Recruiting Video

You've been waiting a bit for a response so I thought I'd pipe up so you're not hanging.   Personally I wouldn't worry about the 2024 early commits that your son is playing with.  He's his own man and I suspect quite a few of these early verbal commits will change before it is all said/done.   

The guidance I've heard is to keep a video around 2 minutes if possible.   But might be a challenge with all his skills.   I think upto 3 minutes is OK if you keep it moving.   Throwing low 80's as an early 15 y.o is quite good.  Are you sure he's not a pitcher? 

I'd say the thing that you could leave out is outfield stuff.  I'm going to redo my sons video myself.  Here's what I think:

1)  Intro sequence.   Maybe have him talk, introducing himself.   And/Or have slides with his picture, school, travel team, metrics, grades, awards. 

2)  Hitting.  3 side view.  3 from behind in a tunnel showing him drive the ball into the backscreen. Embed some exit velos from trackman or pocket radar? 

3)  Catching.  A bunch of blocks, frames, throws.  Maybe try to get embedded timed pop times onto the screen.

4)  Infield work from the field.   from SS spot.  3 straight on,  2 backhands, 2 forehands,  slow roller.  Then show 2-3 throws from behind him to first base. 

5)  We put in his 60 yard dash.  Used an app called Seconds Count on a football field to show a legit time. 

6)  Honestly, if he throws low 80s at 15, I'd probably take out the 60 and show some pitches, again embedding pocket radar velos. 

Just my opinion.  Good luck!  Sounds like quite the player and student!

For my pitcher/outfielder we sent out short pitching AND short hitting videos. Kept them separate, 30 secs to a minute each with a link to his YouTube channel that had longer stuff.

One video got more attention than others: when he stared down a batter from the archrival HS with a top of the zone fastball. A WHOLE lotta chirping going on from both teams. Their ace kept pretending his hand was a pistol and would blow on his index finger every time he k'd someone (which he did annoyingly often). When our guys would get a hit or walk they'd run down to first talking to the first base (opposing team) dugout the whole way. It was "lit" as the boys say.

My point is if you can get some game video which shows some competitive intensity it will  get attention.

I think you need to figure out what level to target and what your expectations are. The 2024’s committing right now have schools coming after them. 5’10”, 140 isn’t going to jump off the page to D1 coaches and D3 coaches are just now turning their attention to 2023.

I’m not saying don’t put a video together and start the process, but I would be sure to set expectations that you likely won’t hear anything for a while.

I’m sure there is already a thread on pointers for recruitment video, but was hoping for some fresh takes, given the current situation with the transfer portal full.  It was my understanding that position players aren’t really pursued until junior year.  I get that the “studs” will come of the table early, but we’re seeing just good players start to announce.  

@TerribleBPthrower Agreed on the eye test problem.  As I mentioned, he has time for a little more height and to fill out being a young sophomore.  That’s why the plan was to attend the smaller camps, with a push to the PG/PBR showcases his Junior/Senior summers.  Absolutely open to playing at any level so the net will be cast fairly wide for awhile.  

He attended his first D1 camp last month and played it a little safer than he should but still did well.  Feedback was good and helpful.  Scored out as current D2 prospect on their scale.  Not surprising, but not locking in as gospel just yet.  Sample size is small but he has a multi school coming up with D1-Juco in attendance so we wanted to have our ducks in a row for follow up.  Also, these things highlight just one position so wanted the short video to highlight his versatility.  

@smokeminside Great idea on the break up of videos.  That may make a lot of sense in my sons situation.  Should be able to get a couple 30 second clips of a few of his secondary positions without overwhelming.  I know these guys get a ton of video and most probably go unwatched.  

@Dadbelly2023 Also helpful.  Thank you.  Not really a pitcher anymore due the injury and arm slot differential of his primary and secondary positions.  Definitely doesn’t project well as a pitcher as he’ll probably top out at 6’.  Pitched for the first time in well over a year and shut down a power program for the first three innings, near perfect, 0 hits and walks, with a HB that was quickly picked off.  Much better than I expected as he hasn’t worked on pitching at all since before his injury aside from his throwing program.  Fun to watch as I’ve missed it.  

Thanks again for the input.  

What do his travel coaches say?  If they know about recruiting, you should follow their guidance (keeping in mind that they may tell you he projects higher to keep you paying for their team).  Do they think he should be doing all these showcases, PBR/PG, etc.?

