For you parents with sons at D1's as Freshman....

quote:

Originally posted by Eric G:
When your sons were "Rising Juniors", how many showcases and/or prospect camps did you take your sons to in the fall before their Junior seasons?

Did you DEFINITELY go to ones he had sincere interest in then sprinkle in a possiblity or two as well?

What was your "plan of action"

Zero showcases or camps.

Our plan was a naive one. We were under the impression that if you did good in high school that someone would find out about you. We got lucky in one sense that a coach happened to see him have a good game in the summer between junior and senior year. The rest was attending camps and trying to make an impression on those same coaches. My son also received exposure by playing in state championship games. Again, we were lucky that his team was good. The interest was mostly at the D3 level but there were three or four D1's that showed interest as well as one D2.

I would not leave things up to luck and chance. If money is not a big issue, then I don't see any harm in attending these events UNLESS your son is not 100% healthy. The upside is the more he attends, the more he will become acclimated to the process and hopefully turn someone's head in the process.

Recruiting is two simple things - talent plus exposure. Missing either piece will end your son's career at the high school level. Conversely, all the exposure in the world will not overcome a lack of talent. The key to exposure is getting the right kind. If your son's goal is to play in the south for example, then you better attend events where southern coaches also attend. Many of the events here in Ohio for example draw coaches from the midwest. Nothing wrong with that but if his goal is to play outside the state then those events would not be in line with those goals.

When my last guy came out PG was just starting out

We did a large marketing campaign and even though it worked I laugh at it now--there was not a school in the country that didn't know who he was---Collegiate Baseball had items on him regularly--pictures included---he turned down an AREA CODE invite because he didn't want to go the West Coast--his first visit was to Texas Pan American--he turned down a visit to Fresno State because he didn't want to go to the West Coast--he even turned down Pro Tryouts because they were held at local high schools with over 200 players--the one he attended was a special invite to Shea Stadium for the Mets--he was and is still a funny kid and quite headstrong.

BUT he ended up going to New Mexico State on scholarship --I guess he did not consider that to be out west.

Funny anecdote to the entire picture-- I was at a late summer tournament watching the game while standing behind the backstop and all the coaches in attendance--my son was already committed and all set and not playing in the event--I hear one coach pipe up to the other coaches " Anyone know where the Rizzi kid ended up? He and his Dad must have had some postage bill with all the stuff they sent out." Next thing I hear is "Yeah--it must have worked because he got a scholarship to New Mexico State".

In this day and age it is much easier and much better because of the events which give great exposure, both tournaments and showcases-- he had one huge local tournament in his junior summer and he won the MVP in the same event and on the same field that Mo Vaughn, Dave Fleming and BJ Surhoff had won in previous years and they won the tournament title as well--that helped but not like it is today--there was not the vast internet exposure that we have today

I agree with CD---recruiting is talent and exposure---today the exposure can be the easiest part of the equation because there is so much available to you--Some events are better than others but no event is totally bad--I rememeber with our team in one of BEARS events when we had rain, rain and rain--we were plying at 2;00 AM and apparently there was a coach hidden under a tree and one of our kids got a scholarship out of it-- from the coach in the trees-you just never know who is watching--

You have to do what you can afford to do--you never know where there will be a college coach who likes what he sees

GREAT stories.....keep'em coming

quote:

Originally posted by Eric G:
When your sons were "Rising Juniors", how many showcases and/or prospect camps did you take your sons to in the fall before their Junior seasons?

Did you DEFINITELY go to ones he had sincere interest in then sprinkle in a possiblity or two as well?

What was your "plan of action"

Zero. My son wasn't even in the starting rotation in Varsity as a Junior, but went on to set most of the single season pitching records as a senior.

He went to a small showcase in Atlanta the fall of his senior year where he was named Top Prospect for that showcase and that resulted in him being very highly watched at WWBA Championships in Jupiter where he met his eventual coach for the first time.