Letters

No it is not too late. Most schools have online questionaires you can fill out. Go to the athletic site and click on baseball. You can also send emails as well. Good Luck

What about written letters.

quote:

Originally posted by DanielWehr:
What about written letters.

**make every effort to keep you in the forefront, especially on the field of play**

send letters, emails, sounds like your passion will carry you forward

There are many good postings about the kind of letter, the format, the frequency, etc..here on this website. Putting together a letter that is both personal and polished takes some time. Including some baseball info is important..picture helps. Try to make the letter sound like you are writing ONLY to that coach..although the letter might find itself, in different form, going to several coaches. If you go to showcases and you meet a coach that you like at a school that interests you, jot down the name of the coach and remind him in your letter that you met him.

Let me make sure I hear you on this one Newcomer. You are saying that you DO recommend including a picture to send along with the introduction letter and bio?

Anyone else agree/disagree with this?

P.S. I could literally spend all day reading this message board, but my family would starve from not working!

I think including a picture is a great idea. It's much easier for any of us to remember someone we have a "face" to attach to a name.

When my son was replying to a coach, he would always include a personal letter and a profile in with a questionnaire. I think attaching an actual picture is best, but we copied a very good baseball picture (wallet size) onto the corner of his profile sheet.

Just make sure the picture is one of a kid/player that a coach could see being a part of his team.

As I remenber some colleges requested pictures in their questionnaire

Thank you guys for this information! I had wondered if it was being a bit "over the top" since it didnt really suggest to do this on the sample introduction letter. I figured it would at least give a coach some idea as to what the kid looks like should he come to watch him play during the summer. I wonder how many times they get these intro. letters/bio's to show up to a showcase tourney and see the boy is actually 5'5, 110lbs, not what he said he was.

lafmom..I am actually printing my sons pics to the wallet size also. Good idea! thanks.

My son decided on the picture because he figured that the coach might just possibly recognize him or remember him if they ran into each other at a showcase or tourney or something. Son put together a "front sheet" with his picture in upper left corner (not huge..but pretty dominate), his name, school, grad year, basic baseball info...then the middle part of the front sheet had summer stats and previous years league stats (because he sent these out in January)..academic info (sat, act and GPA) and then at the bottom of the page he put his contact info. Second page was a personal letter..very brief..he tried to mention something academic (can't recall, but I think he said "I notice you have a strong History department).And ended with "Go Gators" or whatever the mascot is...maybe this is over the top. Not sure. Son made sure he sent to all listed coaches at Stanford camp. Subsequent letters included his spring schedule and summer schedules, etc.

When do u start sending out the schedules to coaches.

When the coach asks you for it.

I would send your spring schedule now to the recruiting coordinators of the schools you are interested in -- plus your summer schedule right before your summer season starts. The coaches may not even know you exist until you contact them -- so take the initiative!

What if the coach doesnt respond for awile after u sent your first letter? What do u do?

Follow it up with a short note or an email

So if Im hearing you all correctly on this. Send a short follow up note to the same coaches sometime around May and include your summer schedule...???

I would assume that right now the coaches are elbows deep in their season and dont have the proper time to respond.

Do you think they even open them?

That is why they have assistant coaches

You might not get a personal response from any of these coaches for months. Whether or not they open any mail is up for conjecture. I think you error on the side of prudence and keep sending the letters. If you're going to be at a showcase or tournament where you think you might be seen, send an email to the coach and let them know. Once again, you never know who's watching or who has read one of your letters. Work hard this season on your school team. Stay in shape for summer. And keep your grades up. That, and working on some letters every once in awhile, will improve your chances of good news later one. Good luck.

Between games, recruiting and travel I would assume coaches get very little "mail bag time" however almost all of the recruiting directors we have seen have their blackberry’s with them at all times.

Our limited experience is that the recruiting personnel seem to prefer this method to snail mail. They get your information instantaneously and you can also attach schedules or other important information with a "read receipt" so you can tell if they opened it.

Not saying you shouldn't send a letter but there is no reason not to send the same information via email as well.