Recruiting

Also, thoughts on a school with a bad record, such as 18-34, are those worth considering?

Dadof3,

So it depends on how you define recruiting.  It can be direct which means the college has to follow NCAA definitions and guidelines or it can be indirect such as through a travel or high school coach.  The travel coach typically reaches out to his network of college coaches to let them know he has a guy that he thinks would be a good fit for their program.  My son's travel coach did this for him, and (4) D1 schools ended up offering him a year or more later.  In my experience (years ago), my son's high school freshmen & sophomore class was (initially) overwhelmingly through the travel coach as underclassmen.   As time went by, the indirect recruiting continued but direct recruiting took over for high school sophomores and junior class through camps, showcases, combines, etc...  What it comes down to is where is the event.  If the recruiting is on campus the coaches have few rules to follow.  It is not on campus, the coaches follow NCAA guidelines about contact and follow a specific NCAA timeline.  I posted these in another thread:

NCAA College Bound Athlete Guide - http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/eligib...t_Resources/CBSA.pdf

NCAA Recruiting Calendars - https://www.ncaa.org/sports/20...iting-calendars.aspx

Given the way things are today, I think it is best to go to your travel or high school coach to see who they know and what they think about playing D1 baseball at the low to mid-major level.   There may be other options you've haven't considered as well.   Again, things have changed dramatically over the last couple years.   D1 recruits out of high school seem to be struggling to keep their positions and scholarships.  Asking and getting help is a great way to start this effort so you aren't wasting time and money.

Specific schools are often discussed in a private messages.  I've found it doesn't take too long before someone will offer information in a private setting.

As always, just my opinion and experience.  Good luck!

@Dadof3 posted:

Also, thoughts on a school with a bad record, such as 18-34, are those worth considering?

Does your son want the opportunity to play and turn the program around or does he want to play for a 34-18 team that goes to an NCAA Regional where he is shagging foul balls?   There is no right answer.   That is a question for your son to answer.

My son's answer to that question was that he wanted to play, turn the program around  and win a conference championship.   Look at each school for the combined educational and athletic opportunity not the baseball record the previous year.

Again, JMO.

Broadly and anecdotally, if the mid major or "low" D1 school recruits nationally, as early as Aug 1. If you have schools of interest, hopefully youre following their PG commitment page periodically to get a ballpark idea. I noticed a popular school growing up local to me is still committing 25s. Their '25 class has ballooned to 32, but their situation is very unique, and NOT necessarily a sign o' the times.

Given the way things are today, I think it is best to go to your travel or high school coach to see who they know and what they think about playing D1 baseball at the low to mid-major level. 

Most of the schools son is considering, he has been promoted to by his HS coach.  He is on a new summer team that has a lot of college contacts as well, so that is good.  I was just curious about what to expect maybe??  Our plan is for him to get video in January or so to send to schools he is interested in and then attend prospect camps.  First prospect camp is Jan 20th.

Good question about a winning program versus turning one around.  I just asked him and he did state if the coach thought he could help the school turn the program around he would absolutely consider it.

@Dadof3 posted:

Most of the schools son is considering, he has been promoted to by his HS coach.  He is on a new summer team that has a lot of college contacts as well, so that is good.  I was just curious about what to expect maybe??  Our plan is for him to get video in January or so to send to schools he is interested in and then attend prospect camps.  First prospect camp is Jan 20th.

Good question about a winning program versus turning one around.  I just asked him and he did state if the coach thought he could help the school turn the program around he would absolutely consider it.

That is great start.  I think you can expect interest and they will follow him getting feedback along the way.   Your son's job is turn that interest into serious interest through his development, play, and attitude.  Once your son has a handful of colleges at the serious interest level then he'll have some decisions to make.   At this point, I think he needs to do a lot of listening to the opportunities presented to him.

Parents have a big part in this too by keeping him grounded and focused on the goal.  Potential college athletes are being pulled in so many directions.   As parents, we found my biggest value to be the sounding board and research department.  We were constantly looking and researching programs to see what their potential fit was with our son sometimes without him knowing.   He would come to us with questions, and in almost all cases we had the answers.   

There is a lot more playing opportunity turning a program around.   This was a bedrock foundational element for my son.  He thought he could crack the starting lineup by freshman year at his top 3 choices.   He felt that if he didn't, then college baseball wasn't worth the time investment given that he wanted to be a professional engineer not a professional baseball player.   As you get further down the recruiting road, you may want to bring this question up.   It is a big deal, because getting on a college baseball field at any level is extremely difficult.

