Has Anyone Used Or Is Using a College Sports Recruiting Service?

Never used a recruiting service, but that sounds like what I've heard from almost anyone I know who did.  Big $$$$ and a lot of promises for things that you can easily do yourself.  Heck, the advise you can get on here in one day with regard to recruiting is worth more than what you'd pay a recruiting service

Never used one; son was approached consistently by a few the past four years. This board allowed me and my son to get invested in the process ourselves and lean on the intel and experiences from this boards members.

Have heard positives and negatives... if a family doesn't have the time it could be helpful.  I've heard nice things about NCSA...

Trust In Him posted:

This article appeared in a Los Angeles Newspaper a few days ago.  

http://www.dailynews.com/sport...-consulting-services

I never used a service for my son but did consider it.  Thought this might be helpful for parents and players.  We've all been through the "what ifs", anxiety, and second guessing.  Some friends swore by it as engraved in stone, some negatively, majority had no idea.  Son was approached in 9th grade and every year after that until 3 months before he graduated high school by 4 agencies.

Trust In Him,

Thanks for posting.  This is a topic that comes up here frequently and I think the general consensus echo's what Buckeye and Gov are saying... that with the proper resources, i.e. HSBBW  , a recruit and his family can do things better on their own.  It seems that the agencies/services are going the path of travel ball... more and more diluted product flooding the market making it hard to find the  good stuff if you don't really know where to look.  As result, I think more and more of the correspondence from agency to school is immediately "circular filed".   

What was your experience?  Did you end up using any of those agencies?

The $$$ numbers in that article floored me.  $3800 and $5000?   Wow, that's absurd.  I have heard of services in the $750-1000 range, but had no idea any were charging that kind of money.  I guess football would be different than baseball or basketball as you don't have 10-12 weeks of summer football to play multiple games in front of multiple coaches like you do for basketball and baseball, but even at that, I'd think you could get exposure without paying ridiculous amounts of money. 

The other part of the story that was kind of crazy was that they moved from Chicago to CA so he could play football....and he was a backup.  Seems to me that that set of parents may be a little bit more naive than most.  Most people wouldn't pack up and move to a school like Mater Dei without KNOWING that their kid had the talent to see the field there. 

We used NCSA (mentioned as biggest in article). Profile free to anyone. Found webinars helpful and also gave son idea of which schools (academic/athletic) to target. Son found Kaplan service helpful in preparing for SAT. I think we started w/ NCSA his freshman year. Was it worth it?? Well helped having it available for > a year. Looking back many parents spend a great deal tournaments on showcases, camps and traveling with "THE" team. Fenway South was helpful in Navigating the High Academic Schools here, long before I ever posted. (I think he called the process a "labyrinth"). 

Looking back the biggest "pushes" son would receive in his recruitment was a $700 showcase with many schools, a $75 school specific camp, and  playing American Legion for a" connected" coach.. Of course, we only know that now. Some of the other camps may have been $$, but helped in his development (camper--prospect). I think it was Cabbage who said some father-son experiences/trips are priceless.

cabbagedad posted:

Trust In Him posted:

This article appeared in a Los Angeles Newspaper a few days ago.  

http://www.dailynews.com/sport...-consulting-services

I never used a service for my son but did consider it.  Thought this might be helpful for parents and players.  We've all been through the "what ifs", anxiety, and second guessing.  Some friends swore by it as engraved in stone, some negatively, majority had no idea.  Son was approached in 9th grade and every year after that until 3 months before he graduated high school by 4 agencies.

Trust In Him,

Thanks for posting.  This is a topic that comes up here frequently and I think the general consensus echo's what Buckeye and Gov are saying... that with the proper resources, i.e. HSBBW  , a recruit and his family can do things better on their own.  It seems that the agencies/services are going the path of travel ball... more and more diluted product flooding the market making it hard to find the  good stuff if you don't really know where to look.  As result, I think more and more of the correspondence from agency to school is immediately "circular filed".   

What was your experience?  Did you end up using any of those agencies?

No, didn't use any agencies.  Sorry if this was posted previously, still learning the ropes here  .