You can waste a lot of money chasing numbers with PBR or PG showcases, although if his catcher pop time is reliably below 2.0, then one might be worth it.

Scored out as current D2 prospect on their scale.cored out as current D2 prospect on their scale.

There’s a missing word in this sentence … potential.

When my kids went through the process I figured whatever level the experts viewed them as they were likely a fit for one notch lower and had the potential to reach what was being said about them.

I’m not saying he can’t be a D2 player or even a D1. What I’m saying is listen very carefully and think through the interpretation of what’s being said. Some parents hear what they want to prefer to be true rather than what’s genuinely being said. This said, always keep pushing through the perceived ceiling. Continue to get bigger, faster, stronger and improve the skills. Some players push farther up than expectations.

Keep in mind his travel coaches will know him better than anyone scoring him at these events. Metrics can vary from event to event. His coaches see him all the time.

@anotherparent We’re not really leaning on the travel coaches right now.  He plays for two teams and neither are really much help at the moment outside of playing time.  

His summer team is part of a large, respected organization. Probably 12-15 classed teams.  He was recovering from surgery during tryouts last January so they found him a home on their 2024 C/D team.  Different coach every game so they didn’t really know him until the end of the summer and they didn’t advocate for anyone below the B team as far as I could tell.  A lot of good things with the program, but communication isn’t one of them.  Figure we’ll cross that bridge when he makes one of the A or B teams hopefully this winter.  They know the drill and size matters so they aren’t going to spend much time on the undersized guys as far as I can tell.  

His second team is kind of a start up with a really good, young coach but he’s not connected enough to be much help yet.  He joined the coaching staff of a good sized HS in our area so that should change.  

HS coach has a lot of holes to fill so he’ll be using my son as a utility starter.  We have another solid sophomore catcher that he is big on and will promote, but he attended a PG showcase over the summer and pretty much flopped.  Longer story there, but no need to rehash.  He’s at his school for the computer science program not for baseball.

We are leaning on his trainers who are connected and have green lit showcases.  I’ve chosen the smaller school specific showcases based my research, conversations and input here.  Only spending $100-200 per and will do 3-4 before the year is over.  The idea is to get in front of the schools now to hopefully get on the radar with the intention of returning next year bigger and stronger. My son did get an invite to a hitting camp following his showcase with the D1 but not sure if it’s worth pursuing.  Could be a money grab or an indication of some interest but I don’t know.  I won’t drop the bigger money on PG/PBR’s until it makes sense.

Our situation is less than perfect with all of the moving parts and timing of the injury.  Just trying to control what we can, get him seen and help him grow his game.  As far as the travel programs are concerned, I only look to them for high level competition for my son.  If he gets more then that is fantastic.  

Thanks for the input.  I truly helps the navigation.  

Nick … A good travel program has contacts and presells players to college coaches before events. Your son needs an advocate. He doesn’t want to be tossing spaghetti off the wall to see what sticks. Players are presold more than discovered.

If he's not a 2024 that has interest right now such that he'll commit in the next 1-12 weeks, I think patience might be the first item on the to do list.  I completely understand wanting to get going considering Covid, the transfer portal, etc, but at 5'10" 140, this feels like cart before the horse to me.  It can be frustrating to get fed the cliche "focus on getting bigger, stronger, faster" deal right now, but that honestly is where all the focus should be in my mind.  Assuming he's not an elite "wave 1" type recruit.

Everybody is always looking for an edge and that's great.  But it could be the case that your son isn't ready to find and utilize an edge outside of improving his body and performance at this point.  My fear is that focusing on video right now runs the risk of doing more harm than good.  Yes, working on video right now will make you FEEL better initially because it'll feel like forward movement and that you're making use of the time, getting ahead, etc.  But those warm fuzzies can soon sour and stress you/your son out when responses/interest doesn't come from them.  Believe me when I say that there is a LOT of stress in your future.  It comes with the territory and is best to put off for a while.  Recruiting is a marathon; not a sprint.  But many find it hard to buy into that at the starting line.  All just my 2 cents.

@RJM  I agree with absolutely everything you are saying.  I don’t think my kid is a D1 prospect or potential prospect at this point.  If they said he was, I wouldn’t believe and it wouldn’t change a thing in his preparation for playing at the next or current level.  Honestly, I’d prefer that he go to a smaller school at the D2 or lower level as I would imagine he would have an opportunity to play sooner all things held constant.  From HS on up, everyone loves the monsters.  My kid is not and will not be a monster and that’s fine by me.  Some schools will pass on him and that is also fine.  The camp was helpful, as it was his first and a good opportunity to perform, see his competition and motivate.  We did get feedback that was constructive.  He had a very open stance at the showcase.  They mentioned it and at his next hitting session, he cut it in half and has had great success with it.  

