I don't believe that most recrutiing services can do a single thing that families cannot do for themselves. Players can write letters and send a video to any school they choose and, in today's baseball world, usually attend a showcase camp offered by the program. There is no substitute for playing on a good team that travels to the showcase events offered by Perfect Game and other solid tournaments. A player on my son's summer team is heading to Rowen because he was seen by the coach in Rhode Island. It's not difficult to write to a coach and express interest in joining a program. Invariably a player information form will be mailed from the staff and then you are on their radar. Now you have to go where they are anyway, but at least you're on their list when you get there. I'm sure, like in every situation, that there are some individuals who can derive some advantage by utilizing a service, but for most the road of high level travel and showcase baseball will yield the best results.
There are always exceptions to the rule.
I think the individual Coach Merc and others have described really more closely describes an advisor than a recruiting service. Only this advisor is more concerned with college than pro. That is another topic.
Is it within the rules to mention names of companies or individuals in topics like this one?
Often I read comments that hint or refer to certain things that would leave readers confused as to who or what is being talked about. For example Coach Merc’s post regarding the player who is small DIII going to a big event in Florida run by a very reputable showcase company.
We of course know the individual who has worked with Coach Merc and others. He really does work hard to help these kids. He does enter teams in our tournaments as do many others who do a great job of promoting their players. He does try to get his best players into our best events. He argues with us when he thinks his kids are being slighted in the rankings. He calls us constantly promoting his players almost to the point that he’s a pest.
If I still had a son in high school… He is a guy I’d definitely want on my son’s side. We just don’t think of him as a “recruiting service”. He does too much to be labeled a “recruiting service”. This is a guy who scouts and promotes and goes to battle for these kids. He doesn’t do it with flyers, emails or websites. He works in person and on the phone. I have no idea what he charges… never cared… never asked him!
That said I think there are others who do the same thing but are not considered “recruiting services”. Many of these people run programs throughout the country and promote their players unbelievably. These people have outstanding reputations with college recruiters and MLB scouts. If I had time I could name a large number of them who do a great job of helping their players get maximum exposure. Of course, I then would forget to mention many of them, which would be unfair. In what we do, these people are important because we work together. Most of these people are not associated with “recruiting services” they do much more for their players. Many of them work for peanuts, some actually spend much more than they make. Most of them do it for the “right reasons”! They are called COACHES!!!!!!
I don't understand why anyone would get upset at anything Fungo says. He has absolutely no possible agenda on this site. Talk about being involved for "the right reasons"! He has experienced more than most and his only interest is trying to help people.
I think the individual Coach Merc and others have described really more closely describes an advisor than a recruiting service. Only this advisor is more concerned with college than pro. That is another topic.
Is it within the rules to mention names of companies or individuals in topics like this one?
Often I read comments that hint or refer to certain things that would leave readers confused as to who or what is being talked about. For example Coach Merc’s post regarding the player who is small DIII going to a big event in Florida run by a very reputable showcase company.
We of course know the individual who has worked with Coach Merc and others. He really does work hard to help these kids. He does enter teams in our tournaments as do many others who do a great job of promoting their players. He does try to get his best players into our best events. He argues with us when he thinks his kids are being slighted in the rankings. He calls us constantly promoting his players almost to the point that he’s a pest.
If I still had a son in high school… He is a guy I’d definitely want on my son’s side. We just don’t think of him as a “recruiting service”. He does too much to be labeled a “recruiting service”. This is a guy who scouts and promotes and goes to battle for these kids. He doesn’t do it with flyers, emails or websites. He works in person and on the phone. I have no idea what he charges… never cared… never asked him!
That said I think there are others who do the same thing but are not considered “recruiting services”. Many of these people run programs throughout the country and promote their players unbelievably. These people have outstanding reputations with college recruiters and MLB scouts. If I had time I could name a large number of them who do a great job of helping their players get maximum exposure. Of course, I then would forget to mention many of them, which would be unfair. In what we do, these people are important because we work together. Most of these people are not associated with “recruiting services” they do much more for their players. Many of them work for peanuts, some actually spend much more than they make. Most of them do it for the “right reasons”! They are called COACHES!!!!!!
I don't understand why anyone would get upset at anything Fungo says. He has absolutely no possible agenda on this site. Talk about being involved for "the right reasons"! He has experienced more than most and his only interest is trying to help people.
PG,
I am now upset with Fungo. Apparently, he has been sandbagging all of us. It seems he has garnered all this stuff he knows by staying at Holiday Inn Express (HIE). Allright, lets have it Fungo, please list all of the HIE's you have stayed at so we all can become similarly enlightened! Geeeesh!
