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We see them all the time - mostly on Twitter. Was taking to a player today and his response on such posts was "Nobody any good gets seen that way. Show me five 2022s or 2021s who are committed because someone saw a video clip of them on Twitter."

This true? Is sharing videos on social media a waste of time?

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Smitty28 posted:

Any recruiting plan should have a list of target schools that are a possible athletic, academic and financial fit.  How does spamming on social media help reach these schools?

It can help if you have a lot of RCs following you.  They know everyone is seeing the same thing.  A kid from our state was an unknown in July, now all of this videos have 15-40k views. Someone watches.

Last edited by baseballhs
baseballhs posted:
Smitty28 posted:

Any recruiting plan should have a list of target schools that are a possible athletic, academic and financial fit.  How does spamming on social media help reach these schools?

It can help if you have a lot of RCs following you.  They know everyone is seeing the same thing.  A kid from our state was an unknown in July, now all of this videos have 15-40k views. Someone watches.

He has also been clocked at 100 mph. That has a lot more to do with it than anything else. 

baseballhs posted:
Smitty28 posted:

Any recruiting plan should have a list of target schools that are a possible athletic, academic and financial fit.  How does spamming on social media help reach these schools?

It can help if you have a lot of RCs following you.  They know everyone is seeing the same thing.  A kid from our state was an unknown in July, now all of this videos have 15-40k views. Someone watches.

But is that really what you want, "some RCs" following?  Are they on your targeted list?  Maybe, but why not DM them directly, or email.  I agree it won't hurt, but it posting things on social media shouldn't give anyone a sense of progress towards a goal.

Smitty28 posted:
baseballhs posted:
Smitty28 posted:

Any recruiting plan should have a list of target schools that are a possible athletic, academic and financial fit.  How does spamming on social media help reach these schools?

It can help if you have a lot of RCs following you.  They know everyone is seeing the same thing.  A kid from our state was an unknown in July, now all of this videos have 15-40k views. Someone watches.

But is that really what you want, "some RCs" following?  Are they on your targeted list?  Maybe, but why not DM them directly, or email.  I agree it won't hurt, but it posting things on social media shouldn't give anyone a sense of progress towards a goal.

Every school that talked to my son during recruitment started following him on Twitter.  You don’t want to spam coaches non stop but if they see your videos, you stay on their mind... at least that was our thought process.

baseballhs posted:

Totally agree but he was 94-96 at the end of summer and it has 46k views.  He said he was told no one good gets seen... good and getting seen

Kids are told a lot of things. Anyone throwing 96 doesn’t need to post on social media to be seen. Videos that are posted on Twitter by a 3rd party carry s lot more weight than anything posted by a player or his parent. 

The short answer - I'm sure in a few cases it has done some good, but if we're being honest it doesn't really matter. 

They are only useful if flat ground, pbr, pg, etc are retweeting them. If you were to share a video and some random local baseball guy retweeted it - great...now what? Flatground retweets your video and maybe some coaches watch it while they're on the John passing time. Maybe they put your son's name on a list, maybe the keep scrolling, maybe they never see it. 

If you want your footage to be seen, create a YouTube account with only baseball videos and include the link in your emails to coaches. 

Last edited by PABaseball
PABaseball posted:

The short answer - I'm sure in a few cases it has done some good, but if we're being honest it doesn't really matter. 

They are only useful if flat ground, pbr, pg, etc are retweeting them.

Agree with this...I posted some "Dad" videos and they were rarely viewed.  PBR posted something about my son at a showcase and his travel coach was getting called about it that night.

In the current economic situation, I'm going to assume that many people will not be able to afford showcases and travel this summer, and next, even assuming summer baseball gets going again.  If your business got shut down or you were out of work for 2-3 months, spending $$ for a PBR or PG showcase just may not be in the cards, likewise paying for hotels at tournaments. 

Maybe online and social media video  are going to become more popular (even if not more credible) because of this?  I'd guess that travel organizations  (which are already paid for - although I'm sure that's another can of worms) and creditable instructors are going to be pushing video out much more, in addition to 3rd-party like PBR, ProspectWire, and PG.

A few years ago, the (now-former) Yale RC put instructions on how to video someone running a 60 on a football field, said he could time it himself, so no need to put a stopwatch in the frame.

