D1 or Juco LHP 2016

The most important stat you missed was how hard he throws. This will likely determine where he ends up. He has programs coming out to see him so this is good. 

He is throwing top speed 87 mph at Perfect Game. Sits 84-85 average and off speed 76 MPH

What is his ACT or SAT?  That could open up more doors at 4 year colleges.

Why does he have to sit at D1?

What type of academic & college experience is he looking for beyond just baseball?

ACT 22 seeking a math degree with teaching certificate as a path to coaching high school ball.

 

I'm told many D1 freshman sit the first year and see limited or no playing time, He has always been a starter not sure how a freshman would make it into the starting rotation. The D1 Juco college told him if he was on their team today he would be fourth in the rotation and many Big D1( A&M. Texas) schools would most likely sit him.

 

Let me clarify. Dream schools A&M, Texas,TCU  Small DI UofH, Sam Houston, SFA and Juco as a option to get more playing time.

Don R.  My son is a 2020 in Texas (Houston area), so no help with experience from me,.

 

BUT, PLEASE become a regular/semi regular poster.  I would really like to follow your experience and learn from it.

 

Thanks

Don,

 

Just waking up here in California...

 

You have a talented player.  Plus great grades.  Good ACT.

 

My 2012 went D1 and played right away as an RHP.  The best players will play.  But never had a coach guarantee early playing time in the recruiting process.  We found that most coaches use most of their pitching staffs throughout the season.  There are a lot of games in a very short time period.  You can check prior year stats at the schools of interest to see the extent of playing time for each kid.

 

Pitchers get more recruiting looks too...every school needs lots of pitching.  Every school need LHP!

 

My 2016 is similarly situated to yours, albeit a secondary pitcher.  He wants to play right away.  For our family, we decided JuCo was not an option.  He prefers not to do the recruiting process again in two years and he seeks a four year community.  So we expanded beyond D1 and have looked at many D3s.  That meant leaving behind his "dream" school.  Now he's found other dream schools!

 

There are some fine D3 schools in Texas...Trinity in San Antonio is awesome.  Great baseball, great campus, love the city.  Southwestern in Georgetown.  Austin in Sherman. Etc.  

 

Of course there are some fine D3 programs and schools throughout the country.  D3baseball.com is a great resource.

 

Financially we've found that many schools have academic / merit money.  I've been stunned by how much the "list price" is reduced. 

 

Perhaps putting all options on the table:  D1, D2, D3, NAIA, JuCo.  There are a ton of great academic schools and places to play.  Really determine 2 vs. 4 years.  Some incredible JuCo programs out there.  No guarantee to play anywhere or to move up to D1 after two years but might be worth the shot for a number of reasons.

 

You didn't mention whether your son was "marketing" himself to his list of schools.  That's essential right now.  Getting in front of his desired schools with email, calls, video, showcases/camps, etc.

 

Good Luck!

Brandon,

 

Thanks for your response. I like your point about having to start the recruiting process over again if he goes Juco.

 

We attend Perfect Games and local showcase to get as much exposure as possible. We recently joined the University of Baseball Big Dogs in Austin for summer ball. They have strong talent from Austin and  many top players from Houston, Tomball and the Woodlands. The coach and owner James Bills he has been great with contacting local colleges. With his help our players have been seen by many small Di schools and local Jucos. He is a scout for the MLB Mets as well. I would recommend finding a organization that can get he exposure you want.

 

With that said I do everything possible to market my son. I set up a Be Recruited profile but that seemed to be little help. I created a Facebook page to archive all his stats from Max Preps, Game Changer and any local media articles or Perfect Game blogs.

 

My son emailed all the schools he is interested in and completed the school online "Prospect" questioner. I felt this was doing the minimum and decided to create a web site solely to help my son with the recruiting process.

 

We now have communication via text, phone and email. What better way to promote my son with a web site. Now we just send them his web site address and they have everything in on spot to review,

 

Here is the site: http://www.35sports.com/   What do you this of the site?

Looks nice, but looking nice is basically fluff. 

