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Hi there!  Like many his age, I have a 2026 who is very into social media and who loves the game.  He will be in a large high school as a freshman this year and also made a large travel organization (multiple teams that are not selected until late winter/closer to spring).  I know that many his age are posting their feats on social media like crazy and I am trying to guide him to be safe and smart (I think he understands not to post questionable content).  I know he wants to be noticed in the large new teams he will be playing with, I'm not sure that all of the noise on social media even matters, haha.  Times are definitely different!  Are the highlights we see posted over the top at this point?  Is that expected?  Do they even matter?  Any tips or guidelines for him or lessons learned?   

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Yes, they are over the top sometimes. I know this is kinda frowned on but my son posts nothing on social media, so I ran his twitter for recruiting . My rule was basically only liking or retweeting what other people/organizations (his coach, PBR, PG, etc) posted about him or his friends/teammates. Let other people talk about you IMO.

My son isn't a big social media guy, but it is certainly a tool that has aided in him being "seen". He's always played well, but he's been relatively unknown because he didn't get much playing time for his HS team and we had him play for summer programs that were budget friendly, which meant he's not played in a PBR/PG event. We encouraged him to start tweeting his highlights and he now has scouts and coaches following him. We've also received a lot of comments/support from local folk saying he should definitely have a starting spot on the HS team. We've always told our son that you have to be so much better than other players that it would make the coach look like an idiot to not play you. Social media has provided him a platform to demonstrate just how good he is and certainly make it questionable if he doesn't get much playing time.

My son is also not a big social media guy. Probably because I scared the s*** out of him that a single bad post or like could have lasting impacts. He’s posted a highlight video and his stats/metrics.

Social could potentially have bigger impacts depending on the level you are targeting. P5 schools recruit earlier so if he’s at that level then post away. If he’s not that level then I wouldn’t stress about recruiting for a year or longer

Social Media, like it our not, is an important part of the recruiting process.  IMO, it has helped my 2024's early recruiting process.  Kids will have many missteps with social media, so parents should keep a watchful eye and have occasional discussions ... I never used it, this old dog needed to learn a new trick.

While it is not always real ... it is a useful marketing platform.  Video exploded when covid hit us, video is here to stay!  Social media is here to stay.  college baseball coaches love their Twitter; Players love their Instagram. 

You may want to check out Josh Rudd's "Secrets to Social Media" from Aug 2020.   

We found recently that Social Media has helped my son (2025) know if there was at least low level interest from a school (or so we think). Son went to a camp at a mid-major D1. As soon as the camp was over (on our drive home) he was followed on Twitter by the coach running the camp and the RC. From the looks of it, he was the only player at the camp that was followed by the coaches. Something else interesting, not sure if other school's coaches follow those coaches to see who they are following, but he had 4 other school's RC and one other School's HC started following him within a week of that camp. We found that interesting.

We have been positing highlights and retweet any posts from the tournament organizations that they have posted (Player of the games, hits and caught steeling they have posted). 

@baseballhs posted:

Yes, they are over the top sometimes. I know this is kinda frowned on but my son posts nothing on social media, so I ran his twitter for recruiting . My rule was basically only liking or retweeting what other people/organizations (his coach, PBR, PG, etc) posted about him or his friends/teammates. Let other people talk about you IMO.

We followed this rule with our 2024 and thought it struck the right mix between putting the player out there and avoiding the over the top self-promotion that some find to be a turnoff. You’re early in the process for it to matter, but it was also very helpful to have a presence once 9/1 hit Junior year and coaches could reach out directly.

Social media makes absolutely zero of an imprint when it comes to recruiting… it is completely and utterly meaningless.

Either you can play or you cannot.

And if you can play at a certain level, the college coaches are going to know about you. Social media can only serve as a detriment in your recruiting and not in the slightest as any sort of help.

Unless perhaps if you live in Alaska and have no ability to get to any sort of recruiting event. Or perhaps if you are an extreme outlier who throws 97 miles an hour, and your dad is a complete crazed fool who won’t let you leave the farm, then you could possibly get drafted from your farm via social media.

