Have college coaches come to see your son play locally?

One other option I have heard of RC's traveling a day or two ahead or behind their teams and seeing HS games near where their team is playing that way.

I think it depends how high up on thier board the player is.  My son did have three different coaches come and see him in HS and one of them came from 4 hours away.  Son's school recruits nationwide and their RC is out recruiting now.  He will miss a couple of  games, but they feel it's more important for him to be out recruiting than being their bench coach for a couple of games.  

MM,

In our experience, the college coaches had heard of or seen him play travel ball the previous summer (as a rising junior).   So they were tracking him (and others in our area) and wanted to see how he was progressing on the mound as a junior.   Our area is a hotbed for talent, so I know he wasn't the only local player they were tracking at the time.  Typically, they would email him and ask him if he knew when he was pitching.  When they showed up they typically had their school logos on their shirt or hat.  There were a couple times when they came incognito.  In all cases, these local coaches followed up with his high school coach about his character and work habits.   Then they would follow up with my son with pitching feedback.

So, I was trading notes with a couple other posters who were telling me about some quid pro quo arrangements some of the college coaches and local travel coaches have.  They'll do each other favors by watching / providing writen evaluations of a recruit they can't travel to.   Personally, we never experienced that (to my knowledge) but I think this is going on now for programs that have to recruit across the country (ie...high academic schools) and can depend on some local travel coaches evaluations.   This makes a lot of sense when programs are initially considering a recruit but don't have the reach or bandwidth to get there.

Good luck!

Some travel ball coaches do support college RC's due to logistical problems. I have seen this happen more then once. I don't believe it is standard but it is possible. much of depends on the relationship between the school and travel organization. obviously it has to be a very close one.

One advantage of summer baseball is that our high school season is largely after the college season was done.

We saw many college coaches at games during my 2018s junior year, mostly from Iowa and surrounding states. But a couple from further away who had connections in Iowa—in laws or former teammates—would come and spend days following a handful of recruits around the state.

But he also did have people from some of Iowa’s D3 and JUCOs who would recommend him to bigger schools. It was an interesting process to watch and a reminder that even if you’re not interested in a school, it’s always smart to be respectful and attentive to every coach you meet. You never know who he’s talking to. 

My son had some last Saturday. Two were there for him and three others were there and put a gun on him. It was his first experience seeing 5 guns lined up behind the dish and it didn’t go great. He has also been told by several others that they are coming this season and have asked for his schedule. We will see.

If he is high on their board, they may make a trip to see him play.  If he is on their radar and they have someone high on the board in your area, they will come to primarily see the higher player but will make stops, if they can, to see other players.

Finally depending on your travel organization they may pay for the RCs to come in.  The organization my son played for as well as others in our area banded together to help offset the travel costs for out of state RCs.  All of them would have winter showcases on the same weekend as well as play in the same tourney two weekends a year.  They would pay the RCs travel expenses to come to the winter showcases as well as to come into down the weekends they were playing each other.

Yes, they will visit during the HS season.  2 Big XII and 2 Pac 12 teams traveled up to see Ryan.  1 of each was the HC, and 1 of each was the PC.  It does happen if they have a need/opening.  I think this is a good example, because Idaho is not a hot bed for D-1 baseball talent. If the coach wants to take a look, he will travel.

baseballhs posted:

My son had some last Saturday. Two were there for him and three others were there and put a gun on him. It was his first experience seeing 5 guns lined up behind the dish and it didn’t go great. He has also been told by several others that they are coming this season and have asked for his schedule. We will see.

Good luck to your son!

"You never know who is watching".  How many times have we read this on this site?!

• Coaches that come out to see one player, may see another, and pass the info to his coaching buddies at other colleges that have a need for that position (most likely a different conference).*
• I read on this site that an umpire was friends with several college coaches and was the "eyes" for them.
• Pro scouts that are at a game gunning a pitcher, see another position player, and inquires to the HS coach about his committment.  Passes the info to his college coaching buddies. *
• Play like you are being recruited everyday, no matter where you are:  in the middle of a cotton field at 10am on a Sunday* or 60 miles outside the main venue at WWBA .*

*son has personal experience with these

Son had D1 coaches at in season HS games.  I think it's really dependent on the situation both with the school and the kid.  If there is a need and there is scholarship money involved and they need another look, they'll come out for a game.

Thanks for the feedback and insights all.

My son had different coaches (mainly RC, some AC) see him play both in HS games and summer Legion games. Some schools he was vetting were the same as a HS teammate of his (RHP) who was highly recruited. I remember one HS game in particular when the RC of school where son would land came to see him (and the starting RHP) play. Son (singles hitter/speed/high BA) leads off game and swings at the first pitch (a rarity) and hits ball to wall straight away CF. I thought, for the eyes watching, that was a "good out." 

A Southland RC was out to watch one of his commits on our team last Friday.

With the draft coming up in a couple months, colleges have to decide if they are going to up offers to keep drafted/possibly drafted kids.

Speaking for our HS varsity program (1200 student pop.) which I've been associated with for past 7-8 years, I've only seen regional D3 and Juco coaches at our games in April looking at seniors.  When Lonnie Chisenhall graduated in 2006 there were certainly MLB scouts aplenty (11th Rd Pirates).

I discussed this last summer with a HC from The Big South Conference. We live 4 miles from an Atlantic 10 school they were playing.

He said they rarely if ever go to High School games. My son is an LHP who they were very interested in. The reasoning I was given by the coach is the first 3 batters of each line up might be baseball players, after that you have the Runningback/pointguard/CF, the Olineman/PowerForward/1B come to bat, next might be a soccerplayer/wrestler/3b.... so for his school they only watch travel games. Even when he is playing a college 4 miles down the road from a prospects high school.

My son, and others who were recruited from his HS had coaches come out to see him play, both summer and during the HS season. It is quite common to have coaches at the spring break tournaments in SoCal where there is a high concentration of games in a short period of time and as JCG pointed out coaches will head out a few days in advance of where their team is playing to scout players.  As KEEWART described, play like someone is always watching because the recruiting pipeline for many programs is very long and deep. 

Best of luck!

Also from the Midwest and my son did have D1 RCs come to his high school to watch him and others. Some were schools he had been in contact with and others were schools that saw him play at PG events or got references from coaches.  Schools  from several hours away showed up for midweek games sometimes.  Agree with everyone’s recommendations that you just never know who will show up or when. Most will interact with the H.S. coach as well.