I’d love to hear your input on the below:

My sons team plays in a 16U local tournament.  No scouts, no radar nothing like that.  His team is full of 14-15 year olds playing up.  A bunch of nobody’s but solid players all around.  A big organization brings in two teams.  A team has 4 D1 commits and a bunch of high follows.  B team brings in a PO, D1 commit, top 5 pitcher in the state of Florida according to PG and tops out at 89.  
We draw the the A team in pool play and lose 3-2.  My son got the start as he’s been chomping at the bit to get back on the mound.  Pitched 4 innings K’s 4 (3 backwards) 2HB (box is gone at this point, and they have their toes on the plate) 1BB, 2 hits, (both singles) gives up 3ER in the fourth to take the L.  Keep in mind, he’s a C and hasn’t even had as much as a pen in a year in a half, but nearly perfect through 3 and ends with 58 pitches.  They should have trounced us with all that talent.  Semifinal, we draw team B with the top flight PO.  This kid is a monster and very much looks the part that the scouts salivate over.  He can’t find the zone to save his life.  When he does find the zone, he’s hammered.  Makes it 1/3 and gives up 5ER. We run rule them 11-1 in the 5th.  Now we go on to play the A team again in the final.  Studs show up looking big as ever. Team B sticks around and joins team A in the dugout for the game.  We’re out of pitching as a couple of our horses are sick.  We put another catcher on the bump and he keeps it close even though he rarely pitches.  Third catcher comes in the 6th with the game tied 4-4.  I see him warming up and know him from the little league days and I ask him the last time he pitched.  “11U.”  We both chuckle and I tell him to have fun.  He gets touched up as he’s got 1 pitch and can throw strikes and we lose to the monsters 8-4.  My son catches this game, frames up plenty, throws out two of three stealing and back picks another two.  The best part, constant trash talk from the two elite teams, to the point where the umpire finally gives them a warning.  I’m cool with chatter as long as it’s not personal, but it was every bit of personal for the entirety of the game.  So some of these kids have real character issues, even went so far as to trash talk my son on social media after he posted his pitching performance.  He didn’t call anyone out or name anyone, just put something out that he was proud of.  

In short, my son and I are very aware of the challenges ahead.  It’s highly possible that he will never have the opportunity that some of yours have had.  While I appreciate your candor, I don’t really understand it.  Many college coaches will look past him in favor of the monsters.  Absolutely fine by me as well.  I’d be willing to bet dollars to doughnuts that the  coach that might take a flyer on him will be glad he did.  Again, I agree with everything you said and appreciate it but was wondering about thoughts on recruiting film.

My thoughts on the games, if you are going to post something on social that involves another team or player, you better be ready for some trash talk. I've seen kids post a video of them getting a hit and then the pitcher tags them in a video of him striking the batter out.

Ok.  So to be clear, the recommendation of many of you is that he not attend college camps?  He should not be receiving feedback from college coaches or RC’s that that could potentially benefit his training and development?  Are you aware that the exact roadmap that we are on is posted on this site as well as others? Current pop times and height are equal to or better than the suggested for D2 catchers @ his current 15 years old.  The assumption is that he won’t physically mature over and benefit from the weight room and diet over the next few years?  He’s already out lifting his 6’2” 170lb C counterpart.

USF just “committed” to a 2024 C that is 5’10”, 160lb C with a PG posted +2.0 pop time a week ago.  

We are literally doing things recommend by other top posters from another post on this site.  Here I’m looking to fine tune an actual plan and I’m being told that the plan is wrong.  Color me super confused.

@TerribleBPthrower posted:

My thoughts on the games, if you are going to post something on social that involves another team or player, you better be ready for some trash talk. I've seen kids post a video of them getting a hit and then the pitcher tags them in a video of him striking the batter out.

Get that completely and fine with it, just surprised with all the character talk that it’s happening.  

You haven't said much about hitting. He could be Molina behind the plate, but if he can't hit he isn't going to get the attention of a college coach. At least not at 140. Have you seen the USF kid hit? Do you know anything about his travel org? The eye test on a kid at 160 compared to 140 can be huge. I've seen kids committed to big time P5 schools that I know my son is much better than defensively. But they can all mash.

