How should I get my name out? 2017 starting too late

Have you thought about camps this summer?  If you are leaning towards any potential college options, see if they have any summer baseball camps.  That way you are interacting with the coaching staff for a week and can get a good idea if it's a fit.  

If academics are important to you, don't forget D3 schools.

This summer is the prime recruiting time for 2017's....the earlier in the summer you can be seen, the better, as coaches will be offering kids they've already seen, either over this past winter or in HS.  Do you play travel?  If so, your team should be playing in the best "exposure" type events....not necessarily playing to win trophies at some lower level tourneys.  If your team isn't playing most of their weekends in events like this, you may want to consider doing what the poster said above....line up some camps/showcases/etc that will get you in front of as many coaches as possible in the most efficient manner.  There will be multiple events with a lot of coaches, but you'll need to start TODAY if you want to be able to get into them....as the big events are likely full....or close to it. 

Make a list of the mid major D1 to D3 conferences you believe you could play. You may want to get a quality baseball person's input as to your potential. From those conferences pick the school's you feel might be an athletic, academic, social and cultural ** fit. Your list could be up to fifty colleges. You will rule some out eventually. Some will rule you out.

Email the head coach and the assistant in charge of recruiting. Express interest in the school and the program. Ask where to get in front of them this summer.

Now you have your targets. You either need to be on a team that will play in front of them. Or you need to select individual showcases to get in front of them.

This is your key summer. The only thing you may be behind on is getting on the right travel team. You could guest on various teams. You can do individual showcases.

Check the cost for each event you would like to do. It can be expensive. You may have to be selective. Make a business plan and follow it through.

** southern versus northern, urban versus suburban or rural, religious or not, etc.

As BUCKEYE said, you need to start TODAY as this summer is prime time for college coaches to be out looking at HS players.  So, you'll want to be where there's a lot of them attending as they scout players.  You want the coaches of schools you're interested in to see you and then follow you through the summer and your senior year.  So, you can play on a high profile travel team that plays in tournaments that have high attendance of coaches and scouts and/or you can select a couple high profile showcases.   By doing so, you're likely to play against high level players, which will give you some idea how you might stack up and at the same time you'll be seen.  And if you do will during the summer word will get around.  Also, be sure to discuss your hopes and plans with your HS coach and try and get his help in making direct contact with some of the colleges coaches he may know.   Lastly, you might want to put together a little web page with information about you (e.g. Height, Weight, DOB, along with baseball info like you're provided above including GPS and SAT/ACT scores) and include a picture of yourself in uniform and a couple of clips of you throwing and hitting.     

If you haven't done any of this yet . . .  you'd better really get busy NOW!

If you've taken your ACT, I'd be surprised if you haven't begun preparing a college list. What are your grades and course rigor? Do you have any financial constraints? If so, are there ways around those issues?

Which colleges are on your list currently?  Weave baseball into that list and adjust your exposure calendar accordingly.

You've received some great advice on proceeding baseball wise; I'd say look at Headfirst. If your scores match up with your grades/rigor, Headfirst concentrates a range of schools across the divisions for which you fit and which will recruit you if your baseball skills match.

I would recommend making a short youtube video of your strengths batting and fielding. Target 50 colleges that you can afford and start emailing coaches. It's free.

Thanks for the feedback. This past summer I played on what was probably the most talented team in the state other than some of the Evoshield squads. The entire pitching staff that I caught, which comprised of a few 2017s and mostly 2018s, has already committed D1. In all honesty when I caught that staff I had just started catching and even though I did well I certainly wouldn't have considered myself a standout catcher. My receiving and blocking were average but I had a very strong arm behind the plate. For me just getting daily work behind the plate and learning how to train myself has developed me into a much better catcher and Icontinue to get better everyday where some of my competition has been catching for 8-10 years and they progress at a much slower rate. I assume that throwing sub 2.0s either in game or in workouts would be a big plus to college coaches and with my arm strength I don't think that threshold is far away. One last question about objective measurement/evaluation... Is there any one way to really evaluate where I am, or is the only way to get my measureables and then see how well those translate in game when playing against the best? Thanks for the help!

Note: It did seem that the events the team played in last summer really didn't create exposure for hitters but really played towards pitchers. 

What's your budget?

Not sure. It's not huge, but my parents are very accommodating when trying to help me with my pursuits academically and athletically. 

I'm gonna second what Truman said and suggest that you try to be seen by as many programs as you can in one place.  On May 22nd, Dynamic Baseball's combine in Fredericksburg, VA should have more than 40 D1, D2, and D3 colleges represented.   Last year, there were 51 D1 coaches in attendance, if I remember correctly.    

If you're in that part of the Mid Atlantic, or can be for one day, it'll be the best $150 you can spend on getting seen, IMO.

Best of luck!

2017catchersdad posted:

I'm gonna second what Truman said and suggest that you try to be seen by as many programs as you can in one place.  On May 22nd, Dynamic Baseball's combine in Fredericksburg, VA should have more than 40 D1, D2, and D3 colleges represented.   Last year, there were 51 D1 coaches in attendance, if I remember correctly.    

If you're in that part of the Mid Atlantic, or can be for one day, it'll be the best $150 you can spend on getting seen, IMO.

