Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League

I think @nycdad's son pitched in the league recently. The website says the 2022 fee was $800. I've read on this forum that the league is having trouble finding host families for everyone recently. I think most guys go where the coach sends them. When you say "approached", was it more of an assignment or just a discussion?

As my son explained the conversation to me his coach sends a few players to the Hamptons each summer and asked my son if he'd be interested. It sounds like it was just a preliminary discussion about where he'll play next summer and not in stone.   

My 2020 played in the Hampton's league in the summer of 2021.At the time they were definitely having issues with housing. I believe we paid $600 at the time. He shared a large basement with 5 other players across 2 teams. He has a car, so was able to get around. Nothing really stands out as good or bad.

My 2022 was told by his college PC he'll be in the Hampton's league this summer. He's hoping to pitch well enough to play in the Future's or NECBL instead.

My son did tell me, and I've heard this from a few people, wait as long as you can before signing a contract with any league short of the Cape.

@nycdad posted:

My 2022 was told by his college PC he'll be in the Hampton's league this summer. He's hoping to pitch well enough to play in the Future's or NECBL instead.

I appreciate the insight. I think my son is hoping for an NECBL assignment too. We're in central NJ so selfishly I'd rather not spend hours in traffic trying to get out there for games. We could probably get to some of the southern NECBL teams in the same amount of time.

Waiting for the Cape is sound advice. I would put the Northwoods in the same boat, if your player is a draft prospect.

Just be aware that the NECBL gets "drop downs" from the Cape and won't hesitate to release a player who they have a contract with.  In my son's case it was done in late May making it very hard to find a new spot (after having turned down multiple offers from other leagues while he was under contract to NECBL).

Just to clarify, I didn't mean delaying signing a contract to wait for the Cape, neither of my kids currently are at that level. I meant just hold out signing to keep options open. This may make more sense for pitchers who have more options.

@ASR there is a lot of travel in the NECBL, after my son't Hampton's team was eliminated, he was asked to play in the NECBL. There were frequent days where he would get back to his bed at 5-6am.

@K9 posted:

Just be aware that the NECBL gets "drop downs" from the Cape and won't hesitate to release a player who they have a contract with.

Curious, what is the point of the contract if it's non-binding?

@nycdad posted:

Just to clarify, I didn't mean delaying signing a contract to wait for the Cape, neither of my kids currently are at that level. I meant just hold out signing to keep options open. This may make more sense for pitchers who have more options.

@ASR there is a lot of travel in the NECBL, after my son't Hampton's team was eliminated, he was asked to play in the NECBL. There were frequent days where he would get back to his bed at 5-6am.

My son is a freshman and not currently at the Cape level either but I as a pitcher I told him there's no rush at the moment and to weigh his options after further discussions with his coach.

May I ask who made the introduction to the NECBL after the Hampton's team was eliminated? Is it common for a late summer pickup like that?

I used the bottom up vs top down method of access to NECBL.

While  on vacation (timed around the league schedule) , dropped the HS'er off at the  field and had johnny introduce himself to the players and coaches (3 hours before game time of course) as a potential volunteer. ("Whatever you need fellas.")

2 yaers later, he contacted the coach and  was given a roster spot. He ultimately went to the Northwoods (Top Down meithod), but the bottom up method worked for him.

Note: Bring ID, HS Transcript, SS Card< Baseball details, HS Coach contact, etc. (Just ib case). The team accepted him

HS players can potentially get a leg up on NECBL: Teams by reaching out for opportunites during the season. As much as you are attempting to sway college recruiters, you can sway Summer League Coaches

They need to know who you are. Referrals from College Coaches is the norm, but not the only means of securing a roster spot.

Volunteer for home game ballboy (ballperson) or bull pen assistant (for pitchers).

This shows a real interest in the program and provides early interaction with the coaching staff/managers as well as intel from college players (priceless).