Again, JMO.

@GratefulNTXlurker posted:

Broadly and anecdotally, if the mid major or "low" D1 school recruits nationally, as early as Aug 1. If you have schools of interest, hopefully youre following their PG commitment page periodically to get a ballpark idea. I noticed a popular school growing up local to me is still committing 25s. Their '25 class has ballooned to 32, but their situation is very unique, and NOT necessarily a sign o' the times.

Remember, PG commit information is not the single source, also it is self managed.

Secondly, you need to look at the school's website to see if they've published their official signing class, as it will include all recruits.

If it is not available, then you should ask the coach team will it be published.

Thirdly, you need to look at the coaches' annual roster turnover based on his tenure, max of 3 yr look back.

Note, if rhe coach is a new hire, the incoming hs recruiting class is the previous coaches' recruits.

Look at head coach recruiting track record at previous school, either as head coach or recruiting coordinator

New coach would bring in portal players and potential juco players.

If the coach is going into his 2nd year, then look at how many players left and for what reason;

Graduation

Mlb draft

Transferred

Unknown

Check to see how many freshman left.

Is the team overall filled under or upper class.

Look at the history.by position.

Here is a example of southern indiana, chris ramirez was hired July 7th

I do believe, though not 100% sure, any announcement of signees is usually found on social media, by the signee, not necessarily the program itself.

@TPM posted:

I do believe, though not 100% sure, any announcement of signees is usually found on social media, by the signee, not necessarily the program itself.

@tpm you are correct.  Student athletes will state they have verbal committed .As for the actual signing it depends.

Twitter is not the best place for accurate information, additional some use instragram and facebook.

Also, as you are aware, the only factual information would come from the school if they so choose to publish.

A couple of thoughts on the D1 team with the losing record.

First, what are your son's goals for college baseball?  Does he want to be drafted?  Does he want to be on a winning team?  Does he want to push himself and be part of a team, while getting a degree?  Does he want to be a HS baseball coach, or work in baseball in some way?  Does he just love the game of baseball and want to be around it?  And most important, will it cost you a lot of money to achieve any of these things?

Helping turn a team around - would any coach NOT say that to a player?  No coach is going to say "come play with us, we're going to keep losing"  (well, except maybe Caltech).

Coaches of losing teams are often under pressure to turn things around, and today, the way to do that is usually through the portal.  Does your son want to attend 3 schools?  (if not, he should probably go to a D3 or NAIA, where you might have to ask the same question about losing teams).

Good points

@anotherparent posted:

Coaches of losing teams are often under pressure to turn things around, and today, the way to do that is usually through the portal.  Does your son want to attend 3 schools?  (if not, he should probably go to a D3 or NAIA, where you might have to ask the same question about losing teams).

Excellent point!

Dad, a coach saying a player can “help turn the program around” is actually saying nothing to or about that player!

A coach who truly believes that will have seen your son play, know his skills, know his weaknesses, and be able to, with specifics, identify how and over what time period that process will take in the program, conditioned on the player meeting or exceeding getting bigger, stronger and more explosive (amongst other factors).

The portal isn't a bad thing unless the coaches don't do their due diligence. It's easy to pull up a player and watch their performance on video, but that should not be the only means of making a decision.

I often wonder about the players that transfer more than once or twice. What went wrong? Who didn't do their homework, the coach or the player?

Infielddad makes a good point and I agree. If a coach is genuinely interested in a player he will have made every effort to have info on THAT guy, whether on his own or through his staff or someone else, especially if he needs to make improvements on the roster. There are coaches out there who are watching all of the time. And of course that means that the player needs to be seen often enough and be seen by the right people.

It really takes a village to raise a child, and the same goes for college baseball.

JMO

@TPM posted:

The portal isn't a bad thing unless the coaches don't do their due diligence. It's easy to pull up a player and watch their performance on video, but that should not be the only means of making a decision.

Infielddad makes a good point and I agree. If a coach is genuinely interested in a player he will have made every effort to have info on THAT guy, whether on his own or through his staff or someone else, especially if he needs to make improvements on the roster. There are coaches out there who are watching all of the time. And of course that means that the player needs to be seen often enough and be seen by the right people.

It really takes a village to raise a child, and the same goes for college baseball.

great point, I wonder how many coaches/recruiters only look at videos when recruiting?  I’m sure more often than not most people don’t even know a scout is there watching as well.  

Usually, until that coach can legally talk to your son, both of you will never really know who is watching.