Is This for real???

You can be excited. Someone saw him do something that made them take notice. Being on the top 100 list may have generated the letter, or attending a showcase, playing in a tournament, etc.This is the beginning of an exciting journey for your son and your family. But keep in mind that the interest in your son goes beyond his ability on the field. He must stay focused and maintain good grades and do well in his ACT/SAT. Hundreds of D1 letters are sent each year to possible recruits, real recruiting begins after July 1 of your son's Senior year.
Try to keep things in perspective, nothing is real until the day he is offered a chance to play at a school and he accepts that offer.
Best of luck.

I know this may be one of those dumb questions but I will ask it anyway. When I read "recruiting letter" I'm not sure what all that means. Is that an invite to visit? Can someone explain...thanks

Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball, the rules and realities of the game—and do it by watching first some high-school or small-town teams.
Jacques Barzun
NY Times 31 May 81

It's fine to be "just a little excited" at this point. As BOB50 says, it doesn't mean anything until they get an official offer. On the otherhand there are lots of players that don't get anything - or very little from colleges. Then again, I know of a number of players that are, well - - - - average players, that receive mail from DI schools. We've received letters from Ivy league schools and well, let's just say my son has good grades, but not that good. He thought that it was pretty funny actually.

We're in the same boat - with letters, etc. and so forth - Get exicted, but not too excited. I've talked to friends of kids that were drafted fairly early and they started out with tons of letters from schools and then things died down and no real solid offers came in, finally they got an offer late in the season and ultimately got drafted, but opted to go to college.

I think as parents we tend to get more excited about it at this point than the kids do. So, have them fill out the questionnaires, return them and see what happens.

Good luck.

If he's listed in the top 100 this late, thats good. He'll probably have multiple opportunities to pick from, depending on the fit for both your son and the different schools, try to play on a good team this summer and get to a couple of showcases, if you can and all will work out.

Regarding the Ivy League schools, ours got a letter from Columbia U. but he said he didn't really want to go to college in South America. Oh my.

Good Luck!

Tom

ER is 4-2, 3-0 in the district, so far so good! Big game tonite. Our best to U 2.

Dad04,
What a riduculous statement, we already live in South America!!!!! You just are a wee bit north of all the action!
Chicks,
Letters he is talking about are letters that usually have questionaires, yours is a little too young to get that yet, although yours may have gotten info letters. They begin coming when they reach their junior year. The actual official invite comes after the summer of senior year, unless maybe you have been invited unofficially, which we never took because we wanted to know where my son actually stood in the recruiting process and waited for the real deal.
The official visit is a real good sign because each D1 (not sure of other divisions) can only invite 25. So as you can see it is a process, one that has many steps, the final being the actual offer and acceptance.
Some of those letters look impressive in his scrap book, the only meaningful one is that which was signed in November.

PINCHME...yes, do be excited..some kids never even get those first letters...

having said that, this is the beginning of a process where you will respond with forms, sending them back timely, and after July hopefully those phone calls will come in with visits..

each step can lead to another...be proactive and have some practice conversations with your son...mine was a wee bit shy at first, but he discovered how important it was to just be friendly and to actually talk...

good luck with your recruiting and keep asking away...you'll find many people who have gone thru this and learned from it...


Pam

baseonballs50,
Thanks for the explanation. Let me ask you one more. Let's say you get letters from some D1, D2 and on down the line. Should you respond in some way even if you're not interested?

Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball, the rules and realities of the game—and do it by watching first some high-school or small-town teams.
Jacques Barzun
NY Times 31 May 81

Any letter from a college deserves merit but the excitment must be tempered by the fact that it is the very first step in the process.

BY definition a letter after July 1 of your JUnior year is a recruiting letter---it has nothing to do with visits scholarships etc--it is merely telling the player that the school has an interest in the player--how much interest? that will be determined as you go down the road.

TRhit

Chicks,
I say cover all bases, but if there is no consideration don't waste time. However, some schools my son never answered and he still got invited for official visits. I think that it just depends on how one takes advantage of opportunities especially those during the summer of their senior year. He was seen by many top D1 college scouts while palying last summer all over the country. Anyone wants to debate the importance of senior summer, good showcases and tournaments , I will take them up on the challenge.

quote:

---

Originally posted by TRhit:
Any letter from a college deserves merit but the excitment must be tempered by the fact that it is the very first step in the process.

BY definition a letter after July 1 of your JUnior year is a recruiting letter---it has nothing to do with visits scholarships etc--it is merely telling the player that the school has an interest in the player--how much interest? that will be determined as you go down the road.

TRhit

---

Tr,
So a letter after July 1 of Junior year means that a coach on that school's team had this letter sent to you?

Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball, the rules and realities of the game—and do it by watching first some high-school or small-town teams.
Jacques Barzun
NY Times 31 May 81

Texas,
An excellent point about preparing your son for those phone calls and visits. One coach told us on a visit that he decided not to make an offer to one player because he never looked him straight in the eye. Sounds weird but you NEVER know what they are thinking!

As a parent, or as a player -- Every letter is a reason for excitement. Enjoy the process.

Being listed in the top 100 by PG/Baseball America is also a reason for excitement.

- Whoever said a walk was as good as a hit, couldn't hit.

PINCHME - You're getting lots of good advice here from everyone. I will definitely agree that the summer between your junior and senior year is the key. Thats the period when the coaches have the time to evaluate your son in person. Make sure you set up a good summer schedule - if he's in the Top-100, I would bet he's been invited to PG-National - GO!

TR - Just a nitpick here - but I think the NCAA date for personal letters "that mean something" is September 1 of your junior year. July 1 is the phone call date after your junior year.

________________
"The only people I ever felt intimdated by in my whole life were Bob Gibson and my daddy," Dusty Baker.

Hello everyone!!! This is formerly logged in as PINCHME ( having problems remembering password, so I just started over). Thank you all for the great advice and allowing me to get a little excited! Yes, you are all correct, this is a very exciting time for our son and sometimes a bit overwhelming. We will be patient and try to make the right decisions and as you said, we will see what tranpires on July 1st.

.....JUSTBASEBALL, yes he did recieve his invite to the PG National in June and after a few phone calls we realized it is a MUST DO...
Thank you all.. this is a wonderful web site to have, for all of us baseball parents.

justbaseball

In my mind the letters and calls after July 1 of the junior are for "real"-- the previous year they cannot talk to you or call you-- this is where people get too excited, at least in my mind--- letters early on come off a "mailing list" unless noted otherwise in the letter-- in the real recruiting season, the senior year, the letters come off a recruiting list that is "hot" and players are listed by preference. This list will also me greatly moditifed after the summer when coaches have seen more players and have seen players more than once.

That should also answer "Chicks" question--I hope.

TRhit

heck ya be proud!!!! just teach your son that if he can get an education from baseball especially from a great school to take it...baseball isnt forever but an education is....i received a bachelors from baseball and played professionally for 4 years in the minors...baseball comes and goes but an education is a lifetime.. i wish you the best of luck and congrats

Our son received several generic letters his jr year. We knew the interest was more serious when he received an actual phone call from the coach (not till Aug. before his sr. year)

Save every letter for the scrapbooks. My guys think I'm as old as dirt, but it was kind of neat one day when one of them came up from the basement, having found my scrapbook, and said "wow, you must've been good". Of course, then he added "...back in the day".

Recruiting letters will be history validation someday with your son's kids.

Form letters or not, it's neat to get them. Be excited. Lots of good advice already on here.

Keep in mind that players receiving this correspondence, form letter or not, are very few-- you are in a very select group of young men