How Many Times Did a Recruiting Coordinator Watch Your Son Play Before Offer?

All over the map.  

First offer was a local d1, the recruiting coordinator saw him often, then the HC came once just before the offer. 

After that first offer, the others were accelerated - I believe because the word was out that he had an offer.  After that he received offers where the RC came just once.      not sure this helps!

It varies and for some schools I have no idea on others.  A couple of schools saw him 3 or 4 times before offering, another school was 2 or 3 times and for one school I have no idea because they didn't let us know when or where they'd seen my son.

At least 6 times, by the HC.  Mine is going to Tennessee so Vitello saw him on multiple occasions when he was RC at Arkansas.  When he took the HC position at Tennessee, he saw him again on three occasions I know before he made the offer.  Several of the other offers saw him multiple times.  Only one team offered without actually seeing him in person that we know of but they only did when their biggest competitor made a great offer.  Several offers only saw him once in person but saw video and stats.  There really is no given.  It depends on the player, the school, and the sources they have.  I know a kid that got offered by a P5 school without ever seeing him.  They took the word of a pro scout they respected who had seen him.

Agree with Free and Pitching Fan -- I'm not sure there is a detectable pattern. It depends so much on the kid and the school, geography, and who knows what else.

RC saw son play a position and said "we're interested." But got offered as a pitcher and neither HC nor RC ever saw him pitch -- someone they trust (I don't know who, but that's how they described it) saw him throw one game, and then they sent an AC to see him pitch one game.

OTOH, he has had other schools come over and over again, and not offer. 

As far as I am aware, 4-5 times each for both schools that offered, all during his freshman and sophomore years. 

2 times for sure + possibly a 3rd on the stealth.  I also believe coach(es) would like to see them in 2 or more different settings:  HS against a quality opponent + while playing travel ball in a high stress environment.

There you have it, 1-5 and maybe more.  Lots of factors.  For kids that are no-doubters, could even be zero.

WCP,

From my observations and experience, coaches only make offer decisions when they want to and need to.  There is no universal ah-hah moment or fixed number of times to see a recruit.   My oldest son had two local D1 high academic schools see him play 6+ times (probably more) in high school and travel games.   My son was more than adequately suited for their skill level and academics...they knew it....we knew it.   Yet the decision kept being deferred because there was no immediate reason on their part to pull the offer trigger.   Enter more schools, recruiting trips, showcases and our growing experience in the recruiting process.    Once the first offer dropped it was a matter of days/weeks when (many) others stepped in with serious offers.  The cat was out of the bag. 

In our case, both of those local D1 high academic schools had inexperienced recruiters and laissez-faire HCs that only got involved when they had to.   Both schools would see their RCs and HCs fired within 2 years.  They were terrible recruiters and communicators as I know others that went through a similar experience with these coaches/schools.  Cast a wide net.

So, my point is that it isn't a quantity thing but a timing thing.  You have to give them a reason, and typically that includes competitive factors.

Good luck!

Can anyone speak for D3 schools?  Colleges come from everywhere at HF, Showball type of events and can only see the kids a couple of days, or couple of showcases.  Is that enough?

DiamondsRmomsBF posted:

Can anyone speak for D3 schools?  Colleges come from everywhere at HF, Showball type of events and can only see the kids a couple of days, or couple of showcases.  Is that enough?

For my son it was. In some (not all cases) schools had video or some correspondence from him. He received a couple of D3 HA school offers from schools that either saw him once or twice- at the big showcase settings (HF/SB) where a number of schools were present. One was really early in process (rising junior standing offer). The others were summer before senior year.  Recruiting budget I think comes into play to answer your question. Or some D3 schools may over-recruit too, if they feel a player have the academic chops to get in, the school will see if the kid is a true athletic fit upon coming to campus. 

My 2017 was only seen at two consecutive showcases by the schools that really went after him, and several of those connected with him BEFORE the second show case.

DiamondsRmomsBF posted:

Can anyone speak for D3 schools?  Colleges come from everywhere at HF, Showball type of events and can only see the kids a couple of days, or couple of showcases.  Is that enough?

Yes. These guys trust their eyes.

Not a question to which the answer really matters. As mentioned before, it varies greatly.

The school my son signed with only saw him in person once at WWBA - by an AC. They asked him to take a visit to the school at which point he met the HC/PC and was offered a very nice scholarship. The truth is that the performance they saw was not an exceptionally good one. He threw ok, but velocity was only 86-88 when he had been throwing 90 and he didn't have good control of his off speed.

Another very good D1 offer came from a school that NEVER saw him throw in person. They had been trying to see him but the schedules never worked out. The HC for this school flew all the way out to us to watch him throw a bullpen, saw 15 pitches, and offered two days later. 

