HA D1 communication

It’s easy to tell the difference between a personalized email and boilerplate. If it isn’t personalized it’s a money grab. 

Personalized doesn’t mean they placed his name in the right boilerplate spot. Personalized will reference a performance or have something hand written on the side. 

What’s amusing is when a college program buys the registration list, tells your son they liked his game at XYZ tournament ... and he didn’t play that weekend. 

 Ha @RJM we have had one of those.  And yes you can already tell the difference between boilerplate, semi-personalized, and genuinely personalized. 

More curious what the D1 communication will be when they are a bit more unshackled after 9/1.  Assuming it will be less immediate camp focused and more on unofficial visits, or potential winter/spring camps post standardized tests.  

Don't expect things to change that much after Sept. 1st.  You may STILL not know whether the school/coach is interested or it's just a money grab. Or you are 1 of x they are interested in. Or they could be gauging your interest in them. They don't want to work too hard recruiting you unless they know its reciprocal. And by paying for their camp you are showing interest.  As you will find repeatedly on this site, you will know true interest when you see/experience it. Everything else is just a camp invite.  They may or may not be interested. You can pay big $$$ for a head coach academic camp and then just get camp invites afterwards.  The head coach who saw your son there texts him directly and states how much he enjoyed watching him play--then invites him to his $$ camp at his school the following week. So what do you do? Pay more $$ right after that coach (the one who makes the decisions) saw him play at the $$$ head coach academic camp? My response was to have my son thank him and tell him he couldn't make it.  I would think if they were truly interested they would work a little harder on their "sell". That being said, if it was a top-school choice for my son then perhaps we would have attended the school's camp.

Thanks @ABSORBER appreciate the honest insight.  Suspected that would be the case.  My son is politely telling coaches that he is going to focus on strength/conditioning/training in the fall, which is the truth.  Understand the sell and allure behind the camps but think the extra time working on craft, giving his arm some rest, improving velo, and to just keep improving will only help.  And then ramp up for a more full court press in the Spring.  Just getting going on the journey, no need to get too crazed about it yet. 

Wechson, if your son is on someone's radar come Sept 1 you can expect a smattering of texts, calls, emails + possibly even some snail mail.  My son got 2 or 3  letters that were signed by HC's and we were shocked.

Wechson posted:

Thanks @ABSORBER appreciate the honest insight.  Suspected that would be the case.  My son is politely telling coaches that he is going to focus on strength/conditioning/training in the fall, which is the truth.  Understand the sell and allure behind the camps but think the extra time working on craft, giving his arm some rest, improving velo, and to just keep improving will only help.  And then ramp up for a more full court press in the Spring.  Just getting going on the journey, no need to get too crazed about it yet. 

Sounds like he's a pitcher.  Pitchers are a bit different.  If your son has the goods (check velo's of the commits of the school in question for the last few years) then the school may actually be really interested. But then again, if it was the head coach that saw him at the multi-school showcase then I would imagine he's seen enough for this year. Keep in touch and they may come see him next summer. If it is was an RC that saw him then going to the camp is an opportunity for rest of the staff to see him, most importantly the HC.  Again, if it's your son's dream school then perhaps it's worth it.  But there is plenty of time for HA 2021's.  Although you will see the Ivy's recruiting a few pitchers before next summer.  And this can affect the AI for the rest of their recruiting class.  Unless those stud pitchers also have incredible academics to go with their pitching skills.  But typically they do not which means the rest of the recruiting class will need to offset those early commits. So if your son is a stud pitcher who may be on the lower end of the acceptable Ivy academic scale, getting early interest could be beneficial to him!

Yes @ABSORBER RHP.  Big kid, great athletic metrics (eg 33" vertical, 88 Exit velo off tee) etc.  But sitting low 80's so still learning/working to convert the strength to velo.  If he can do that this fall, he'll be in a very good place.  High unweighted GPA at great public school, still have to take standardized test which has been a little bit of a soft spot in past so concentrating a lot on that.  So realistically think he'll need 6 more months for the pot to cook to make it all work. Exciting though, no doubt.  

