If my son doesn't get an offer.... then what?

Entering junior year this fall means mid major D1s, D2s and D3s are still possibilities. Is he targeting the right level of college baseball? Is he being seen by the right level of colleges?

Agree with RJM.   The window for the P5 D1's is probably closed, but there is still opportunities for mid-major D1's, D2's and D3's.   Don't forget NAIA's and JuCo's.

CottonCandy,

Your son has plenty of time to be recruited for college baseball.  I understand your EC concerns and it is a valid one given that baseball has been a major part of his life.  Possibly there is something else about your son that sets him apart other than baseball or an EC activity that he can pick up related to baseball?  

Junior year is typically like nothing else...at least it was for my three boys.  He is going to be extremely busy.  Stick with Plan A.   If for whatever reason Plan A doesn't work out there will be plenty of time for Plan B.   That is 15 months away.  Focus on baseball recruiting and his SAT/ACT scores.  Good results there will open many, many doors. 

Good luck!

with those grades he should easily get into most colleges, shouldn't he?

the question is how badly he wants to play baseball. he will definitely find a good college spot without baseball. if it has to be baseball he might need to take D3 or take a year at juco (only makes sense if body is very "projectable" and another year of growth helps him a lot.

what are his measurables?

You sound like you may be discouraged he didn't get an offer this year, as a rising junior?  If so, do not be, he's got plenty of time.  Consider those camps a learning experience of playing in front of a coach and the pressures that go along with it. The more of those he does, the more comfortable he will get and you can also use them as an opportunity to keep in contact with the coaches.

If he's got any baseball talent, his GPA will help him tremendously.

Good luck

It's never too late to volunteer, do some community service + join some clubs (continue helping your boy)! 

From my understanding, and from the replies above, only P5 schools and perhaps a few others have finished recruiting 2020's. All the other D1's and the remainder of college baseball - recruiting 2020's is now just starting. 

When my son decided not to play college ball (I documented his decision on here a few years back - It was after his Soph HS year) we started touring colleges through the normal tour and meet with an Admissions Officer thing most colleges have setup.  What I can tell you is it varied from school to school as to how they viewed athletics as an admissions factor. My sons GPA was right around 3.9 unweighted and had a 30 ACT.  He wanted to go to a larger state school.  We toured and met with admissions consulars at schools like Iowa, Mizzou, Wisconsin, MSU (Go Green), as well as some mid sized schools (Miami-Ohio, Central Mich, etc).  The majority of them saw playing sports as a plus, especially as he was able to keep his grades up while being a 3 sport athlete.

What we discovered early on is there are other things that he did, while playing sports, that set him apart.  Things that we would not have thought to put on a college application or in an essay if some of the admissions consulars had not brought them up to us.  

Our school district requires sports programs to have a community service component.  Through that he volunteered time providing meals to under privileged folks, teaching baseball skills to the community youth, packing food for the local food pantry, collecting food for the troops, etc.  As it was not a concentrated effort to startup his own charity, or a huge time commitment we initially dismissed this as being something to include on a college application.  

In addition he was tapped to be a mentor to incoming freshman at his HS.  Our school uses a lot of athletes in this capacity as they see them as school leaders.  Again, not a huge time commitment and really part of his day to day school activities, but something that should be put on a college application.

He was nominated as JKB leader (http://www.jkbfoundation.org).  He was not one of the two folks selected from our school, but it turned out this was a huge thing on his college application as just being nominated is an honor.  Again, something that we did not think of originally, but it turned out it could be a difference maker.  

What I am getting at, is this, your son may not have started up a charity or spent significant amount of time volunteering in the community but there are things he may have done to make a difference that you are seeing as day to day expectations/life for him.  I would highly suggest taking a visit to a few of the schools on his list and meeting with the admissions consulars.  Do this as a regular student, not as an athlete.  They can take a look at his grades and talk to you about what he has done during HS that may make a difference in his college application.  

What position is your son?  Go to PG and look at the recruiting for different schools.  There are a lot of schools (including P5s) that have zero or only a few commits for 2020.  I wouldn't panic.  The powerhouses are starting to fill up but there are a lot of schools recruiting.  I think the fall camps are usually less crowded and because they will be able to talk to him, might be worth attending.  I would find a few that are at his target level and send emails before letting them know you will be there. 

baseballhs posted:

Go to PG and look at the recruiting for different schools.  There are a lot of schools (including P5s) that have zero or only a few commits for 2020.  I wouldn't panic.  The powerhouses are starting to fill up but there are a lot of schools recruiting.  

This is spot on. Many, many P5s have not finished recruiting 2020s. I just took a gander at the PG site and saw the following commitments listed for these PAC12 schools:

Arizona State: 3

Arizona: 7

Washington: 4

Washington State: 2

Oregon: 4

Etc., etc. I think it's fair to say that some P5s are done, but many are not.

Just look at this page https://www.perfectgame.org/Co...centCommitments.aspx and you will see a lot of 2019's committing to P5 schools on a daily basis.  The P5's aren't close to being done with 2020's.  

Just a few of the schools with 2019 commits in the last two weeks:  TCU, UCLA, A&M, Arkansas, Louisville plus many other lower end P5's.  Then you add in good non P5 programs like Coastal, DBU, Missouri State, Wichita State. 