With Arkansas, Van Horn personally saw him pitch about six times and Vitello about three or four with Arkansas and again with Tennessee. They showed some interest, but never offered.

Other schools that offered I can honestly say I don't know if they ever saw him or how many times.

Here may be the difference. I did something slightly different. I videoed pretty much every start and then edited the appearances down to just the pitches and posted them on youtube, then had my 2018 send links to coaches he was either being recruited by or wanted to be recruited by. They literally could go on youtube and see a thousand or more pitches if they were interested.

I think it’s different for every school.  My son has been talking to several schools weekly since late fall that have seen him pitch but want to see “one more time” so we are still waiting  (to be fair these schools can have their pick). Another school offered after about the 5th time they had seen him. A new school saw him for the first time last week and offered the next day.  He approached our coach and said, where did this kid come from? I haven’t heard of him.  We don’t play for a power team and he said he was just early for the next game and happened to see him.  I think so many factors play into it, one being how many schools are talking about you. Maybe he acted quickly because he thought he had stumbled on something others hadn’t?  I used to believe it didn’t matter if you played for a team that was recruited routinely, but I’ve changed my stance.  It is more likely a recruiter will make a trip to see your kid again if there are other kids to see. We are doing ok not being on a power team but I think things would’ve moved quicker and had more options if we were.  We got one game at LP next week and I’m guessing that will be his one shot to be seen there.

It may be different for pitchers and hitters.  They saw my pitcher son only once or twice.

For my son: they first saw him at the Stanford camp when he was a rising senior. The first contact was July 1 shortly after the camp. (Since they were not official camp attendees, they were not allowed to approach him at the camp.)

Then the head coach traveled to Oregon to watch him play in a summer league game. He had dinner at our house afterwards. The offer came about two weeks later. 

The summer league game was just the Oregon HS summer program, against run of the mill varsity level pitching. If I remember, the pitchers he faced that day were not even that level. But apparently he was able to confirm whatever he needed to. 

My son tied the all-time record in this category a few weeks ago (): he got a D1 scholarship offer (which he turned down) this summer from a school where none of the coaches had ever seen him play live. They had seen a webcast (with pretty high production standards -- multiple cameras, announcers, instant replay, etc.) of a HS game he started, so they had "seen" him pitch a complete game, they had seen other video in shorter stints, and they had verified velo from PG and PBR. 

I believe with the rapid spread of cheap video technology, the proliferation of webcasts (between his HS and their opponents, I think 3 of my son's starts this year were webcast), and the ready availability of verified velo (and even spin rate with Rapsodo) this may become more common in the coming years, particularly for pitchers.

Maybe a topic for a separate thread, but fast-forward ten years, if for a HS pitcher in 2028 (1) every HS start is webcast and the recording is available for playback; (2) said webcast has velo; (3) HS pitcher has an online Rapsodo account, to which he can provide access to coaches to data detailing spin rate and movement . . . what need would there be for showcases? 

2019Dad posted:

My son tied the all-time record in this category a few weeks ago (): he got a D1 scholarship offer (which he turned down) this summer from a school where none of the coaches had ever seen him play live. They had seen a webcast (with pretty high production standards -- multiple cameras, announcers, instant replay, etc.) of a HS game he started, so they had "seen" him pitch a complete game, they had seen other video in shorter stints, and they had verified velo from PG and PBR. 

I believe with the rapid spread of cheap video technology, the proliferation of webcasts (between his HS and their opponents, I think 3 of my son's starts this year were webcast), and the ready availability of verified velo (and even spin rate with Rapsodo) this may become more common in the coming years, particularly for pitchers.

Maybe a topic for a separate thread, but fast-forward ten years, if for a HS pitcher in 2028 (1) every HS start is webcast and the recording is available for playback; (2) said webcast has velo; (3) HS pitcher has an online Rapsodo account, to which he can provide access to coaches to data detailing spin rate and movement . . . what need would there be for showcases? 

Was the webcast recorded?  I would think it's uncommon for a college coach to be watching a HS game, while their season is going on.

CTbballDad posted:

2019Dad posted:

My son tied the all-time record in this category a few weeks ago (): he got a D1 scholarship offer (which he turned down) this summer from a school where none of the coaches had ever seen him play live. They had seen a webcast (with pretty high production standards -- multiple cameras, announcers, instant replay, etc.) of a HS game he started, so they had "seen" him pitch a complete game, they had seen other video in shorter stints, and they had verified velo from PG and PBR. 

I believe with the rapid spread of cheap video technology, the proliferation of webcasts (between his HS and their opponents, I think 3 of my son's starts this year were webcast), and the ready availability of verified velo (and even spin rate with Rapsodo) this may become more common in the coming years, particularly for pitchers.