I personally think it is a great idea for a kid to do a camp or 2 their sophomore year. It lets them get comfortable in the setting and maybe even get some good feedback on areas to improve before they matter. I don't agree with doing camps the fall of sophomore year with the intent of being recruited.

Bottom line is right now a few schools are wrapping up 2022, most schools are turning to 2023, and the top programs are cherry picking the 2024 studs. It is difficult to compare your kids measurables to a current year player on the PG site. I saw a RHP that was committed to a top ACC program and PG had him listed at 5'9" 150. My son's team played them in the spring and he was easily 6'-6'3" and 200+.

I am not against your son attending college camps, but what your son will get out of camps is important to know going in.  Over the last 2ish years, my son has done about 15 camps/showcases.  The value he got out of them was all over the place, but I will say this.  My kid now is 100% comfortable every time he goes to one and performs exactly as he expects to going in.  And that comes from one thing - experience doing them.  So doing camps now (the cheaper, the better at this point) can prepare your son for future camps when they will matter.  As far as getting feedback from college coaches?  That's a bit of white whale.  If you're spending time and money on camps to get good feedback, you're likely to be disappointed.

If you're looking at charts that use numbers and say your son is already at D2 levels, prepare yourself for disappointment.  Every number from my son's height to his velos to his 60s, etc place him firmly in the "High D1/Elite Juco" arena according to those charts.  He's a couple months in now at a strong, but not elite Juco.  Didn't get any D1 offers let alone any from a "High D1."  I'd also STRONGLY caution against comparing your son to any of his counterparts.  It never ceases to amaze me how many players/parents look at other kids and what offers they got and then use them as benchmarks.  Those players/parents OFTEN end up dumbfounded that they didn't end up with the same spoils.  Charts and peers are fine to use to get a ball park idea, but don't treat them any deeper than that.  Ball parks are VERY big.

"USF just “committed” to a 2024 C that is 5’10”, 160lb C with a PG posted +2.0 pop time a week ago."  With all due respect, you're best to bury this mindset immediately.  Over the next 1-3 years, you will see hundreds of kids commit to places that don't seem to make to sense to you or that will lead you to conclude certain things for your son.  It's cancer.  You'll understand once your son is committed, but every kid's journey is different and specific to him.  If you're trying to duplicate someone's recruiting path, be prepared for disappointment.  Each one is unique.  I can't easily think of one other player whose path was just like my son's.  Just pieces here and there.

Lastly, your son is a 2024.  You are a LONG ways away from fine tuning any plan as you said above.  90%+ of players begin fine tuning late in their junior years and as rising seniors.  I know lots of 2022s that just began fine tuning in the last 1-2 months.

“Again, I agree with everything you said and appreciate it but was wondering about thoughts on recruiting film.”

I would file this under “if you want specific answers, ask specific questions”.  You asked for feedback on creating recruiting videos but went on to include a ton of details about your son and his abilities that would invite all kinds of conjecture about other aspects of his recruitment.  

“We are literally doing things recommend by other top posters from another post on this site.  Here I’m looking to fine tune an actual plan and I’m being told that the plan is wrong.  Color me super confused.”

You assume that everyone here agrees on one specific template for recruiting.  There are some universal truths, some strong opposing opinions and some outright bad information to be found on this and any every other site and those academic notions about how to get recruited will apply in varying degrees depending on your son’s projected college level.

There is no sure fire template that one can just plug their kid into then refine.  Also, whatever plan you start with today will likely look nothing like the plan you are using the day he gets an offer.  This process is fluid, chaotic, confusing, madening, heartbreaking and joyous….sometimes all in the same day😉

You are doing the right thing by asking people that have been through it but you will never get perfect answers.  You just have to take what feedback you feel is useful, ignore the rest (sometimes to your detriment even if you don’t realize it until later) and constantly adjust.

If you've been told your son projects as a D2 player, then his recruiting summer will be 2023.  College camps primarily serve to make money for unpaid assistant coaches.  Sure, you might get some good feedback on training, and you will get practice with the format, and they might be fun - it can be worth the money, but don't count on it.  So, figure out how much money you want to spend.

@Nick0977 posted:

His summer team is part of a large, respected organization. Probably 12-15 classed teams.  He was recovering from surgery during tryouts last January so they found him a home on their 2024 C/D team.  Different coach every game so they didn’t really know him until the end of the summer and they didn’t advocate for anyone below the B team as far as I could tell.  A lot of good things with the program, but communication isn’t one of them.  Figure we’ll cross that bridge when he makes one of the A or B teams hopefully this winter.  They know the drill and size matters so they aren’t going to spend much time on the undersized guys as far as I can tell.  

