is our advice generic/ slanted ?

There's more than one way to skin a cat.

Good question, I think one that has been asked before.
When I first came here, I read all of the material that was supplied about the recruiting process (found on the opening board) before I jumped in, although I think some is outdated, it basically is generic in nature (IMO) for all to follow. The advice given by individual parents and their experiences should help those to determine where their player will fit into the recruiting process and of course that should always include level of talent and now more importantly, good grades in the classroom.
Compared to most, we did very little in the way of spending money, before he signed his resume included 2 PG showcases, USA tryouts, and one trip to Jupiter, one college camp, and playing for one of the best travel teams in our area. No AC, no east coast pro. Now I do realize our circumstances were different (location and son's talent level) so that was taken into consideration while in HS. I would imagine if I lived somewhere else, it might be much different. I also sugggest highly, that one does a national showcase where your player's skills will be ranked and rated among his peers, this gives you a very good idea on how to proceed in the process.
The most important thing, is making a plan (including a budget if you have to) and then putting that plan into place during the most important years of recruiting.
Two books I still recommend, maybe a bit outdated in today's recruiting but gives the basics,Official Visitby Ben Harrison (I think that is his first name) and Inside Pitch by George Gmelch. The latter book is a simple look into professional ball, a must read IMO for those considering going pro after HS. Easy reads, you can find them on Ebay or Amazon.

You are right, PG and Area Code are not for everyone, however there are a lot of showcases out there that have smaller schools. I had a player who is our number 5 and does not get a lot of mound time, however he does have a good curve ball and change up. He went to a showcase that was not a "big name showcase" and got a lot of interest from DII schools. If you kid is not a big time guy be honest with yourself and do some research on who is going to be at there showcases. Get your son in front of schools that are his level of talent.

20Dad - I think you are 100% correct, all players are unique, therefore not all information fits. I would rather sift thru the information that is not unique to GUN than try this on my own. I absolutely do not want to re-invent the wheel. I have been blessed to have received some key information from many different HSBBWeb alum!

And for that (in case I did not say it then) Thanks!!! GED10DaD

I found this thread right after replying to a question in the VA Forum about finding travel/showcase teams. In my reply I outlined the process we are following for finding the right collegiate opportunity for our son, based on what we have learned from so many people here, and from the advice of other's we have come to respect.

I would really appreciate you veterans sanity checking the thought process I put forward there, and letting me know where I am ON or OFF-base:

http://hsbaseballweb.com/eve/f...=230104153#230104153

Bear in mind that my guy is NOT a phenom, but more the generic player. He is a big guy, who loves the game, is a great team guy, who compete's like heck. He is "too slow", "a soft-throwing lefty", and will not wow you with his athleticism. All he does is compete, perform under pressure, does whatever his coaches ask, and give his team(s) a chance to win every time out.

Thank You!

quote:

Originally posted by southpaw_dad:
All he does is compete, perform under pressure, does whatever his coaches ask, and give his team(s) a chance to win every time out.

I looked at your list/strategy and it looks great! As far as your son goes, there is a coach out there looking for him. There is someone out there that will see in him those same traits they admire about themselves. You have developed a sound plan for finding that coach imho.

With respect to the instant topic, my experience with the hsbbweb is that most people offer specific advice as opposed to generic. Thus, most people will offer the advice that worked for them regardless if it will work for someone else. When enough of it is given as it is here however, it becomes generic as everyone ought to be able to find the specific advice that is in effect generic to their own situation.

I have said before that sometimes the postings here on the hsbbweb can work against people's confidence that they can find a home at the next level. Sometimes it seems like everyone is a high school all-american. Sometimes people panic when their phone does not ring on July 1st when they need not be concerned.

Here is my generic advice and nobody will convince me otherwise. It does not take overwhelming talent to play at the next level. It takes decent talent plus overwhelming desire imho. For the folks that turn that desire into action as southpaw_dad and others have posted, then that is indeed the "generic" message people need to hear imho.

CD

as we have said many times on these pages---there is a school for every kid who wants to go to the college level---it may not be the school of his choice but there will be a school

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TR

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tr
i've said for years there is a place for everybody to play in college. i really do believe that, just not sure how to tell them to get there. but that's what guy's like you are here for.

