Playing College BB w/o Playing HS?

My son gave no HS info when he got his college offers 4 years ago.
All they care about is if you can play. The question is how can they see what you can do ? We used DVDs . You might want to do some showcases but you need to be pro active and contact colleges you are interested in.

Thanks for your thoughts. Its encouraging to hear it can be done without a focus on HS stats. We have been contacting schools. He attended a TPX and will probably go to a Blue Chips showcase in NJ. He was actually scheduled to play in the New Era Tournament this weekend in Buffalo. After much agonizing he decided he wanted to go with his team to the Sr BR regional in PA.

Thanks again.

I agree with Bobblehead 100%. DVD or UTube sites are the best way to let many see you without traveling around the country. There are plenty of kids who played HS ball that never get recruited so it works both ways. Good luck.

Sounds like a difficult situation. i would guess he'll have a tough time trying to go directly to a d1 or d2 school w/o first showing he can play at the JC level. Unless he has a "gun" for an arm, he'll have a tough time getting anything more then a walk-on opportunity at most schools straight from HS.

Either the HS program is among the very best in the nation, or the coach is playing favorites. I cannot think of a single HS team over the 45 years I have been involved in baseball that can afford to cut Div III talent. Even the best teams can find a place for a kid of that caliber.

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He really wants to play college baseball but I don't know how to get around the inevitable questions about why he doesn't play HS. He is 6'2" 190 lbs with a 92 GPA and 1950 SAT. He went to the TPX Top 96 Academic Showcase in Hartford earlier this month and was rated Above Average (assuming they give you an honest evaluation). The HS coach that cut him was nice enought to provide some feedback and said he sees him as a D3 caliber player.

Any thoughts on how to handle this?

Welcome to the hsbbweb jtc!

I am a little surprised you have not gotten more responses. High school performance does not determine whether or not he plays in college. In my opinion, your son has a D1 body and excellent scores. His performance this summer is impressive.

The thing that determines whether or not he can play in college is how he plays when college coaches are watching. There are two methods for guaranteeing that they watch. You can send him to college camps and/or you can send him to showcases such as Perfect Game. The showcase thing is probably the most economical because they generally have more college scouts attending. Some camps invite other colleges to attend as well.

At one of these events, they will measure his 60 yard dash time (D1's look for 7.0 sec or less), his arm strength (D1's look for low to mid 80's from their position), and they will watch him hit especially during bp. If he hits them over the fence on a consistent basis they may look the other way on the speed and/or arm strength. If he shows plus hitting ability, that is certainly going to grab someone's attention. If he shows a plus attitude with decent ability, someone will likely notice him.

The thing is, nobody gets recruited by touting their high school stats. It is all done by what coaches see with their own eyes. Now, if a coach decides he likes your son and gives him a call, he can explain at that time that he got caught in a numbers game at a very large public high school - end of story. He wouldn't be the first one this happened to. Our high school had over 1000 per class and there were some good ball players who never started a varsity game. Some of them went on to have fine college careers and some of them above the d3 level. The juco route might also be an excellent way for your son to achieve his long term baseball and academic goals.

Forget, the D1, D2 + D3 player "issues". That sorts itself out after you make your list.

It seems very unlikely he will play professionally, so "next level" issues shouldn't be a concern.

Make a list of schools he would want to attend, even if he weren't playing baseball, and start to communicate with those coaches.

If your son is a good player someone will want him. And if "playing" (a lot), rather than just being on the team is most important, be very realistic about his chances to step across the line....at any particular school.

Thanks so much for all your responses and advice. We will use these ideas over the next few months to start reaching out to some coaches and will be realistic about where he might fit. We're off to the Senior Babe Ruth 16-18 Mid-Atlantic Regional outside Philadelphia this weekend.