For baseball and basketball, playing for an organization/coach with connections and credibility go a long way. During his visit, my son asked the coach, "There are a lot of guys out there with very similar numbers to mine. Why me?" Keep in mind, this school was recruiting him without any of the staff ever having seen him pitch in person and without the head coach ever ever seeing him pitch in person. This school had latched on to him via recommendations from our summer team HC. They had attended a tournament in Arizona while my 2018 was at PG National. Our coach had talked with the ac of this school and told him about my son. The HC of this college answered my son's question by telling him that our coach had given him an honest evaluation on all of our players and had been dead on with his assessments in every case. Therefore he believed what he had been told.

Trust In Him posted:

cabbagedad posted:

Trust In Him posted:

This article appeared in a Los Angeles Newspaper a few days ago.  

http://www.dailynews.com/sport...-consulting-services

I never used a service for my son but did consider it.  Thought this might be helpful for parents and players.  We've all been through the "what ifs", anxiety, and second guessing.  Some friends swore by it as engraved in stone, some negatively, majority had no idea.  Son was approached in 9th grade and every year after that until 3 months before he graduated high school by 4 agencies.

Trust In Him,

Thanks for posting.  This is a topic that comes up here frequently and I think the general consensus echo's what Buckeye and Gov are saying... that with the proper resources, i.e. HSBBW  , a recruit and his family can do things better on their own.  It seems that the agencies/services are going the path of travel ball... more and more diluted product flooding the market making it hard to find the  good stuff if you don't really know where to look.  As result, I think more and more of the correspondence from agency to school is immediately "circular filed".   

What was your experience?  Did you end up using any of those agencies?

No, didn't use any agencies.  Sorry if this was posted previously, still learning the ropes here  .

No problem at all... wouldn't expect you to know that.  Just threw that out as background.

Rather than pay for a service pay to play for a team with a credible coach who can make calls to college coaches he knows about your son. A recommended player is going to get more of a look than one from a mass mailer (which most likely won't be read).

I have had over 20 calls in the past 3 days from services. Must be the fact that I have a junior and September 1st is getting close?? Do showcases sell their lists? I know Headfirst has an exclusive with Diamond but do others?

I know the St. Brown dad still swears by this recruiting service guy.  His kids are/were in the top 250 of all high school football players nationwide and highly sought after prospects.  Amon Ra St. Brown is currently ranked the 11th best overall high school football prospect at any position by 247sports.   Talk about not needing any help AND still spending (wasting IMO) the $$$.

Every sport has recruiting services either online or with a more "personal" touch.  Some, like NCSA or berecruited, are used for any sport.  Waste of time and money IMHO.  The vast majority of high school kids seeking to play in college are not going to be "found" or highly sought after like the St. Brown's.  Most kids aren't going to be "found" by coaches perusing a recruiting web site.  And in my experience, college coaches generally want to see players compete in person.  Most coaches aren't going to take the opinion of some guy from a recruiting service who's representing specific  players.

The beauty of this site is it's a living do it yourself guide for baseball players.

Most high school kids need to have a plan to engage "their" colleges.  I work with kids/families across all sports for free...I enjoy seeing kids get to play at the next level.   The #1 thing I recommend is fishing in the right pond.  Start by creating a vetted list of schools where that student-athlete fits academically AND athletically.  It's also the biggest hurdle as so many families over estimate their kid's athletic and academic prowess.  But that's another story...

We use fieldlevel for my 2019. Both his HS and Travel coach can promote him to schools via the site. It's a place to have a profile and put his videos and articles on. It's free, but we pay $20 a month to know what schools are looking at his profile. We've been contacted by NCSA recently about using them. I've looked at some of their articles and it's decent stuff, but won't be using them to recruit.

A friend paid $1,500 for a consultant/service for his son. When the consultant didn't return calls in a timely fashion he called me to see if I had an answer. One day he asked why he's paying $1,500 for a service when he's getting better results from me free. 

He asked how I know all this stuff. I told him I don't know it all. What I didn't experience I either learned on hasbaseballweb or I post a question to get multiple responses from multiple experiences. 

I walked him through making a list of fifty potential colleges and turned him over to this site. Everything he did from that day forward was more timely and better focused.

