Summer After Sophomore Year @ H.S.

We started doing that the beginning of sophomore year.  I would say yes.

It would have been good to do email contact expressing interest the D1’s and asking what showcases and tournaments they attend. Now that the season has started coaches are busy. You want to get on the mid major D1’s radar this year. It’s better if the travel coach makes contact on behalf of the player (assuming he has contacts and credibility). Attending events and throwing spaghetti off the wall to see what sticks is not the best approach.

When doing PG and other big time events visibility depends on the quality if the travel team. Getting stuck on back fields playing other inferior competition is not a way to get noticed. If a player is looking to play Northeast mid major D1 PG events down south aren’t really necessary. 

D2s and D3s wait for the filtering down process (players realizing D1 isn’t likely)  to take place. They can wait to post junior summer. 

Keep in mind when colleges express interest the player is only a suspect. The coach could disappear at any time. Ongoing conversation via texts and phone calls makes for a serious suspect. But don’t have any expectations until an offer is in hand (or in the case if verbals, in ear). 

Be careful with camps. Many of them are just fundraisers for the program. Camps are better if the coach has seen the player then invites him to a prospect camp. Ask other travel players and coaches for information on the camps. 

Good luck.

Francis7, I’m in the same situation as you with a few nuances. First of all, “I’m a Dad and not in the know”. 😊 My 2022 is a MIF/OF who started Varsity last year, won State and will likely be in the running this year. His Summer team is well recognized and will travel to the most competitive tourneys (PG, Five Tool) in Tx, and one each-Ga, Az and FL. I would say his top skills are speed (6.8) & glove/footwork. I think he can improve his EV and arm. GPA is 3.7. Hasn’t taken the ACT/SAT yet.

Like you, I’m trying to nudge him to be more proactive in reaching out to coaches via email this Spring-Summer. He’s on the radar of a few D1s, but just not sure what that means in terms of real interest. Our Summer coach who we have played for 3 years, is very well connected with several (D1-JUCO) coaches and feels this summer should give way to an offer or two given the amount of exposure and timing, of course. Here’ s the rub...no videos or emails are top of son’s mind right now. Reason? “Summer coach will make the contacts”.Maybe, but I don’t like having all eggs in one basket, eh Coach and I’m sure coaches want to see the interest. 😀 Son did commit to not playing football next year if he doesn’t garner an offer(s) he is thrilled about and will focus solely on baseball/recruiting. 

All that being said, It’s hard to take my hands off the wheel and trust son and respectful coach to manage this. I created a spreadsheet of schools, but I refuse to write emails. I will help when he identifies schools of interest.

You can help your son. But you can’t drag him through the process. The kid has to really want it. When he gets to college ball getting there is going to seem like a cake walk. Sticking is the challenge. A lot of it is motivation, mental toughness, self discipline and time management.

PROBEAGLE posted:

Francis7, I’m in the same situation as you with a few nuances. First of all, “I’m a Dad and not in the know”. 😊 My 2022 is a MIF/OF who started Varsity last year, won State and will likely be in the running this year. His Summer team is well recognized and will travel to the most competitive tourneys (PG, Five Tool) in Tx, and one each-Ga, Az and FL. I would say his top skills are speed (6.8) & glove/footwork. I think he can improve his EV and arm. GPA is 3.7. Hasn’t taken the ACT/SAT yet.

Like you, I’m trying to nudge him to be more proactive in reaching out to coaches via email this Spring-Summer. He’s on the radar of a few D1s, but just not sure what that means in terms of real interest. Our Summer coach who we have played for 3 years, is very well connected with several (D1-JUCO) coaches and feels this summer should give way to an offer or two given the amount of exposure and timing, of course. Here’ s the rub...no videos or emails are top of son’s mind right now. Reason? “Summer coach will make the contacts”.Maybe, but I don’t like having all eggs in one basket, eh Coach and I’m sure coaches want to see the interest. 😀 Son did commit to not playing football next year if he doesn’t garner an offer(s) he is thrilled about and will focus solely on baseball/recruiting. 

All that being said, It’s hard to take my hands off the wheel and trust son and respectful coach to manage this. I created a spreadsheet of schools, but I refuse to write emails. I will help when he identifies schools of interest.

We've had similar conversations. His travel coach is fairly well connected and is more than willing to act on his behalf. In fact, he reached out to the aforementioned recruiting coach after we went to the camp and got great feedback for us. But, I have stressed to my son that it's a mistake to assume his coach will get him somewhere and all he has to do is wait. You have to exercise every avenue. I'm also not going to write and send the emails. That's got to be him. That's how it works at this stage.

Have you asked the travel coach where he projects? I agree you can't expect him to do everything, but if it's possible to make it a partnership, that is ideal.  Share your list with the coach, and ask what he thinks.  A good travel coach won't recommend your son to schools unless he feels it's a good fit, otherwise he loses credibility. On our 16U team there were a lot of parents who were mad because they didn't feel that the coach was reaching out to the schools they wanted at tournaments - but, given where the kids were at that time, he was right.

I would start reaching out now to the D1s. Simple email with metrics, video and schedule.  I also have a 2022. With being off this week for winter break, he'll be spending a good amount of time doing this. He's throwing a pen at a PBR showcase then will reach out to coaches he has had contact with, and send an email intro to a few others.

We're also doing the typical PG route. Is your travel organization doing any college team camps over the summer?

