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We had our last district away game on Tuesday.  I get there early and get my seat by the fence close to the dugout (I'm the pitch count guy).  About 10 minutes before game time up walks a youngish looking guy all dressed out in colors of the local D1 school and holding a notebook.  Doesn't take long before the resident expert dad on our team sidles up to him and starts a conversation.  Starts talking up his kid, yadda, yadda, yadda.  Just from listening to the kid, you can tell that he's yanking this guys chain about being a "student recruiter", since "coaches have to coach on Tuesdays" in D1, but he falls for it hook line and sinker. 

Eventually the kid walks off.  Dad starts telling me about the kids on the opposing team that D1 school is looking at AND "they've heard good things about his son" (who is a senior).

Know it all's wife and a few other parents come up to me about the 4th or 5th inning talking about the D1 guy that was here recruiting................and I say "the one sitting in the middle of their student section right now".

I'm guessing it's a bit they pull every home game.  I'll give him/them credit, funny stuff.

There are 2 seniors at our local 6A Texas HS that have gone under recruited (for a number of reasons). The families of these 2 players have asked me to help them find a place to play college ball so I have been attending a lot of games this spring. I sit in the visiting team fan section to avoid conversations I don’t want to have as this particular HS is notorious for obnoxious, over involved parents that are experts on baseball. After a game a couple weeks ago I got a call from the grandfather of one of the players I’m helping. He sits in the home team parent section and was calling to tell me that a bunch of parents were talking about me during the game - which isn’t unusual, but what was unusual was the topic of their conversation. According to these 6 parents I am a pro scout that was in attendance to evaluate their sons b/c the MLB draft was coming up soon. I mean, what a joke of a take !  I’m well known as a baseball guy in our community but it’s also well know that Im not a MLB scout. And for those parents to believe that any player on that field would attract the attention of a MLB scout goes to show how delusional some parents are about their kids’ abilities. There are 4 or 5 good JuCo prospects on that team but nothing beyond that. When it comes to HS baseball so many people just believe what they WANT to be the truth.

Most parents don’t have a clue about the talent outside what they see at their kid’s games.

A parent asked if my son dominated his travel games like he dominated high school games. He was shocked when I responded he fit in. He was no better or worse than anyone. Sometimes he was the man. Other games it’s someone else. Everyone in the team went P5 except for the kid who chose an Ivy over an HA P5 and the kid who was dumber than a bag of rocks who went to a ranked JuCo.

Last edited by RJM

Most of the “D1” commits I have seen in the North Texas area this spring are in for a rude awakening. They are very good players but not SEC/Big12  good. Not yet anyway. Many of them couldn’t get on the field in NJCAA Region 5. However, some of them will get the chance after their D1 dream school sends them packing. If anyone in Texas has never seen the JuCo baseball that’s played here please go to some games. There are 3 programs in Texas that are nationally ranked almost every year. You can bet on it. The product that’s put on the field at McLennan, San Jacinto & Grayson will blow your mind the first time you see it. Behind those 3 are 20 or so more programs that can also be very good on any given year. These programs are located all over the state so unless you live in the Rio Grande Valley you won’t have to travel very far to see a good team. Region Tournaments are coming up in May - Region 5 in Midland & Region 14 (probably in Houston). Do yourself a favor and catch a game or two. It’s eye opening!  

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