Frustrated & Confused

No it's not too late. You have to be patient and wait until the Spring. Meanwhile keep networking. It's not you or your son, it's the system. Be open to DII's and DIII's. It will work out.

enjoyedtheride,

First of all, welcome to HSBBW! May I suggest you change your name to "enjoyingthe ride"?

It is not too late, especially considering your son's success to-date. Many players do not early commit, and there should be no sense of panic. I would, however, start to email en masse to three distinct groups:

1) Several or more D1 programs your son may wish to attend

2) Many more smaller programs with good academics he may wish to attend

3) Even more Jucos with a strong record of referring players to the next level

Considering his GPA, pick a good Winter camp to attend at a strong school. Many schools invite other schools to their event, so your son's exposure may be multiplied. You may wish to consider attending the Arizona Senior Fall Classic in October or another Fall/Winter scouting event. Find out what schools will be there.. those that your son may wish to attend.. and contact each of the coaches and let them know your son will be in attendance. It works.

Be careful how you say things. Many people interpret saying that a player has 4 or 5 tools as saying that he's major league average or better in 4 or 5 areas right now. I'm guessing that you probably mean that he's well above average for a 2010 in 4 or 5 areas and not that he has 4 or 5 tools by the strict definition. 4 or 5 tools would usually mean multiple pro scouts at every game and scrimmage.

You've gotten good advice from Bum.

Since he has been recognized as being a top player in his area (as evidenced by his Area Code invite), I would try to get him to PG's WWBA tournament in Jupiter, Florida this month. It sounds like it is swarming with coaches and scouts. You can call PG or go to their website to request an individual invite to be on a PG team.

It is not too late, get with a good organization for next summer and start working with the summer coaches to make contacts at schools that would be a good fit for him.

Make a list of schools he is interested in and contact them. Don't wait for them to contact you.

Get him to the Arizona Fall Classic in October.

CADad.. when did you surpass 5000 posts? Wow, that's quite an accomplishment. Good job.

HeadFirst Honor Roll Showcase in Jupiter Nov. 7-8. The schools at that event would have just found out which of their recruits either signed or ED with someone else. They will be aggressively recruiting to fill those gaps. The guys that run the HeadFirst program are familiar with the kind of situation your son finds himself in. They can help you with information too. Make sure you have a few minutes of tape, a short resume and your transcript in a packet. After you get home from those two Jupiter events be ready to send the packets out to the coaches you've met right away. You and the schools will have to work quickly but that will also simplify the process.

RightyShortstop and many others have been dragging things out since July 1, but now they finally have to commit. Suddenly, many good schools will have a few openings and motivation.

enjoyedtheride, I notice you are from Texas. There are a few spots left for the Nov. 1 South Texas Pro Scout showcase in San Antonio, which costs only $50 and is swarming with both pro scouts and college coaches of all levels. Your son should get good exposure there.

http://hsbaseballweb.com/eve/f...06002781/m/871105422

quote:

He is a great student, i.e. 3.95 GP

I agree with the Headfirst showcase idea. For the schools that show up there, it will help to have SAT/ACT levels that roughly match his grades. Some are non-scholarship athletically speaking, but will meet "financial need". You can get an idea of what this would be at the very top schools by going to the Princeton website and using their financial aid calculator. Less well-endowed schools will offer less need based financial aid, but that will give you an idea.

BUM/BOF have it right. Remember too that in most cases you have to recruit them as much as they recruit you(recruiting budgets are low at some schools). My son, a LHP and now actually in the workforce instead of playing games listed like 2 JUCOs, 5 D1 and 5 smaller schools that he contacted, told when/where he'd be playing in their area, made unofficial visits to meet the coaches then made official visits later, and it paid off. He got a 60% ride at a good D1 mid-major, was a 4 yr letterman and set a school record for most appearances. It's worth the effort if he really wants to play. Good luck!!

I failed to mention in my earlier post that my son is attending the PG event in Jupiter later this month. We did try for the Arizona Fall Classic but didn't get into that one. The team that invited him to tryout wanted the players to fly to CA for the tryout and that was just too expensive.