Hi-  I'm Rob Friedman/PitchingNinja.  

I founded FlatGround.  

This is what college coaches have said in just the last couple of days:

https://twitter.com/Flatground...786115565817859?s=20

https://twitter.com/PitchingNi...569166730788864?s=20

https://twitter.com/J_Sudds46/...590845976465409?s=20

Literally hundreds of players have gotten college offers from FlatGround.  Well over 40 players have also been picked up by affiliated organizations in the last year too from FlatGround.   Don't take my word for it.  Do your own searches on Google or Twitter to see.

It's free.  I make nothing from it other than the good feeling of helping kids reach their dreams and not fall through the cracks.   I hear from College coaches and Pro coaches/scouts all the time re successes.

Not sure why any player wouldn't use this resource.  Literally no strings attached, free exposure.  Worst thing that happens is no one contacts you.  Best thing that happens is you get offers or interest.   It takes 5 minutes to put up a good video and relevant information that might interest a coach or scout.

FlatGround posted:

Hi-  I'm Rob Friedman/PitchingNinja.  

I founded FlatGround.  

This is what college coaches have said in just the last couple of days:

https://twitter.com/Flatground...786115565817859?s=20

https://twitter.com/PitchingNi...569166730788864?s=20

https://twitter.com/J_Sudds46/...590845976465409?s=20

Literally hundreds of players have gotten college offers from FlatGround.  Well over 40 players have also been picked up by affiliated organizations in the last year too from FlatGround.   Don't take my word for it.  Do your own searches on Google or Twitter to see.

It's free.  I make nothing from it other than the good feeling of helping kids reach their dreams and not fall through the cracks.   I hear from College coaches and Pro coaches/scouts all the time re successes.

Not sure why any player wouldn't use this resource.  Literally no strings attached, free exposure.  Worst thing that happens is no one contacts you.  Best thing that happens is you get offers or interest.   It takes 5 minutes to put up a good video and relevant information that might interest a coach or scout.

I think the issue is that some kids and travel coaches think "Just be good and they will find you. If you hit 7 homerun in your 20 game HS season, people will want to know who you are and will come after you and you don't have to worry about showcases, camps and videos."

[I don't agree with it. Just sharing what I have heard and seen.]

Francis7 posted:

I think the issue is that some kids and travel coaches think "Just be good and they will find you. If you hit 7 homerun in your 20 game HS season, people will want to know who you are and will come after you and you don't have to worry about showcases, camps and videos."

[I don't agree with it. Just sharing what I have heard and seen.]

There's one caveat to this.  Someone still has to see you and make the phone calls.   Son's senior year (2012) a fellow teammate was throwing mid-90's.   He was tall (6' 4"), lanky and could really turn it loose.   His legion coach had some contacts with the Atlanta Braves and soon various MLB scouts started turning up at games that he pitched.  This kid was eventually drafted in the 6th round by the Rays straight out of HS.   Without those contacts, I sincerely doubt he would have ever been drafted and the offer made.  (He did sign with the Rays.).   Prior to that he only had interest from one major university (Liberty) and one JuCo.

FlatGround posted:

Francis7 that statement definitely is not true.  Players should to take charge of their careers, rather than just hoping to be found...and risk falling through the cracks or settling.  Especially with it being both easy and free.   

Not sure it's even debatable.

 

The “if you are good enough they will find you” statement is definitely not true. But kids are told this all the time - mostly by HS coaches - and it’s evidence of the huge disconnect between HS baseball and summer travel ball. Over the past 15 years or so the emphasis has shifted from HS to travel ball. Many HS coaches resent this and they flex their muscles in various ways as a response. College recruiting doesn’t go thru the HS HC anymore either the way it used to and many HS coaches don’t like this either. Because of all this most HS HCs don’t do all the things that the really good HS coaches used to do. Like stay late and help a kid after practice or make calls to help a player get recruited That is travel ball stuff now. Some old school HS coaches haven’t accepted the change and hence you get statements from them like “if you are good enough they will find you. I don’t want to hear about you wanting to go to showcases and tournaments in the fall.” Those were the exact words I heard from  the HS coach at the first booster club meeting during my son’s Sophomore year. Unbelievable. 

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