How we got recruited

Nice story.

This gets back to what has been posted about 100 times this week and that is that coaches recruit what they see.

Your son's pitching video is what I am guessing has generated the most interest? His body and style reminds me of a young Randy Johnson. I can see the upside there.

landarts,
Just never know what will work... Nice website.
Fungo

I my experience I have seen this approach work very rarely---not too many coaches hand out scholarships based on videos and resumes

I would not use this approach as a general rule of thumb

I was not saying this is what everyone should do. What it did for us is open the channels of communication. Some of the schools actually invited him to come work out with them or went to some of his games. He is currently playing for the Chicago Cubs prospect team which is coached by Gary Van Tol of the Boise Hawks organization. They play only only college teams on the week-ends over a 7 week period. As we speak they are down in Arizona playing in the fall classic against 4 different college teams and the Arizona Cubs prospect team.

I think it was more of a way to open channels for possibilities. By no way am I saying that a school made offers solely on the video on the site. It might have sparked interest in him and then the channels were open for communication.

A combination of the website and the fact that he is playing for a qualified professional coach, former D1 coach and a scout sure helped the process. Several of the schools contacted Gary Van Tol before going directly to us. Being in the right place at the right time has also paid off. Last Sunday they played a double header against Vaux Hall Academy out of Canada and the College of Southern Idaho. Mace pitched the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th innings of the game to close. He pitched all 4 innings without being scored on. After the game the assistant head coach approached him as he came off the mound in the 9th and introduced himself and gave him a invite to there college and program. Three days later Mace was on a plane to go to Arizona and play in the fall classic, guess who he sat with on the plane ride to Arizona. The same coach that approached him in the game at the end of the 9th inning. They talked about the college, baseball and the game the whole ride.

Luck helps also!

quote:

Originally posted by TRhit:
I my experience I have seen this approach work very rarely---not too many coaches hand out scholarships based on videos and resumes

I would not use this approach as a general rule of thumb

It has been our experience that there are many routes to getting coach's interest, being that this player is from Eagle, Idaho, it is apparent that this was a successful method and Landarts should be applauded for his persistence and creativeness.

homerun

Who is saying he shouldn't !!!!

all I say is that it is not a general rule

Landarts,

Nice page.Congrats on the success of getting response.Good luck to your son.

quote:

Originally posted by TRhit:
I my experience I have seen this approach work very rarely---not too many coaches hand out scholarships based on videos and resumes

I would not use this approach as a general rule of thumb

No it won't get them a scholarship but it can surely give the coach incentive to go out and see the player. In that way it can be very effective.

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Landarts- very nice web site- thank you for posting this. Seems like you have had success by combining the site with a high profile travel team with well connected coaches.

There are multiple ways to go about getting noticed, especially since Idaho isn't a hot bed of baseball!

Good luck and keep us posted as things progress.

Landarts - Great job! What you did for your son differentiates him from the pack. You might say being 6'7" helps a little too.

Good luck to your son.

Landarts -

Nice job. I actually help players put together their "video resumes". I use that phrase intentionally because I agree TRHit, "coaches do not hand out scholarships based on video and resumes."

Last time I checked employers do not hire candidates off of resumes either. But if you are looking for work you better have a resume and be sending it to people. Hopefully that resume will get you an interview (or a coach to come see you).

I like the approach of using the video (web/dvd) combined with letters or emails. Your simply putting your self out there saying here are my skills, take 15 seconds to see my bat speed, arm speed, foot speed. If you like what you see then come on out and see me in person.

So TRHit, you are right scholarships aren't being handed out off film, but it is a great way for a kid to generate some dialogue with a coaching staff.

With the current state of the economy, the lack of recruiting budgets and oh by the way only 2 coaches can be out recruiting at once it benefits a college coaching statff to check out a kids swing or arm from the comfort of their office.

Again... nice job Landarts.

Rich

Nice job going outside the box.

It is a nice job, and I congratulate Mason and his family. However, I'd be reluctant to generalize from the experience of one 6'7" giant who lives somewhat off the beaten trail that this approach is likely to be successful for players who do not have a similarly obvious physical advantage that can be easily verified on video.

My son built web site in HS and while it was not the "reason" for the school selection, it was the tool responsible for 3 official visits to areas of the country where people still considered WI a territory and the only doubleheaders referred to were 2 ducks taken with one shot. Idaho may still have that mindset with many

What turned my head in 2002-03 were college coaches replying to emails commenting on his "outside the box" approach to promoting himself. That in itself was a lesson to my son that a little extra work pays off in the eyes of many. Today, the web is saturated with recruiting tools and web sites and many will say that "path" can't/won't work in todays recruiting world. However, as soon as you start using the words can't and won't you are not maximizing your effort or possibilities IMO. Our kids don't enter games with the "can't" mentality so why change that mentality off the field. All it takes is a little nudge to turn a head sometimes?