@CatsPop - That sounds great.  Will let you know if same happens here, but being cautious about the expectations!

I would say, from what we've seen with our 2020 friends, even after they can make contact, initial contact still comes through coaches for the most part.  Also, even when things appear to be personalized, they aren't always.  My son got a DM on twitter from a coach asking him to attend a camp.  We rearranged a few things to make it, dm'd back that he would be there, and they didn't even talk to him.  They then called his club coach the next day after seeing some video and asked if he had any interest in their school.  They didn't even know he was there for 5 hours the day before.  Complete waste of time.

@baseballhs - Yeah that's a bit of my concern for sure.  Went to one camp earlier in the summer and perhaps it was early but came away feeling like it wasn't a terrific use of time/money.  Do wonder if it's a bit different with someone they've seen in advance, did well at a showcase, etc.  Either way, he has his strategy in place which is to simply work on improving, and see how it all shakes out in the Winter/Spring now that he's on some radars (literally and figuratively) 

Ask around.  Some camps are run very well.  Some have a reputation for being run by players and unorganized (what we experienced).  That said, we went to two very well run camps with no prior contact and started contact solely due to being seen at the camp.  I don't discourage camps at all, you are in a smaller pool of kids and sometimes it is easier to standout and be noticed than hoping to be seen at a tournament, but do your research.

Wechson asked specifically about HA D1 communication.  One well known Ivy RC has said that on Sept 1, he calls his top guys.  How many?  Supposedly over 20.  My 2017 did not get a call.  He got an email a few days later.  That told us where he stood with that school.  He already had his testing done though and it was clear he would be admissible without any problems.  So they kept him around, but clearly he was just in case the top guys went elsewhere or could not get in...

If your RHP is low 80s, that will be where he needs to improve to get serious D1 (and even many HA D3) schools.  The HA D1 schools do not really compromise on baseball players, which means a RHP for the most part needs to be high 80s/90.  There are a LOT of RHP in the mid 80s.  I am not saying your son cannot or will not get recruited by his dream schools, but that if the coaches have only seen low 80s so far, be careful about spending more money on their camps, until his velo has improved.  Just my opinion.

@Twoboys - appreciate your honest feedback and def agree with you. Camps are basically out until the spring. He does have size, pitches with control and has 3 good pitches, so all of that helps.  But also understand there’s a line of demarcation that basically has to be hit so he’ll go about trying to hit it.  If he does he’ll be in a good place and he has something to strive for over next 6 months.  

When you say HA D1s I assume you mean Patriot, Ivy, some of the Colonial, etc. Because Duke, Vandy, UNC, and Stanford are all HA as well and none of them are too concerned about the Sept 1 date. 

I would say that unless your kid is a can't miss prospect for them (P5/high level mid major caliber) most of the more serious conversations will take place next summer. A lot of these schools don't have much if any money to play around with and want to make sure you are essentially a done deal before they offer. They also need to make sure grades and test scores are there before moving forward. Most don't take it until middle or end of Jr year. Unless he's receiving phone calls/texts/personalized emails don't worry about it too much. 

@PABaseball - yes absolutely distinguishing between the two.  

Post showcase a few very personalized emails from a few amazing D3s but totally on same page as you in terms of understanding where he is in the general process.  Get great grades, get great standardized test scores, improve velocity, stay healthy, reengage In the spring. 

Identified as talent will trigger HA interest but I will also add that it is a MUST to have test scores before a HA D1 will recruit.  You did mention that your son does not have test scores? When my son went through his journey, every school requested his transcripts and test scores before they went full force.   After they received them each school made their decision to continue recruiting or not.    HA D1 have the same goal of pursuing the best players on the Sept 1 date that every other school has but also have to meet academic guidelines.  If guidelines like Academic Index and school's  selective min admission requirement can't be met then there is not reason to move forward with the recruiting.  Most schools were pretty transparent and let you know pretty early on where the player was on their recruiting board. 