Having posted PG velos is good.  The videos are very nice.  Well shot, clear game action pitching, that is excellent.  PG is trusted in terms of velocity readings I think.  Most guys make velo claims but don't have anything verifying them.  So many time I have heard a kid throws 85 and when I see him that 85 is 79.  Anyway, pretty nice.  

I agree it may be to much fluff. Delete, if do what part?

Everything except for the videos of your son pitching. The only relevant thing a coach cares about is seeing your son, why would he even bother to dig through all of the "fluff" (I am being kind this is a family site)  to even find him, he is at the bottom.... Way over the top. Get rid of the music also even though I like the rift that is in "stallings". He will also not be recruited as a batter so get rid of that video.  I would also edit the videos to shorten them. That was a quick first impression. I will look in more depth later.

 

 

Made adjustments, will edit videos later.

 

thanks for the feedback

I took a closer look, much better moving the video's up. I would just leave game background sounds. My preference is to edit them down to just the pitches so a coach can see them in a couple of minutes. They will make up their minds in a minute or two so the rest is just fluff. 

 

I like the profile but I would call it that at the top of the page, not "my story". I would take away the interested colleges list as by now you (he) should have had some email contact with them and it might limit some other program who could be interested.

...one comment on the profile page....I thought he attended Tromball...confusing.  " I'm most proud of defeating Tomball High School for the first time in the school's history." 

 

If it was me on the home page I would have the videos, and a schedule of where he will be playing through the rest of the summer and fall. The PG references help as they are independent reviews. 

 

The reality is that he looks like he is sitting around 82-83 and has some pops up higher and unless he has some other plus pitches he will not be a D1 candidate in particular the schools he has on his list. Someone else earlier posted to take a look at some of the D3 schools in TX and the surrounding area with Trinity, Millsaps and Birmingham Southern as the premier baseball schools close by, but there are lots of others. Based on the quick look at the video I would guess that he might get some innings as a freshmen at a place like Trinity since he is a LHP, but he would likely not break into their rotation in any significant way and the schools he has on his list are all looking for impact freshmen.

 

One other comment is to get some tighter video of him pitching against college bound players, the quick look at the videos showed him pitching to HS players, college coaches will want to see him pitch against higher competition. 

 

Good luck.

 

 

 

 

 

BOF, he plays for Tomball Memorial. Tomball High is the major school in town and I'm sure they are rivals.

 

As an aside, the best basketball game I ever witnessed at any level was a 1983 matchup between Tomball High when they were a 2A school and big Houston Wheatley. 110-108 Wheatley.

Again thanks for the feedback

 

This was intended to be a resume, a one stop shop for college coaches. I will modify the pitching videos and update with some from summer ball.

 

He plays for Tomball Memorial High School Wiidcats, he defeated Tomball High School Cougars. They have never been  defeated by the Wildcats  prior to Dominic's 10K performance.

 

He averages 85 MPH and has hit 87 mph verified and 88 mph in tournament play. His best weapon is not the fastball, his slider is money. His verified fastball has increased 4 mph 83 Perfect Game 2014- 87 Perfect Game 2015. As he matures he should average 88-90 mph by the end of his senior year.

 

If you look at his ERA it has been below 1.0 for three years, .92 career   The reason I asked about D1 vs Juco is because we have been in contact with 4 small DI Texas schools and one D1 major from California. They all project him to be D1 talent.  He is going so start his Senior year and just turned 17. Nothing but upside on maturing physically. Mentally strong, no question about it. .

 

Best evidence of this? His performance at the Perfect Game 18U BCS finals in Ft, Meyers 7/2015. He played against full grown men, may college players or incoming college freshman.

 

He finished with the most strikeout in the tournament 20K in 10 innings, average 2K per inning. 

 

 

Simple answer to that statement is to out perform everyone else in the fall of his freshman year. 

I know a kid who started his freshman year last year at a D1 and whose team  got beat out by LSU in the NCAA SUPER REGIONALS.  

He also made Perfect Game Freshmen All-America squad.  

Do the work, got it!