Junior Year in College

jon - Thats a great question and I think you'll get a variety of answers. It is my understanding that various college coaches handle the situation differently.

Our son's college was a top-25 school with lots of scouts regularly at games. The very top players had "advisors" who could ultimately become their agent if they signed after being drafted. Through these "advisors," players could get a feel for where they stood in the upcoming draft. There have been lots of threads on this and I suspect this thread will address this aspect as it gets rolling.

Additionally, at our sons's college...towards the end of the season scouts would make "appointments" with players they had interest in through the baseball office at the school. Players would be notified something like, 'After practice on Tuesday, scouts from the following teams will be at the stadium to talk with you.' Different teams would come on different days.

My son tells me that he would basically sit and talk with the scouts for anywhere from 10 minutes to maybe an hour. They would discuss his signability, collect information (e.g. cell phone number) and other aspects the scouts might be interested in (e.g. any health issues or remaining credits to earn degree, etc...).

In the days or day before and/or during the draft, it would be normal to get a call from a scout as a team began to get close to drafting a player..."Are you sure you'll sign for ?? if we draft you?" or any other last second questions.

Lastly, I don't mean to try and read too much into your question(s), but one comment caught my eye:

quote:

...His college coaches have been putting the notion in his head that he will be drafted next year and they will miss him for his senior year, but he needs to do it...

This could mean a lot of different things or maybe nothing? They may be motivating him. They may be excited for him. But they also may be telegraphing to him that they expect him to leave...that is, they won't have scholarship money for him if he returns. Not trying to scare you...but he might want to go back and discuss the whole thing further.

For what its worth, all scenarios above have happened to kids I know. In our son's case, he knew exactly where he stood with scholarship issues, role within his team if he returned and pretty much everything else, directly from his coaches, BEFORE the draft occurred. Because of this (and other factors), he returned for his senior year and had the time of his life.

Good luck!

I pretty much agree with JBB comments.
Most programs have scout days, where MLB hand out questionaires and then later make contact with the player. Very rarely will scouts/agents contact you when condering drafting college players unless they are top prospects. So it should be, "what should my son expect in terms of contact from scouts or agents". I would, if an agent contacts him, do homework for him on that issue. It is not your place to speak to scouts unless they contact you.

FWIW, son met with a lot of scouts at college, but the one who was his draftiing scout he never sat with face to face or spoke to on the phone, so you will never know until your name is called what is going to happen.

It also appears to me that the coaches are sending a message to your son about not being there next year, and this could mean a lot of different things. One question, if they "expect" him to get drafted, what are they doing to help him if this is what his goal is, or theirs?

Our experience was somewhat similar to justbaseball (though his son was drafted in an earlier round so I'd listen to him! .

Son went to college in a part of the state which was covered by different area scouts than where he went to high school. So starting as a freshman envelopes would show up in his locker via the coach from local area scouts requesting contact information, a variety of background questions and his interest in being draft, etc. Some scouts never called again until his draft year while a few others maintained occasional contact via e-mail/cell#/text. It really differed as much as the scout personalities differed. During son's draft year, contact was made in a variety of ways, either by set appointments for after a game, while others contacted the coach to say they wanted to talk with certain players and did either as a group or in individual sessions, while still others would just hang around occasional practices and bull pens, watching and taking notes. At the end of each Fall program son's college would hold a "scout day" where scouts were invited to come and watch a practice. Scout Days were coordinated with other southern California colleges so that the scouts could cover several colleges between a Friday-Sunday weekend.

A few months before the draft your son should know who is interested because the frequency of contact increases and the talk is more specific the about rounds and $'s. Then again there are lots of stories about players drafted by teams that they have never had contact with. It wasn't son's experience but it's baseball and anything can happen.

About the scholarship issue, coaches must have their conversations about next year's scholarship and get the new agreements signed before the season ends which is usually before the draft. I realize that they have to make plans with the $'s but your son should be talking to them to make sure their plans don't include not allocating $'s in the hope he is drafted.

quote:

About the scholarship issue, coaches must have their conversations about next year's scholarship and get the new agreements signed before the season ends which is usually before the draft. I realize that they have to make plans with the $'s but your son should be talking to them to make sure their plans don't include not allocating $'s in the hope he is drafted.

On this comment, I'm not sure this is universal? It was all laid out for our son, but I'm not sure there's any requirement to get agreements in place. (Actually, our son didn't sign his senior year "scholarship agreement" until middle of the summer in between...we were working off the coach's word).

Talking never hurts. If there's any question, I'd ask.

The Bylaw is 15.3.5.1. Renewal is supposed to made by July 1. If the scholarship isn't renewed, it is still possible for aid to be offered later. Committed aid can go up, but not down.

Thats sounds about right on the date (obviously it is!)...but thats about the time it happens. Not necessarily before the draft which is in early-mid June.

Thanks for all the insights....

I am not too concerned about son loosing his scholly. He will be their #1 as a senior, maybe even this year(knock on wood of course!).

In terms of the timeline, it sounds like some scouts will be around in the fall? But the conversation really take place as the season goes on??

Thanks!

quote:

In terms of the timeline, it sounds like some scouts will be around in the fall? But the conversation really take place as the season goes on??

That would be the way it happened at our school.

jon - Actually, sometimes (maybe even much of the time) it IS the guy who would be #1 that they are counting on leaving and thus not holding the scholarship. In other words, if they are confident he will be gone...or expecting him to be gone, why would they hold it?

I got it! Thanks Justbaseball...

Wow, what an informative thread. This thread is a great illustration of the value of this site. If it wasn't for this place, and the willingness of parents who have been through the process to freely give the benefit of their experience and insight, where would a person such as jonr12 possibly go?

And so he asks a question that parents of any ballplayer similarly situated would want to know, and he gets several very informative responses from parents who know exactly what they are talking about.

HSBBW at its finest!

Rob,

I was just thinking the same thing. It's amazing the wealth of information - real, honest, been-there-done-that information - that our members are willing to share with those who are about to travel the same road.

Thank you, HS Baseball Web members! You really are the greatest community on the Web.



Julie

I agree 100%