Educationally Recruited

SRH I would suggest he gets back to playing BB.
Is there a reason he is not playing? He could be a walk on but he won't get any BB money at least for the 1st semester and most likely the 1st year.
I would suggest you identify some schools and talk to the coaches by phone or email. They will want to know about his BB past.

I guess I mislead you a little. He is on the team but he does not get play time with Varsity but does play in the Freshman/Sophomore league.

Obviously he needs to continue to focus on academics, but he should be working hard at improving his game, on his own, apart from the team. If he has a love for the game he will find the time to do this. If he contributes as a Junior and Senior on Varsity but is not a top caliber player, there should still be a college somewhere in the US that will fit him athleticly as well as academicly. Probably a smaller D-2 or D-3 that has a competetive but not a powerhouse team.

quote:

I expect he will be recruited for academics. Now for the dilemma. He loves baseball.

Of course he has a few years for things to happen but if things stay the same, I would encourage him to introduce himself to the coaching staff and express his desire to be on the team and ask about when and how to try out (open tryouts). If that doesn't pan out he still has a few options. He could offer his assistance as a student manager for the team. While this isn’t playing, it is part of baseball. If that isn't to his liking, most of the larger colleges have organized intramural baseball.
Fungo

SRH:

The second of my three sons is on a full academic scholarship and is in an honors college and a restricted major in a highly regarded business school at a large state university. I do not pay a dime. He was a solid, but not great high school baseball player on a team nationally ranked all the way through. Unfortunately, when it came to college, the schools interested in him academically (interested enough to offer him money), were not good fits when it came to baseball. These schools included Texas, Texas A&M, Arizona, Arizona State, UCLA, Florida and Nebraska. The schools interested in him for baseball, were either not good fits academically or would have left me with a bill too large to pay. He had to choose between baseball and academics and, in his case at least, wisely chose academics. For my oldest son (and probably my youngest) the situation is reversed. It's a choice that comes sooner or later for everyone and, from my point of view, is dictated largely by the young man's talent on the field versus his talent in the classroom. Occasionally, but not often, there is a player good enough at both where it becomes a non-issue. Good luck.

Do you think that he will crack the starting line-up next year? Will he be playing on a team this summer where he gets playing time?

I would suggest DIII for baseball might be an option, if that is what you and your son want to pursue. (Unfortunately, there is no simple answer to this stuff.)

jemaz...Great advice.

Spend the effort where it will benefit you in the long run.

For 2% who get a chance to play pro ball...Consider you are likely to make $1150 per month for a couple of summers; be required to work a different job with very little pay during the rest of the year; and, then, after 2 years, likely to get released at the end of the season or during extended spring training the following spring.

GO TO SCHOOL.

My advice, from experience, would be to tell the admission officers at the academic schools that your son plays baseball. I have done this and many of the admissions have put me in touch with the coach and they are helping me with the recruiting process.
Good Luck!

Go with your son's strength, if academics are it, your first choice should be to get a scholarship for academic performance. As suggested, try to get the hook up for baseball with your target schools.
I am a firm beleiver that going to school is for working towards your degree, baseball is the icing on the cake. It may not be the standard way of thinking these days, but as pointed out by BT, very few that go on to the next level really make a decent living at it.

Thank you for the responses. He will, of course, pursue his academics first with baseball as a nice to have. I very much appreciate those that have given me ideas to approach the baseball program at his chosen school.

Even if he doesn't end up being a recruited athlete, some colleges have baseball as a club sport. I know that Carnegie-Mellon does. So your son might be able to play at a school that has the sport as a club sport. The baseball will be a strong extracurricular activity to list on his college applications. At competitive colleges, he'll need grades, scores, good essays, good recommendations, and strong extracurricular involvement so it is a plus for him even if he is not a recruited athlete.

Also, a lot of competitive schools do not offer any merit-based aid--e.g., the Ivy League schools and Stanford don't. They do offer a lot of need-based aid. So depending on what schools your son is interested in, don't count on academics for scholarship money unless there is demonstrated financial need.

Since your son is just a sophomore, it is a bit hard to tell how he'll develop as an athlete. I don't read too much into his not currently playing on varsity. Depending on how strong the league is, lots of good baseball players don't move up to varsity until their junior year in high school and they are still D1/D3 recruits by their senior year.

