Next steps for 2017 RHP

It sounds like you have a talented, well rounded son.  And he / you are not late for a 2017.

The recruiting timeline on this site was a huge help to us. Poke around on this site...great info. 

Video, online recruiting profiles at each school, online admissions profiles at each schools, visiting in person or at his high school with his admissions rep at each college, emailing those reps, taking visits, etc.  All of that demonstrates his interest in each program.

If your son improves his velocity a few mph, he will have D1 interest particularly given his physical size.

With a strong SAT / ACT he could have academic schools interested as well.  In my experience a floor of 27 ACT throwing near 90 mph would generate lots of top academic interest (Ivy, Patriot, et.al.).

The college recruiting "work" is primarily for your son and your family to do.  It would be great to get travel or high school coach assistance.  But don't expect it.

His list of schools should be vetted academically (he has a decent shot at admittance) and athletically (he has a decent shot of playing ball there).  I would cast a wider net, i.e., more schools at this stage. 

Then your son needs to be seen live (playing baseball) by the head coach and/or recruiting coordinator of those schools.  Your son is currently not a national class talent.  So he likely needs to go to showcases and camps as opposed to just travel team tournaments.  Again, in my experience, Headfirst Honor Roll Camp in Florida is a great exposure event for a 2017 east coast kid interested in academic schools.  And there's plenty of winter camps too.

Good luck! 

@ Branson Baseball - thanks so much for your thoughtful reply. 

I have read many of the posts and articles and printed out the recruiting timeline and questions to ask during visits and to coaches. But there are many more to peruse.

He has started a notebook with colleges he's interested in, articles of interest, camps he might want to attend and keeping track with a spreadsheet of colleges and things to do with each one, impressions after a visit, etc. working on academics this fall, and on pitching drills & strength/conditioning. 

Several have mentioned Headfirst. This year it's the same date as the November SAT, which son is signed up for, so we are inclined to consider Headfirst for  summer between junior/senior year - that one is in NY I believe, OR move SAT to December and go to Florida. 

and thanks also for the recommendation to cast net farther and wider. Each week we find another school to be interested in or try to visit, but trying to pace it out too, as it can all be overwhelming to him. 

School-wise, he is interested in the smaller schools for business or economics and has also expressed interest in aviation - pilot or aviation management. We visited Embry Riddle last spring and he liked it a lot, and it has a baseball team that is making the transition from NAIA to D-2. by 2017 process will be completed.

Thanks again for your insights, really appreciate it 

Headfirst NY is a must next Summer for a 2017 kid considering an "academic" school.  It is the best showcase in my opinion for academic schools.  My 2012 and my 2016 did that, and they also did HF Jupiter the Fall of their Junior year.  My 2012 and 2016 both made incredible contacts in late October / early November those Falls and they were invaluable.  My 2016 got an offer today from a Coach whom he met first at HF Jupiter.

There are lots of testing strategies.  My guys did sample, proctored ACT and SAT to see which one (if either) they preferred.  They both preferred the ACT.  So they only did "real" ACTs.  There were quite a few test dates for the ACT.

To add to Branson's point...

You mentioned he has a 3.2 GPA and working hard to raise it.  All schools are different but 3.5 seems to be one of the magic hurdles.  That would make for a good target.

Generally, there is a lot more academic $$ available than athletic $$ for baseball players.

Thank you again, @Branson Baseball and thank you @cabbagedad. I have heard nothing but good about the Headfirst showcases. Coach at Catholic U said it was one of the only showcases he was planning to attend this fall because from their standpoint it is the most productive for their limited recruiting budget. I think waiting till next spring/early summer may be good also for his pitching, velo, etc. as it will give him a few more months to refine everything,

@cabbagedad, He is working hard to raise the GPA. It is unweighted, but he is taking some honors classes this fall that are 5 point, so hopefully that will help, and his grades are much better this quarter (knock wood!)

The idea of having so many coaches from good schools in one place seems so highly efficient, although zeroing in on a few of the colleges he is interested in and attending showcases there, may work well also. Just trying to schedule all this in between regular life and high school activities is a challenge as well as keeping an eye on the budget and figuring out the best way for him  

He will take PSAT officially in school this week, the SAT in November and then because the SAT is changing to new format in March, he'll have one chance to re-take old test if need be. What his counselor said is he can retake tests to have them superscored, but only old with old and new with new. This 2017 junior year is unique in that way that the students have the test change mid-year. Then the ACT will be in April and if he needs to retake, can do so later in the spring. He will have both available to use and we will see how it goes. 

