Interested in knowing if any of the recruiting services (like Dcats affiliated with Headfirst) are worth the cost, and if so, how do they help in the process.
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Welcome to the High School Baseball Web!
It's always a good practice to begin with a search. Perhaps you already have. If that's the case, what specific questions do you have beyond what you've read here; in addition to anyone's experience with Dcats?
In this instance, a quick search yielded the following four threads; all from the past year and all from this "Recruiting Questions" board:
Thread 1
Thread 2
Thread 3
Thread 4
Three of the threads are pretty specific to NCSA, which seems to be the most ubiquitous; but, I think many of the comments made about them would apply to quite a few of the other services that are out there.
It's always a good practice to begin with a search. Perhaps you already have. If that's the case, what specific questions do you have beyond what you've read here; in addition to anyone's experience with Dcats?
In this instance, a quick search yielded the following four threads; all from the past year and all from this "Recruiting Questions" board:
Thread 1
Thread 2
Thread 3
Thread 4
Three of the threads are pretty specific to NCSA, which seems to be the most ubiquitous; but, I think many of the comments made about them would apply to quite a few of the other services that are out there.
Don't waste your money on a recruiting service. Read HSBaseBallWeb instead. It's free and it's all you need if you are willing and able to be proactive.
What is more important is an accurate gauge of the player's talent level. Put him in front of a scout and a college coach and have them review his mechanics.
Then go from there.
What is more important is an accurate gauge of the player's talent level. Put him in front of a scout and a college coach and have them review his mechanics.
Then go from there.
I would take the money youre thinking about spending on a recruiting service and roll it into a good showcase like Perfect Game. It should be a given to have your summer team playing at the colleges your son wants to play for and to be sending constant emails to these coaches. My son had interest from mid-level D1's to D3's to Juco's. Everyone of those coaches came from different avenues. With the Juco he decided to play for seeing him at the Perfect Game Showcase this fall in McKinney, Tx. Have your son read the article on here "You never know who is watching" because you never know where they will be seen.
My 2013 has some success with berecruited.com. It was like $60 one time fee and he has some pretty good schools following him on there. Not an endorsement just my opinion of his early results on there. Just like any step in the process you have to do the legwork. There are close to 700 schools on there and you need to have verifiable results on there to garner any interest. Just my 2 cents.
Have also had decent success with Berecruited. Good place to consolidate all info(personal, academics, stats, video, etc). Anyone heard of, or used, Eli Herrera and All-American Sports Recruiting??
quote:Don't waste your money on a recruiting service. Read HSBaseBallWeb instead. It's free and it's all you need if you are willing and able to be proactive.
What is more important is an accurate gauge of the player's talent level. Put him in front of a scout and a college coach and have them review his mechanics.
Then go from there.
Where can you find scouts in the central Florida area that can give my son an appraisal of his skills?
Here's a way that you can probably "kill two birds with one stone:"
Go to one of your area's best baseball development centers and tell them you'd like to have your son evaluated. Chances are that they'll have people on their staff who are qualified to do so. Also, ask them to introduce you to one or more of the area scouts that they almost certainly know. Of course, if you like them and their facility, you're in the right place to sign your son up for instruction, as well.
Best of luck to him!
Go to one of your area's best baseball development centers and tell them you'd like to have your son evaluated. Chances are that they'll have people on their staff who are qualified to do so. Also, ask them to introduce you to one or more of the area scouts that they almost certainly know. Of course, if you like them and their facility, you're in the right place to sign your son up for instruction, as well.
Best of luck to him!
I would spend 40 bucks for a lifetime membership from be recruited.FOr 40 bucks you put up all ur pics stats video blog etc..you can also email colleges from this site as well.you can tell coaches where you are going to be playing as well..WORTH iT!..A good "home base" where you can promote yourself for little money.Then I would get listed on PBR as well.they will rank you and put your video and stats on their sight..they are used by numerous college coaches,,,worth the 250 or 300 bucks.Start there
quote:Originally posted by wogdoggy:
I would spend 40 bucks for a lifetime membership from be recruited.FOr 40 bucks you put up all ur pics stats video blog etc..you can also email colleges from this site as well.you can tell coaches where you are going to be playing as well..WORTH iT!..A good "home base" where you can promote yourself for little money.Then I would get listed on PBR as well.they will rank you and put your video and stats on their sight..they are used by numerous college coaches,,,worth the 250 or 300 bucks.Start there
I agree with the BeRecruited sign up, although I believe it is $60. Bottom line it gives you a central place to collect all information and have a link out there to give to coaches.
