Freshman

You can send letters at this time, but don't expect much response. You will probably get some camp invites, and you should go if it is a school you're interested in AND one that you could realistically be recruited by. It may be a little early to tell on that though. Follow the timeline on recruiting here on hsbaseballweb, it is a good guide on what you should be doing... and when!
Good luck!

Don't market yourself until you are ready to be marketed. Spend your time and energy developing your abilities until at least the summer between your sophomore and junior year of high school. If you attempt to get on a school's radar before you are ready, you may have them pay attention to you and indicate to them that you are not good enough to play for them. There may be time to change their mind, but always remember that first impressions are very valuable; make sure yours is a good one.

There are always exceptions to the rule, but most players, especially if they are serious about baseball are going to look a lot different the summer after their sophomoe year than they do as a freshman in February. The combination of physical maturity, conditioning and development of baseball skills take a big jump in that time period. The other factor is that for most coaches, they probably cannot spend too much time giving a long look to a guy who is 3-4 years out. Keep working hard and try to get to a summer or fall camp or showcase if even just to get a taste of what it is like. Before you know it, your time will be right in front of you.

It's too early to send out letters or emails. All this would do would initiate a response from colleges inviting you to their camps. You would become confused thinking their interest was sparked by your talent and interest when in fact all you did was put your name on their mass mailing list to attend their camps. Wait until you have established yourself as a viable recruit and then begin your marketing campaign. "Fit" is very important in selecting a college and fit changes from year to year. You may be a great catcher but a college you have targeted earlier may have just signed a freshman All-American catcher and you will not know that until the later phases of your recruitment. I think you can START your search for colleges by looking at programs on the internet and doing some unofficial visits to the campuses. You never know what will push your buttons (either good or bad). My son and the family made a trip to the legendary program of Mississippi State University in Starkville Mississippi (my wife's home state) for an unannounced unofficial visit. Just driving through the town convinced my son that he didn't want to attend college in Starkville, Mississippi. The day we picked must have been a big tractor pull event --- opening day of deer season --- or maybe the grand opening of the "Mossy Oak" outlet store. ---- I wanted to hang out and look at the Gumbo Mudders on the 4X4's but it was not my choice --- We moved on.
Fungo

jb,

Agree with others that it is too early to e-mail coaches, but as Fungo said you can start evaluating "fit". Start looking at the colleges, their baseball staff, staff turn over rate, how many they recruit each year, are they stacked in your position, does it look like they will have openings when you will be a freshman/sophomore, and don't forget to check out whether they offer majors you want to study? Put together a list of colleges (about 5 or 6) you think you would like to play at and stack them according to your preference. Be realistic about what level you can play at (juco, D3, D1 etc.). It is not too early to figure out what college camps and showcases you want to attend, plan to attend your top college picks (the ones you believe you really have a shot at) more than once. Lay out your schedule through December your senior year and you will see that there isn't a lot of time to visit all the schools you might want to. Sophomore and junior year are very important years and you want be at the places you really think you want to play and go to school at.

My son went to his first showcase his freshman year to start getting some experience in front of scouts and get the experience of a showcase. But you want to be at your best for any camp or showcase. GOOD LUCK!

I also agree with the others. Its too early to write letters. I also think visiting some campuses and going to some games is a great idea at this time.

I think the next 1.5-2 years is a great time to focus completely on raising your game as much as you can. Make sure you make your HS team and earn a starting spot. Get on the very best summer team you can...one that will challenge you to get better in order to play and compete against good opponents. Hone your hitting and/or pitching skills.

And make sure you get off to a good start academically in HS. That now matters about as much as anything especially now that Spring is approaching and practices and games will take away 2-4 hours a day of study time.

Good luck!