I am now upset with Fungo. Apparently, he has been sandbagging all of us. It seems he has garnered all this stuff he knows by staying at Holiday Inn Express (HIE). Allright, lets have it Fungo, please list all of the HIE's you have stayed at so we all can become similarly enlightened! Geeeesh!
Boy I'm glad we got to the end of this....PG it was not your event I was refering to as you know because you don't provide the service mentioned. 
. Like I stated earlier. We're here to learn and to provide experiences positive and negative so others may be better prepared. I didn't stay At a HIE last night as you can tell..
. Like I stated earlier. We're here to learn and to provide experiences positive and negative so others may be better prepared. I didn't stay At a HIE last night as you can tell..
A few points here if I may;
01-- anyone who comes on here and blasts Fungo apparently has not done his homework because if he had he would know who and what Fungo is all about.
02-- many of us, as PG says , have programs and advise the kids as it were. Some have the costs wrapped into the cost of playing while others have additional costs involved. I see it as all of us working together because that is the best way to gain maximum exposure. For instance we go to Jupiter because it is the best venue for exposure for the kids in our program.
03-- all recruiting services are not created equal nor are all baseball programs for that matter- Parents need to do their homework before signing on with any service or program.
04 -- all of us merely provide tools for the players and parents in the process--there are no assurances or guarantees. We give the players the stage to show their stuff
01-- anyone who comes on here and blasts Fungo apparently has not done his homework because if he had he would know who and what Fungo is all about.
02-- many of us, as PG says , have programs and advise the kids as it were. Some have the costs wrapped into the cost of playing while others have additional costs involved. I see it as all of us working together because that is the best way to gain maximum exposure. For instance we go to Jupiter because it is the best venue for exposure for the kids in our program.
03-- all recruiting services are not created equal nor are all baseball programs for that matter- Parents need to do their homework before signing on with any service or program.
04 -- all of us merely provide tools for the players and parents in the process--there are no assurances or guarantees. We give the players the stage to show their stuff
Having video available on a player online can be a tremendous help to a college recruitor, a quick look and they can decide very fast if they have interest or no interest in a player.
MLB has a ton of video of prospects online. I am sure it helps SD on ranking their prospects before draft day. FUNGO's son Josh is on there.
After checking several online videos of prospects. I saw alot of problems. ESp if you let parents film the prospects.
Many prospects to be honest could not play a lick, Video just confirmed it.
Many filmed prospects from the wrong angles. Pitchers with no radar gun reading or not filmed behind home plate and you could not see what the pitches did or their mechanics.
Hate to break it to, college coaches get so many inflated player profiles from parents, girlfriends, moms, dads,and hs coaches.
Remember one top 25 college coach said he gets 100 profiles a week ( over 5,000) and to be honest has any interest in 150 players
MLB has a ton of video of prospects online. I am sure it helps SD on ranking their prospects before draft day. FUNGO's son Josh is on there.
After checking several online videos of prospects. I saw alot of problems. ESp if you let parents film the prospects.
Many prospects to be honest could not play a lick, Video just confirmed it.
Many filmed prospects from the wrong angles. Pitchers with no radar gun reading or not filmed behind home plate and you could not see what the pitches did or their mechanics.
Hate to break it to, college coaches get so many inflated player profiles from parents, girlfriends, moms, dads,and hs coaches.
Remember one top 25 college coach said he gets 100 profiles a week ( over 5,000) and to be honest has any interest in 150 players
There are so many "staged" events these days that the process is getting diluted by the minute. I was told that by several D1 coaches and MLB scouts.
If your boy can play, is on a solid summer team that travels to good tournaments, scouts will ensure the player gets on the big stages, the ones where they select or highly recommend, such as ECPS and USA Tournament of Stars.
Again, there are exceptions to every rule as I go through this process with my kid. What I didn't need was some "reputable" recruiter for a mere fee(RANSOM)pounding me on the phone saying my kid needs them to video him and send all this stuff to colleges and perform at their showcases.
He does the hitting, I do the video and marketing, and it has worked better than I expected. Mostly due to his hitting. After this guy kept pounding me, he said, "hey, you missed the NLI period, you need us".
I said he was a Junior(2007).............they said "ooops!!". This tells me they are a mere meat market.
Another "service" beat me up when I challenged them on their claim of promoting the best D1 prospects in the USA. I looked at their website, and I knew of 3 kids who may be D3 at best, if at all college material. To this day, these 2006 kids have no college interest in them. They took the kids $$$ anyway!
Again, exceptions to every rule. I suppose in general, and on a whole, there is some good within some of these recruiting services, and I am glad I don't need to find them.
If your boy can play, is on a solid summer team that travels to good tournaments, scouts will ensure the player gets on the big stages, the ones where they select or highly recommend, such as ECPS and USA Tournament of Stars.
