.

Coaching staffs don't sit down and say time to recruit and jump on twitter contrary to the belief of many.

Basically if a coach is on the John or waiting for his food to be ready he'll jump on twitter and poke around. If something catches his eye, they'll dig in and add them to a watch list. Then they'll go see the kid or make some calls and see if it's worth their time and decide for themselves after that.

That being said - there is some very bad college baseball out there. Programs where the sport is used to lure students into the school. There are some programs where a halfway decent swing gets your foot in the door.

That being said it's still a great idea and it's harmless. They say bad swings or younger guys can get feedback from more established people, which I understand but it does dilute the product from a recruiting aspect.

@PABaseball posted:

Coaching staffs don't sit down and say time to recruit and jump on twitter contrary to the belief of many.

Basically if a coach is on the John or waiting for his food to be ready he'll jump on twitter and poke around. If something catches his eye, they'll dig in and add them to a watch list. Then they'll go see the kid or make some calls and see if it's worth their time and decide for themselves after that.

That being said - there is some very bad college baseball out there. Programs where the sport is used to lure students into the school. There are some programs where a halfway decent swing gets your foot in the door.

That being said it's still a great idea and it's harmless. They say bad swings or younger guys can get feedback from more established people, which I understand but it does dilute the product from a recruiting aspect.

I can't say anything about Flatground hitting, but you are absolutely wrong about pitchers on Twitter.  Coaches not only actively recruit on Twitter, they actually reach out to PitchingNinja and speak to him about videos.

You don't have to believe me, but my son's experience has been one where it has not only worked for college (twice), but also to get his shot in the minors...all 100% from Twitter

@Suds posted:

I can't say anything about Flatground hitting, but you are absolutely wrong about pitchers on Twitter.  Coaches not only actively recruit on Twitter, they actually reach out to PitchingNinja and speak to him about videos.

You don't have to believe me, but my son's experience has been one where it has not only worked for college (twice), but also to get his shot in the minors...all 100% from Twitter

My son’s Twitter DM’s would validate this assertion. He has had dozens of coaches find him on Twitter after being retweeted by flatground and has subsequent spoken live with many of these coaches. The range has been P5-NAIA and everything in between.

@Suds posted:

I can't say anything about Flatground hitting, but you are absolutely wrong about pitchers on Twitter.  Coaches not only actively recruit on Twitter, they actually reach out to PitchingNinja and speak to him about videos.

You don't have to believe me, but my son's experience has been one where it has not only worked for college (twice), but also to get his shot in the minors...all 100% from Twitter

I didn't mention pitching. The post was referencing flatground hitting. Pitching is much easier to evaluate on film than hitting is. It's much more objective

I got pummeled last time I said this, but I'd agree with what others have said above.  Flatground (pitchers) is something that seems to be of value for quite a few.  But Flatground Hitting?  Nope.  I've spoken with one person first-hand (a HSBBW member) whose son got legit interest and a very good offer shortly after he posted a single swing on FG Hitting.  Other than that, the best I've heard are from others who speak very vaguely but assert it helps a lot of non-pitchers.  My limited experience puts Flatground Hitting on par with a level just above unicorn poop.  I think the rate at which new videos are thrown up on it makes it such that the right coach needs to be monitoring it right around when your tweet drops.  Because no way do coaches have time to scroll back hours, days, etc to look at the ones they missed.

It's something that I think every position player does because you sort of "have" to, but you'll be hard-pressed to find many success stories where FG Hitting was the main driver.  The supposed FGH success stories that pop up will likely involve a prospect who also has a legit presence on PG, PBR, Field Level, etc, constantly contacts/emails coaches and plays travel ball.  But I'm not omnipotent.  Let's start a list of kids who posted to FG Hitting and that was all it took.  Until that list gets large, I'm comfortable saying that FG Hitting is simply one of many low value/small tools available to prospects.  But in this environment, I'd encourage every prospect to make use of each and every resource they can find no matter how small.  I'm not above tossing a penny in a wishing well and giving it a shot.

Pitching is simply a completely different story.  I was down watching my 2021 position player play in a Juco tourney last Friday in Warrensburg, MO and my shady spot (I ALWAYS find the shady spot) happened to be where a group of scouts hung out.  In 4+ hours, I think I heard one mention of some hitter (who wasn't there).  The remaining 3 hours and 57 minutes?  All they talked about were pitchers.  You'd sometimes swear that pitchers play baseball and position players play some other sport. 

Does Flatground hitting / pitching work?  If you get an offer or even a college coach reaching out to talk then yes it absolutely did work. 

Does it work for everyone?  Probably not but it's probably more to lack of talent than exposure

Is this the only thing you need to do to try and get noticed?  Absolutely not - this is one possible step in the process of getting to college

The goal is to get seen by the right people (the ones who coach at the level you can play) and there are a lot of younger guys who are coaching now who get and use social media

I recommend it to my guys because it might work.  Every avenue you don't take starts limiting the opportunities to play at the next level

Flatground pitching absolutely can be effective if you are elite or project to be elite (mostly velo imo). I have yet to hear/see anyone that is in HS get much love from D1 from Flatground hitting. If someone knows of some successful examples please show them so we can learn from them.

@DanJ posted:

I got pummeled last time I said this, but I'd agree with what others have said above.  Flatground (pitchers) is something that seems to be of value for quite a few.  But Flatground Hitting?  Nope.  I've spoken with one person first-hand (a HSBBW member) whose son got legit interest and a very good offer shortly after he posted a single swing on FG Hitting.  Other than that, the best I've heard are from others who speak very vaguely but assert it helps a lot of non-pitchers.  My limited experience puts Flatground Hitting on par with a level just above unicorn poop.  I think the rate at which new videos are thrown up on it makes it such that the right coach needs to be monitoring it right around when your tweet drops.  Because no way do coaches have time to scroll back hours, days, etc to look at the ones they missed.

It's something that I think every position player does because you sort of "have" to, but you'll be hard-pressed to find many success stories where FG Hitting was the main driver.  The supposed FGH success stories that pop up will likely involve a prospect who also has a legit presence on PG, PBR, Field Level, etc, constantly contacts/emails coaches and plays travel ball.  But I'm not omnipotent.  Let's start a list of kids who posted to FG Hitting and that was all it took.  Until that list gets large, I'm comfortable saying that FG Hitting is simply one of many low value/small tools available to prospects.  But in this environment, I'd encourage every prospect to make use of each and every resource they can find no matter how small.  I'm not above tossing a penny in a wishing well and giving it a shot.

Pitching is simply a completely different story.  I was down watching my 2021 position player play in a Juco tourney last Friday in Warrensburg, MO and my shady spot (I ALWAYS find the shady spot) happened to be where a group of scouts hung out.  In 4+ hours, I think I heard one mention of some hitter (who wasn't there).  The remaining 3 hours and 57 minutes?  All they talked about were pitchers.  You'd sometimes swear that pitchers play baseball and position players play some other sport.

Hey that “one swing “ story sounds familiar lol.  Maybe we were just in the right place at the right time...hard to tell.