Junior...

Some junior days have already occurred. Others are still to come. Some schools don't do them at all, but will set up an "unofficial" visit for you.

You need to take the initiative. E-mail the coaches at the 4-5 schools you intend to target and ask whether they have junior days, or if they would otherwise accommodate you for an "unofficial" visit.

If nothing else, you might get some decent basketball game tickets out of it! But seriously, it's a good way to put yourself right under their noses and into their minds as someone to be looking at.

FYI, some of your classmates are already getting offers through these events.

I always suggest players go to the winter holiday camps. They are usually very inexpensive and it lets the coaches look at you for a few days and lets you interact with them. Not a bad way to spend $75-100.

Videos are expensive. My son made one (in the end, the one school he never sent it to was the one that recruited him..go figure). It cost 650 dollars. A nice momento. I guess if you'll never get to any showcases or camps, you'd have to consider a video just so the colleges can se you actually have two legs and two arms. At this point, I think you should save your money and work on a target group of schools: maybe 20 that would include reach schools, maybe schools and for sure schools. Get a super profile together and a great cover letter send handwritten, personalized letters to your target group. Work that group. Make follow up calls. Find out what showcases/camps those guys go to..some of them go to other college camps to check things out! Ask them where they'll be and show up. Talk to them! Name recognition is huge...then when your season starts and you get your name in the paper, the college recruiter will recognize it and say "Oh yeah..THAT guy." The recruiting coach may THEN want a video (if they can't get out to see you play) so he can show it to the head coach...to back up his opinion, maybe. Good luck.

JH,
My suggestions.

Make sure that you have contacted the schools that are interested in you and filled out all of the questionaires. If there are schools that have not contacted you, go to website and see if they post any questionaires or email info about yourself.
Don't worry about junior day.
Do well in school.
Have a great baseball season.
Have a blast next summer.
Video is up to you, but I don't think you need it. JMO.

It will all come together.

JH: Tiger Paw Mom is probably right. Video may or may not be necessary. Anyone seriously recruiting you has to put their eyes on you. But it may get your foot in the door, as not all coaches go to all national tournaments.

My son's a LHP too - Pitching coach made a video of him - side and front view throwing 3 pitches each. That's enough. No music or narration is necessary. Cost was nothing but stamps and copying on CD-R. Send it to coaches with cover letter. Not sure I would send it unsolicited though...

Make sure your form is good. D1 coach told us they use videos to "eliminate" kids.

quote:

Originally posted by J H:
As the offseason finally takes its brutal turn around the Holidays and into the new year, workouts are finally beginning for both my school team and summer program. Looking through HSBBWeb and through word of mouth, I have gathered several different points of information.

1. I have been told that making a video would be smart. How much is this needed? I am most likely going to be at all the major events, East Cobb, Jupiter once again and a few of the major showcases. Any recommendations on making a video and if so, how to make it? (I am a LHP).

2. Junior Day- I am pretty in the dark with this sort of thing but I've gotten a good sense of them from other people, though I have not been to one yet. Anyone with info, please inform and that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

You are getting very good suggestions. I would also include once you have made contact with them and you have a working dialog, contacting the schools before the events (high profile tournaments and showcases) you are going to and let them know you are going to be there. For a tournament, once you know your pitching rotation, contact the coach with the specifics.

Good Luck!

Thanks for all the responses. I will keep everything in mind.

A few coaches have mentioned Junior Days in e-mails, but no official invite as of yet. Out of the players that I play with that have signed D-1 NLI's (12 guys), they have collectively been to a total of 6 Junior Days I believe they said. At this point a video was just a thought, and would most likely be done by my high school coach for like 5 minutes after practice.

Another quick question, which encorporates Junior Day along with the overall recruiting process. How should I go about contacting the schools? Out of the schools that have contacted me, some are dream schools while others, simply, aren't. I've sent back all questionnaires and answered all e-mails, etc. but there is a fairly thick list of schools that I could possibly be interested in playing at. How do you think I should narrow this down? IMO, the best way would be similar to the college app. process, safe schools, mid-majors and reaches, but any suggestions would help. thanks.

If you have the means, since you are getting interest from schools already, in my book, unofficial visits for schools that you are very serious about are much more effective than Jr days (though maybe fun).

We went on several Jr days, but they were cattle calls, the school that we committed to, we did not go to the Jr day because it would have been difficult to schedule (there also was over 100 people many of which had no chance), we had been there before on unofficial visits with them and got personal attention by the all the coaches and were able to talk to professors and administration without dozens of other people.

JH, with all due respect to TPM, who certainly has a wealth of experience to offer, things have changed substantially since Tiger Paw Son went through this. Teams are recruiting earlier now than ever before.

At one ACC school of which we are aware, two players who attended a junior day were given scholarship offers while they were there -- and this was before Thanksgiving. These were players who knew that this school was their top choice. At least two other players who attended that junior day were told that when they were ready to talk, the coaches were ready to talk.

JH, from prior postings this is a school that I know you have interest in -- at least, you were looking into their fall camps at one time. And I hate to tell you, but the two guys they signed are your position, meaning that this position at this school is closing out in your recruiting class as we speak.

All is not lost, because I think that school is still planning another junior day over the winter, in conjunction with a home basketball game. But you should e-mail them immediately.

As another example, a second ACC school did not offer a junior day, but did offer an unofficial visit to another player I know. The visit concluded with the making of an offer. JH, this player also plays your position. And again, this was before Thanksgiving!

If you know where you want to be, time's a wastin'! Let them know your interest, and see if you can get a measure of whether the interest is mutual.

Also, we found out through this process that one school we had high on our list, that had been schmoozing us pretty good, wasn't really all that interested. Better to find out sooner than later, I suppose.

The early pressure has caught my son and me off guard, but we have accepted it as a reality and we are dealing with it now. If you thought this was something that would wait until this summer or later, I'm not saying there won't be anything available then. But if you have your heart set on one particular school, you'd best get moving, or you may find that they've already filled that position slot before you get into the game. That could force you to have to look to your second or third choice schools, when with more timely effort your first choice might have come through.

JH,
Son went to one Junior day, there were about 50 others there.
All schools do things differently, but with 50 you can't have any one on one that is for sure.
Junior day is for the coaches to tell you about their program and view the facilities. You can do that anytime with an unofficial visit.

You have your whole junior year ahead, just concentrate on being the best you can be!