There is plenty of time. 

Other than a couple of camps , what else has he done in the way or recruitment?  What area of the country would suit him? What level of baseball would suit him ?  what position does he play , how big is he?   what is his body type,  very little info to go on..... sorry if you feel he spent too much time on baseball and would have to compete with students who have put in more time to boost their resume'   , that's just part of it all.    Find out his level of play, Juco, NAIA , D1, D2, D3 and then go from there.  My guess is Juco is out based on his scores.   your fall back is state school  if I hear you right. 

At this point if he was a P5 player you would know it....  I am going to guess his best route is a solid academic D1  like a Mercer,  Belmont,  Lipscomb....  or a solid NESCAC school.   could be a D2 but the money offered is not good and they take a lot of D1 fall backs and Juco.

As stated above it's a little premature to throw in the towel about playing baseball at the next level.  A few weeks ago there was another thread "AZ Fall Classic Junior/Senior All Academic Game" (sorry I haven't figured out how to put a link in here), but search for the title.  He is a prime candidate for this event.  It is in AZ so not too far.  Don't get discouraged, my son didn't get an offer until AFTER his Jr. year, and ended up playing for a D1school. For what it's worth, it does happen where a player slips by the scouts and they end up having a memorable college baseball experience. PM me if you have trouble locating the thread or specific questions.  Good luck

Here you go, Trust In Him, I agree it is a great thread

AZ Fall Classic...

https://community.hsbaseballwe...13#51559056166064013

Cotton;

has a pro scout evaluated your son for the Area Code tryouts? do you have an opportunity for a Scout team?

Bob

"founder" of the Area Code games and Goodwill Series Int'l

Oh my gosh!! thank you all so much for your advices!! didn't expect this much replies..

I guess being a mom who did not grow up here and did not know anything about baseball until my son started playing tee ball in kindergarten AND has a husband that is really only focused on his golf swings was getting really worried.. I knew coaches weren't going to call us right after the summer camps but at least I thought (ignorant baseball mom) he would at least get an email saying a college is interested in him and would like to see him more.. 

A little more about my son... he is 5'9" very well built frame. in middle school he was a fabulous pitcher and SS and 2nd base.. this all changed when he entered high school...his high school is a D1 school and goes to the CIF championships..  I don't like blaming other people but his freshman coach really didn't encourage the players or focused on building their skills. He really likes pitching so we agreed to let go of SS so he doesn't blow out his arm ( which we did in middle school throwing too much... another mistake this ignorant mom made) ..my son said he was so nervous at practices and games..when he missed a ball playing at 2nd or even 3rd  the coach did really didn't care for my son..(not that he needs to be taken care of like a toddler.. there wasn't any sort of encouragement ) and then SO he let go of all of the infield positions and went to OF..problem is...  he isn't a fast runner but he isn't a lazy runner... he will do every effort to catch a ball when it comes towards him runs as fast as he can.. he does catch most of them..  his 60 yard is 7.3     He does work outs to get faster and trains with a trainer. 

Pitching....he pitched 78 mph in his freshman year.. in his sophomore year he was injured so he didn't pitch.. which really affected his confidence level..at the camps he pitched 78-81... another frustration!! If he didn't get injured he could have gotten faster I assume! So I think my son would have a chance in a low D2 or D3 school?  assuming his pitching will get better this year. we live in the west coast so he wants to stay on this part of the state

Yes in this high school baseball journey he has learned so much.. his travel ball team or high school team doesn't have any volunteering opportunities like JOES87 mentioned.. that is fabulous that your son was able to do all that! 

I did not know you can look up the number of kids that committed. thank you all for that info!! 

And yes we are looking to attend the AZ fall classics! 

It gives me so much comfort reading all your replies that are going through this or have been in the same boat.  Thank you Thank you!! 

Trust In Him posted:

As stated above it's a little premature to throw in the towel about playing baseball at the next level.  A few weeks ago there was another thread "AZ Fall Classic Junior/Senior All Academic Game" (sorry I haven't figured out how to put a link in here), but search for the title.  He is a prime candidate for this event.  It is in AZ so not too far.  Don't get discouraged, my son didn't get an offer until AFTER his Jr. year, and ended up playing for a D1school. For what it's worth, it does happen where a player slips by the scouts and they end up having a memorable college baseball experience. PM me if you have trouble locating the thread or specific questions.  Good luck

Yes I have read that thread and planning to go to AZ this fall.. thank you for your encouragement.  I know HE is in control and HE woks for our best interest. 

3and2Fastball posted:

Here you go, Trust In Him, I agree it is a great thread

AZ Fall Classic...

https://community.hsbaseballwe...13#51559056166064013

Thanks 3and2Fastball.  I guess copy and paste the address?  I'm getting too old for this lol. 

d-mac posted:

Just look at this page https://www.perfectgame.org/Co...centCommitments.aspx and you will see a lot of 2019's committing to P5 schools on a daily basis.  The P5's aren't close to being done with 2020's.  

Just a few of the schools with 2019 commits in the last two weeks:  TCU, UCLA, A&M, Arkansas, Louisville plus many other lower end P5's.  Then you add in good non P5 programs like Coastal, DBU, Missouri State, Wichita State. 

There is plenty of time. 

D-Mac I did not know such listed existed! thank you for encouraging me!