For everybody else the “I need to post on social media so I can be seen” is merely an excuse. Hey, if you like social media, and if you get a nice little dopamine fix from posting on social media, that’s great, but if you think it has anything to do with your recruiting you are just fooling yourself

Thank you so much for the replies - these perspectives really help and we've really let my son's play speak for itself so far.  Would really prefer to continue with that, but with the amount of self-promotion going on out there, its hard not to wonder if we shouldn't be also somehow be sharing game snippets of semi-unique skills, etc., at some point.  But ...he's 14, hahaha and it's hard to imagine anyone finding them all that interesting.      

For our 2024, Twitter has been pretty useful as far as getting some attention and getting videos out and as using as a reference to find video when communicating with schools. Our son is not a big social media user and post very little.  He mostly retweets stuff about his friends and teammates and what others have tweeted about him.  I don't agree with the above comment that social media "makes zero imprint when it comes to recruiting" as I know it personally has been helpful in our 2024's recruiting journey. 

So, as long as it's not obnoxious and the posts are truthful, social media can be a good tool!

Social media makes absolutely zero of an imprint when it comes to recruiting… it is completely and utterly meaningless.

Either you can play or you cannot.

And if you can play at a certain level, the college coaches are going to know about you. Social media can only serve as a detriment in your recruiting and not in the slightest as any sort of help.

Unless perhaps if you live in Alaska and have no ability to get to any sort of recruiting event. Or perhaps if you are an extreme outlier who throws 97 miles an hour, and your dad is a complete crazed fool who won’t let you leave the farm, then you could possibly get drafted from your farm via social media.

For everybody else the “I need to post on social media so I can be seen” is merely an excuse. Hey, if you like social media, and if you get a nice little dopamine fix from posting on social media, that’s great, but if you think it has anything to do with your recruiting you are just fooling yourself

Can you provide a specific example that you know of where social media served as a detriment? I've known individuals who've been exposed instead of gaining exposure. For example, a player saying they're 6'2", but video clearly shows they're more realistically 5'9". Or the player that says their FB is topping out at 90, but video shows otherwise. But in both these cases they were exposed because they were not being honest.

But what if the individual posting is being honest? What evidence do you have that it's a detriment to their recruiting?

From our own experience, we know not all coaches/recruiting coordinators check out video from emails. I do know for a fact that they have watched highlights through twitter. We live in a rural area and our son hasn't participated in the major scouting tournaments, yet he's gained some followers. I will say they may not have started following him from seeing his videos on twitter, but it may have been through word of mouth. Considering they can't always see him at every game I'm sure it is helping them keep an eye on him, why else would they add him to their "follow" list?

I also disagree about the zero impact part. My son put a tweet up which was then retweeted by his travel coach who has 8,000 followers including a zillion college coaches because he works with a lot of college and MLB hitters in the off season. The travel coach had a number of college coaches from different levels message him about my son and his interests. None of those schools were an academic fit, but if they were he'd easily have had a chance to engage them for recruiting. This was all based on 1 tweet of his WWBA Atlanta highlights and metrics.

Those who say it is not working are old school and have no clue about today's generation of college coaches.  I can guarantee you someone at every college is watching twitter and follows certain other people who know who is who.  IT will not make you a great player but it will get your name out there if you are a great player.  Basic rules.  Tell the truth.  If it is truth you can post it but it is always better if someone else does it and you follow or retweet them.  Don't retweet or tweet or post stupid stuff no matter how funny you and your buds think it is.  Be careful.  All it takes a picture of you at the wrong place or the wrong time to have it all blow up on you.

Would be glad to elaborate on any or all but it is very good or very bad according to how you use it.

The videos that my son has shared with me that impress, IMO, are the ones that simply show the player's ability.  But I am not a recruiter and we are just trying to understand when, if ever, it's worth posting.  We have a short somewhat unique skill video that we made for fun that we have not posted (happy to share via DM for future guidance on when, if ever to share or post similar videos).  Right now, we just lurk on social media, and he is simply working to improve while loving the game.  Again, thank you for all of the perspectives.