Thank you @JABMK, the collective responses here have been very generous and helped confirm a lot of what we are thinking strategically.  Camps feel a bit excessive at this point given all of the variables.  He’s on radars but until he delivers strong enough test scores and gets velo up then it’s moot.  Concentrate on crushing those, keep communicating, and see what the landscape looks like in 6-9 months. 

PABaseball posted:

When you say HA D1s I assume you mean Patriot, Ivy, some of the Colonial, etc. Because Duke, Vandy, UNC, and Stanford are all HA as well and none of them are too concerned about the Sept 1 date. 

 

Duke has been known to send out an email blast to a wide list of those of interest at 12:01Am on September 1st.

Ha ha yes Ripken Fan, my 2017 was very happy to get that email until we realized it is a VERY wide blast.  Same as the Stanford questionnaire and the Dartmouth junior days stuff.

Sept 1 is not some be all end all day.  Many guys will have their phone blowing up.  If your son's does not, do not panic!  Make sure you are fishing in the right pond (I think that is Fenway speak!) and keep working hard and improve test scores if needed. 

Ripken Fan posted:

PABaseball posted:

When you say HA D1s I assume you mean Patriot, Ivy, some of the Colonial, etc. Because Duke, Vandy, UNC, and Stanford are all HA as well and none of them are too concerned about the Sept 1 date. 

 

Duke has been known to send out an email blast to a wide list of those of interest at 12:01Am on September 1st.

I won't deny that they communicate shortly after midnight on the 1st, but the 10 2021 commits and 3 2022 commits would tell me they aren't gearing up for the beginning of their recruitment cycle on the night of the 31st. Sounds like more of a formality than anything. 

You'll know you're son is being recruited when he starts receiving phones calls, has 3rd parties reaching out asking to call a HC (if before Sept 1) and text messages.  Most communication via email is faux, even an obvious email from a HC/RC, as it's just a means to stay connected.  If they want you, you will know.

PABaseball posted:

Ripken Fan posted:

PABaseball posted:

When you say HA D1s I assume you mean Patriot, Ivy, some of the Colonial, etc. Because Duke, Vandy, UNC, and Stanford are all HA as well and none of them are too concerned about the Sept 1 date. 

 

Duke has been known to send out an email blast to a wide list of those of interest at 12:01Am on September 1st.

I won't deny that they communicate shortly after midnight on the 1st, but the 10 2021 commits and 3 2022 commits would tell me they aren't gearing up for the beginning of their recruitment cycle on the night of the 31st. Sounds like more of a formality than anything. 

I would agree with this. Duke was the first school to ever reach out to my son ( texted club coach during game, came to game the next day) and asked him to call.  They started talking weekly after that.  It was summer after freshman year, so he was 15.  They only saw him because they had a 15 year old commit on the team we were playing.

He was also talking to Stanford and Vanderbilt way before September 1.  My son is a rising senior so I think things have just sped up over the last 3-4 years.  They all say they hate early recruiting but they all do it.

Agree with most of the above -- on Sept. 1st they will text him/call him (even a few schools will send snail mail) if they are interested. Multiple texts from, for example, both the HC and RC. 

One thing to check on the emails he's getting -- did the coach list his cell phone number (not office number)? If so, your son should call the coach's cell.

Agree with BaseballHS on Duke -- my son spoke with the RC (and I can only assume the RC spoke with dozens and dozens of others) in May of sophomore year, and they were offering kids they liked in that time frame.

IMO, you don't need test scores on Sept. 1 of junior year to get HA D1 recruiting interest. You will need them eventually, but just by way of example I know a current 2021 Ivy commit who hasn't taken the SAT/ACT yet. My son didn't take the ACT until Feb of junior year.