Recruiting plan for high academic D3

This coming summer will be huge for recruiting the 2024 class.  Check out the Arizona Fall Classic https://azfallclassic.com

Your plan sounds good.  A key element for my 2021 who ended up at an HA D3 was sending out recruiting emails with video to the various schools he was interested in

You can quickly tell if you are fishing in the right pond based on the responses you get (come to our camp vs when is a good time for a coach to call you?)

The schools that were serious about my son started calling him on a regular basis, invited him to visit campus, and made it clear they would help him get through admissions especially if he applied early decision

He ended up applying early decision at the school that wanted him most, and was the best overall fit for him, and received a substantial academic scholarship

He never attended any of the camps you mentioned, but many many players have been successful going that route

@NotABaseballGuy posted:

. But it’s April and I have the sense from reading this site that it might still be early for high academic schools to be putting a lot of effort into recruiting the 2024 HS class

Teams are the middle of their season right now, trying to win their conference and/or qualify for the conference tournament, with hopes of making the NCAA tournament.  Not much recruiting at all happens in April, other than the top flight pitching recruits getting their weekly phone calls

This will change on a dime as soon as teams get eliminated from the postseason, which begins in early May.  Be ready, because everything accelerates with recruiting in May & June

Sounds like you have a good feel for the situation.  Yes, the Pacific Northwest is not a high target area for D3 HA schools, so you need to take the "show" on the road.   I do like @3and2Fastball's idea of checking out the AZ Classic.  I know quite a few people that have had recruiting success there, although my son never attended.

My son's travel and high school coaches didn't have relationships with D1 or D3 HA schools either.  That shouldn't deter you.   What matters is will they help you and support you if called upon.   College baseball recruiting is a puzzle.  You've got figure out the fit for you.  We spent considerable time and resources trying to find the best baseball program and then bolting on academic fit.  For us, this was the wrong approach.   We got far better results matching the academic fit and then bolting on the baseball.  So with that in mind, I think you need to discuss your son's academic metrics when considering HA schools as well.  It is usually the first question a recruiting coach will  ask in email/phone/in-person.   You've shared athletic/baseball metrics which is fine, but keep in mind you need academic metrics to get the coaches attention and then baseball metrics to keep his attention.   Some of these coaches have a very difficult job, and they have to recruit nationally to get the combination of academic/athletic skills that will make it through Admissions.  Making sure you have both covered makes their job easier.

JMO. 

Claremont Mudd Scripps has a history of recruiting in the PNW. Check their rosters.  Pomona Pitzer too, but not as heavily.   Same with other SCIAC schools that are not quite as HA.  Hopefully, they'll be represented at the events you mentioned.

Completely agree with Fenway, especially the part that travel coaches can contact college coaches even if they don't know them personally.  Sit down with your son's coaches now, explain what your son wants, and make a plan.  Ours had no idea what Headfirst was, but when we explained, they were supportive.

Where is his travel team playing?

If you are looking at very selective HA schools, their timeline is usually:  by the end of summer, have a list of top prospects and bring them on campus visits, leading to commitment to apply Early Decision by the end of October.  AZ Fall Classic is late on that timeline for a senior.  It's fine if you plan to apply Regular Decision at schools where your son will have no difficulty being admitted.

It's true that excellent metrics will attract longer looks at showcases.  Have him practice running the 60 on a football field to see what works for him, don't have him go into the showcases cold.  For a catcher, that metric may not matter - what's his pop time?  And, what is he doing on all those PAs that don't result in strikeouts?

https://community.hsbaseballwe...22#75784881013468922

This is one of the main things we've been wondering about. Very helpful.

@3and2Fastball posted:

Not much recruiting at all happens in April, other than the top flight pitching recruits getting their weekly phone calls

This will change on a dime as soon as teams get eliminated from the postseason, which begins in early May.  

This is one of the main things we've been wondering about. Very helpful.

@fenwaysouth posted:

I think you need to discuss your son's academic metrics when considering HA schools as well.  It is usually the first question a recruiting coach will  ask in email/phone/in-person.   

He leads with academics in his introductory email (3.95 unweighted / 1340 SAT). With so many schools being test optional these days, we've been wondering about whether he should provide his SAT score to the coaches. Current leaning is that he should. Presumably, if the score is a problem, the coach will either ask him to take it again or just tell him to apply without the test score. LMK if anyone disagrees with this.

@anotherparent posted:

Where is his travel team playing?

His travel team does actually travel that frequently or that far away. They were at a PG tournament in AZ in January. They're traveling to Spokane in July. But the vast majority of their games are in Western Washington. And I don't expect to see any of his prospective coaches on the bleachers.

@anotherparent posted:

- what's his pop time?  And, what is he doing on all those PAs that don't result in strikeouts?

He hasn't attended an event that officially records pop times. I asked Headfirst (he attended last year) for his pop time. They didn't have it but reached out to a coach that was there and reported back to me that it was in the range of 2.35 - 2.47. I have no idea how that compares to what a high academic D3 coach would typically have in a catcher.

I'm not sure how to answer that second question about the other 35 PAs:  C% = 90. BB = 7. HBP = 1. OPS = .881 (this is actually understated because the team's manager (high school kid) is new to scorekeeping and doesn't distinguish between sacrifice flies and flyouts). They're all flyouts to her.