@PitchingFan posted:

Don't retweet or tweet or post stupid stuff no matter how funny you and your buds think it is.  Be careful.  All it takes a picture of you at the wrong place or the wrong time to have it all blow up on you.

Would be glad to elaborate on any or all but it is very good or very bad according to how you use it.

Also watch your "likes" everyone can see the tweets you like.

Social media makes absolutely zero of an imprint when it comes to recruiting… it is completely and utterly meaningless.

Either you can play or you cannot.

And if you can play at a certain level, the college coaches are going to know about you. Social media can only serve as a detriment in your recruiting and not in the slightest as any sort of help.

Unless perhaps if you live in Alaska and have no ability to get to any sort of recruiting event. Or perhaps if you are an extreme outlier who throws 97 miles an hour, and your dad is a complete crazed fool who won’t let you leave the farm, then you could possibly get drafted from your farm via social media.

For everybody else the “I need to post on social media so I can be seen” is merely an excuse. Hey, if you like social media, and if you get a nice little dopamine fix from posting on social media, that’s great, but if you think it has anything to do with your recruiting you are just fooling yourself

I bet this guy loves a good bat flip! 😁

@DaddyBaller posted:

I bet this guy loves a good bat flip! 😁

be careful what bombs and bat flips you post on Twitter, could send the wrong message :-)

half serious ... my son smashed one, then got caught on video watching the ball fly over the trees behind the RF fence; he knew he would be ripped for watching and not running; video never made it to Twitter or Instagram, even after I paid HiCast to access the video.  Grandad still enjoyed it!

My kids are 34 and 29 now. They mostly preceded the showboat era. But, as a coach (asst coach for daughter through 18u, head coach for son through 16u) I told them to act as if success is the norm. If you crank a ball you know is gone off the bat act like it’s not unusual.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news but those teams are picked already. If they're not picked, they have 15/20 roster spots filled already."



He will be on a team - that is not up in the air.  They simply do not designate WHICH team until later in the winter.  We are familiar with the travel organization, know others who play and have played on it, and this is how this group does it - they have multiple teams at every age level in high school.  He is coming from an organization with one full time travel team per age level (he made the top team every year since they started in 9U) with multiple lower level teams that were part time.  That team stops at 14U, so he is now with the new organization that does high school full time summer travel.  Our prior organization actually has a relationship with the "new" one (and the prior organization recommended the new one), so it seemed liked a good fit.

Last edited by ILoveBaseball04

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news but those teams are picked already. If they're not picked, they have 15/20 roster spots filled already."



He will be on a team - that is not up in the air.  They simply do not designate WHICH team until later in the winter.  We are familiar with the travel organization, know others who play and have played on it, and this is how this group does it - they have multiple teams at every age level in high school.  He is coming from an organization with one full time travel team per age level (he made the top team every year since they started in 9U) with multiple lower level teams that were part time.  That team stops at 14U, so he is now with the new organization that does high school full time summer travel.

I understand the system, he will be on a team. What I am telling you is the "A" team is pretty much already chosen if it is even a halfway decent program.

@PABaseball posted:

I understand the system, he will be on a team. What I am telling you is the "A" team is pretty much already chosen if it is even a halfway decent program.

Thanks, but the organization is large enough that it has multiple "good" teams and not just a single A team.  It's hard to explain more without giving away the team, which is not what my post was intended to be about.  The structure was one of the things we liked about it - he has room to grow, should he continue to develop.    Of the three organizations he tried out for and was offered a "spot" on this year (we don't do this every year - this year is exceptional because he effectively aged out of the prior team that he was with for many, many years), it was the same setup for tryouts and team placement, so that's just the way it seems to be done around here.  Still, it's a big organization and he expects to need to earn a "good" spot.  He is prepared and is committed to working hard.

Last edited by ILoveBaseball04

When my son played 13u to 17u there was a dominant academy program in our area. Their A team was difficult to beat. They expanded to B, then C and now a D team. They used colors to designate the teams . They claimed the teams were equal. The A team was still a challenge. We beat them occasionally. We regularly beat the B team and kicked the crap out of the C team. The purpose of sub A teams is not to create more quality teams. It’s to generate revenue.