The consultant didn't know his kid that well. He had him emaililing the wrong college baseball programs relative to talent level. Imagine starting out a D3 prospect (where he played) with Stanford and Vanderbilt because of grades while disregarding baseball potential. 

Ditto on using the funds to play showcases, on training and specific camps where you have an interest and it could help your visibility with that college. Most of these guys are not reputable or at least oversell the service knowing they cannot generate a scholarship offer.

NCSA contacted us when son was a freshman, the contacts we spoke to were very nice and gave very generic "free" information on the initial phone call, most or all of which I already had acquired here. Didn't hear anything from them that would inspire me to plop down the money they were talking. I would recommend using BeRecruited.com's free profile service, it's a nice interface and a good way to keep son's information updated and post videos, etc. Then use the link to son's profile in the many emails you send out to the coaches of the schools he wants to go to. Occasionally  berecruited sends you an excited email or text -  "A coach has looked at your profile!". It will mostly be JUCOS and such, but at least with the free berecruited profile you can see who the coach was, unlike NCSA's "free" profile that won't tell you who until you pay...

Just in case anyone thought recruiting services and showcases were something new:

I'm super hesitant to jump in on this thread b/c I make my living counseling students on their college adventures and I've worked with dozens of student athletes over the years. Most families don't need anyone's help or guidance but, clearly, the business model works for me and my  clients--I get most of my biz word of mouth.   My point would be: just like in any industry, there are the good ones and the lousy ones. At conferences, I've heard college HCs say they do not recommend the recruiting companies-- they want to hear from the students themselves. But,  if there are recruiters who've been working for any length of time, they must be doing something useful for someone. (Rose-colored glasses are my faves). 

edit: btw, I've also heard some admissions officers not recommend college counselors and yet...other's will pay for independents to visit their school. 

Not a big fan.  Signed up with a firm and while not bad — it didn’t really help either.  The created and hosted his video, pulled a bio together and did some personalized email marketing for agreed upon schools.  But the cost compared to the value delivered were not equal.  Wish I had found HSBBW earlier and could have saved myself a ton of money.  Hindsight is always 20/20

Al Pal posted:

I'm super hesitant to jump in on this thread b/c I make my living counseling students on their college adventures and I've worked with dozens of student athletes over the years. Most families don't need anyone's help or guidance but, clearly, the business model works for me and my  clients--I get most of my biz word of mouth.   My point would be: just like in any industry, there are the good ones and the lousy ones. At conferences, I've heard college HCs say they do not recommend the recruiting companies-- they want to hear from the students themselves. But,  if there are recruiters who've been working for any length of time, they must be doing something useful for someone. (Rose-colored glasses are my faves). 

edit: btw, I've also heard some admissions officers not recommend college counselors and yet...other's will pay for independents to visit their school. 

Hey Al Pal,  No worries, glad you jumped in with your views.  I just recently joined this group but for me, the only way to make a comfortable informed decision is to hear from all sides.  

You literally can find every coach's email on the website  of the school you are looking at.  I do not know why people pay all of this money to do what they can do for free.

roothog66 posted:

Just in case anyone thought recruiting services and showcases were something new:

Holy crap, Root, that is amazing !!!   The names of the instructors... unreal.  I gotta know more of the story on this.  And $60 + $7/wk for housing in 1936 was a lot of money (I think).  

As BRANSON noted, key is to fish in the right pond.  The idea that a paid third party always has a better idea about fit than the player/parents is simply not true.  While there may be exceptions, these occur when the parents do not pursue obtaining the knowledge - through either lack of resources or lack of trying.  Finding the right fit academically is most often best left to the family unit.  Finding the right fit skill wise is probably the most difficult and requires a pretty good understanding of the kid's current skills and projectability as it measures up against a particular division or a particular program more specifically.  How some third party is going to develop this without living at your house for a few weeks is questionable.  I assume the good ones are good at managing information, most of which they gleen from the family unit itself, and being somewhat proactive when the family unit simply feels lost.