Large organizations have an interest in getting their players recruited to the highest possible level, because then they can advertise that.  At the same time, they will destroy their credibility if they promote players who are not worthy.  So, if they "didn't advocate for anyone below the B team," that is an indication of where they think their players fit.  You should be able to trust that they will do what is needed, whenever the time comes; unfortunately, they don't usually tell parents that 2024s who are not top D1 won't need to be promoted until 17U.  

As a D3 parent, I'm somewhat cynical of the baseball industry, but I liked our organization, and we had good experiences generally.  But we also knew many families who got impatient with the process.  At the end of 17U summer, the organization head said to me, "I've got 20 pitchers topping at 85, what are these parents expecting?"

Eventually, we started running camp invitations past our organization head, and he would tell us not to do them if he didn't think it was appropriate.

Nick …The most heavily recruited player on my son’s travel team was the least successful in college. He accepted an offer from a top ranked team. When the kid signed his NLI the coach said it could be his best recruit ever.  For three years the kid played his way out of the lineup by conference play Opening Day.

When this kid took the field he would have been voted “most likely to be a MLB ball player.” Josh Hamilton is my physical visual of the perfect ball player build. This kid was built like Hamilton in his junior year of high school. When he hit the ball he had “ooh-ah” metrics. He had a great arm. He had better than average recruitable speed.

My son was recruited for 17u teams while playing 16u as a 14u eligible with his May birthday. At the time he was 5’11” 135. Despite his build he had quality metrics for that size. I’m 6’1”. I played college ball. His mother is 5’8”. His sister was a college (at the time) softball player was 5’10”. So the travel teams and scouts looked at the talent and saw a kid who would continue to grow and fill out. Once again, we’re back to projection.

What your son is going to experience is how the metrics match up crossed with physical potential. Unfortunately, he’s often going to lose out to players with similar skills and better size. Stats aren’t that important.

There are thirty-five players on a D1 team. D2 and D3 sometimes have more. Only 18-20 are going to play enough to impact the season. It allows recruiting coaches to take some chances on the hard thrower with no movement who gets smacked around. You can’t teach velocity (past a certain point). You can teach movement. If the kid doesn’t figure out movement will be gone within two years. Next man up. Coaches only have to have about a 50% success rate to be successful recruiters. If they bring in fourteen and seven work out it’s a good recruiting year.

Due to the bias it’s important to be fishing in the right pond to avoid wasting time and money.

@TerribleBPthrower We know the organization well as my son played with them in 13U.  They definitely have connections at the airport.  A lot of the coaches are connected to the Yankees.  EV from the 2021 showcase was 81 for the committed player.  I stand corrected on his size though,  5’11” and 175 and makes a lot more sense.  Don’t get me wrong, really happy for him and I hope it works out.  

My son hits well.  Led his summer team and hit right around .400 through PG, PBR and ICB tourney play.  Hit .532 in 16U play into the fall (just 11 games).  He’s a classic 2 or 5 hole hitter, low K’s high contact and is focused on line drives to all fields.  One of the comments from the college showcase was that he “finds barrels well.”  Definitely not feeding the trees though.  

I know my posts are wordy because I’ve learned from previous posts that a lot of information is implied if it’s not provided, but we aren’t expecting substantial interests from schools at this point.  Just looking for feedback from the staff.  Best case, they keep an eye on him for future camps or tournaments.  I also have read that it can be helpful to notify a school that may be interested of future events.  Adding current visual skills can only help the school if they are interested.  Hence, the original question.  Thats it.  I’ve read some posts here and elsewhere about 2022’s that got late starts and are struggling to play catch-up.  Just don’t want him in that boat.  Again, this process is overwhelming and this site has been helpful in the past just looking for help refining things from those that have had success helping their son or daughter in the past.  

For those that insist on telling me how hard it is for a kid to play college ball at any level is extremely difficult, pease understand that I get it.  If we can make our way past that, I think it will be more productive for everyone.  

Mookie Betts - 5th rounder, 5’10”

Jose Altuve - not drafted, 5’6”

Dustin Pedroia - second round 5’8”

Mike Trout - 25th pick overall

Tom Brady - 6th round GOAT

* not implying that my kid is Mike Trout or any of the others