One good reference: College Admissions for the High School Athlete by diSalvo. You can get it on Amazon.

Also, not to be a wet blanket, but the colleges kind of go overboard on the post-PSAT marketing. It doesn't mean too much, but you probably know that already. Get a good book on college admissions, like the Fiske guide, and look at the mid-ranges of GPA and SAT scores--that will tell you more about what schools are safeties, matches, or reaches than what mail is arriving.

cutoff score in California was 219 last year I believe and seems to be going up annually. Kids usually go up from their sophomore to their junior scores but not always.

Thought I'd add a bit here to try to answer your question. Strong academic D3s will be a good option for your son (if his scores and grades are pretty high). Their baseball coaches, in our experience, have little money for recruiting and often coach other sports too or have other jobs, so they don't really focus too much on their recruiting until the spring/summer of junior year or even fall of senior year. My son who was recruited at several of these schools I believe started sending emails in the later part of the summer of his junior year. It takes a while for some coaches to even respond, so don't get discouraged. If possible, make a video to send WHEN they ask for it (not before). We did a pretty simple one, with his pitching coach filming him from the angles they want to see, throwing different pitches. Since some of these coaches can't travel, you really do need the video.

Also, hopefully your son will get to go to a couple of showcases or tournaments during his junior and/or senior year. Headfirst Baseball Honor Roll Camp might be perfect for him. headfirstbaseball.com. D3 coaches will be there (also D1s like the Ivy Leagues as well as bigger D1 schools). Hopefully some of them will be interested in having him on the team and they will then start contacting him.

Again, if he is not a recruited athlete, there may be walkon possibilities, although you can't really count on making the team. Finally, some colleges do have the sport as a club sport.

If he is recruited at D3 or Ivy League schools (also Patriot League is D1 but no scholarships), a recruited athlete can get generous need-based aid, from what I have heard, though most of these schools don't give academic merit money.

quote:

Originally posted by SRH:
My son is HS sophomore on Varsity and not currently playing. I do not expect him to be recruited for his baseball skills. But judging by his grades and the flood of letters after he took the PSAT, I expect he will be recruited for academics. Now for the dilemma. He loves baseball. I believe he even realizes that he will not make a career out of baseball, but he would like to play through college. How does he approach this situation? How does he approach coaches of schools he would like to attend?

Everyone gets these, what was your son's percentile? That is a better tell, as most over 90 get floods (I did, I think I had 96/97 on the pSAT/pACT.

Here's a sobering assessment of admissions these days:

http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res...778CDDAD0894DF404482

SRH,

First I want to applaud your son for attaining good grades and good test scores. I have two sons in college, a 2004 grad who had average grades and scores, and a 2006 grad who was in the 98-99th percentile on PSAT and ACT. The 2006 definitely had more options for college!

Second I want to say that my oldest is playing baseball for a D3 college, and the advice given above is correct. Many D3's do not have much of a recruiting budget and will not recruit your son unless he first lets them know he is interested in their school. Make sure he plays on a summer team where he will get playing time, and then start contacting colleges at the end of the summer. I'm not implying that because he is not getting varsity innings as a sophomore he won't have options for DII or DI, but just sharing our experience with D3 recruiting. My 2004 son is very happy with his school choice. (He is a junior this year, but redshirting this spring because of a shoulder injury.)

BTW, like your son my 2006 also received a flood of academic recruiting letters after the PSAT, which continued through his senior year. He did not end up receiving a large academic scholarship because he attends a selective university where virtually all the students admitted had a very high level of achievement in HS. But this excellent university (U of Minnesota) costs about half of what his 2nd choice college costs per year ($18K vs. $35K), and his grades and test scores definitely were the biggest factor in being admitted ... so in effect, the academic achievement which gave him more options also reduced his college cost. I hope that makes some sense.

Good luck to you and your son!

I'm not as knowledgable as a lot of the folks here, so from a layman's standpoint, if he is that good of a student, checkout the Headfirst Academic Showcase. My son attended last summer. It should be paying off in the next day or so with a signing. All top tier schools. Just a suggestion. And Perfect Game also has an academic showcase. Also, here is the link for the club ball organization http://www.clubbaseball.org/.

Thanks again for all of the responces I have found them valuable in guiding my son to additional options.