One of my son’s good friends going back to LL played for the B team in 17u. He was made all kinds of promises. They did absolutely nothing for him for recruiting. All the attention went to the A team. The kid got recruited on his own through Head First and a local academic leaning showcase. The kid had talent. He became a D3 All American. The kid lacked the foot speed and size of a prototypical D1 player. But, the kid could rake.

Last edited by RJM

We had our son tryout for one of these clubs that have multiple teams. We could tell from the tryout that they really weren't going to consider anyone new for the "A" Team. We opted for a program that didn't have multiple teams. We looked up the team that he had been offered a spot but we passed on. They had a terrible season. They just couldn't compete at the same level as their "A" team.

@RJM posted:

When my son played 13u to 17u there was a dominant academy program in our area. Their A team was difficult to beat. They expanded to B, then C and now a D team. They used colors to designate the teams . They claimed the teams were equal. The A team was still a challenge. We beat the B team and kicked the crap out of the C team. The purpose of sub A teams is not to create more quality teams. It’s to generate revenue.

One of my son’s good friends going back to LL played for the B team in 17u. He was made all kinds of promises. They did absolutely nothing for him for recruiting. All the attention went to the A team. The kid got recruited on his own through Head Start and a local academic leaning showcase. The kid had talent. He became a D3 All American. The kid lacked the foot speed and size of a prototypical D1 player. But, the kid could rake.

Yep, quite familiar with such teams - but this one is a bit different.  We actually turned down the "3rd place" team because of shades of this kind of stuff (long story, just things we heard from other families that did not sound right).  With the organization we selected, not only are there nice local opportunities, but the possibility of opportunities that are more regional and beyond.  Also, the kids do get a "feel" at the tryout and workouts as to where they are - my son feels good with this organization.  Again, going way off topic of my post, but we are excited about what this organization may have to offer.  So much development still ahead and to a certain extent - much of this is up to the kid himself.

Last edited by ILoveBaseball04

Social media makes absolutely zero of an imprint when it comes to recruiting… it is completely and utterly meaningless.

Either you can play or you cannot.

You are wrong on point #1.
#2 might be true but there are LOTS of kids who will not be recruited to many schools WITHOUT social media. My kid was initially discovered by several D1 schools via Twitter (from his club team) and then eventually offered 9 months later. This happened after a series of events followed by my son reaching out to a coach (several) who had followed him for over a year and the RC had never liked a post prior to the DM & follow up conversation.

Social media as it is today is such a powerful tool and option.  Fortunately my son didn't have to rely on it that much since it was just taking a foothold.  Only comment I can make is be extremely careful what you put out there or "like".  It may be PC or acceptable today, but as we've all seen 10+ years or longer from now it may have a detrimental meaning or opinion.  I know of a current MLB player who I met several times, one of the nicest, down to earth person, yet something "harmless" 15 years ago he posted was found on social media and it causes much concern among players, management, and fans.  Use it wisely lol.

@Momball11 posted:

My son isn't a big social media guy, but it is certainly a tool that has aided in him being "seen". He's always played well, but he's been relatively unknown because he didn't get much playing time for his HS team and we had him play for summer programs that were budget friendly, which meant he's not played in a PBR/PG event. We encouraged him to start tweeting his highlights and he now has scouts and coaches following him. We've also received a lot of comments/support from local folk saying he should definitely have a starting spot on the HS team. We've always told our son that you have to be so much better than other players that it would make the coach look like an idiot to not play you. Social media has provided him a platform to demonstrate just how good he is and certainly make it questionable if he doesn't get much playing time.

I see red flags with 2 of your last 3 sentences. Comments/support from local folks has no bearing on your son’s role on his HS team. That will be determined by the HS HC based on whatever criteria he uses to make that judgment. Same goes for social media. It also will have no bearing on whether your son gets the playing time that you (or he) think he deserves. There is no better way to get in a permanent doghouse with a HS HC than to criticize/question decisions he makes about his program in posts on social media.