Board has been kind of slow, but there has been quite a bit of good information today across several posts.  The "What is a good offer" thread and the comments about the JUCO route have some good information as well as some solid commentary on looking at the entirety of the situation and not getting swayed by percentages when it may not be the best option.  Sort of ties into this thread in discussing the importance of the decision on what school to attend and avoid letting some third party shop your son around so they can quote scholarship totals.

cabbagedad posted:

roothog66 posted:

Just in case anyone thought recruiting services and showcases were something new:

Holy crap, Root, that is amazing !!!   The names of the instructors... unreal.  I gotta know more of the story on this.  And $60 + $7/wk for housing in 1936 was a lot of money (I think).  

This was at a time when a lot of MLB teams did their "spring training" in Arkansas. They would instruct for Ray Doan during their off hours to make extra $$. I'm not sure how much "instructing" they did, but, in other years, they listed Dizzy and Paul Dean as instructors.

KilroyJ posted:

NCSA contacted us when son was a freshman, the contacts we spoke to were very nice and gave very generic "free" information on the initial phone call, most or all of which I already had acquired here. Didn't hear anything from them that would inspire me to plop down the money they were talking. I would recommend using BeRecruited.com's free profile service, it's a nice interface and a good way to keep son's information updated and post videos, etc. Then use the link to son's profile in the many emails you send out to the coaches of the schools he wants to go to. Occasionally  berecruited sends you an excited email or text -  "A coach has looked at your profile!". It will mostly be JUCOS and such, but at least with the free berecruited profile you can see who the coach was, unlike NCSA's "free" profile that won't tell you who until you pay...

I just signed up for the free BeRecruited service and it says you have to upgrade to Deluxe to see who a coach is if they search the profile.

2017LHPscrewball posted:

As BRANSON noted, key is to fish in the right pond.  The idea that a paid third party always has a better idea about fit than the player/parents is simply not true.  While there may be exceptions, these occur when the parents do not pursue obtaining the knowledge - through either lack of resources or lack of trying.  Finding the right fit academically is most often best left to the family unit.  Finding the right fit skill wise is probably the most difficult and requires a pretty good understanding of the kid's current skills and projectability as it measures up against a particular division or a particular program more specifically.  How some third party is going to develop this without living at your house for a few weeks is questionable.  I assume the good ones are good at managing information, most of which they gleen from the family unit itself, and being somewhat proactive when the family unit simply feels lost.

Board has been kind of slow, but there has been quite a bit of good information today across several posts.  The "What is a good offer" thread and the comments about the JUCO route have some good information as well as some solid commentary on looking at the entirety of the situation and not getting swayed by percentages when it may not be the best option.  Sort of ties into this thread in discussing the importance of the decision on what school to attend and avoid letting some third party shop your son around so they can quote scholarship totals.

With so many good players these days, I believe the most difficult thing to do is to get on the radar of a school.  If you are one of the top 5% studs it's a given.  Coaches do not have resources to look at many good player.  If they start hearing your name a few times maybe it will make them look at some particulars.  I don't know if these recruiting services are the answer but if they can somehow make the recruiting coaches ponder over a player for a few minutes that they normally wouldn't, is it worth it?

Buckeye 2015 posted:

The $$$ numbers in that article floored me.  $3800 and $5000?   Wow, that's absurd.  I have heard of services in the $750-1000 range, but had no idea any were charging that kind of money.  

Our family would prefer to spend $$$ on speed & strength training, hitting lessons, and academic tutors than on a recruiting service.

Al Pal posted:

I'm super hesitant to jump in on this thread b/c I make my living counseling students on their college adventures and I've worked with dozens of student athletes over the years. Most families don't need anyone's help or guidance but, clearly, the business model works for me and my  clients--I get most of my biz word of mouth.   My point would be: just like in any industry, there are the good ones and the lousy ones. At conferences, I've heard college HCs say they do not recommend the recruiting companies-- they want to hear from the students themselves. But,  if there are recruiters who've been working for any length of time, they must be doing something useful for someone. (Rose-colored glasses are my faves). 

edit: btw, I've also heard some admissions officers not recommend college counselors and yet...other's will pay for independents to visit their school. 

