Do coaches look at birthdates?

It is possible. I would venture to say that when a coach sees a guy who is at the younger end of his age group, but has tools and could be a fit for the program, being younger is only a plus. A younger guy has more time to develop potential into skill. I have always thought that if two guys are of equal caliber, you take the youngest one because he could very easily be something more down the road. If the position isn't a need immediately, a redshirt year to develop physically and as a player would be great. If it is a need, let the young guy takes his bumps early and develop through in-game experience. So I definitely wouldn't see the birth date being a negative thing!

I will say this - I am not totally sure how often birth dates are looked at other then a passing glance. Graduation dates are obviously a big deal, but I have never considered whether or not a coach knew my birth date or if that ever factored into my recruitment. I knew things such as what side I hit from, height, etc. played a role, but never considered birth date necessarily. Regardless, I don't see why being a younger guy in your graduating class would become a disadvantage in anyway.

Yes, it's frequently factored into the evaluation.

Factored in a positive or negative way?

Positive for example: 16 year old throwing 85 or with a certain high level of hitting fielding competence looked at as having more room to improve? Vs an 18 year old throwing 89 and running faster, hitting further who may be seen as near maxed out?

How about body type?  Same 16U stands 6'3 150  as opposed to the 18U standing 6'3 220?

I have heard/read (mostly from this board) that MLB places some focus on age whereas high level college less so.  A college coach is going to have a harder time with projectability and letting some scholarship player ride the bench with a redshirt so they can maximize that kid's contribution 2-3 years down the road.  Go a little further and assume a JC setting - that coach really wants to win games and generally needs productivity the first year.  In this setting, if the 18 year old better and will still be better or as good 12 months down the road, pick the 18 year old.

Switch to MLB mid-round pick - there are not huge expectations from this group so they want to maximize the ceiling.  They will assume 3-4 years or maybe longer before these kids need to start performing at a high level.  If you've got two pitchers both 6'3 thowing 89 and 85 respectively, but the first guy is 19, goes 220 easy and has been shaving for 4 years whereas the second guy is 17, borrows a razor once every six weeks and is pushing 160, that 4 mph difference will be put aside in fabvor of "projectability".

x2 - I have personal experience with this with one of our sons - it was referenced in a positive way.

But I suppose it could go the other way too - that is if a coach wondered about the maturity of a player.

I think it would depend on what the younger kid is doing.  If he is competing at the same level or exceeding the 18 year old kid I would suspect that would very much be in his favor.

If he is lagging behind his peers because he is smaller or not as strong I believe I have read on here a LOT that that kind of player is ideal for JUCO so he has the extra year or two to mature a bit.

Regardless of your son's birthday there's nothing about the situation he can control. All he can do is focus on performing at his best level and impress coaches. So, stop worrying about the uncontrollable and focus on the controllable. Coaches are looking for talent.

Note: Both my kids have summer birthdays

If the player can compete, he can play at any age (do his "measurables" measure up to the older players- arm strength, 60 time, bat speed ,mph off mound, etc).

On the other hand I have seen a large cluster of top rated players in our area who are 2015 "grads" but either took a PG year, or repeated a grade in middle school. I think most of you see the difference of an "older" high school freshman trying out for a freshman team..often a man among boys. Slender son took a charge from two "older" kids during an 8th grade basketball league..one was a freight train forward, the other a center drafted as a pitcher in recent MLB draft...he felt it. On the other side of the coin, 2015 will play next year in college with a pitcher who is actually a year YOUNGER than everyone (bright kid who skipped a grade). So it can happen either way.

Ripken - first time I've heard the term "PG year" - please tell me it is not some skip year between 8th and 9th that the kid sits out so he can be the biggest kid in his 9th grade class.  I remember we struggled a little bit deciding to pull the trigger on kindergarten (late summer birthday) and 2017's is still having to catch rides, but the idea of aking a kid to sit out a year just seems abusive.  I thought the idea of a gap year (IMG type stuff) seemed weird if it was baseball related (think it is great in general for kids to get grounded before college) any maybe understand folks with few life options holding out for the dream but holding back so they can make high school varsity as a sophmore???

I think what you are keying in on here, is something commonly done in prep school basketball, hockey, and football; that being a "reclass" year.  For basketball a lot of kids do grades 9-11 in public HS, then transfer to a private school and reclassify their grad years by repeating the 11th grade.  In other words you may be a 2017 this year.  you finish your Jr. year of HS this year as all 2017s are about to do.  But in the fall of 2016 you transfer to a private school and repeat your Jr. year, thus reclassifying yourself to the 2018 class.  Football and hockey also.  Very common.  Almost like a college redshirt year, but done in HS to provide an extra year of academic maturity, physical maturity, or even emotional maturity.  Mostly for the physical maturity clearly.  If done in the 11th grade you can still compete straight up with other HS varsity kids.  If done as a PG year (Ie. a 5th year of HS, or a 2nd Sr. year) then the team you are playing on, say football, can only play other PG teams or small college teams.

