Moved

He plans to complete his time at the juco, so tranfer to a 4-year in fall 2026.

No-one has replied yet; I don't have experience, but I rember this was a good thread from 2021 about juco recruiting:

https://community.hsbaseballwe...-for-a-juco-freshman

@Momball11 posted:

He plans to complete his time at the juco, so tranfer to a 4-year in fall 2026.

Your son’s should ask his JuCo coaches to reach out to the schools of interest that are in state. His coaches can do more to advance him than anyone.

I would not mention anything to his JUCO coaches about schools in new state until after the fall portion of his season. Obviously talk about plans and dreams if his coaches talk with him or teammates about next summer and a recruiting plan beyond JUCO during the fall. He will learn a lot in the fall on many levels and will have a chance to see/hear about how the process works at his school for the D1 recruited players that are most likely sophomores. Hopefully he will have a chance to hang out with and be mentored by sophomores that can give him advice and info on how the coaches handle recruiting. Coaches and schools handle it differently and don't want to rock the boat too much early in his freshman year. Just my humble opinion. For context my son committed to his future D1 last October. He was one of 12 D1 commits from his team (only 1 freshman). Feel free to DM with questions and good luck enjoy the ride!

@used2lurk is 100% correct. I didn’t read your post carefully and was under the impression that your son was going into his sophomore JuCo year. One if the biggest mistakes a JuCo freshman can make is to create the impression that all he cares about is moving on to a 4 year school. His JuCo coaches are the ones to help him (as I said) but before they do they are gonna want to see him buy into their program, work hard to improve his game, and take care of his academics. Even though he has been recruited he still needs to prove himself. The better job he does of doing that the more help he will get from his JuCo coaches.

Unless your son is a juco freshman phenome (draft interest), he’s going to play his sophomore year at the juco. As said above, his commitment to the juco program and in some ways even parental behavior can impact that experience.

D1 coaches won’t typically snipe players as freshman from juco’s, because they value the relationship with the juco coach, and it needs to last an entire career.

My son pitched less than 12 innings his freshman juco season. I had parents in my ear the whole season “Why is coach not using your son?”, “Coach is hiding your son!” and “Is your son in trouble with the coach?”. That last one may have had a thread of truth to it, even then my son was inflexible about his training methods (he did his own workout after practice).

I let all the comments roll off, and I took photographs of everyone the entire season – had a blast. I had no clue my son would continue to improve over summer, throw well enough in a practice squad game (scout day) the first week back to school as a sophomore, and verbally committed to Razorbacks a week later.  

My guidance is to stay informed, speak to when spoken to regarding the coaching staff, stay positive, live in the moment and enjoy that only the best players get a chance to play after HS. Most kids get placed at the right level coming out of juco, and if baseball after college is a possibility, the scouts will find him regardless of where he’s playing.

Fall of 2025 is when the recruiting will start.  Focus on getting better over the next year and I wouldn't even bring up recruiting until then.  If your son is a superstar his Freshman year, teams (college and pro) will find him.  It is not the norm though. 

Thank you all. He plans to wait until mid fall season to better evaluate where he stands and how to proceed. He is in no rush to leave his juco. He just wants to be sure that he's doing what he needs to do to set himself up for success. Sounds like his biggest promoters will be his coaches.

Do 4 year program coaches regularly trust a juco coach as a reliable reference if they don't know each other? I worry that it might backfire with my son attending a school so far away from the 4-year programs he hopes to eventually transfer to.

@Momball11 posted:

Thank you all. He plans to wait until mid fall season to better evaluate where he stands and how to proceed. He is in no rush to leave his juco. He just wants to be sure that he's doing what he needs to do to set himself up for success. Sounds like his biggest promoters will be his coaches.

Do 4 year program coaches regularly trust a juco coach as a reliable reference if they don't know each other? I worry that it might backfire with my son attending a school so far away from the 4-year programs he hopes to eventually transfer to.

You'll get the best answer from @adbono, as he's actually in the mix, but from my perspective juco coaches have a vested interest in placing player in the best situation they can. If he's got an interest in a specific school outside the coaches contact list, he should talk to his coach and create a game plan during his sophomore year.  The juco coach is going to relay his opinion of your son's ability, projectibility, work ethic and character (why it's important to stay in good standing with your coach).  The 4 year program coach will certainly consider the juco coach's reference a reliable - even if he doesn't know the coach they will certainly have contacts in common (1 degree of separation, baseball is a small world).

Baseball is a very small world, I'm just a player's parent and I have one degree of separation with many of the other posters on this site...  

  @JucoDad is spot on as usual. One thing that I will add is that conversations between JuCo and 4 year coaches are often brutally honest.
  Any coach’s reputation depends on whether or not he can be trusted by another coach. Stretching the truth even one time to help advance a player can ruin a reputation - and that’s the kiss of death. All JuCo coaches on staff get and make phone calls about players on a daily basis. And they cover every aspect of a player’s impact on the team. The numbers usually speak for themselves but coaches want to know how a player goes about his business. Does he take care of his grades? Is he coachable? (you would be amazed how many players are not). Is he a good teammate? (more value is placed on this than people realize). Can he play other positions? (versatility is a plus). Have there been any off the field issues? Character is talked about a lot.
  All of this underscores the importance of players staying in good graces with their JuCo coaches. They can do more to help a player move on than anyone. So it’s best to stay out of the doghouse.