I was also wondering about the college camps that are scheduled for Nov/Dec. I didn't know if the coaches were actually still looking to recruit 2010's at these or if they were concentrating on the 2011 group. However, some of you have answered this for me. I will also check out the Nov 1st South Texas Pro Scout showcase in SA since that is within the state.

Thank you all so much for your suggestions and the time you took to post them. I am very appreciative!

I may be mistaken but I don't sense that you've targeted specific schools in your search. DO NOT ASSUME that schools will automatically find your son if he has talent. It doesn't usually work that way. You have to recruit them as much as they recruit your son. He is a good student so target specific schools where you think he could be a good fit and get to work contacting them and letting them his schedule (Jupiter/ Headfirst, etc.) and accolades (Area Code tryouts, etc).

Playing with an 18U team this summer was a mistake because all the scouts were at 17U tournaments, however its not too late but time is ticking away.

Also many kids get scholarships etc during the spring of their senior year as well so just because many are now committing doesn't mean that the opportunities aren't there, they are just fewer in numbers as time goes by.

However, it's up to you (and your son) to make it happen. Good luck.

quote:

my son is attending the PG event in Jupiter later this month

enjoytheride,

I would suggest that you contact several colleges about your son being at Jupiter. Also, you might want to PM and let us know who he is and which team he is on. Also which team he was on this past summer.

I don't know how to say this other than to say if we like him, things "might" work out well.

.
Good advice so far...

But...

3.95 GPA? Played around the country with travel teams? Invited to Area Codes and advanced a cut? Solid 4 to 5 tool player? Works with a professional coach(contacts)? Playing in front of scouts?

And little interest?

I'll be brutally honest....something does not add up. If I am a parent I would start asking why not. Ask the scouts, ask the coach...whatever it is I want to find out what it is and make adjustments, changes, or change (scout/coach) perceptions.


.

44 - I don't have the answers to all your questions, but being from the same area as enjoy the ride, I can say there are many quality players in Texas and if you are not on one of the high profile summer team then you may slip through the cracks.

Also, the original poster has stated that the player played 18's rather than 17's the summer before his senior year so he may not have received maximum exposure for that reason. And, if his summer team was not playing in quality tournaments then he may not have been at the higher profile events.

I would be curious as to how much marketing they have done, you really have to contact coaches, if you wait for them to find the player you may not hit their radar.

Observer 44...you do have a point and I have thought the same thing. The coach he works out with regularly tells us good things (but then again, we pay him..). So I am wondering what is missing. He is a very humble low key type person. Maybe they don't see the spark or something? He always hustles on and off the field but I think you know what I am saying. Potentially it is what "cheapseats" has pointed out. Being from a small 3A school and with all the great players in Texas, the coaches & scouts might think he isn't ready for D1 and there is that issue about the summer team. Let's face it, if scouts/coaches don't see you playing in an actual game, it is hard to tell if you are a good fit for their program.

Some of you have asked about us contacting schools and we have done some of that but we haven't been as diligent as we should have been. This is new to us and we don't know all the "right" way to do things.

I will say again, I am very appreciative of all of the suggestions that have been offered. I am feeling like we know what direction to take and hopefully we will have a game plan in place to implement by the weekend. All of you are great and I am so thankful I found this site. Thanks again!

enjoyed,
until this last post, I could not tell that DI was the goal for the recruiting effort.
Having some knowledge of college baseball in Texas and CA, my comments would be along these lines:

If your son played in front of scouts and DI coaches at the Area Code games and in other settings, and they are not contacting him, it may be they did not view him as a DI prospect. They may be right and may be wrong on that judgment.

Only one coach who saw our son play was vigorous in stating our son was a DI player, with potential play at a high level DI. That was the coach who wrote his review and recommendation from the Stanford All Star camp. He was a DIII coach from Texas. The DI coaches who saw him at Stanford were lukewarm to cold.
The DIII coach recruited our son like crazy. The DI's remained lukewarm until about June following his HS graduation and then things picked up considerably.
In retrospect, the DIII coach was right about his skills and ability to play college baseball.
One piece of guidance I would provide is that DI coaches are not always right about the talent judgments. But, if they have seen your son and are not recruiting him, it is because they have doubts about his ability or strength or something to play DI baseball at their programs.
I agree with the idea of getting to a showcase with many more schools of the type where your son's grades will provide him openings.
But, because you are in Texas, your son may need to consider options other than DI. Because you are in Texas, those options are many and very, very good.
Good luck to your son and keep asking questions/seeking guidance.

infielddad, thanks for your post. We don't oppose our son going to a Juco, DII or DIII program. Perhaps that route will be the best fit for him. We aren't like some families that I have encountered that will not even consider these programs for their son. However, most high school players have a goal of D1 for their college choice and overall college experience which is the reason I brought it up. I also agree that if the D1 coaches were interested, they would have contacted him.