Landarts- real nice site that IMO accentuates the coordination of a 6'7" HS kid.

Videos are great tools when the player in the vids has the right tools and demo's pretty good mechanics and fundamentals. This young man Mason was helped by his vids in that regard and his size!

The opposite is also true--you can pull up a ton of recruit type vids online (youtube especially) and though whoever shot the vids thought they would come across as impressive--they can also show poor mechanics and easily noticed flaws no college coach wants to (or even can) spend time fixin'.

This is when these vids can do more harm than all the amazing stats and cheering fans (parents) can do good for the player. In this regard, videos can also save a lot of college coaches a lot of time.

Add --that unlike a live naked eye view of a player--vids can be slowed down to frame by frame if need be and hence, player is broken down and viewed under a microscope--which is not always a plus.

Just like you and me and every coach, everybody that plays the game has flaws and some of them need no fix. I forget but Pujols went in either the 13th or 23rd round and was offered $10,000 originally that he turned down. He was considered slow and he is. If your video shows you throwing 2 strikeouts per inning and throwing 95mph or having more extra-base hits than strikeouts against good competition it may not matter if you swing like Vladimir Guerrero or run like Molina. The great thing about baseball is that eventually your real performance defines you and what others project about you is relatively meaningless.

So Pujols was slow in footspeed--so what?

On any video I am sure he demonstrated a higher level swing in addition to other tools easily seen on a video.

Besides--slow for corner infielders not relevant and I know--he was a SS in his younger years but again--trained eyes would have seen a hitter and easy transition to corner INF which is essentially what they did with Pujols.

I would agree with you if vids showed player using a wood bat or having put up big numbers stated on a video using a wood bat but that is not what is out there online in these recruiting vidoes.

Leaves ya wonderin' how much of the BIG numbers were the $300-$400 high end alum bat--IMO videos can show to a trained eye--as many reasons not to pursue a player than reasons to.

Having worked privately with flawed 16-18 YO in trying to teach them to de-learn and re-learn something they learned wrong initially and have practiced "over and over" the wrong way for upwards of 10 years is no easy task. It is called muscle memory for a reason and it is not easy to override what is and has been on auto pilot for years.

Yes, any college coach should be able to re-teach mechanics etc...but how many would or could devote that much of their time to do so when/if it would just be easier to recruit a player with much fewer flaws???

Remember also--a HS kid who in their mind was succesful with how they did things (got away with in HS) is not going to be the easiest player to re-develop either at the next level. Just my opinion.

Forgot to address Vlad Guerrero.

He had absolute raw skills, brute strength and athleticism. It was not difficult to teach someone that raw more refined higher level skills. To my knowledge Vlad did not have a historic HS career with earth shateering stats--or even much in the way of structured baseball as a youth. I am darn sure he never put out out an online video either (lol).

I just want to thank everyone on the site for the compliments and words of encouragement. I just got a call from my son that has been down in Arizona playing in the fall classic since Wednesday. Their team tied 2 games, won 1 and lost one by 3 runs. Not bad for a bunch of high school kids playing all Arizona Juco teams.

Mace was approached by three different colleges while he attended the event. One of them was a d1 school out of Texas, another d2 school and asked to go down to the Central Arizona College yesterday afternoon for a campus visit. Not bad for a couple days of baseball.



Best of wishes to all that are in the recruiting process.

The "so what" about Pujols was that the majority of great pro scouts "trained eyes" didn't recognize one of the greatest hitters to come along in the past several decades and he signed for $60,000. It was their loss not his.Few major league teams were very interested in Pujols out of high school, but he was eventually drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 13th round of the 1999 MLB Draft, with the 402nd overall pick. However, Pujols initially turned down a US$ $10,000 bonus and opted to play in the Jayhawk League in Kansas instead. The Cardinals increased their bonus offer to $60,000 and he signed. As for videos, if a kid is already having success against known college pitchers that are highly regarded by their college coaches, it means something. If he has a ton of extra-base hits with a wood bat that also means something. A guy who is already a very successful hitter with fast hands already has the muscle memory you speak of because they have developed it over many years with alot of great live pitch hitting repetition and instruction. The last thing they need is someone who thinks they have a monopoly on technique that needs to "retrain them". I agree with you that if you have a poor hitter the muscle memory change is a big deal requiring many thousands of reps to change. Nobody would pick someone requiring that when there are guys ready right now. I think the BBCOR bat standard is going to place a great premium on real power hitters as exists in mlb. The guys who will suffer the most are those dependent on metal bat hits through the infield that will no longer fly off the bat.

I would really encourage you NOT to post information with names from particular schools....if you feel like posting the content that is one thing but nothing good comes out of "letting their information" out.