I will agree on the detrimental part. I know of a P5 player who got in trouble for his parents posting something on social media that could only have come from the player.  The player was called in and told to make sure his parents shut down the social media.  The player's mother posted that she was told to take a post down by her son's coach and it was not very nice.  The parents could not understand why the coach was upset and eventually why the son did not get playing time.

@adbono posted:

I see red flags with 2 of your last 3 sentences. Comments/support from local folks has no bearing on your son’s role on his HS team. That will be determined by the HS HC based on whatever criteria he uses to make that judgment. Same goes for social media. It also will have no bearing on whether your son gets the playing time that you (or he) think he deserves. There is no better way to get in a permanent doghouse with a HS HC than to criticize/question decisions he makes about his program in posts on social media.

There's never been any questions about playing time posted to social media. There's never been any questioning by my son because he's been taught to keep his mouth shut and continue working harder to get better. There are teammates and assistant coaches that have questioned why he wasn't being played. In an area where play time is influenced by politics and money...those comments by area folk definitely have an influence. Can you honestly say politics aren't involved in baseball? Our coach honestly admitted he had favorites on the team at the end of the season. Persuasion of numbers can be effective. Have you heard of implicit bias? Studies have shown it exists in baseball. Definitely have also heard the term "look test".

You see Tom House's tweet today about politics and baseball?

My son may not of had the opportunity to demonstrate his ability during the HS season, but there were plenty of eyes that saw highlights of his summer season on twitter.

@Momball11 posted:

There's never been any questions about playing time posted to social media. There's never been any questioning by my son because he's been taught to keep his mouth shut and continue working harder to get better. There are teammates and assistant coaches that have questioned why he wasn't being played. In an area where play time is influenced by politics and money...those comments by area folk definitely have an influence. Can you honestly say politics aren't involved in baseball? Our coach honestly admitted he had favorites on the team at the end of the season. Persuasion of numbers can be effective. Have you heard of implicit bias? Studies have shown it exists in baseball. Definitely have also heard the term "look test".

You see Tom House's tweet today about politics and baseball?

My son may not of had the opportunity to demonstrate his ability during the HS season, but there were plenty of eyes that saw highlights of his summer season on twitter.

I was giving you a word of caution based on my own personal experience. You can take it or leave it. I’m well aware of how politics can impact HS baseball. What I’m saying is that if your HS HC has a bias against your son (or any other player for that matter) a social media campaign will not overcome said bias. It will only make matters worse.

@adbono posted:

I was giving you a word of caution based on my own personal experience. You can take it or leave it. I’m well aware of how politics can impact HS baseball. What I’m saying is that if your HS HC has a bias against your son (or any other player for that matter) a social media campaign will not overcome said bias. It will only make matters worse.

Thanks. Yes, I would agree one needs to be careful about what they post.

Want to get recruited using social media?
Here’s all you have to do (I’ll use a position player for the example). And obviously  unless your son is a unicorn (think Bryce Harper) this doesn’t apply until he hits the big field

1. Get your son in the weight room

2. Find a hitting coach that knows his stuff.

3. Get your son in the weight room.

4. Find a speed coach that knows his stuff

5. Get your son in the weight room

6. Get your son in an arm care/velocity program.

7. Get your son in the weight room

8.  Have adults who teach your son to accept failure and forge mental toughness

9. Get your son in the weight room.

Once this is done for a number of years, where are his metrics? Is his exit velo in the 90’s, arm in the 80’s and 60 under 7.00. There are exceptions within these ranges (60 may be over 7.00 depending on position and skill set) but not many for D1 kids. Also, his swing is going to be picked apart to make sure it translates to the next level.

Once your son is at this level post away! Get video out there. Back up the metrics with game action. Go to Showcases. There’s a good chance your son is a legit D1 kid at some level. If your son throws 70 across the infield, has an exit velo below 90 and runs a 7.5, no video in the world will help. No coach is going to be “fooled” by a post of a kid going 12-15 in a weekend tournament. The swing and the metrics need to support the video post.