Branson Baseball - Congratulations to your 2016! that is great news about your son!! 

I know nothing about recruiting, but I wanted to chime in on a couple of your other points.

1. When you take the SAT's they have a box that allows you to send your scores to specific schools.  It might be helpful if your son had an idea of which schools he wanted to send those too, i.e. if he had already made contact due to the Headfirst Showcase.

2. A word of caution about those honors classes.  MOST colleges do not want a weighted GPA, they will only accept unweighted GPA's.  Each school has their own rules on what they count for a GPA, some will only take core courses, others will accept gym class scores, every school is different. Back to honors/AP classes, while on paper you might be thinking if he takes honor's chemistry and gets a B it will look like an A on paper...that's not how it works.  Most schools will view it as a B.  Now you have to ask your yourself if he took regular Chemistry would he get an A?  Does the college he is interested in, or the scholarship he is applying for, require honors/AP classes?  If they don't you may want to reconsider those harder classes. 

I HIGHLY recommend you talk to his guidance counselor immediately because you might have misconceptions about GPA and college in general. If he has a top 3 list go to their websites and see what their admissions office counts for GPA.

Here is a thread I started awhile back:

http://community.hsbaseballweb...-i-thought-they-were

thank you CaCO3Girl -

Thanks for your info on honors classes, good points.

and he has a great college counselor we are in weekly communication with. She is giving him great suggestions for colleges in addition to the ones he is interested in. One of the reasons we selected this HS. I will check out your thread also. Many thanks!!

First things first. Sign up with the NCAA Eligibility Center.

I am not sure if I found out about this on this site or not, but a way to get a good read on what the schools are looking at for admittance can be found if you google the school of choice and add "common data set" after the school name.  Most of the schools have the same forms listed and show everything from male and female applications, acceptance rates, number actually attending, 25th and 75th percentile SAT and ACT scores, and particularly if class rank, gpa, interview, essay, rigor of school etc are more important or not. A lot of great info comes out of this site.  I have a 2018 LHP and we are starting down this road as well so I love coming here to get more info from people who have been there done that and are willing to share.  Good luck!   

@roothog66 - He did sign up with the NCAA Eligibility Center a couple of months ago, he is having his SAT scores sent there and to his top college choices. But transcripts need to be sent by his counselor after the end of his junior year.

@FriarFred - thanks for that tip, I will check it out. we also have Naviance at his school, a great college prep & search software that tracks not only the school stats, but also how our high school applicants have fared in the past 3 years if they applied to the school. there are also search tools to input your scores, GPA, & majors to find a match. That has been great, along with the college rep visits to identify other colleges of interest. 

Good luck to your 2018 LHP! We started the college search slowly in his sophomore year to get an idea of what size college he would like to attend, and the questions and considerations for each college have grown deeper with each visit as he understands more and refines what he is looking for and what might make a good fit.

Thanks for this - GREAT thread, on more than GPA  - also about encouraging our kids to excel and work to their potential. so much difference between middle school and high school and even sophomore and junior year. My son has really come into his own with study habits, grades, etc.  Good luck with yours as he approaches HS.

Sadly my son becomes more of an airhead everyday.  But at least he is a well mannered airhead.

That is great.  We also have Naviance at son's school and had parent meeting last week to go over that and other "prepare for college" things for sophomores.  Looking forward to getting more into that as well.  Best of Luck to your son!  My son has started making his wish list and what he is looking for in a school so I think we are at least on the right track.  Always interesting when a 2019 commits without playing a single HS game... but that is for another thread...  Thanks

@CaCO3Girl - moments of airheadedness still in 11th grade! I think it gets worse before it gets better, at least in our case. I have a notebook I kept by my bed to write stuff in when he was 2 and starting to talk. I've fished it out on occasion to write the teen age stuff, some quite hilarious and memorable. hang in there! at least he is a polite airhead!!

@FriarFred - yes, if your son is interested now, at least you are prepared and he is on track, sounds like he is going in a good direction. School ball can be tricky too. Our son did not make it in his Freshman year, but did in Sophomore and played well. travel ball kept him busy through the seasons and not making the team made him want to even more and try harder, so in retrospect I think a good thing. We love Naviance, it's a great tool and lots of information to be had and a good way to organize notes, impressions, college visits, and his "resume," to help with the college app process when that rolls around next year.