I went back an edited the post by ******x out the names ...sorry didnt think of that. thanks again for the suggestion

quote:

Originally posted by landarts:
I went back an edited the post by ******x out the names ...sorry didnt think of that. thanks again for the suggestion

Standup--think you got away from original post (OP) and yes to a degree so to did I.

Whether or not scouts more than a decade ago missed all the tools Pujols (or Vlad) brought to the table has nothing to do with my point(s) and this OP about HS player recruit videos and or websites with vids.

There are CURRENTLY a lot of recruit videos online and or being sent to college coaches that IMO can do more harm than good for a lot of players.

This dad (OP) whose son HAS a lot of the necessary tools and who it seems at this point may be providing just a bit too much info (TMI) as a proud papa-- he is advocating perhaps others should consider his similar personal promotional route--to which I say --the video component may not be for everyone for reasons stated.

I am then agreeing with you that for those players lumped into that group--it may be best they show up at showcases and or college clinics to demo their abilities live. And I further agree if they really want to impress--and are THAT confident in their hitting skills especially--they should swing wood at these events!!!

ne14bb- I have goodwill toward you and will leave posting here to parents who can educate us about what worked for their kids.

Im not sure where this is going, if I did something wrong or offended someone ....sorry it was not intentional.

Landarts,
Like you, my sons online video from his website was somewhere for coaches to go to see if they wanted to take the next step down the recruiting trail. Congratulations, well done.

There were several comments from coaches about things they wanted to see in my sons pitching video.

1. "We just want to make sure his arm works"...i.e mechanics that are recruitable/coachable

2. "I like seeing how batters react to his pitches"...is he fooling anyone, is he deceptive.

3. "It's good to see how his ball breaks".

4. "It's good to see that he can hit his spots"...did he throw it where the catcher set up.

Based on comments and conversations with coaches, I would make these recommendations for future videographers...

No need to show any warmup pitches.

Edit out time between pitches, start from the pause at the set position and go through to the umpire call.

Show video from directly behind the plate to about 15 degrees to the batters face to show break and batter batter reaction.

Show a complete at bat (with edits between pitches) to show how he worked the batter and batter reaction.

My son played with a pitcher who was a potential first rounder out of HS. The young man's father had a website created for him, with his schedule, bio info, etc. Feedback I heard was that scouts considered it over-the-top, along with a very high signing bonus number. Kid went undrafted and on to college. The player's dad is a great guy who actually knew very little about the baseball process and was just looking for ways to help his son.

Websites may have some downside? Just a thought...

quote:

Originally posted by Baseballdad1228:
My son played with a pitcher who was a potential first rounder out of HS. The young man's father had a website created for him, with his schedule, bio info, etc. Feedback I heard was that scouts considered it over-the-top, along with a very high signing bonus number. Kid went undrafted and on to college. The player's dad is a great guy who actually knew very little about the baseball process and was just looking for ways to help his son.

Websites may have some downside? Just a thought...

I have heard some very esteemed posters here echo your position that the video can have a negative recruiting effect. They think that if is shows some flaw, it may turn off a recruiter that otherwise may have overlooked it if seen in the context of the whole player when viewed live.

Setting a bonus # for an individual is a very complicated and individual process. There are many players, with good academic standing and a number of options in life, that set a high number because their priority is to get ready for the rest of their life with an education and not roll the dice hoping for baseball to pay off. In order to forego that opportunity, the bonus has to be enough to compensate for that.

My point is, that it's not necessarily ego driven. Just because some scouts were inappropriate enough to broadcast their feelings about something that was none of their business, doesn't mean that the father was over promoting his son. If having a bio and schedule is over the top, they live very sheltered lives.

Matt Purkey last year turned down first round money and pitched in the CWS as a freshman. To each his own.

Just wanted to update what has developed over the last few days. Yesterday was a exciting day for my son. Yesterday afternoon he was contacted by a scout from the White Sox organization. Later in the evening he was contacted by a Div. 1 school that he really wanted to attend and was offered a scholarship. So for now the recruiting search is complete.

quote:

Originally posted by landarts:
Just wanted to update what has developed over the last few days. Yesterday was a exciting day for my son. Yesterday afternoon he was contacted by a scout from the White Sox organization. Later in the evening he was contacted by a Div. 1 school that he really wanted to attend and was offered a scholarship. So for now the recruiting search is complete.

Great news, congratulations.

CONGRATS LS!

Congrats to your son LS...looks like they liked what they saw in AZ. Looks like it is all working out, good job and good luck.

Landarts..Congrats to Jr. Glad Arizona brought him some luck! Most of it is from his hardwork! Is this the D1 Tx school he is going to?

He is going to be going to a D1 school in the Washington.