Looking to play as a graduate student

Are you a difference maker? It's what a coach will be looking for in a one year player. Otherwise he would rather groom a younger player.

Contact JH here. He can give you good advice.

Who is JH, and how may I contact him?

He was a successful D3 pitcher who also looked to upgrade his baseball experience for his last year of eligibility as a grad student.  Found an opportunity, but, if I recall right, injuries prevented him from pulling it off.  Very articulate, helpful, and engaging young man who works for an MLB team.  You can send him a private message by clicking the "DIalogs" box in the upper right corner of the screen.

I contacted JH, I am sure when he gets some time he will drop by.

Dwight- Interesting situation. It's difficult to project the possibility to obtain a roster spot somewhere without having knowledge of your playing abilities. It's very important to be extremely proactive and to ensure that you have a good base of references that are willing to provide you with recommendations.

I began my search after undergoing TJ Surgery in late July, and didn't "seal the deal", per se, until the following February. It was a long and strenuous process. First and foremost, I would encourage you to do some research on particular academic programs you may be interested in pursuing. Graduate level degrees are often times much more specific than some undergraduate degrees, and therefore it's important to understand where the school(s) may fit into the plans for your future. Once I narrowed my search to the schools that I felt would fit both ways, I compiled a list of contacts for the coaches at each school- which generally consisted of the email address for the head coach and/or recruiting coordinator. 

One benefit you have that I didn't is the opportunity to showcase your skills for the coach(es). Due to my injury, any coaches that expressed reciprocal interest were doing so based on the faith of my statistics that were previously accumulated and any recommendations they had received from others within the industry. I am an advocate of video use and, although that is a different conversation, it is something that may be valuable in your particular situation as well.

Below, you will find an example of the email I sent to college coaches. A good amount responded with various responses ranging from "no" to "come to campus." From there, my choices were drastically narrowed until I gained acceptance into the program I desired to join. 

Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Coach _________,

 

I realize this email might not be a typical one you might receive, but I would like to send out an initial contact because of the interest I have in resolving the current situation I'm in with an optimistic solution.

 

I am currently enrolled at Oneonta State College, a Division III institution in upstate New York. I am a left-handed pitcher set to graduate in the spring of 2012, and I've completed three full years of college eligibility. This past year I was voted to the ABCA All-New York Region Team for Division III and hold a 1.65 ERA over 105 career innings pitched for Oneonta.

 

Unfortunately, I recently received the disappointing news that I tore my UCL and required Tommy John Surgery. My father and I flew out of New York last month to have the operation performed by Dr. James Andrews at his institute in Pensacola, Florida. The surgery was performed the morning of Thursday, July 21, 2011. The procedure went off incredibly smoothly and was a great success. 

 

Because of this, it leaves me in the unfortunate situation of not being able to pitch my senior year at Oneonta. I contacted the NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis and the woman I spoke to informed me that I would be eligible for a waiver to play my last remaining year of eligibility in grad school. I am a Business major and will be looking to get either an MBA or a Master's in Sports Administration, neither of which are offered at Oneonta. Thus, I began a search for schools that offer these degrees and that I could see myself playing at for that year.

 

I wanted to contact you because of the potential opportunity to combine both my academic future and my athletic career at ______. The prospect of the graduate degree combined with the fabulously positive offerings of potentially playing baseball at _______ causes me to believe that it would be a desirable place for me to continue my education and my career.

 

In the past two seasons I have played in both the Coastal Plain League and the Valley League during the summers. Both of my coaches in each respective place (Jay Bergman in Morehead City and Butch Barnes in Strasburg) have expressed to me that they would love to see me continue my career in baseball past playing, and their influence has been part of the reason why I wish to continue my eligibility and gain valuable knowledge at another institution.

 

 

As I mentioned, this is early in the process, as I wouldn't be enrolling into ______ until the fall of 2012 regardless. But as of right now I have a list of a handful of schools that I could see myself potentially playing at, and ______ is currently near the top of the list...largely because of the reasons I just stated. I felt that it was necessary to send out this preliminary email in hopes that we could continue this discussion further in the future and possibly get the ball rolling if both parties ended up being interested in allowing this to happen.

 

I have attached a copy of the permission-to-contact form from the athletic director at my school, which grants me permission to speak to any institution about continuing my playing career beyond Oneonta.

 

Thank you very much for taking your time in reading this email. I hope that it finds you well and that your summer is going smoothly. I look forward to further conversations with you in the future.

 

~Josh Herzenberg

Josh,

Thank you very, very much about this reply, and it proved to be very helpful to me and I will begin my research shortly. This will definitely help out a lot. I appreciate you taking the time to reply to me and my unique situation, and I'm glad that I wasn't alone in this particular situation. I believe you wrote your emails very perfectly, and I hope to be able to contact coaches like such. Like I said before, perhaps D2 is the most feasible for me, though I'd be willing to play for a lesser known D1 school.

Once again, I appreciate you taking the time to respond to my situation, and I will let you all know if I ever come across something.

Thanks again!