Best of luck!

+1  

I made a list of 48 schools that are both an academic fit and are places where I believe I could compete (still need more research on cultural aspect). I'll refine the skills video and start sending messages out. Thank you for the assistance.

Cultural fit isn't hard to figure out. The things to look for are urban v. suburban v rural. Is the college a major part of the town population? Religious v. Non religious. Is it a commuter school where student mostly live off campus or go home v. a campus with a social environment. How far from home? How far from adequate transportation to get home. A big question is if Baseball doesn't work out do you want to be there?

With over 30 ACT scores there are a couple of showcases that you might want to check out in the Mid-Atlantic.

One is the Under Armour Top 96 High Academic Camp in Washington DC in early July.  The cost for this is around $600 (I think)....but cheaper than some of the other big name showcases.  My son went to one last year and pretty much all of the coaches they advertised for his showcase were in attendance.  There are a lot of higher academic D1 - D3 schools that will be there.

Another is the All Star Baseball High Academic Camp in Pennsylvania in late July (on Villanova's field).  Again, lots of higher academic schools from D1 - D3 are listed.  Many of these are the same ones that will be at the Top 96, so it is a way to get in front of them a couple of times.  The cost for this is around $500 (I think).

I have also seen posts on this board for a high academic camp in Virginia this summer, but can't remember the name of it.  It also had some good schools attending and was reasonably priced.

Good luck!

B-MoreBeast posted:

Not sure. It's not huge, but my parents are very accommodating when trying to help me with my pursuits academically and athletically. 

As you can see from the responses, it's not cheap.

Strong recommendation: list out your target schools, and from there, determine how to reach the coaches from said schools (via individual camps, showcases where they are in attendance, direct via email with supplemental content, etc.).

It all starts with your list of target schools of 10-15.

"I have also seen posts on this board for a high academic camp in Virginia this summer, but can't remember the name of it.  It also had some good schools attending and was reasonably priced."

Dunno if Buzzard05 was talking about this one, but Coastal VA Baseball (http://www.coastalvabaseball.com) has a "High Academic Showcase" scheduled for late June in Maryland.   I will bet that will be a very well-run event, just knowing a little about the host.  Again... not cheap, but the list of attending colleges is impressive.

And I would let coaches know you plan to attend in advance with at least an email.

bvay posted:

"I have also seen posts on this board for a high academic camp in Virginia this summer, but can't remember the name of it.  It also had some good schools attending and was reasonably priced."

Dunno if Buzzard05 was talking about this one, but Coastal VA Baseball (http://www.coastalvabaseball.com) has a "High Academic Showcase" scheduled for late June in Maryland.   I will bet that will be a very well-run event, just knowing a little about the host.  Again... not cheap, but the list of attending colleges is impressive.

And I would let coaches know you plan to attend in advance with at least an email.

Yes, that is the one I was talking about.  It looked like it had some good schools attending.

Another option...rather than throwing big money after all of these showcases is maybe attend the one that has the most schools you are interested in just to get on their radar...then go to their camps.  You can probably go to two or three camps for what it costs for one showcase.

Buzzard05 posted:

One is the Under Armour Top 96 High Academic Camp in Washington DC in early July.  The cost for this is around $600 (I think)....but cheaper than some of the other big name showcases.  My son went to one last year and pretty much all of the coaches they advertised for his showcase were in attendance.  There are a lot of higher academic D1 - D3 schools that will be there.

 

This is the one my son did, after creating a list (with a lot of help from me) of about 60 schools that looked like an academic/athletic fit.  He was solidly a DIII prospect athletically, with a 31 ACT and 11th in a class of 600+.  Given those parameters to start with, this camp and the Head First camps had the largest number of coaches from schools already on his list, and we chose this one for budget and accessibility reasons (it was driveable and during a down week in his travel schedule, plus it allowed for visiting several schools on the list).

We didn't really worry about cultural fit until he started getting responses that indicated interest from the schools.  After getting maybe 12-15 schools that were between moderately and very interested he started looking more at the non-baseball parts of the equation, eventually whittling things down to basically 3 or 4 serious contenders and finally committing to one in September of his senior year. It was one of the schools that initially saw him at the camp, and which he subsequently visited.

 Editing to add:  Son also emailed every coach on the initial list of 60 with relevant academic and athletic info (a couple of sentences for each) and a link to a video he created with about 2-3 minutes of game footage of him pitching (i filmed, he edited). There are services that help you with the latter, if you're not a tech-geek with a camera handy.  He also signed up for every recruiting service under the sun, which were all essentially useless (and we didn't pay for any of them, fortunately).

If I posted some catching video here would I get some objective feedback on what I could do better and what I'm currently doing well?

As the father of a pitcher I can't speak definitively to that question, but I'd assume that video of you hitting is at least as important, if not more so.

B-more:

Hitting is is far more important when compared to catching skills. So if you have video, make sure a good mechanically sound stroke is evident.  The simple rule is: if you hit, you play.  If you don't hit, there's not many places you can play.

I'll do both then. More interested in the catching because aside from talking with Jerry Weinstein on the phone and reading his book I haven't had much in the way of catching instruction. I assume that my offense is ahead of my defense but I can't say for certain at this point.