It’s a numbers game. Until your son hits those numbers, in my opinion, social media is a waste of time.

@Leftyrighty posted:

Want to get recruited using social media?
Here’s all you have to do (I’ll use a position player for the example). And obviously  unless your son is a unicorn (think Bryce Harper) this doesn’t apply until he hits the big field

1. Get your son in the weight room

2. Find a hitting coach that knows his stuff.

3. Get your son in the weight room.

4. Find a speed coach that knows his stuff

5. Get your son in the weight room

6. Get your son in an arm care/velocity program.

7. Get your son in the weight room

8.  Have adults who teach your son to accept failure and forge mental toughness

9. Get your son in the weight room.

Once this is done for a number of years, where are his metrics? Is his exit velo in the 90’s, arm in the 80’s and 60 under 7.00. There are exceptions within these ranges (60 may be over 7.00 depending on position and skill set) but not many for D1 kids. Also, his swing is going to be picked apart to make sure it translates to the next level.

Once your son is at this level post away! Get video out there. Back up the metrics with game action. Go to Showcases. There’s a good chance your son is a legit D1 kid at some level. If your son throws 70 across the infield, has an exit velo below 90 and runs a 7.5, no video in the world will help. No coach is going to be “fooled” by a post of a kid going 12-15 in a weekend tournament. The swing and the metrics need to support the video post.

It’s a numbers game. Until your son hits those numbers, in my opinion, social media is a waste of time.

Great post! A recruiting scout told my son to stop sending video until he could pass the eye test and had metrics that played at the level he was targeting. 40 lbs later the responses to videos sent increased a ton.

One thing I find interesting is even though he didn’t hit particularly well in showcases the coaches recruiting him said his swing worked at their level.

There’s the development stage and the marketing stage. Many families are too quick to want to market on social media while their child is in the development phase. These families are 100% wasting their time on social media. Develop fully and then post away. Don’t be in a rush. Unless  you are a P5 prospect (and most are not) there’s probably not going to be an offer until the summer before your senior year (and that’s only if your son has the metrics, the swing, the “look” AND balls out in front of a coach at a tourney or Showcase). Not trying to be a “downer”, just keeping it real.

I would disagree with this from experience.  Neither of my son's hit the weight room and both were recruited P5 as dual players, hitters and pitchers.  They had not lifted very much due to playing 3 sports in HS and the weight of playing travel ball.  After doing 10 episodes and talking to the players at UT, only 1 of the 10 lifted seriously in HS.  The rest did not.  I'm not saying it should not happen.  I'm just saying it does not happen for the best players in P5 ball.  I asked son about the guys who played with him on the high level travel teams he played for pre-college and he said he only knew 2 of the 60 plus players who were all drafted out of HS or went P5 ball that lifted seriously.  Just observation.  I don't know what you do with it but I'm willing to bet it goes across the board.

@PitchingFan posted:

I would disagree with this from experience.  Neither of my son's hit the weight room and both were recruited P5 as dual players, hitters and pitchers.  They had not lifted very much due to playing 3 sports in HS and the weight of playing travel ball.  After doing 10 episodes and talking to the players at UT, only 1 of the 10 lifted seriously in HS.  The rest did not.  I'm not saying it should not happen.  I'm just saying it does not happen for the best players in P5 ball.  I asked son about the guys who played with him on the high level travel teams he played for pre-college and he said he only knew 2 of the 60 plus players who were all drafted out of HS or went P5 ball that lifted seriously.  Just observation.  I don't know what you do with it but I'm willing to bet it goes across the board.

I think the key there is the fact that you said your sons played 3 sports.  How many of those other kids played multiple sports??  My son played football and was a wrestler as well as playing year-round baseball, he lifted during practices and the VERY occasional weekend/holiday break, but wrestling practice alone is on a whole other level!  Kids who are actively involved in other sports are using different muscles and building strength.  I think it is the kids playing only one sport year-round that need to utilize the weight room more if they want to improve. 

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