Dwight,

No problem at all. Let us know how things progress. While I've never personally come across someone who went from club baseball to an NCAA program during grad school, I would imagine examples exist. I have a few friends/acquaintances that have made the same jump as well. Two are still enrolled in their graduate programs, another moved on to law school and another (believe it or not) became a rapper.

One more note, and I think this would apply to many fields of networking. If you're planning to provide references to coaches, ensure that those references are aware of it. I made the mistake of not informing a reference I was using his name and got a somewhat harsh phone call because of it. They're doing you a favor, so make sure you're on the same page.

Josh,

Though not as grad students, we have had a couple of players that have went on to play junior college and D1 baseball after playing on our team. We have players get invited to practice with the fall squad for the D1 team all the time, but only once has someone successfully made our school's D1 team after playing club baseball. But like I said, we have had other players transfer to other jucos and schools after playing a year or two with us. One kid just finished up his senior year playing at Loyola Marymount after playing his first year of college on our team. Though my situation is different, I do believe something is feasible. 

Good luck and great success story that needs an awesome ending.  I suggest attending tryouts/private workouts over this Christmas break for teams that match your ability and with pitching needs (I guess every school has pitching needs).

I appreciate this a lot sir, thank you very much. Happy holidays.

Hello everyone,

It's been a while since I've touched on this subject, but I have spoken with a NCAA compliance officer at my university yesterday and was told I'd be eligible for only D2 or D3 institutions upon graduation (long story short, I changed my major beginning of my junior year of college, forcing me to stay back an extra semester, so will not be eligible for D1). Anyways, I'm still excited I have something. I am about to begin the process of emailing and sending letters to coaches and recruiting coordinators. I'm trying to play at the best D2 school possible for both an academic future as well as a decent baseball school. So I would be looking for a place to play for the 2015-2016 school year as a graduate student. Graduating in December of 2014, taking the spring of 2015 off schooling, and taking the GMAT exam this upcoming summer.

What is the best way to contact coaches via email? As in, how long should the letter be? And what should the subject header be? Is it best to contact the coach or the recruiting coordinator? And if so, will they be allowed to contact me back? Should I contact them now, or wait until their season is over? I looked at JH's letter and made a little draft myself. Would anyone be willing to look at it and tell me if it's any good and likely to get the coach's attention?

Thanks!

Dwight, just to clarify what you were told, you can't be eligible at a Div. III school as a grad student unless you attended that same institution as an undergrad.  So focus on Div. II schools.  Also, be aware that Div. II schools are allowed to offer you a tryout on their campus if they choose to do that.  Since you're not looking for an opportunity until the 15-16 academic year, I would wait until their season is over when they have more time to consider you and may be willing to offer you a tryout.

Rick,

Thanks for the response back, and I am making my goal to play at a really good D2 institution, so I am not interested in D3 (unless I get a full ride academic scholarship to MIT or Johns Hopkins, LOL). So, basically, I should wait until after the season is over to contact coaches/recruiting coordinators, right? I do plan on playing summer ball this upcoming summer in the AZ Collegiate Wood Bat League, for the same team I played for last year. So I have a bunch of coaches that are willing to help me out, but since I'm new to this recruiting process, especially in my situation, I'd appreciate any input or feedback.

And another absolutely ridiculous question, but would it be absolutely insane of me if I were to ask one of the pro scout teams out here in AZ to play on their team in the fall, despite me being way over age? I know some of the coaches, and I know their games have a lot of college recruiters and scouts attend, so that's why I'm asking. I know it sounds ridiculous for a college senior to be playing with high school juniors and seniors (and I myself am shaking my head at this), but I see some benefit to it. I know some of their games, such as when they play junior colleges, are not really regulated in the case where umpires/officials asks for everyones age, I know in showcases and tournaments they do, but not when they play junior colleges or other club/scout teams. Club baseball at my university has a fall program too, but we don't play that many games unfortunately, and only against other universitys' club teams and that competition isn't very good, and I just wanted to get as much exposure as I can against the best competition possible. I understand if you all think I'm absolutely insane and crazy for asking, and once again, I too am reluctant, but just know my situation and why I'm asking. If there is another way, please let me know. I know California and other states have similar fall scout programs where college players can play (i.e. East LA Dodgers), but unfortunately, Arizona has no such thing. 

Also, if anyone wants to see my baseball resume or a draft that I plan on sending coaches/recruiters, please PM me. Any feedback at all would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!!

Dwight, my apologies for the delayed reply.  Yes, I suggest waiting until the season is over to contact Div. II coaches.  Regarding playing on a pro scout team in the Fall, I would be cautious about playing on an outside team during the academic year.  If it were during the summer, I wouldn't be concerned about it, but competing on an outside team during the academic year can possibly have eligibility implications.  I would concentrate on getting as much exposure as you can this summer.

Rick,

Sorry for my delayed reply this time, but thanks for your advice. Right now I'm just about wrapping up my club baseball season and now in the mode and mindset of preparing for summer baseball. Been working hard, and I'm confident I'll have a great summer on the mound, and open some eyes. I will keep you all posted for sure. Made a lot of progress but still have a ways to go!