@3and2Fastball posted:

The schools that were serious about my son started calling him on a regular basis, invited him to visit campus,

Would you mind sharing approximately how many schools your 2021 reached out to by email? Another thing I've been wondering about is how widespread the outreach should be in advance of the showcases that he is attending. Any recommendations for how many schools is too many or too few? Many thanks...

@NotABaseballGuy posted:

He leads with academics in his introductory email (3.95 unweighted / 1340 SAT). With so many schools being test optional these days, we've been wondering about whether he should provide his SAT score to the coaches. Current leaning is that he should. Presumably, if the score is a problem, the coach will either ask him to take it again or just tell him to apply without the test score. LMK if anyone disagrees with this.

Your perspective is right. Our son's coach asked for it prior to pre-read in summer before his senior year and ultimately told him that he didn't need to report it when applying ED1.  I don't know how far East your son would go, but there are a number of HA D3 schools in the midwest.  

Video and email will serve him well until this summer, and then a good performance at either Snowball, Headfirst, or both will do him some good.  Best of luck!  Our son's experience at D3 has been good and the quality of baseball has been better than we expected.  

@NotABaseballGuy posted:

Would you mind sharing approximately how many schools your 2021 reached out to by email? Another thing I've been wondering about is how widespread the outreach should be in advance of the showcases that he is attending. Any recommendations for how many schools is too many or too few? Many thanks...

My perspective, send out messages and video to as many programs as he's interested in attending plus some that are on the bubble.  You have to start out with a big pool before the coaches and you shrink it down.  

I would say that our son, conservatively, reached out to 30 HA programs to start.  Other posters have mentioned the time of year we're in, so be patient, contact should pick back up in June and real interest should begin this summer or early fall.  

JMO

Lots of good info here. FYI, test optional will not apply to recruited athletes at some of the top academic schools. A coach of a "test blind" school needed my son's SAT to get him through an admissions pre-read. He should absolutely provide that, IMO. He has a strong score that will get him in the door with most of the HA D3's. You can PM and I'll give you specifics on what some of the schools will be looking for.

Have you considered doing the Chicago Showball? It is early in the summer and will get him on radars sooner. This may give you a better idea of which camps/visits to spend money on. My son did the June SB and finished with the August SB. He was able to gain interest from all of his targets early, then updated them as the summer went on. He had a few who wanted to see him one more time in August if possible. The August SB resulted in a bunch of coaches inviting him to campus for a visit (not camps).

Please don't take this the wrong way, but I've never heard a college coach say a kid has a good eye at the plate or good plate discipline. I would find other things to highlight in his messaging.

@TerribleBPthrower posted:

Have you considered doing the Chicago Showball?

Please don't take this the wrong way, but I've never heard a college coach say a kid has a good eye at the plate or good plate discipline. I would find other things to highlight in his messaging.

Chicago would have been ideal, but he has a conflict with a school trip.

Interesting comment about plate discipline. I've been wondering how much emphasis to put on that. Why is plate discipline not a strong selling point? As my user name reveals, I didn't play ball and can't rely on my own experience here. The S2 Cognition ads on the D1 Baseball podcast would seem to suggest that it matters. But I really don't know.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but I've never heard a college coach say a kid has a good eye at the plate or good plate discipline.

My son started playing 17u the summer after soph year. The coaching staff repeatedly told him, “You have a great eye. Now start swinging the bat aggressively. You get to the next level by driving the ball hard.”

NOTBaseballGuy:

Have you considered the U of British Columbia? https://gothunderbirds.ca/spor...13/overview-baseball. Rated #35 in World Universities.

The Coach, Chris Pritchett is a former MLB, Goodwill Series, Area Code and UCLA player. A "short" commute on the ferry boat.

Bob

@RJM posted:

Please don't take this the wrong way, but I've never heard a college coach say a kid has a good eye at the plate or good plate discipline.

My son started playing 17u the summer after soph year. The coaching staff repeatedly told him, “You have a great eye. Now start swinging the bat aggressively. You get to the next level by driving the ball hard.”

My son's hitting coach was talking to a kid about a showcase he was about to attend and gave him this advice.

"spend the first round of hitting driving the ball consistently to right center, show them you can consistently barrel the ball, then next round every time you get something middle in- turn on it and show them you can hit with power. If you can't hit the ball consistently, how far you hit it doesn't much matter."

My experience now watching games in and around New England  (D3), it's 75% small ball focused and 25% big inning focus.  So hitting for average is still a very desirable thing, but there is no metric you can provide that a coach will pay attention to or trust that shows that.  As a catcher, he will have to be able to hit and show it.  Also, D3 coaches like flexibility and you will want your son to play other positions well, as there are typically 4-5 catchers on a D3 team, if he wants to play, he needs to hit and be able to get on the field somewhere else as well.

The reason hitting stats provided to a recruiting coach mean little to nothing to them is because he doesn't know the level of competition you face,  hitting .500 against kids who can't muster greater than 80mph vs a kid who hits .270 in the top high school league in the country are vastly different.  But exit velo is at least comparable, if not ignoring all the other important elements of hitting a ball.  A coach will know more about whether you can hit or not by your video.

@Consultant posted:

NOTBaseballGuy:

Have you considered the U of British Columbia?

Interesting. I did not know that Canadian universities played intercollegiate sports. Looks like they're mostly competing against US D1 and D2 schools. So, might be out of my kid's league. But we'll look into it.