Broadly-based, college counseling is one thing; while services focused on blanketing coaching staffs with recruiting information is quite another. If ones in the latter category have been working any length of time, it's much more a reflection of the fact that hopeful, gullible parents are willing to keep paying them.

Materials promoting individual players by paid recruiting services are routinely ignored by college recruiters. You're much better off studying the advice on this site and executing its precepts on your own.

We used NCSA.  Paid for the premium service.  It was a useful way to post film, send out emails,  keep track of who responded by looking at profile.

Several schools visited his profile multiple times.  Whenever a school would check out his profile,  the kid would follow up with the coach.  It generated some useful contacts and useful back and forth.  Helped us narrow down which schools to focus on.

It seems to have played some roll in his being recruited by the school he eventually chose to attend.  Our first contact with the school was via his profile and film on NCSA.  After they viewed his profile on two or three different occasions, he reached out to them to invite them to come check him out at  Arizona Senior Fall Classic.  I was actually sitting next to the coach as they watched him.  (I heard the coach say to the guy sitting next to him that he was there to check out the right fielder -- who was my son -- kept my mouth shut of course.

After seeing him there,  despite the fact that he was injured during the event (long, sad story)  they invited him to visit campus.  

I suppose we could have done all the same stuff without the infrastructure of NCSA. So I'm not saying it was essential.  And if you are more organized than we were, you probably don't need it.    But we did use it frequently.  We found that it added some value.   I can't recall the exact number, but he got 50+ profile views, from a pretty wide variety of schools.  

This was in part due to their "match-making" service.   They analyze your skills film, grade you,  give you feedback, recommend you to schools on the basis of their analysis.  For example, the rated him highest match for  the "most athletically selective"  D3's,  a high match for athletically selective (but not most selective)  D2's and a moderate match for "least athletically selective" D1s.  So they mostly pushed him to highly competitive D3's and competitive D2's.   (They also try to match you academically) 

They would also check in with you every now and then by email and also by phone to help you strategize. 

 Their evaluations and recommendations  pretty much reflected our own direct experience in terms of how  coaches responded.  And their advice was not noticeably different from that found on this board.  

Re the last point,  we could probably have gotten about the same results without using NCSA,   but I didn't feel as though it was a complete waste of money. 

(Now if I had only known  how disenchanted the kid would become after a year in the program.... but that's water under the bridge now ...)

Waste of money.  People do like to waste money on baseball though.

Al Pal posted:

I'm super hesitant to jump in on this thread b/c I make my living counseling students on their college adventures and I've worked with dozens of student athletes over the years. Most families don't need anyone's help or guidance but, clearly, the business model works for me and my  clients--I get most of my biz word of mouth.   My point would be: just like in any industry, there are the good ones and the lousy ones. At conferences, I've heard college HCs say they do not recommend the recruiting companies-- they want to hear from the students themselves. But,  if there are recruiters who've been working for any length of time, they must be doing something useful for someone. (Rose-colored glasses are my faves). 

edit: btw, I've also heard some admissions officers not recommend college counselors and yet...other's will pay for independents to visit their school. 

I think this depends on anyone's level of expertise. There are good and lousy counselors, but there also are clients who with expertise who don't need a counselor, and many who need support and direction.

Everyone has to find his or her own comfort level.

My dad taught in college for 40 years. I'm very comfortable with the academic side of things and probably wouldn't seek your help. I know nothing about baseball, or baseball recruiting, so we did seek support from a company when my son was a freshman. For a reasonable amount of $$, they provided a web site, helped son identify schools, hone in on his values in the search and role play communications with coaches and draft written communications. They did no direct marketing.

Now, after three years in the process, I could probably have lived without them. But at that time, wandering in the wilderness, it was a godsend. And son still texts them from time to time just to say WTF?? NOW what do I do?? Or his variation of that.

Trust In Him posted:

2017LHPscrewball posted:

As BRANSON noted, key is to fish in the right pond.  The idea that a paid third party always has a better idea about fit than the player/parents is simply not true.  While there may be exceptions, these occur when the parents do not pursue obtaining the knowledge - through either lack of resources or lack of trying.  Finding the right fit academically is most often best left to the family unit.  Finding the right fit skill wise is probably the most difficult and requires a pretty good understanding of the kid's current skills and projectability as it measures up against a particular division or a particular program more specifically.  How some third party is going to develop this without living at your house for a few weeks is questionable.  I assume the good ones are good at managing information, most of which they gleen from the family unit itself, and being somewhat proactive when the family unit simply feels lost.

Board has been kind of slow, but there has been quite a bit of good information today across several posts.  The "What is a good offer" thread and the comments about the JUCO route have some good information as well as some solid commentary on looking at the entirety of the situation and not getting swayed by percentages when it may not be the best option.  Sort of ties into this thread in discussing the importance of the decision on what school to attend and avoid letting some third party shop your son around so they can quote scholarship totals.

With so many good players these days, I believe the most difficult thing to do is to get on the radar of a school.  If you are one of the top 5% studs it's a given.  Coaches do not have resources to look at many good player.  If they start hearing your name a few times maybe it will make them look at some particulars.  I don't know if these recruiting services are the answer but if they can somehow make the recruiting coaches ponder over a player for a few minutes that they normally wouldn't, is it worth it?

My opinion on utilizing a third party is somewhat different for the guy off the street as opposed to anyone participating in this site.  When you talk about "get on the radar", or more specifically "ponder over a player for a few minutes", I would suggest that you try to gain an appreciation for how target schools generally go about identifying candidates.  There may be some schools who do in fact put some reliance on third party "scouts", but the vast majority do not.  I've never heard of a program using a recruiting service to start building a class - I imaging they may use them occasionally to find a few additions towards the end to the process (probably moreso for late blooming pitchers).  I would also guess that these services get "viewed" when the kid gets noticed in some other fashion and the coach does a quick internet search looking for any additional tidbits of information.  All that said, if you have read much on this site, you will know that you (a) need to be proactive, and (b) go where you are loved - not where they are filling final roster spots.  

Once you have some semblance of a target list, ask yourself how likely is it that these coaches are actively searching NCAS or other sites (or opening up e-mails/texts from these guys) early in the process.  I am not 100% sure of how their service works with college programs, but getting some exposure on the PG site and putting in some "Colleges Interested In" probably gets you more eyeballs than most anything else.  You probably don't even need to put the exact school, but if you put a few in the correct "pond" then the others might take a peak.  Get any type of state ranking and I'm quite sure you get included on any number of downloads.  For all in know, PG may have a neat little app where they let colleges keep their "board" in the PG cloud for convenience LOL.

We did use a recruiting service, and I have to admit we did find it helpful at the time.  Bit of a unique situation, and the guy was very good.  Former D1 player that played at one school, then went to another school in his 5th year.  Then he was an assistant at two different d1 schools, and his father worked in and MLB organization.  So the guy had a great network, he was independent, and my son was his first client, which meant very low fee.    He had a very extensive network, and he had lived the recruiting process from both sides - recruited athlete and recruiter as a coach.     

So, my opinion is that they can be helpful in the right situation.  I think the problem is that there are so many options out there that are  non value add- that it gives the whole industry a bad rap. 

All that being said, my son ended up going to a school that traditionally recruits kids in this area, and has a great relationship with my son's summer coach.  So, in the end, my son probably would have ended up where he is whether or not we used this consultant. 

pabaseballdad posted:

We did use a recruiting service, and I have to admit we did find it helpful at the time.  Bit of a unique situation, and the guy was very good.  Former D1 player that played at one school, then went to another school in his 5th year.  Then he was an assistant at two different d1 schools, and his father worked in and MLB organization.  So the guy had a great network, he was independent, and my son was his first client, which meant very low fee.    He had a very extensive network, and he had lived the recruiting process from both sides - recruited athlete and recruiter as a coach.     

So, my opinion is that they can be helpful in the right situation.  I think the problem is that there are so many options out there that are  non value add- that it gives the whole industry a bad rap. 

All that being said, my son ended up going to a school that traditionally recruits kids in this area, and has a great relationship with my son's summer coach.  So, in the end, my son probably would have ended up where he is whether or not we used this consultant. 