The contract is an attempt to lock players in to prevent moving to another team in the league.

Players can cancel (might lose your fee) and move to another league with no problems.

Keep your cards down and don't discuss your options to anyone.

Movement within a league is a no-no

@ASR posted:

My son is a freshman and not currently at the Cape level either but I as a pitcher I told him there's no rush at the moment and to weigh his options after further discussions with his coach.

May I ask who made the introduction to the NECBL after the Hampton's team was eliminated? Is it common for a late summer pickup like that?

College coach. A NECBL manager reached out to him because he needed players. My 2020 had no business playing in the NECBL that summer really, but helped out the last 2 weeks of the season.

There is also ACBL by you as well. That's about the same level as the Hamptons league.

@BaseballBUDDY posted:

Referrals from College Coaches is the norm, but not the only means of securing a roster spot.

Agree. My son played in the local summer league that his D3 coach recommended after freshman year. The next two summers he found better places to play on his own. Coach was fine with it.

Does anyone happen to know if pitchers (a starter) just show up for their games or do they generally attend all of the games?

@BBSBfan posted:

Does anyone happen to know if pitchers (a starter) just show up for their games or do they generally attend all of the games?

I would think they would be expected to attend all games. At the college level my kids been an SP and a RP, I can't imagine him not wanting to be with the team while they're playing, regardless of him being available.  

Agreed but also looking to get a summer job and otherwise can only work for a month.

When my son played in it, all players went to all games.

@BBSBfan posted:

Agreed but also looking to get a summer job and otherwise can only work for a month.

Unless the team has some contacts with employers I'd say it would awfully hard to work a summer job and play in the summer league.   My son played 3 years on a summer league team 20 minutes from our house so he lived at home.  He probably could have worked some but for their home games he was rarely home before midnight and on some of the away games it would be 2am or worse getting up to work in the morning would be tough.  Also, they basically play every night during the week and also on the weekend.  For the furthest away games they would be at the field by 1pm and home games there were there by 4:30 or 5 so again, just not a lot of time to find a job unless you really had someone who was willing/able to work around the game / practice / activity schedule

Good advice. Thanks. Won’t have him pursue jobs during this period and sounds like this guy is footing the bill again- but atleast I am very used to it.

The Hamptons didn't have the bells and whistles of some of the other leagues, but it's solid baseball and some players do go on to play pro baseball.

The housing situations really varied, by team and by player. Different experiences for different players. Some host parents lodged several players.

Son played there the summer following his sophomore year of college. He hit well (.330's) and named to all-star team He was one of the "older players "of the league. He was lucky to get a spot as he signed late. I kept telling son to talk to his position coach in college as to what his summer plans were for RipkenFAnSon. Son didn't want to nag coach so several months passed. As it turns out, his college position coach thought son was doing an internship in the summer. The following year, son took matters in his own hands and directly contacted about 5-6 GMs of the NECBL, which he played and was one of his team's first signees.

He had good memories from the Hamptons league--not all players were as motivated as him, but you'll find that anywhere He did meet some players who were not from Northeast, I say that because the league does pull from that area of the country. He did have a place to work out that the team arranged.

Thanks for the info… your kid sounds like my kid.  I told mine to speak to a coach, he was reluctant as well.   Randomly a couple of weeks ago, Coach called his name out at a gathering and said he is assigned to Hamptons.  He hasn’t been told of which team but in looking at the website, would seem the Shelter Island one adds some extra travel time. Besides that one field distances seem reasonable.

When my son played in the Hampton's league in 2021 he wasn't assigned a team until late in the spring. It was initially the Shelter Island team, but they ended up not fielding a team that year.

His housing situation consisted of sharing a basement with 5 other players (3 on his team and 3 from another) this was just post covid so hoping housing is a better now.

My younger son is assigned to the Hampton's League this upcoming summer. PM me when you know what team your son is on.

Good info. Will PM once assigned. Thanks.