Playing time at a DI College? What does showcasing cost?

Make sure he throws 90,runs like the wind and is 6'4" and the travel teams and recruiters will come to you. Seriously, youth baseball and recruiting can be expensive for parents. Choose the teams which give the best exposure, the tournaments with the most impact, and the college camps where the fit is the best. Talk to other parents who have done it. Some are well off, some have made sacrifices, some have enjoyed the journey whatever the cost because it gave them priceless time to see their boy develop. I am not sure it is a good undertaking for an accountant.

The first step is to assess the level of your son's desire for collegiate baseball, and also to get an objective assessment of his capabilities.

We talk a lot here about the D-1 scholarship path. That's on a lot of parents' minds, partly for financial reasons and partly because everyone wants to compete and see how far they can get.

There are players who do none of the travel ball and end up being "discovered", maybe by a local college that gets bird-dogged to him and comes to see a few HS or Legion games. That still happens every year. It's just more of a c r a p shoot if you're really determined to play D-1.

On the other hand, if you would be perfectly happy with D-III (and there are many perfectly good reasons why you might be), or if you fear you might miss the boat on D-I for whatever reasons, in general we see the D-III coaches watching local games all spring with their eyes on seniors. So yes, you can absolutely get that done without travel or spending.

I would still suggest that travel ball is adviseable to develop your game and even to enhance exposure to the D-III's, but if you truly cannot afford it, you don't have to give up hope just because you skipped the travel circuit.

The one caveat is that very few of your D-III's are state supported, so heading that route can be pretty expensive in its own right. Christopher Newport and Mary Washington would be your main state-supported D-III options -- am I forgetting others?

I agree with everything Midlo Dad said.

Since your son is a pitcher, I'll add that you might be able to cut a few corners and still get the attention he needs. If you let the travel coach know the limits to your time and money, he may be willing to work with you to help pick which events and sometimes even which days of those events he needs your son to be available. That's the route we took, and the coach was very accommodating. Turns out he didn't want a lot of idle pitchers and their parents hanging around anyway.

I will say that I didn't get as good a suntan as the parents of position and two-way players did.

You're getting some excellent feedback from brod, MidloDad and Swampboy, and it is only your 4th post! Probably the most important thing to do is assess the level of your son's play and desire as MidloDad suggests. That is the place to start.

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Looking at the forums there seems to be a big emphasis on playing baseball for DI baseball programs.

Yes, alot of attention is focused on the D1s because most everybody knows about them, most have athletic scholarship $$, and lets face it they are s-e-x-y because of the higher level of competition. As I've gotten to know HSBBWEB better, you will find players and parents at all levels. THere is a recent HSBBWEB thread that is specific to Junior College recruiting. I didn't know much about it until I read through it. That is what is fantastic about this website. In some cases, you can find someone who has "walked in your shoes" on this site no matter what level or situation. We got a lot of help in our recruiting efforts from total strangers that helped guide us to where my son is today.

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Just curious does anyone have an idea how much playing time all these players expect to get as a freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors at the DI level programs? Is it better to play at a DII or DIII baseball program where you can get more playing time?

Everybody's situation is different. I think most players expect it to be difficult, but then find out it is extremely difficult at ANY level. I've heard a few freshmen college players (that I know) recently comment that the coach that recruited them is not the same coach running the program....implyling that he somehow changed when they stepped on the baseball field this Fall. Coaches are demanding. Also, don't forget to factor in your major when considering a top level D1 baseball program.

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When you look at the total cost for team fees, uniforms, hotel and travel expenses you are looking at $6,000 plus per year. Is there a cheaper way to get you son noticed by colleges for baseball?

There probably is a cheaper way, but you won't know it until after you've been down your path to college baseball recruitment. There are a bunch of things we could have done differently, but I don't think it would have changed much. A lot of recruiting is exposure. There are only a few ways coaches recruit these days. Travel teams, showcases and camps are the most common. They all cost money in most cases. As Brod suggested, talk to other parents who have done it, and find the best team that gives you the exposure you are looking for. Go into it with your eyes open and don't expect this to be a positive return on investment proposition. Good luck.

pick some of the schools you are interested in and go to there camps, show them what you got. If you can play show them and stay in touch with them but be realistic if you are a lower D1 then focus on those schools. They will see you kid take 50-75 cuts and countless grounders and 40-50 pitches off the mound. They can really get a good idea of the talent, they are professionals. Start as a freshman and stay in touch with them. If there is interest they will let you know and don't be surprised when they show up at the high school game. It is not necessary to do the show case circuit but it will help with exposure. Showcase or show me the money has its place but it can be costly and sometimes not necessary. There is more than one way to skin a cat. Some cases the parents are mislead or believe that if there child is playing with a showcase team then they must be a D1 prospect when all along the showcase team/coach knows he has no chance playing at the level/school and just won't say, they believe that they are giving the kid a chance forget about the cost when all along they know he is a D3 player and just focus at that level. Be careful and get some honest real advice. Most D1 coaches when pressed will be let you know the possibilites, sometimes the truth hurts. If the kid wants to play in college there is a school for every player, just gotta find the right fit. Good luck. Midlo Dad's group will give honest assesments of the talent level

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Some cases the parents are mislead or believe that if there child is playing with a showcase team then they must be a D1 prospect when all along the showcase team/coach knows he has no chance playing at the level/school and just won't say, they believe that they are giving the kid a chance forget about the cost when all along they know he is a D3 player and just focus at that level.

Regrettably this does happen. But some times it works in the other direction. A kid can show great promise and seem "projectable", a travel coach/team can get interested and try to bring him along, and then sometimes the player just doesn't develop or perform as hoped.

People do tend to think that if they land with a top travel team, they will get to their goals, it's just a matter of sorting out the offers. But it just ain't so. Ultimately, you have to seize your opportunities and go out there every day and knock the scouts' socks off.

There are lots of reasons why that might not happen. Slumps. Injuries. Partying. Loss of competitive desire. Or maybe, that entitlement mentality that leads to laziness, until someone else beats you out and then it's too late.

So yes, it might be the coaches. But then again, it might not be. Any kid is well advised to remember this at all times: The most anyone else can do for you is to provide an opportunity. What you do with that is up to you.