Post Camp (Showball but any camp would be same) follow ups?

This is based on our 2018 experience, so post-pandemic and transfer portal, it may not apply.  The HA recruiting process is a game of musical chairs in which coaches are making ranked lists of players they like, and trying to get a sense of which players are seriously interested in them.  They will show solid interest as soon as they have it, but will firm up their lists in early-mid August.  There are so many Stanford/Headfirst/Showball sessions for them to get through.

Figuring out what a coach means is like reading tea leaves, never mind the fact that they all do it differently.  Very solid interest is when they ask for transcripts to do pre-reads, and invite for a campus visit in the fall.  There is such a thing as "you don't need to come to our camp", but saying "come to our camp" can mean they are interested, too.  Some send out a fairly generic "come to our camp" email after HF/SB, but if you show actual interest, they will respond personally.  So, reply right away to those that are of interest.

It can't hurt to write to a coach he talked to at SB.  In the worst case, you will hear nothing back.  Or, you may hear nothing until July or August.  If it's a polite email, then no harm, no foul, right?

I'm not sure that writing to a school whose coach you thought was paying attention is going to get you far, but you never know.  You've reminded me that when we were at HF, I remember some coach wildly gesturing to another one when my son was batting.  I didn't have the sense to figure out what schools they were, I've always wondered, in hindsight.

HA is a different animal. We got no interest until we made a 1 day visit to Dartmouth. They will not even let you visit without a pre admit review because they do not want u wasting their time.

But after the visit the other ivy's  called and talked to travel coaches etc. Lots of parents in line to meet the coach and try to get their kid in.

We were pulled out of line by ass. coach and told that he was the number 1 pick for them and no need to stand in line.

Funny how a plus 90 FB  makes your test scores rise!

@LousyLefty Your son's point is a valid one (if a school really wants you, you will know), but if there are schools he's interested in that have not been in touch within 1 week after camp, I'd take the initiative and shoot the coaching staff a note.

These guys have a million things going on and are probably halfway to another camp/showcase/tournament already.

Particularly at these HA schools, coaches want to feel like you're recruiting them as much as they're recruiting you.

I would have him follow up with an email to anyone he had a direct conversation with with even if he's not interested.

If he has interest in any of the schools there and they showed any interest at all he should follow up with them especially in this environment.

For HA, I recommend he send emails to any schools at the camp that he is interested in even if they didn’t reach out to him and mention he was there, and include his stats, both baseball and academic.   HAs have a tough situation with needing to line up baseball chops with academic chops and also with financial situation and ability to pay private tuition (in many cases). You never know where/how the stars align.  

It also occurred to me that one thing that happens in HA recruiting is that D3s are waiting for Ivy recruiting to finish, and go after players not picked up by an Ivy or other D1.  In a normal year, that's late July.

I agree with NYCDAD re: keeping in contact with schools you're kid has no interest in.  My kid has politely informed them of his conference interest and they were cool with it. The circle is smaller than we think so it is better to be polite and be honest with them.

My son attended Showball fall 2019. He had reached out to his target schools before going and made sure to introduce himself to all the coaches he had reached out to at the camp. He had a mix of folks reaching out to him afterwards. He also reached out to his top target schools and was able to continue the conversation with them even though they had not reached out to him after the camp. The serious HCs reached out and they were looking for test scores and transcripts. He was a Junior that fall. It was clear that for the HAs they wanted to do a quick vet on the academic side to see if it was even a fit. From there it went to Junior visit days...which hopefully are coming back for the kids and then to pre-reads. I agree that there is a pecking order with the Ivy League schools ahead of the D3 HAs, but I think that is only for clear D1 talent. I have seen more and more kids announce commits to HAs much earlier last year and this year but they seem to be the ones that know D1/HA is not going to happen. I also think it is very important to show a real interest in the school. They want to know you want to be there. Going to the camps if you can, visiting the campus etc.