Some great stuff here.  Here is an example of a player who had a difficult time being "on the radar" even when he produced.  I don't know if he used a recruiting service though (and I still have the opinion many of these services are not what parents envision).  Yes I realize this could be a fluke or not normal, just an example though.

Attended a well recognized top baseball high school program. By the time graduated in the top 5 in almost every school record. All league, All CIF, All State, POY, All District (6 or so states), towards the top in the nation. Attended PG and others showcases. From what I remember only  1 or 2 D1 showed any interest (no idea about D2 or D3).  He accepted to play at a good baseball program late in the process.  Throughout 3 years of D1 ball, led in most offensive categories, All Conf, All State, All American, POY in college.  Read an interview with HC, he basically stated he and every other coach missed this kid, he slipped by the normal college recruiting process.  Other coaches from D1 schools said the same thing.  This non-radar kid did all the things to get noticed yet he slipped by.  He ended up being a 1st round draft pick in MLB as a Jr, don't know if he is still playing though.

Baseball is a game of luck mixed in with talent, a few inches/feet can be the difference between a great pitch or hit, win or loss.  Being and producing in the right place, at the right time is important.  Even though this example may not necessarily reflect it, I still believe Trust In The Process, Trust In Him....(Him can be anyone you choose, religious, a parent, a coach, etc)

I think that a recruiting service can be beneficial when the kid is not a stud, maybe just good and has money to spend.  A guy from Diamond College Advisory (Justin Cronk, played football and baseball at Amherst) has spoken at our school. He is supposed to have a pretty good handle on the academic schools and a few others.  Part of his pitch is that he knows, for example, if Middlebury needs a SS or Williams has a certain need in a certain class and how likely a recruit is to play four years, or three etc.  Some folks from the school have used him and are happy with the result.  We will not use him and I have no connection with him, this is just FYI.

edited to add link:  http://www.diamondcollegeadvisory.com/who-are-we.php  

We used NCSA, starting when our son was a freshman. Looking back, there were advantages and disadvantages and I will try my best to outline them. I am not familiar with any other service, but as far as NCSA goes (which I think is generally believed to be the best/most reputable of them), here goes (note that we paid for the premium service, about $900 if I recall):

 Advantages:

1) You will get what basically amounts to a professional website for your son that contains a personal statement, key statistics (top FB velo, etc.), as many videos as you care to upload, as well as separate sections for you to enter high school stats, schedules and honors; travel ball events, statistics, and associated evaluations; links to any news stories in which your son may be mentioned; information on any specialized training; coach references (names and contact info); gpa, test scores, and academic accomplishments; non-athletic awards, volunteering, and other activities. You will have the ability to go in and update the website anytime. I do not recall any problems with the website during the four years we used it except for one issue uploading a high school schedule that was resolved with a phone call to their IT department. Even though our son is now a sophomore in college, his website is still active. I am not sure how long they will leave it up, but it is sort of nice to have a complete record of everything he did in high school all in one place.

2) NCSA will track how often your son’s profile is viewed, and by whom. Your son will know by name which coaches viewed it. In addition, NCSA identifies each coach’s role (i.e., head coach, pitching coach, recruiting coordinator, head of baseball operations, etc.) and the date they viewed his profile. They also do a good job of keeping up with when coaches change positions or move between schools.

3) Your son will be assigned an advisor who will become very familiar with his personal situation and will be readily available to give phone advice on pretty much any question you or your son may have about the recruiting process.  Usually this person is someone who played or in some cases coached baseball at the collegiate level.  He will also have access to a library of live and recorded webinars and downloads on a variety of topics related to the recruiting process (finding the right college, communicating with coaches, college visits, scholarships, NCAA eligibility, admissions, financial aid, etc.).  

4) Your son will have the ability to email coaches directly through the NCSA website. Although the coaches don’t email him back through the site, the emails he sends out are stored on the site so he will have a record of them all in one place. Also, NCSA lets him know which emails are opened by which coaches, which is a nice feature.

Disadvantages:

1) NCSA won’t produce video for you. Basically they take whatever video you send them, string it together, and put their logo onto it – which is fine, just don't expect them to create a fancy video if you don’t already have one.