I look at it as a buffet (since I'm hungry )...There's plenty of good dishes suggested in here. You have to decide the level of hunger, # of trips, size of your plate, etc. Also, there are places at a buffet that I rarely visit, or might initially look good, only to see the value go down once tasted. For example, a "reality" thread on here started off tremendously, only to go towards dialogue about how one should parent their kid when in college. Parenting threads are soups and salads of the buffet for me...I've got plenty of good advice , but I doubt most on here want me to tell them how to parent their kid.

quote:

does the advice given translate to all player's?

My view is if the poster isn't very specific about the circumstances the respondants tend to assume the kid is a potential major conference D1 prospect. I'll bet most of the posters coming to this site with questions have kids who are D3 to mid major D1 prospects.

quote:

Originally posted by 20dad:
tr
i've said for years there is a place for everybody to play in college. i really do believe that...

I hate disagreeing with those I usually agree with, but, I find that a "feel good" statement. I live in a State like many others where the talent pool is "shallow" and I know of many HS players who pursued baseball at the lowest of college programs and never made the cut. Every year, most schools, at every level has walk-on tryouts and the chances of those kids making the team are slim-n-none, even college club tryouts have cuts.

I will say there is a place for every player to have a chance to make a team and play college baseball, but there are no guarantees. This site is an exception, most of the players in question have the "tools" to play somewhere if they dig deep enough. However, we say baseball is a game of passion but you have to show the ability to compete at each level, and passion alone does not guarantee a college spot.

I'd never turn away a kid with great passion, but his place may not be on the field.

IMHO

It is a feel good statement and there are players who will never play college baseball. We had one soft tossing lefty who was very smart, good at manipulating the HS coach, made it look like he was working hard, got plenty of innings in a strong HS league, and then settled for a fairly strong D3 program which even had a JV team, even though his grades would have gotten him into a top academic school, and was cut pretty quickly.

On the other hand I believe in the intent of the statement and that most hard working players can find a college baseball home if they are willing to give up on possibly more important things.

New to the board, as son is just approaching high school age. I take DaddyBo's approach of a buffet. I have found many topics interesting as I begin the process, and will probably be more selective as the process progresses. Generic-no-as no one answer fits everyone. do appreciate the process and the game, and the time son has spent on game so far. Our goal is to give him the opportunity to develop tools to make high school team, and what he does after that is up to him. His goal now (like most other early teen "serious" baseball players) is to play in college and then go pro, so any advice on how to navigate that journey (realizing that it will probably change many times) is helpful.

quote:

Originally posted by CADad:
On the other hand I believe in the intent of the statement and that most hard working players can find a college baseball home if they are willing to give up on possibly more important things.

I believe 20dad used shorthand notation and was commenting on previous responses. Obviously what rz1 said was true. Without some talent the gig is up.

I used the term decent talent. What does that mean? Probably means you were at least a one-year starter on your high school team and you were a contributor to the effort. You were a competent pitcher and/or you contributed offensively.

Even that is not always true depending on circumstances. I have seen kids who did not start in high school however and went on to some decent college careers. Things are relative obviously. I have seen kids who were 4-year starters in high school and did not see how they would compete if they attended a different school. I think people can tell who the baseball players are. They are the ones who contribute to the team on and off the field. I know this - hype doesn't mean anything. The quiet, dedicated kid can end up being the star but it might not show up until years down the road. Sometimes the circumstance will give some idea who the ballplayers are. Some kids will hit the tar out of slow pitching but will disappear when the velocity goes up.

Someone who can play the game, help his team win, and has tremendous desire will very likely be able to find a home at the next level imho. I think that is what 20dad was referring to.

texdex - welcome to the hsbbweb!

Thanks CD! Your opinion carries a lot of weight ... as do the thoughts from so many others of our seasoned veterans.

Like others have said, when you get enough "specific" advice out there, addressing so many different situations, you eventually get a "generic" library of ideas that can be applied by different players/families.

What I often find most helpful is having a context from which the advice is given. In our community we have current and former Coaches, Scouts, parents of professional players, current and former pros, parents of phenoms, parents of those guys who had to make it the hard way, you get the idea.

As I have learned some of the back stories of some of our posters -- and their players -- the context has often helped add richness to the advice being shared. I sometimes think that some of our veterans are afraid they will come across as bragadocious about themselves or their players when they offer personal context that explains their perspective. As a Dad who is trying to navigate an often confusing and time constrained maze, those "back stories" are very valuable in personalizing what might otherwise be "generic" advice.