The Juco route is interesting because there are so many options available to a student/player. If he works really hard and proves that he is a capable student/player, he will likely have options open up to him both academically and athletically. Either way, we need to be more proactive and start contacting the various coaches so they know of our son's interest. Thanks for your support.

enjoyedtheride,
Some great advice! Infielddad's son is a great example of a player getting a college education, having a great collegiate and professional baseball career while getting what appears to be much the same level of D-1 interest as your son during his high school years.
There are so many success stories of players that weren't heralded as future D1 superstars while in high school that go on to have stellar collegiate and/or professional careers. Personally I wouldn't be overly concerned about the lack of D-1 interest at this point.

There are definitely colleges where your son can play (and get a good education) and your job is to assist him in finding the right "fit". You MUST remain proactive AND flexible in finding that fit. A good D-1 offer may develop in the future or the best route could end up being another division. No one knows at this point as to how it will play out. I will say that "forcing" a fit (taking crumbs) at a D-1 may be detrimental to his college experience while he could blossom at a D-III or JUCO. I think you're doing a great job in providing exposure for your son so continue on that route. One day you will look back and say --- "Things worked out as we planned"

Best of Luck,
Fungo

I know I am repeating advise that was given above, but your really need to strongly consider attending the Headfirst Honor Roll Showcase being held 11/6-7 in Jupiter. You can find the information at playheadfirst.com
These are exactly the kind of schools that are going to be looking for you son. While most of the acedemic schools are located in the Northeast, there are some fine insitutions located in the south that attend.
Good luck!

ETR - if I may. There are several ways you can help expose your son to college recruiters. The main point is YOU must be proactive.

Last week, I spoke with a D1 coach from New Mexico about college recruiting, in general. I am convinced that a parent is the person to help a player find the best fit. And, I took away from that conversation a realistic belief about college ball, you can find a place to play.

There are a ton of college programs and they all can't recruit the top 1%'s. Be proactive and expand your horizons. One great way to help your son... Make a list of 5-10 schools (D1 - JUCO) that ETRson would be interested in and attend their fall/winter skills camps. Alot of recruiting happens at these camps.

Also, consider one of the better on-line recruiting services like BeRecruited or Skillshow. The great thing about BeRecruited,its free. And, it's legit, I can promise you that. If you'd like, check out my son's website and PM me if you are interested in discussing what we've done.

Good luck!! Living in Texas helps as we have a ton of programs. GED10DaD

Patience, persistence, and a plan on your end to reach out to the schools that your son is most interested in. School sponsored camps are another opportunity to search out a good match. Also, lots of players do sign in the spring.

Just as an aside, my players future school has a pitcher coming in from Texas. The player is very highly regarded by PG in their rankings. The school he will be going to is an A-10 school in the mid-atlantic area. I dont know the circumstances of his recruiting efforts, but he is definately leaving Texas, so that may be a route that you may have to take for your son as well. Just look at all of the college football players from FL, TX and CA that leave the state to play, there are just too many good players for the # of spots in those areas.

Is there any statistic regarding how many players sign in November vesus how many sign in April or even later? I suppose it would vary greatly between D1 and D2 and D3.

quote:

Originally posted by Blprkfrnks:
Is there any statistic regarding how many players sign in November vesus how many sign in April or even later? I suppose it would vary greatly between D1 and D2 and D3.

Good question. According to Mr. Howdeshell - the founder of this site, more happens in the late signing period:

http://www.hsbaseballweb.com/no_early_signing.htm

For all the newcomers to this site,
I highly recommend reading all the related articles on recruiting at:

http://www.hsbaseballweb.com/recruiting_tips.htm

There are dozens and dozens of useful articles that answer just about any recruiting scenario - college and pro.