Sorry, but you reference PBR. What is that? I may be having a brain pause.
Just my observation as son is a 2015. My cousin never attended a showcase that I am aware of. He did play on a highly competitive summer team that played in some PG tournaments such as WWB in east Cobb and maybe another in Florida. Through a recommendation from a hitting instructor, he received an invite to try out for east coast pro showcase. At the time, he had a couple of top 50 D1 schools interested and I think one had offered him about a 50% scholarship. After he was selected for the east coast showcase, he received an invite to the area code games in LA. At that point, the school that had the partial offer on the table called and offered a full ride. I understand these are very few and far between. He was told through his summer coach that the D1 didn't want to "lose" him to a bigger fish. I guess this school figured a full ride would be difficult to match. He is now a freshman at a top 35 D1 according to preseason poll with and will most likely be the starting catcher. I'm not tooting his horn, just giving an example of a kid that didn't do all the showcases but still received a full ride at a top program. I think he did attend some college camps and his summer team did play in several college showcases held on various campuses. Obviously talent is a MUST, but it doesn't hurt to be in the right place at the right time. All that being said, player must still perform when the opportunity does present itself. By the way, he really didn't do well at east coast or perfect game and senior season was not on par with junior season. I think this had a lot to do with no interest in pro draft. If you asked him today, I think he would tell you he got a little complacent after full ride and didn't work as hard as he should have his senior year. He regrets that but is working his tail off at college and it showed when he showed up over Christmas break.
quote:Originally posted by DPElite99:
Where can you find scouts in the central Florida area that can give my son an appraisal of his skills?
I am not familiar with the area but I have it from a good source there that you should go out of your way to find a fellow named Andy Barkett, "former major leaguer and HSBBW member" who runs an organization called Central Florida Baseball League. Supposedly he runs camps and does private lessons as well, in addition to managing a AA team called the Miami Marlins.
I believe they have a camp this coming Saturday/Sunday.Go to www.cfblelite.com for more info on their organization.
Good luck!
quote:Originally posted by RedSoxFan21:quote:Originally posted by wogdoggy:
I would spend 40 bucks for a lifetime membership from be recruited.FOr 40 bucks you put up all ur pics stats video blog etc..you can also email colleges from this site as well.you can tell coaches where you are going to be playing as well..WORTH iT!..A good "home base" where you can promote yourself for little money.Then I would get listed on PBR as well.they will rank you and put your video and stats on their sight..they are used by numerous college coaches,,,worth the 250 or 300 bucks.Start there
I agree with the BeRecruited sign up, although I believe it is $60. Bottom line it gives you a central place to collect all information and have a link out there to give to coaches.
Sorry, but you reference PBR. What is that? I may be having a brain pause.
http://hsbaseballweb.com/eve/f...6056565/m/3037067806
quote:Originally posted by RedSoxFan21:quote:Originally posted by DPElite99:
Where can you find scouts in the central Florida area that can give my son an appraisal of his skills?
I am not familiar with the area but I have it from a good source there that you should go out of your way to find a fellow named Andy Barkett, "former major leaguer and HSBBW member" who runs an organization called Central Florida Baseball League. Supposedly he runs camps and does private lessons as well, in addition to managing a AA team called the Miami Marlins.
I believe they have a camp starting day after tomorrow???? Go to www.cfblelite.com for more info on their organization.
Good luck!
I corrected the website, it was www.cfblelite.com
Thanks! I'll go back and fix the OP.
First, you can guess I'm biased because I represent NECP (National Elite College Prospects), one of the major recruiting services. It IS true you can do some of this on your own. The fact is that getting the right info to a lot of schools takes a lot of time (and some money) to do it right. If all you want is to look at a few local schools, then it's not a big deal to do it on your own. However, if you want real choices in programs, you need help. There are many services out there, providing a wide range of support, from all on-line to VERY personal. You DO get what you pay for. We did it on our own with our kids. One went D-3, one went D-1. It was a ton of work and I know we could have done it better. You only get ONE chance with each kid. Due your research on the options and then stick with the plan.
You will reap what you sow.
Best of luck to all. Seeing your kid's smile when donning the uniform of HIS choice is the reward.
UpstateSportsMan.com/necp
You will reap what you sow.
