I'm a left handed 1st baseman at my high school. My batting is good and so is my fielding especially cause i have an advantage as i am left handed.What are my chances that I'll be seen??
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I think a lot of that depends on you. What grade are you in? Will you be playing for a summer travel team? Have you marketed yourself to any schools? What are you doing to get yourself noticed?
Good luck in your journey.
I'm in 10th grade. Im thinking about joining a summer team. But when it comes to promoting myself I don't know where to start!
Heres the thing, if no one sees you it doesnt matter how good you are. Step one, complete. That is you are here, so you will get help and advice from people that know. Get to a PG event no matter what. You can see what serious scouts and evaluatiors think of you. Then you have a basis to get on a solid summer team that plays in the SUMMER WOOD BAT CHAMPIONSHIP in East Cobb. I put it in caps because it is that important to go if you want to be recruited nationaly Then you should go to the fall wood bat championships in JUPITER. PG puts teams together if you cant get on a fall team that goes. Darn mear every scout on the planet is there. Contact the coaches from schools you can realistically play at and you can provide your PG report and you schedual at these big tourneys so they can come see you. Ask them where they will be as far as scouting tourneys in their area, and you can compair your summer schedual with that. KEEP YOUR GRADES UP!! You will be surprised how improtant this is. They have a little room, but not a lot for most players. This is just a start, and it is a grind and can be discouraging, but keep at it, be realistic, and find somewhere you can play and be happy. Not everyone plays at Florida or LSU, but there are plenty of opportunities out there for all different types of players. Good Luck
Why don't you talk to your high school coach or teammates. Your coach may know of a summer team. Your teammates may be able to help you locate a summer team. Then most summer coaches will help you from there.
But aside from that, work on your skills, you have plenty of time.
what area of the coutry are you in?
I'm located in southern Maryland.
Go to the top and click on HSbaseballweb.com. You will find a recruiting timeline.
Joining a summer team is important going into your junior year, the most important thing is to get playing time, that is what makes you better. Check out college camps as well, they can be very affordable and give you an idea of your skills, if they give evaluations.
Sit down with your folks and tell them that you would like to play baseball in college and help you to formulate a plan and make sure they are on the same page as you. All of those things mentioned here are great but not everyone can afford to do them.
Do well in school, this could be the key to scholarship opportunities later on.
Originally Posted by Crews:
I'm located in southern Maryland.
In the summer possibly after soph year and definitely after junior year do the Atlantic 100 showcase in Philadelphia. If you are a top student do Head First on Long Island. If you are good enough to get a pro scout reference do Select Fest in New Jersey. These are all individual showcases.
Attend college games at all three levels. Ask yourself honestly where you believe you can play. Soph year make a list of about fifty schools you believe to be an academic, social and baseball fit. Email the coach of each expressing interest. Ask what showcases they attend where they can see your skills. If they invite you to camps make sure it's a prospect camp and not just an instructional camp (used to raise money for their spring trip).
Most quality travel programs have tryouts in the fall or winter. Start finding out now who they are for the future. One top ones in Maryland I'm aware of is the Blue Jays. They usually grap the top players from Calvert.
Are you capable of playing another position? Colleges don't usually recruit first basemen unless they are mashers and look like the prototypical first baseman (big). Otherwise they place their best hitter without a position at first.
Great post RJM but an exception to the "never a first baseman" rule of recruiting exists for left handers. It would be much better if the poster could also play the outfield.
Agreement with TPM to make sure you and folks get on same page . It may seem a bit daunting, but a lot of us have been through it and survived. Work hard and things will work out. Good luck.
This is a good image that I found on Pinterest that shows you what your chances of playing baseball at every level are: