Skills Videos - Worth it? Why/why not?

1) Not until he is on Varsity and shows some projectability.

2) You can easily do it yourself. Have a good camera and Tripods are a requirement.

The reason you want to do it yourself IMO is that you can film a three day event and get 15 game swings and trim it down to a minute video. 

 3) Forget the music, keep it short, coaches will see what they need in 2 mins or less.

4) Post them on youtube with links.

5) I am not sure about catchers but in game throw downs so they can measure pop would probably be good. BP from the side view. (facing batter)

Finally you send the links to the coaches who fit your son's profile. There is no magic place coaches go just to look and find videos.

You have plenty of time for this so I would not worry too much. 

Having a recruiting video shot is just one of many steps in the recruiting process.  There is an abundance of info on both here.  You can start by reading through the Recruiting Tips and Recruiting Timeline which can be found as tabs under the HSBaseballweb.com button on the top navigation bar.  You can also do searches through the posts for any topic and there is a library of posts on shooting the videos and every other aspect of recruiting. 

If he is a stud and has been identified as a likely D1 kid, you can shoot video now.  Otherwise, I'd say you are a bit early.  Assuming the primary purpose is for college recruiting, you don't want video out there of an undeveloped player.  The HC's and recruiting coordinators want to see a player who they can envision helping their program.  They do not want to see progression from youth to young adult.

The general consensus here is the videos should be short and sweet, maybe 2-4 minutes.  If you can mix reps with short game clips, great.

Do include swings from the side facing the batter and a few from behind.  Do the same as a catcher, receiving and throwing down.  Do include measurables such as POP time, running speed, throwing velo but those should be verifiable from a nuetral party such as a reputable showcase.  Do include info on GPA and any specific notable area, regional or national accolades (PG All-American, 1st Team All-County, etc.) but do not include stats that have no relevant basis for comparison, such as HS batting average.

No music.  No fancy flash graphics.

If you haven't started taking the steps to identify which colleges he may want to target, you don't have a place to send them yet.  You can post on youtube for easy reference once the time is right.

You also might want to add his sixty time, throwing velocity, gpa and SAT scores in print at the end of the video.