Best of luck to all. Seeing your kid's smile when donning the uniform of HIS choice is the reward.
UpstateSportsMan.com/necp
bbfl,
Welcome to HSBBWeb.
From my perspective, I think a recruiting service like Dcats or any other comes down to a few things. First, how much time do you or your spouse have to do recruiting activities on a daily basis for a 12-18 month period. Second, where are you in the recruiting process (soph, junior). Third, who are you targetting. If any of these are not possible or look beyond your reach, then possibly consider a service.
Frankly, we didn't learn about Dcats or HeadFirst recruiting until my son was a rising senior. Much too late. We made the decision to do it ourselves after son's team won the 16U PG WWBA in East Cobb. My wife and I knew nothing about college baseball recruiting 5 years ago. Oldest son is currently a college sophomore pitcher at a very academically focused school. We recognized early on that our son had the skills, and passion to play college baseball.
We did it ALL ourselves by learning from others, listening to people we trust, and making mistakes. We realized NOBODY was going to work harder than us to make this happen. Truthfully, my wife worked her tail off and ran her "own college recruiting operation" right out of our house. She worked 20-30 hours a week easily when it got busy between junior and fall of senior year. I also worked hard on this effort, but mostly on the weekends. We wouldn't have done it any other way.
We might have done a couple things differently. So, in that statement of "having done things differently" I think is the opportunity for Recruiting Services. We were comfortable with making mistakes and learning from them. Recruiting Services have done this before, and they could potentioally minimize the total risk and mistakes I mentioned above. Our mistakes were minimal, and ultimately had no major effect on the schools that offered him or schools that "got away". We felt very strongly about controlling our situation because my son had some unique skills beyond baseball that ultimately became very important in choosing a college. Academics were the most important "factor" followed by athletics and financial for us.
HSBBWeb was one of the biggest resources we used in evaluating our recruiting strategy, tactics and operation. You'll find a goldmine of information here, as well as in the minds of the contributors. Research, and then ask questions.
If you have any questions, please feel free to PM me.
Welcome to HSBBWeb.
From my perspective, I think a recruiting service like Dcats or any other comes down to a few things. First, how much time do you or your spouse have to do recruiting activities on a daily basis for a 12-18 month period. Second, where are you in the recruiting process (soph, junior). Third, who are you targetting. If any of these are not possible or look beyond your reach, then possibly consider a service.
Frankly, we didn't learn about Dcats or HeadFirst recruiting until my son was a rising senior. Much too late. We made the decision to do it ourselves after son's team won the 16U PG WWBA in East Cobb. My wife and I knew nothing about college baseball recruiting 5 years ago. Oldest son is currently a college sophomore pitcher at a very academically focused school. We recognized early on that our son had the skills, and passion to play college baseball.
We did it ALL ourselves by learning from others, listening to people we trust, and making mistakes. We realized NOBODY was going to work harder than us to make this happen. Truthfully, my wife worked her tail off and ran her "own college recruiting operation" right out of our house. She worked 20-30 hours a week easily when it got busy between junior and fall of senior year. I also worked hard on this effort, but mostly on the weekends. We wouldn't have done it any other way.
We might have done a couple things differently. So, in that statement of "having done things differently" I think is the opportunity for Recruiting Services. We were comfortable with making mistakes and learning from them. Recruiting Services have done this before, and they could potentioally minimize the total risk and mistakes I mentioned above. Our mistakes were minimal, and ultimately had no major effect on the schools that offered him or schools that "got away". We felt very strongly about controlling our situation because my son had some unique skills beyond baseball that ultimately became very important in choosing a college. Academics were the most important "factor" followed by athletics and financial for us.
HSBBWeb was one of the biggest resources we used in evaluating our recruiting strategy, tactics and operation. You'll find a goldmine of information here, as well as in the minds of the contributors. Research, and then ask questions.
If you have any questions, please feel free to PM me.
I agree with Fenway, no one will work harder than you will for your son...for FREE!
Start here by doing homework, ask questions, you can make it happen, takes work, don't let some guy looking for business tell you that it's too much work for you, and remember it is YOUR player.
Start here by doing homework, ask questions, you can make it happen, takes work, don't let some guy looking for business tell you that it's too much work for you, and remember it is YOUR player.
if you can play and go to area showcase/trouts that cost little to no money, they will find you.if you can't play, you can spend all the money you want and your offers will be few to none. making the area code games is an almost instant ticket to at least college.