Maybe a topic for a separate thread, but fast-forward ten years, if for a HS pitcher in 2028 (1) every HS start is webcast and the recording is available for playback; (2) said webcast has velo; (3) HS pitcher has an online Rapsodo account, to which he can provide access to coaches to data detailing spin rate and movement . . . what need would there be for showcases? 

Was the webcast recorded?  I would think it's uncommon for a college coach to be watching a HS game, while their season is going on.

Yes, recorded and available on the web for full playback later. I think this will become more and more prevalent. 

Also, I think college coaches watch HS games all the time while their season is going on, but mostly locally. Hard to travel during season. 

CTbballDad posted:

2019Dad posted:

My son tied the all-time record in this category a few weeks ago (): he got a D1 scholarship offer (which he turned down) this summer from a school where none of the coaches had ever seen him play live. They had seen a webcast (with pretty high production standards -- multiple cameras, announcers, instant replay, etc.) of a HS game he started, so they had "seen" him pitch a complete game, they had seen other video in shorter stints, and they had verified velo from PG and PBR. 

I believe with the rapid spread of cheap video technology, the proliferation of webcasts (between his HS and their opponents, I think 3 of my son's starts this year were webcast), and the ready availability of verified velo (and even spin rate with Rapsodo) this may become more common in the coming years, particularly for pitchers.

Maybe a topic for a separate thread, but fast-forward ten years, if for a HS pitcher in 2028 (1) every HS start is webcast and the recording is available for playback; (2) said webcast has velo; (3) HS pitcher has an online Rapsodo account, to which he can provide access to coaches to data detailing spin rate and movement . . . what need would there be for showcases? 

Was the webcast recorded?  I would think it's uncommon for a college coach to be watching a HS game, while their season is going on.

When schools webcast they are almost always archived for later consumption. I would say the overall production values would have to increase dramatically from what I see in current webcasts I see. On the other hand, my 2018 had offers based simply on the fairly high quality videos I took of his pitching performances. 

I have thought webcast or video may be the answer for the future.  A tournament where the entire thing is videoed from multiple high quality cameras and put out there with verified velos.  I believe this will be the future but it is not cheap.  I know a few elite programs that are doing it now and send to college coaches or have it available.  Is this the same in the college coach's mind as putting eyes on physically?  There has to be the credibility of the producer and the velos.

To answer the original question, the RC had never seen my son.  He was recruited exclusively by HC.  Vitello had been seen him several times with Arkansas and then offered right after he became HC at Tennessee.  Don't think the RC ever saw him pitch until later at PBR Futures.   PC saw him the day after the offer was made. 

DiamondsRmomsBF posted:

Can anyone speak for D3 schools?  Colleges come from everywhere at HF, Showball type of events and can only see the kids a couple of days, or couple of showcases.  Is that enough?

Depends on the kid in question. To quote one D3 HC about Headfirst, "There's 10-15% that everyone wants...the trick is to find that other 10% that are just as good of a fit for your program, but aren't in the top group."

 My kid went to Showball and HF, one after the other. Showball didn't work for him, at all(others have the opposite experience).

  HF allowed him to show his stuff to schools who had only seen him on tape, show off his stuff again to schools who had seen him, and introduce himself to new schools. He got a lot of interest from high academic D3's, and from D3 schools in general. Probably a little but late in the day(August) as a non pitcher to get D1 interest, but he had some camp invites from a few D1's, also.

 In the next three weeks he had probably 8-10 legit contacts/invites to camps from schools who were there, and some other contacts from schools who weren't there? Some simply weren't a fit for him, but a couple of others were from schools that he had never approached. He only went to one camp, and visited about three schools after HF. all but one offered him a spot...the other wanted him to show up at their fall camp, but he simply couldn't fit them in. Since he already had a couple of firm offers from some excellent local D3 schools that he really liked, he could afford to be picky, and he was. 

 I would say that he was in one of the top two groups in my first paragraph. Ran a sub 7.0 60yd, throws in the 90's from the OF, has a very good, versatile glove, and hit well-no bombs, just line drives. ACT in the 30's, good GPA.

His negative, was his size...5'9". 

I think it's really hard to generalize about how successful your player might be until you are more specific about him, and realistic as to how he showed. Some schools are crying out for players(i.e. Engineering schools, schools with lesser reputations), others can pick and choose. The service academies are very approachable, but getting accepted into their schools is not easy.

My son accepted his first offer.  It's from a school 45 minutes from home.  Up to the point they first contacted him by phone, we had never noticed the RC at a game or showcase.  He called on a Thursday.....had us in for a visit on the following Tuesday...came and watched my son throw "one more time" on Wednesday and offered Thursday morning.   He had said "we've seen you play a few times"....but we never did as when/where.