Ivies and other small schools in the east

JCG,

Just to clarify, Ivy schools are considered D1 by the NCAA.  They recruit nationally, and they (along with many other academic schools) are frequently out on the West coast recruiting for the whole summer.  I know some schools will have one coach responsible for the East Coast showcases and another be West Coast showcase based. Certainly, attending these showcases (lots of  exposure) is critically important for an academic recruit.  Go ahead and check any Ivy or NESCAC roster, and you'll see kids from all over the country.

The other important aspect is grades, academic rigor and SAT/ACTs.  You can't become a serious recruit until you have ALL of these.  So, by his junior year he should know where he stands on the academic side, although sometimes recruits will retake the ACT/SAT in the Fall of Senior year to improve previous scores that are needed.  The final decision on any athlete rests with Admissions.

If you think your son has the athletic and academic talent to be considered at one of these academic schools in 3 years, then I would encourage him to stay on that path, discuss future goals (with the understanding he is only a freshmen), and ask many questions on HSBBWeb.   Make sense? 

Questions, let us know.  You have a lot of people here to help.   Good luck.

You get noticed in the high academic environment the same way you get noticed in the D1 environment; by fishing in the pond where the fish are.  

First, look at the following showcases and camps:

HeadFirst

PG National Academic

Top 96 Northeast Academic

Stanford Camp

Princeton Camp

..and others

Next, make sure you play competative summer ball and have a little bit of video tape to send to coaches.  

Have a one page baseball resume that includes your grades, test scores, AP's and non baseball "hooks" (i.e. music, debate, Intel science, whatever).

Send that info to coaches, show your schedule and show interest.  After that the process works pretty much the same as D1 except that it generally starts later in the summer of your son's junior year.  However, even that is changing to be more like athletic D1.

PM me if you want more.

Thanks to all three of you; that is very helpful and I appreciate it.  Yes, he's only a freshman, or will be in a couple days, but we've learned with our older kid that it's never too early to get started.  I'll check out those camps, and I'm sure my frosh or I will be back later on with more questions. What a great resource you have here.

Ah, thanks, that's good info.  Too bad though, as it looks like Stanford is cheaper and you get to play a lot more baseball than at Head First.  I imagine that we won't think seriously about showcases until he's a rising Junior, though he might go to a camp near here that's geared towards rising 9th and 10th graders and attracts a few coaches.

My son went to camps only as a rising senior and everything worked out more than fine.  Rising juniors are only minimally relevant at these camps

JCG,

Do not overlook the Stanford Camp if you think your son is more of a D3 type talent.

I would estimate over 25%  of the coaches at the Camp are from top academic D3's from Southern CA., Texas, the NWC, the Northeast and a few from the South.  Every coach there is from a very, very good academic D3 and some are from teams ranked in the top 25 nearly every year. If your son has the potential to compete as an Ivy League player, he could do just fine at the Stanford Camp in terms of exposure at the D3 level.  This is even more the case with the camp being open in ways it was not in the past.

Heck, just last night I read about a player scheduled to enter Cal Lutheran this Fall and compete as their starting shortstop who received a call from Coach Gillespie from Irvine. He is now headed to Irvine as a pitcher. While the Stanford Camp is one where some players might be lost in the numbers, if your son has talent and ability, there are top D3 coaches who make a living from the players they find in Palo Alto.. 

My son attended the Stanford Camp this year.   400 players were there with 300 staying in the dorms.    My son is Class of 2015 with a birthday in May.   He was one of the younger players in attendance.   The vast majority (80%+) were Class of 2014. 

He spoke with several Ivy League Schools and small well respected liberal arts schools.  The response was stay in touch with us, update your profile and send us your SAT's.  Also said to make a point to introduce yourself to the college recruiter when he/she comes to on campus interviews at your high school.  The baseball coach said he would make sure the recruiter was aware of my son and to set aside some time to speak with him.    The bigger schools all told him the same thing.   Come back next year and you will be on our must see list but right now we need to speak with the seniors.    

There were over 80 colleges at the camp looking at the boys.   What is interesting is that the schools understand their target players extremely well.   There were plenty of players over 6' pitching in the 90's.   The schools you are talking about know that player is not interested in D3 or a D1 that has not been to the CWS.    Just as your son will have different tiers of school, dream, reach, realistic, and safety, so do the coaches.   Coaches don't want to shoot for the moon and come up empty handed.  

My boy really enjoyed Stanford camp.   He came back motivated and excited to go back next year.    Some advice, wait till junior year to go, before and he will either be overmatched or too young for the coaches to invest the time.    But junior year is good because it lets him get the nerves out of the way a year early and come back as a senior knowing what to expect.     Second, bring a pillow.   My son stayed in the dorm, where they give you a bed and not much else.  He didn't have a pillow and used his hoodie.  

BobbyJams  

Stanford camp for an incoming Junior can be used to get on the radar of schools, and they will follow him in the Fall and following Summer, (especially if you email schedule.  My son was contacted all thru junior year via email by a few schools that are now seriously recruiting him as a Senior.

As for whether your kid will be overwhelmed, if he can't hit 80 and low 90s pitching he most likely will not be recruited by many decent schools.  Work on it.

Yes, I think it is good advice that young players should work on all aspects of their game.

For rising junior parents whose kids have aspirations for academically selective schools, the Stanford Camp is a great experience and opportunity....regardless of the mph the kids can hit off.

You got some of the best high school talent evaluators in the country there. They can see thru 0-4 at the Palo Alto HS side field if there is real potential there!