Again, there are exceptions to every rule as I go through this process with my kid. What I didn't need was some "reputable" recruiter for a mere fee(RANSOM)pounding me on the phone saying my kid needs them to video him and send all this stuff to colleges and perform at their showcases.
He does the hitting, I do the video and marketing, and it has worked better than I expected. Mostly due to his hitting. After this guy kept pounding me, he said, "hey, you missed the NLI period, you need us".
I said he was a Junior(2007).............they said "ooops!!". This tells me they are a mere meat market.
Another "service" beat me up when I challenged them on their claim of promoting the best D1 prospects in the USA. I looked at their website, and I knew of 3 kids who may be D3 at best, if at all college material. To this day, these 2006 kids have no college interest in them. They took the kids $$$ anyway!
Again, exceptions to every rule. I suppose in general, and on a whole, there is some good within some of these recruiting services, and I am glad I don't need to find them.
HHMMM so call select ball or travel bal is way water down too, at many so called well scouted tournaments there are pitchers not even cracking 80 mph.
Fungo wrote "ebaseball, I appreciate your honesty but let me be honest too....that is scary statement! I hope no high school player reads that and thinks they have found a $125.00 solution for exposure."
As was stated by Strike III, people on this site take portions of what someone said and manipulate it to fit their view on something. That is what turned me off from this website the first time I started posting. I would like someone, especially Fungo since he wrote this, to tell me WHERE in my post I stated that our website is a solution to exposure? In fact, I stated just the opposite that we encourage players to still get other types of exposure by attending camps, showcases, and playing Summer Ball. The site is an AID or TOOL to be used in conjunction with these exposure opportunities and other recruiting methods, such as sending letters, calling coaches, etc.
I think Fungo and others in this forum are also over looking one other fact and that is my company's EXPERIENCE with our website. It is great that you all get to share your experience, but don't forget that others have experiences that may differ from yours. We have been travelling the country talking to hundreds of college and high school coaches about our website. 90% of our response is positive. Yes a few coaches don't see the value in what we are offering and that is OK, we know that not everyone is going to get it or wants anything to do with it. At the same time, we are growing slowly but surely and are very happy to be helping players with their baseball futures just like TR and others who perform services to assist players.
Yes, there are a few bad recruiting companies out there, but has been stated over and over again, I don't think we should be telling people NOT to be using them, but as TR said, they should be used or investigated with caution.
As was stated by Strike III, people on this site take portions of what someone said and manipulate it to fit their view on something. That is what turned me off from this website the first time I started posting. I would like someone, especially Fungo since he wrote this, to tell me WHERE in my post I stated that our website is a solution to exposure? In fact, I stated just the opposite that we encourage players to still get other types of exposure by attending camps, showcases, and playing Summer Ball. The site is an AID or TOOL to be used in conjunction with these exposure opportunities and other recruiting methods, such as sending letters, calling coaches, etc.
I think Fungo and others in this forum are also over looking one other fact and that is my company's EXPERIENCE with our website. It is great that you all get to share your experience, but don't forget that others have experiences that may differ from yours. We have been travelling the country talking to hundreds of college and high school coaches about our website. 90% of our response is positive. Yes a few coaches don't see the value in what we are offering and that is OK, we know that not everyone is going to get it or wants anything to do with it. At the same time, we are growing slowly but surely and are very happy to be helping players with their baseball futures just like TR and others who perform services to assist players.
Yes, there are a few bad recruiting companies out there, but has been stated over and over again, I don't think we should be telling people NOT to be using them, but as TR said, they should be used or investigated with caution.
quote:Originally posted by Dibble:
HHMMM so call select ball or travel bal is way water down too, at many so called well scouted tournaments there are pitchers not even cracking 80 mph.
Like I said. There are exceptions to the rule. I can say your quote doesn't apply to our situation personally.
quote:I would like someone, especially Fungo since he wrote this, to tell me WHERE in my post I stated that our website is a solution to exposure?
First of all I never said you STATED that but you sure are suggesting it by your choice of words. Let me highlight a couple of words in your post.
How on God's green earth can anyone save money and never travel if they do the proven showcases and the select teams in ADDITION to your internet recruiting service? Your words suggest they have found the solution. You are basically marketing nothing more that internet bandwidth and a template.quote:Picture a showcase where a player shows off his skills year-round instead of in one or two days, gets seen by hundreds of coaches rather than 35 or so, and never has to travel anywhere to do it, thus saving money.
Does your service provide something? Of course it does. Is it a fair price? That probably can never be proven one way or another but this isn't about the cost of the service here. You are suggesting that your service can generate a great deal of interest from college coaches resulting in a positive recruting experience and I think that is very deceptive.