Early commits ?

Does "committing" so early really guarantee anything for the school or the player?

In my opinion, an early commitment means "taking the pressure off of the player" so he can focus on finishing up his high school career. However, as we see in a different thread, nothing is a done deal, until signing day.

My two cents....This trend of early commits concerns me for a few reasons. First, the player really has nothing to gain and the school has nothing to lose with these early commits. I'll define early commits as before Fall of Junior year. All the benefits seem to be on the side of the school who can try to change the offer (or rescind it) to better suit their situation when the time to sign comes in Fall of Senior year. As someone noted in another thread, it is rarely the recruit that causes the de-commit. I'm not saying this is a common occurence, but it seems to be happening more. If the player commits, he is essentially taking himself off the market for almost 1.5 years. That is a long time, and valuable time lost. Let's face it, if a school is leading you down that commitment path as a sophomore or early junior year, you most likely have some very unique skills. Business 101 - if you have something very few people have - then you have power and you can set the terms. Others will want what you have regardless of time. Second, early commits by definition do not have the time to really go through all the possible visits & opportunities. It is next to impossible to do due diligence on all interested schools and programs in your first two years of HS. College is a 4 year (sometimes 5 year) commitment that a high school sophomore/junior is deciding on their future. They need to see all the possibilities.

Fenwaysouth
I would have to agree with you, I have saw alot of kids in the Tidwater area commit in the fall of their sophomore yr. I know driller has has 3 boys that have the ability to play at the next level and
I hope they all make it. But I'm confused about the process to get your son exsposed to the right people,is there such a thing as too much baseball. I know my son is a sophomore and from what I'm reading on here is the next 2 yrs are very important. but i don't want him to get burnt out on baseball. Is there a balance on summer ball and show case events, If anyone has any wisdom on this I would like to hear from you.

jkcpo,

In my experience, kids get "burnt out" on baseball when they don't get the success they had when they were younger. They don't get burnt out from playing too much baseball when they are hitting .400.

About exposure...We've taken the approach of shooting for the stars. We started at the top and worked our way down. Eventually, you will find a fit.

Redbird5
Thanks and I agree when kids are having alot of success the game is fun and when they struggle well we all know it's not all that fun but I feel it's the ones that battle through the bad times are the one that succeed. I will looking into several avennes troughout this winter to get the best exsposure for my son that I can afford, Some of these showcase events and summer ball teams are very exspensive, thanks for the advice.

quote:

But I'm confused about the process to get your son exsposed to the right people,is there such a thing as too much baseball. I know my son is a sophomore and from what I'm reading on here is the next 2 yrs are very important. but i don't want him to get burnt out on baseball. Is there a balance on summer ball and show case events, If anyone has any wisdom on this I would like to hear from you.

jkcpo1,

redbird would have much more experience than I in the exposure side of the equation, as he deals with many players. My wife and I were only respsonsibe for one, and we will be responsible for another coming up in a few years.

Recruited = Passion + Skill + Exposure + Persistence + Luck

As you can see (above) exposure is only part of being recruited. Exposure for us included an elite national travel team, select showcases that we picked, and specific college camps that we picked. We got the results we wanted, and my son got into his dream school. However, we would probably have done it differently knowing what we know now. The goal would remain the same, but how we got there would probably have changed. I think it is very IMPORTANT to work with your son to come up with a baseball and academic goal. Once the goal is identified, you figure out what you need to do to get to the goal. Most likely the goal will not change, but they way you get there may.

My oldest son's national travel team did very well for itself, and has a lot to be proud of. That team did fantastic things for baseball exposure for many, many kids, but it was not optimal for us. In addition to baseball, my son had high academic goals too. So, we had to supplement the travel team with HeadFirst Showcases, and events such as that to give us that academic/baseball exposure that we wanted. We also supplemented his exposure with college baseball camps. Camps can be a funny thing. They are fund raisers and they can be recruiting camps. If they know who you are, and want you there then it is a recruiting camp. How do you get known by the coaches, and invited to the camps.....travel team results. Continue to go to camps that are targetting your son (not mass mailings), and have a need for your son. Rinse and repeat.

Sure, it is going to be a lot of baseball during the next couple of years. Recruiting will take a lot of your time, and it can be stressful. This is just the start. If he wants to play college ball, it is going to be eveyday play not just weekends. If you see him tiring or getting burnt out, sit him down and have a talk. Revisit the goal. I would keep that in mind.

Exposure for your son may be different from our experience. Everybodys recruiting journey is unique, but my formula above seems to work! Enjoy this time with your son, as you watch him grow and mature. Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions, I'm more than happy to help.

quote:

In my experience, kids get "burnt out" on baseball when they don't get the success they had when they were younger. They don't get burnt out from playing too much baseball when they are hitting .400.

This is absolutely true. I have never once heard a kid say he got burnt out on baseball. I only hear this term used by parents who're trying to explain why their sons quit. Usually, the real reason is that the kid found other interests, maybe because his interests changed, or maybe because he looked around and realized he wasn't as talented as his competition. Those are decisions made by young men who are maturing, not the results of being burnt out.

I'm sure Redbird would agree with me on this: If your son has college baseball as his goal, he needs to recognize that the competition will be stiff to reach that goal. If he gives less than full effort, don't be surprised if he comes up short. And be careful, the "burnt out" thing can start to sound like a built-in excuse not to succeed.

Also, trust me when I tell you that college ball is more like pro ball than high school ball. It's a job the boys have to do, all while keeping up with their school work and the rest of their lives. It's a grind that never ends, not even over summer or winter breaks -- and BTW there's no such thing as spring break for a collegiate baseball player.

If your son discovers that travel ball in the high school (college recruiting) years is more baseball than he really wants, then perhaps he is discovering that he is more content with just playing recreationally and not in the quasi-professional atmosphere of college baseball. Again, that's not burn out, that's just realizing who you are and what you want out of life and structuring your activities accordingly.