D3 Baseball and College Prospect Camps

I think the D3s are really narrowing their lists right now, and demonstrated interest counts for a lot with them.  If it is a top choice school and if you have already been in contact and gotten encouragement from the coach over the summer, then it could be worthwhile.  That said, if your son is just now starting the process of hoping to build a relationship with a coach and hasn't been seen by him before, I might think twice before going.

What do you think about an honest approach of your son saying, "I am interested in your program, but this is a big commitment of my time and resources during the school year, so as a 2017, I'd like to know if I am being considered for a possible spot before I attend."   I think the majority of the coaches are straight shooters when the player calls them directly and asks specific questions.  I think they will tell him what positions they are still looking for and if he could possibly fit in that slot.

Of course, this is just my opinion and others may have different input.  Good luck!

Tell you son to make a phone call and talk to the man. the coaches are happy to discuss with kids and for the most part are pretty honest...not completely but that is another story. This isn't D1 the coaches are looking for players as well.  

My son went to 0 d3 prospect camps. The coaches found him through either word of mout or from Invite only camps. My son did not target D3 until they targeted him. Most of that contact came fall of senior year with a couple during his rising summer. If your son has talent to play at a coaches school he could care less whether you go to his camp. In fact son was discouraged from going to some of these camps. Coaches said, we have seen you and know you can play. 

Of coarse we are not in Calfornia and he was not looking to play far away. As peace says if you are targetting D3 it is too early to get discouraged, if you have been working your plan. Many D3's hsave not started reaching out yet.

My 2016 went to one D3 prospect camp the fall of Jr year and then none last summer/fall.  We were planning on several last fall and then around this time, post HF on LI, he started getting requests to come visit.  If the showcase you are referring to on the east coast was HF then you still may hear from some schools - the last week of Aug was when the majority of his "official" interest started coming in.  

As I noted in another post a minute ago - none of the schools that were interested in him asked him to come to their camp.  I will say that HC at the school he's attending did tell us that there were several players attending the camp (last year) that they were looking at but they made it seem like those players knew it and it was just a matter of the coaches seeing them live - there was discussion about it before hand.   I would not attend a D3 camp at this stage without having your 2017 try to discuss with the coach before attending.  As noted by some others - honestly tell them that he's visited the school already, they are high on his list and he'd like to attend the camp but he'd like to know if he's under consideration and where he falls on their list.  

We have good friends whose son attended our son's school's prospect camp the Sunday after we did our visit on Fri/Sat.  We talked to the coach at length on Fri when we sat down with him.  He told us that they needed 12-13 players and 5 pitchers - and that they wanted our 2016 to be one of those pitchers.  He also told us that the only position they really didn't need was catcher.  Our friend's son is a catcher (who later committed to another great D3 school) - he had a great camp and after they told him they liked him but that they already had their catchers set for that year.  So it was essentially a wasted trip for them.  At this point with what you've spent already and with the time you have left you'll need to focus on where there may be a real opportunity (I know, easier said than done sometimes).

You have done what you need to do to lay a foundation. Start focusing on where he wants to go to school and why. Spend your time and money finding the school with the best fit. Let him tour the school, sit in on a class, meet with admissions. When that is done he should meet with the coach. Coaches want kids that want to attend the school. There is never a guarantee as to making a team or playing, that being said if he is good enough he will have a great experience if he as at the right school.

Thanks for all the replies to this thread. It's been very helpful!