2) NCSA will control which schools your son is able to email depending on which level of schools they have matched him with. For example, when my son first signed up as an incoming high school freshman, he was “locked out” of DI schools because his FB velo wasn’t high enough. Although any school could view his profile, he couldn’t directly email DI coaches through the NCSA site. Later on, when he had a higher velocity from a “verified” source (e.g., PG showcase), all schools were “unlocked” and he could email any coach from the site. I can’t recall what the magic velocity was, but if this concerns you it would be worth discussing this with NCSA at the outset.

Bottom line:

Over four years, our son received around 450 profile views and 10 follows (I believe a follow is when a coach requests to be alerted every time your son updates his profile). Of the views, about 50 of them were by 7 schools that were on my son’s top 10 list, as well as one of the follows.  Of the five schools that eventually showed recruiting interest, three of them viewed his NCSA profile, one of them twice and two of them 10 times each, including Stanford, where he ended up. It’s difficult to say whether NCSA made a difference one way or the other - I would say the greatest value was in getting our many questions answered. As many others have pointed out, 1) you don’t need a recruiting service to navigate the process, and 2) there is a ton of great free advice on HSBBW.  While I would never argue with that, given what we spent on some tournaments and looking at what we got for the $900 we spent on NCSA, I would say it was well worthwhile in our case.  Hope this helps!

Nice post ^^

Our family experience with NCSA was identical to Enjoying The Ride in  every aspect mentioned above.   My son used the site & aforementioned resources to narrow his search and see where he really fit & how true the school was a match for his goals.  Signed up freshman year, same experience with unlocking the resources when a certain velocity was attained & verified.  After Jr. year his goals were;   Midwest/Southern College,  Division I ,  Engineering and Baseball ....in that order.  His bottom line,  he had 631 profile views & 24 follows.  The top 15 schools viewed his profile 10 - 50 times.  The school he is attending, viewed 39 times. Profile views from all the Ivies, Big Ten, Notre Dame, Clemson, Vanderbilt, Most of CA University Schools, Division 2 schools & Juco.  Viewers were the HC, RC or Dir of Ops.  This was all extremely helpful to determine the true fit & true love.  By this time I had discovered HSBW in fall of his Junior year.  Wish i would have found it earlier!!!!!  I believe much can be accomplished without a recruiting service.  Our case may have been unique, as son was borderline Power 5 material (6'8", 235#, 89mph) & could not get the SAT math score up to cross the combined threshold for high Academics (pre-2016). Most schools followed him till Oct/Nov of Senior Year.  He committed 3rd week of Dec. Senior year & signed in the spring.  Current school offered him scholarship without ever seeing him pitch live, as did runner-up choice, Big 10 school. So, in our case NCSA was very valuable. Son is going into Senior year:  one of  11 of  the 22 Freshman still standing on the team from spring 2015,  still an Engineering major, still on the Honor roll & Deans List. He found his fit both Academic & Athletic. Dream come true. But baseball is a game of luck, chance & opportunity, many ways to achieve it. 

My 2018 was offered a spot at a D3 school, based solely on viewing his profile on berecruited.com. Never saw him in person. He visited the school and stays in contact. For us, the free sites seem to work just fine.

My son has a free berecruited site as well, but fortunately because of the great advice on here, he has been doing all the "recruiting" himself.  He has cast a very wide net (several hundred schools contacted) and has had really good results by doing it himself.  My involvement has been to edit a few videos for him and help him post them.  

Many schools/travel programs also have a "FieldLevel" account where you can put your profile, stats, videos etc.  You do have to pay a monthly fee, but my son has gotten really great response from that and you can send links to the coaches to view your profile.  You can also see what activity you have, profile views, video views and what colleges are looking at your son.  

The selling point on this is that your sons coach can put a confidential evaluation on the site that you can not see but the colleges that subscribe to the service can review it, with the intent being that since the player cant see it, it is an honest evaluation.  My suggestion would be to check with your high school and travel ball coaches and see if they have an account you can "join".  As it has been said many times on here, if you are willing to do a little work (especially your son), you can manage the recruiting game pretty well.  www.fieldlevel.com  No, i am not a paid spokesperson for them, just have found it helpful