The "reclass" year has never really been common with baseball since baseball tends to be more of a public HS sport.  Whereas I believe one could argue both hockey and basketball powerhouses tend to be more private schools like Oak Hill in hoops or Shattuck St. Mary's in hockey.

Not sure if this derails the OP but for those kids in hockey, hoops, and football who want to go from being the youngest in their class for 11-years to finally becoming one of the oldest in a reclass 11th grade year it is a very common option.

As far as coaches caring???  IMO, I don't think they really care.  That's just me.  They just want players who can put Ws in the Win column and food on the table for their children. 

Got to be careful though.  Most HS athletic conferences have age rules.  Common is you must turn 19, ON or AFTER September 1st OF YOUR SENIOR YEAR in order to play HS sports senior year.  Many prep schools who compete in basketball have no age requirements.  You can be a 20-year old HS senior.  They don't care and all of the schools in the conference play by same rule.  Wild West type stuff. 

To restate the original question the way I took it - I'm guessing that the OP wanted to know if the younger kid was given any "credit" when a college coach was deciding between two kids.  the older one might be slightly better but maybe has 12 months on the younger kid.  Will a college coach "project" the young kid filling out at which point his abilities might surpass the older kid. 

I posted earlier that MLB does in fact give this type of "credit" and have seen articles on the youngest and oldest kids in the draft.  As for college, I guess they would want the younger kid to be productive sooner. 

JLC - please correct me if I incorrectly stated your original question.

Yes, I was just wondering if it was used when evaluating.  I have heard on more than one occasion from their father that all the kids he is playing against shave already (my son doesn't) and that I should have waited until he was 6 to send him to school.  Baseball never crossed my mind when I determined if he was ready for school and I wouldn't have held him back anyway.  He was ready so I sent him.    I just was hoping that recruiters would realize that he was young and factor that into any eval. rather than write him off, if he wasn't as fast, or strong as a kid who is already physically mature.

My gut feeling is that it would be considered and I just hoping to get confirmation.  I did.  I really don't worry about it..he definitely holds his own and I know that what will be will be.  It was just something I had wondered about from time to time so I thought I would ask.

In son's experience:

Played with kids who were 19 1/2 seniors in travel (from switching schools, PG years, etc) last summer 2014 when he was 16 in same grade (admittedly he is always the youngest because he started school early before we had a idea he was a good player and looking back likely would have waited.)

Agree with above comments:

Colleges want/need to win now so if you are 20 the June after senior year they are getting you at 'man-strength/size" to use one college recruiters terminology.

Pro Scouts told us your son will be 20 in his Junior year of college,

Although he was entered in the Draft Tracker, ultimately they felt 17 is young to be on your own (we agree), so go to school where you play a lot quickly and get use to an extended season and the grind in college, That they do project 3-5 years down the road. These scouts liked the potential for increased ability, strength, size etc based on what they have seen already and liked.

This is in our own experience, based on the existing 10/11th grade recruiting cycle in D1  colleges as a younger kid in his grade.

FYI: We know of one player who was a 2015, switched to 2016, then back to 2015 in hopes of being drafted this year, was not selected and now is at another private school as a 2016 again. 

Of course, others may have had different experiences/situations than ours,

we wish everyone's son the best of luck..

PG is this thread stands for post graduate. After graduating from high school an athlete will do a post graduate year of high school typically at a private that's a powerhouse in his sport. A 6'7 basketball player from our high school did it. His grades were terrible. He attended a military academy that was strong in basketball. He got his grades and SATs up to where he was NCAA eligible without starting the NCAA clock. Brady Aiken did a PG year at IMG to be eligible for the draft this year without going JuCo

Two of the privates my son talked with wanted him to repeat 9th grade to become physically bigger and stronger. He was 5'11", 135 as a freshman. We decided it was ridiculous for a top student in the gifted program at his high school.

The typical college hockey player is twenty as a freshman. They usually play two years of juniors hockey between high school and college. If a D1 player in a major program is eighteen he's a stud. I.e. Jack Eichel, BU, 2nd pick in the NHL draft after freshman year. He couldn't be drafted out of high school. He was only seventeen.

Generally speaking, evaluators of talent (scouts or college recruiters) are going to take a player's physical maturity into account; and his age is going to be one of the first data points he's going to consider when evaluating that dimension. 

The professional scout tends to be more attuned to the amount of development his organization can achieve because the college recruiter's need for contribution is more immediate and his timeline is shorter than the professional organization's.

However, if we're talking about younger players who aren't on the threshold of the professional draft, both scouts and recruiters have to do the best they can to imagine the amount of maturation that's yet to occur before the player is available to them.

So, yes, consideration is going to be given to the player who is younger than his teammates.