First Letters Sent

All of the college recruiters I've known value a sincere interest in their program. That suggests that the player has put enough thought and effort into determining his "fit" with certain schools and their programs that he ends up applying most of his effort to making sure that they're aware of his interest and know how to see him play.

For example, I once had a Division I coach from a Florida school tell me that it makes all the difference to him that a player's correspondence reveals the fact that he really knows something about his team. The illustration he used went something like, "Dear Coach Jones, Congratulations for having made it to the Super-Regionals this past season. I'm writing to make you aware..." That same coach also told me that he trashes virtually every letter that smells of a mass mailing.

Your post also asks how many letters you should send out. My answer would be "none." If your son's not at the forefront of his recruiting effort, one has to wonder if he has sufficient passion and motivation to succeed in an enormously competitive college baseball environment.

Players who assume responsibility for their recruiting efforts learn and grow in the process. We need to give them the opportunity to do so.

It's absolutely not too late for your son to marry up with the right school and baseball program. Best wishes for his success!

P.S. Forget the stats. High school stats are notoriously unrevealing. The recruiters trust their eyes; not stats.

Wow Prepster...if thats not a "golden" post I don't know what one is.

Spot on!

Prepster's post really hit home for me as a parent. From early childhood every good parent tries to define the line between preparing their child for the 'best' in life (whatever that may be) and pushing them too hard into something they really may not be good or happy at. If ever there was a line in the sand where that can be defined in baseball advancement, it comes in the Junior year of High School.

These are young men now, with significant wisps of immaturity remaining no doubt, but certainly old enough to start taking their future by the horns.

I have been pressing my 2012 to narrow his college selections and reach out to resultant college coaches for the past month or so. There have been glimmers of possible letters being written, but so far, no messages have been sent from him. It may come from either a lack of realization of what is required to get to your 'dream' program, or perhaps even a reluctance to completely emerge from the coccoon that is childhood. Or, maybe playing ball in college isn't really in the cards. (It pains me to write that, but its all the more important that this be his dream and not his dad's!)

I have come very close to sitting down and writing them myself, for his signature, but I have been resisting that. Reading and pondering Prepster's post I am all the more convinced that it absolutely has to come from him because although he certainly has the talent to start as a catcher in a D1 program, if he does not have the drive to write a letter or an email, how will he have the drive to get through the first year of a D1 College Program, ESPECIALLY as a catcher and a first year student.

So that leaves me at this juncture. I'll print off this post, and leave it on his bed to do as he will.

Then we'll see which fork his life is to go down, and not suggesting that either is right or wrong for him.

In fairness to the question, and I do agree that your son should be the author, I see nothign wrong with your assistance. We sent out about 50 letters of interest/inquiry to the college coaches to schools that we felt fit the initial profile of what he was looking for. Most of the colleges followed up with a request for a questionare and /or camp information, to be returned to the school. At this point you may be asked for additional information but at the least give the coach a call, send him your HS schedule and any scouting, PG reports for them to look at, maybe informally visit a few of the target schools and then follow the schedule posted on this website. You can PM me and I can give you more detail that parlayed my son into a D-1 scholly. Good Luck