I can tell you this for sure ... the advice we have gathered from the members of this community has helped us greatly in devising the plan by which my son (and our family) is navigating our way through the maze. In a few years, I hope to be a seasoned veteran sharing how my guy got to the school of his choice with the folks who are a few laps behind us.

A generic THANK YOU to all of our trail blazers!

Generic? All I know is that myself, and many other parents/players visit this site and receive some very good advice. Yes, the road to get to the next level is different now than it was ten years ago, but I think the overall journey remains the same.

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First: Very nice post Southpaw.

Second; Hate to quibble with the intelligencia but being the resident cynic/outlier/carper/skeptic/questioner/nitpicker (your choice) this thread cannot go by without a quibble. Generic is not the term that I would use, but slanted is. While it is absolutely possible to get every answer want here, no matter what you circumstances are, at whatever level, and there is no better place to find that info and some great case studies...IMO it may take and digging and more importantly some sifting for many because there is what I term a "Blue chip bias." Both in number, suggestions, and often in pecking order. It is a natural process give the nature of competiton, of sports, of competitve parents, of deference to talent. It it is not terminal, or even hard to get around but it exists.

44
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My choice 44? I'll go with carper. It has a nice ring to it. Thanks.



Now where do I plug this thing in?



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ob
good point, i'll fix it. i knew it should have been worded differently.
thanks

southpaw

i tend to agree, advice seems better when you know some back ground. over the years i'm sure everyones back groung pop's up, mine ...very little at a time.

cd

thank you for explaining what i wanted to say. there are so many places to play, maybe not for EVERY player, but those that want to work at it can play,CC, JC, NAIA. i believe that anyway.

O44,
Are you implying that sometimes respect for a parent's baseball/recruiting knowledge is based on their son's accomplishments in the game rather than their own baseball background or the content of their posts?

20dad,
Seriously speaking the advice is generally good and does translate pretty well. You have to be willing to tailor the advice to your son's situation. Look through the posts on players who have committed and you'll see a lot of proud parents of JC, NAIA, D3 and D2 players to be.

My son was what you might refer to as a blue chip player, I give frequent advice and although I post information that refers to things we did, I try to go out of my way in providing information that may make sense for everyone, thus generic in nature.

No matter what your son's skill level is, there are basics that you have to follow in recruiting.

I would imagine (and hope) that most people looking for help that come here are intelligent enough to read as much as they can, then sort of sift through what they think will work for their player, not necessarily would work for mine or someone elses.

When I first came here, I followed the advice of those that I thought had sons in similar situations as far as skills and talent level. But that didn't stop me from reading the information provided in the recruiting process that included the timeline and tips, which is generic in nature.
JMO.

quote:

Originally posted by TPM:
My son was what you might refer to as a blue chip player

My son was what you would call a "shade of grey" chip player. I came onto this site after he signed so we did it our way, which is a story in itself, and would be probably frowned upon by many. The kid had minimal little travel team experience, even less showcase experience. We come from a non baseball State where the only thing scouted are deer, bear, and fish. But it worked for us to the Nth degree. He sold himself on paper and online, he opened enough eyes to max out official visits around the country and had a choice of where he wanted to go. Things worked his way mainly because of his passion to succeed and not his proof of success. That is not the normal path.

Bottom line, this site is invaluable, the advice is often generic, and in many cases slanted. But advise is always rated generic and slanted by the interpretation of the listeners. What this site does do is open up that advise to opinions and counter advise from different perspectives. With our geographics, baseball opportunities, and family dynamics, I can't keep my mouth shut and always agree with what someone from Fl or CA did during their recruiting process because it didn't apply for us. But, our situation may be similar to someone else.

What I think is most important as this site grows is that those with the miles on the shoes don't push their points because of those miles. When all is said and done, this process ends up being a "family decision" and there's nothing worse than someone from the outside grading those decisions because of their own families resources or opportunities.

Mine was not a "chipper" at all. Yet we were able to use the site to help him find success in college.

Reading the site is like mining; you dig through alot of dirt and every once and awhile you find a gem!

My advice to anyone that seeks information is read as much as you can, listen to what people are saying and then use your head and think how it applies to your situation.

IMO - There is something to learn from everyone - or just about everyone.

When I think back and remember all of the mistakes we made with our first son - quite frankly - its embarassing.

It was alot easier with our second son - especially given all of the valuable information and advice this site provided.