait and see" all the way up to summer after junior year.
I think it is a good idea to watch the next level practices/games. My kid at 12 and 13U did watch local HS JV and V games and practices, he was curious and it did motivate him to work harder even though he knew he could compete. At 14, he did the same with the local D1 and D3 colleges.
At fourteen my son sat with two Louisville pitchers behind the backstop charting and gunning pitchers. After the game on the ride home he verballed to Louisville. Louisville never knew. He did get to play against them.
My kid confessed that he was willing to go to a pelotero academy in the DR. He played with kids who went that route. I did tell the wife he needed to improve his Espanol grades, pero no tener ni la más mínima posibilidad
You are ahead of the game and doing research which will serve you quite well.
So I'm assuming you're on the West Coast. Do you want to stay there? If not you need to get on teams that will be seen in areas of the country you wish to attend. Showcases are showcases and cost way more than attending a high visibility tourney against top talent and you get more than 1 day at it than a Showcase. ONLY go to a showcase IF you have something to show and stand out. They are not required in order to get recruited. You don't want to document an off or bad day. Way better places to spend your money.
Some decent guidelines on Height and weight, etc here. Nothing is in stone, but realism is nice to see. Remember all these coaches/scouts have a "type" they're looking for and you're speed dating at a future date to get noticed. (You have nothing to worry about now. NOTHING You have plenty of time and a few more years the Covid backlog will take care of itself as well. The big year as mentioned is summer SO/JR and JR fall. Unless you're a unicorn.)
As of late November this fall only 2% of the 2024s were committed (probably likely to change as well). You have plenty of time on the clock.
For now, focus on grades, speed, and eating. Keep Social Media clean. ALL of it.
As a position player you're going to need speed on your side to wow someone. Exit velo, etc. Play multiple sports if you can. They want ATHLETES. Document your breaks from baseball. Try other sports.
Get a baseball profile ready and underway for you to catalog and document your achievements, videos, tweets from 3rd parties, PG, PBR, FiveTool, etc. Great to have that at the ready to share with Coaches when you reach out and express interest. Keep it short and sweet. PM me and I'll share one with you.
Here is a short video with an offer from the Coach of Tennessee, Tony Vitello. Hopefully he is still honoring the offer to review and respond. Use the code word and get his impression of your email or message....
Another short video of what NOT to do.....
Still go out and be a kid, travel, have fun, sleep overs, go snow and water skiing, surfing or whatever and be a kid.
Again PLENTY OF TIME.
Only 7% of HS kids make it to college so keep a goal in mind and be realistic with it. Shoot for the stars and have multiple backup plans, schools, Divsions, etc. Talk and be polite to anyone that speaks to you. Practice, practice, practice talking to adults and communicating. Don't snub anyone interested in you. Tim McGraw says it all....Always be Humble and Kind. You never know where someone will end up and who they speak to. You have YEARS before you go to school and people change jobs and careers..... Hustle. Always.
Best of Luck. You're ahead of the curve being on here and researching. It and this website will serve you well.
@Eokerholm posted:You are ahead of the game and doing research which will serve you quite well.
So I'm assuming you're on the West Coast. Do you want to stay there? If not you need to get on teams that will be seen in areas of the country you wish to attend. Showcases are showcases and cost way more than attending a high visibility tourney against top talent and you get more than 1 day at it than a Showcase. ONLY go to a showcase IF you have something to show and stand out. They are not required in order to get recruited. You don't want to document an off or bad day. Way better places to spend your money.
Some decent guidelines on Height and weight, etc here. Nothing is in stone, but realism is nice to see. Remember all these coaches/scouts have a "type" they're looking for and you're speed dating at a future date to get noticed. (You have nothing to worry about now. NOTHING You have plenty of time and a few more years the Covid backlog will take care of itself as well. The big year as mentioned is summer SO/JR and JR fall. Unless you're a unicorn.)
As of late November this fall only 2% of the 2024s were committed (probably likely to change as well). You have plenty of time on the clock.
- 2022's 20%
- 2023's 8%
For now, focus on grades, speed, and eating. Keep Social Media clean. ALL of it.
As a position player you're going to need speed on your side to wow someone. Exit velo, etc. Play multiple sports if you can. They want ATHLETES. Document your breaks from baseball. Try other sports.
Get a baseball profile ready and underway for you to catalog and document your achievements, videos, tweets from 3rd parties, PG, PBR, FiveTool, etc. Great to have that at the ready to share with Coaches when you reach out and express interest. Keep it short and sweet. PM me and I'll share one with you.
Here is a short video with an offer from the Coach of Tennessee, Tony Vitello. Hopefully he is still honoring the offer to review and respond. Use the code word and get his impression of your email or message....
Another short video of what NOT to do.....
Still go out and be a kid, travel, have fun, sleep overs, go snow and water skiing, surfing or whatever and be a kid.
Again PLENTY OF TIME.
Only 7% of HS kids make it to college so keep a goal in mind and be realistic with it. Shoot for the stars and have multiple backup plans, schools, Divsions, etc. Talk and be polite to anyone that speaks to you. Practice, practice, practice talking to adults and communicating. Don't snub anyone interested in you. Tim McGraw says it all....Always be Humble and Kind. You never know where someone will end up and who they speak to. You have YEARS before you go to school and people change jobs and careers..... Hustle. Always.
Best of Luck. You're ahead of the curve being on here and researching. It and this website will serve you well.
Thank you. And yes, I would prefer to stay on the West Coast but I am not limiting my options. By getting on teams across the country to be seen by East Coast colleges in the future, do you mean filling in for teams? Or do you mean just playing at the big tournaments in the East Coast(WWBA, East Cobb tournaments, etc)? My current organization typically goes to the AZ or Florida JO’s. The National Team goes to WWBA World Championship, WWBA National Championship,
All depends where you want to be seen. Yes to the East Coast Tourneys (East Cobb and Florida). Huge college density on East Coast.More eyes the better. Bigger tourney the better. Get on a team that goes and can compete at those so that you're in the field when other scouts are there to see other kids, they also see you, etc. Doesn't matter what team, but coordination and informing recruiters where and when you'll play (easier than pitchers) is easier if you're on the same team or within the same org.
My son was a PO and played on East Cobb Astros and would fly in from Austin, TX. Great thing about East Cobb was that he had 6-8 guys from his and other Georgia Tech signing classes on his team and it was great for him to hang out and bond with his classmates. Another nice thing is on a team like that is that there are a boat load of scouts there to see most of the guys. So helps to be on the field and in the lineup with all those scouts in the stands and/or recruiters watching video streamed events like East Cobb.