Being in the northeast and depending on the school, it's possible they can come see your son during the HS season.

PROBEAGLE posted:

Francis7, I’m in the same situation as you with a few nuances. First of all, “I’m a Dad and not in the know”. 😊 My 2022 is a MIF/OF who started Varsity last year, won State and will likely be in the running this year. His Summer team is well recognized and will travel to the most competitive tourneys (PG, Five Tool) in Tx, and one each-Ga, Az and FL. I would say his top skills are speed (6.8) & glove/footwork. I think he can improve his EV and arm. GPA is 3.7. Hasn’t taken the ACT/SAT yet.

Like you, I’m trying to nudge him to be more proactive in reaching out to coaches via email this Spring-Summer. He’s on the radar of a few D1s, but just not sure what that means in terms of real interest. Our Summer coach who we have played for 3 years, is very well connected with several (D1-JUCO) coaches and feels this summer should give way to an offer or two given the amount of exposure and timing, of course. Here’ s the rub...no videos or emails are top of son’s mind right now. Reason? “Summer coach will make the contacts”.Maybe, but I don’t like having all eggs in one basket, eh Coach and I’m sure coaches want to see the interest. 😀 Son did commit to not playing football next year if he doesn’t garner an offer(s) he is thrilled about and will focus solely on baseball/recruiting. 

All that being said, It’s hard to take my hands off the wheel and trust son and respectful coach to manage this. I created a spreadsheet of schools, but I refuse to write emails. I will help when he identifies schools of interest.

I think handing it all over to your coach is the worst mistake you could make.  Our travel team director was well connected too.  I spoke to him January of sophomore year regarding my son and that I needed an advocate for him, as we had been doing a lot of the legwork but needed to know he was reaching out.  He said he absolutely would and that if my son had a great summer, he would call my sons dream school.  At that point my son was already having bi-weekly calls with the school just on what we did. He had no idea, and called the coach that night and reported they were very interested.  It ended up that a lot of our recruiting came from our legwork, my sons performance, and the club fielding calls.

Be careful with interest in dream schools. Make sure the player is their dream player and not just recruiting depth insurance. 

anotherparent posted:

Have you asked the travel coach where he projects? I agree you can't expect him to do everything, but if it's possible to make it a partnership, that is ideal.  Share your list with the coach, and ask what he thinks.  A good travel coach won't recommend your son to schools unless he feels it's a good fit, otherwise he loses credibility. On our 16U team there were a lot of parents who were mad because they didn't feel that the coach was reaching out to the schools they wanted at tournaments - but, given where the kids were at that time, he was right.

Travel coach strongly feels that he's a D1 player. That said, the coach has preached to him that he should consider D2 or D3 if it's a better fit in terms of the school and program. The coach would be the first one to tell you that the #5 D3 team would probably be as good experience as playing for the #275 D1 team and that you shouldn't get the mindset that it has to be D1 or bust.

Definitely help - Be a back seat driver. Your son needs to drive, but you can give directions and critique his "driving". I too would caution at giving the reigns to the Travel Coach, are they going to be paying tuition if he doesn't get an offer. This is THE SUMMER of recruiting for the larger/Top D1 programs for the 22 class. Yes there are other spots in smaller D1 or D2-3, JUCO - so you're still way ahead of the game. Helps to stay in front of the tsunami.

Definitely get a good competitive schedule and share it with the coaches/staffs interested in. See what tourneys they'll be attending. Showcases are all the same. Do the Same and charge basically, the same. So no need to worry about traveling all over for those except to get in front of the right coaches/scouts, if during a NCAA Recruiting period when people will actually be there. Also share stats or great plays or results post event and be consistent. Brief, but consistent. 

Some great places like FlatgroundBats (batting) FlatgroundApp (Pitching) and Bookworm Ball Players (GPA above 3.5) and other sites that will retweet on your behalf and really up the impressions. Check their twitter pages for what they're looking for (Name, Age, Height, Weight, GPA, metrics, etc.). Use the national team, if you're on one (Like East Cobb, etc.) and PerfectGame handles in your tweets to maximize exposure and reach. 

Always better to have him or a 3rd party tweet something than Dad, when possible. He will also want to retweet whatever the 3rd parties do....exposure, exposure, exposure.....

Create and share a Baseball Profile with links and videos in PDF form to the various coaches/schools. HS and Travel ball coaches' email/phone, etc. Volunteer Work, etc. Also link to tournament honors/videos (FiveTool or PBR tweets), etc. They appreciate the one stop shop.   Great way to pack a lot of 3rd party validation into your profile. 

Camps are a money maker for the schools. Some are good and some are just horrible. Plenty of reviews of various camps online here. Just search for them.  

Do quality/competitive events this summer and get on a good travel team for WWBA Underclass in Ft. Meyers and WWBA Upperclass Championship in Jupiter this fall if you can play both.

I would also suggest practice, practice, practice. Get him talking to whomever wants to talk to him for practice and get used to talking to coaches and sharing updates. Timely calls, or texts, etc. You'll have plenty of interest this spring/summer. Practice, practice, practice, so he's fluid and comfortable when the right school comes a knocking.

Be polite, be consistent, and be communicative. 

Best of luck, This is going to be  wild ride of a year. 

We just did all this last spring/summer/fall.....

nycdad posted:

I would start reaching out now to the D1s. Simple email with metrics, video and schedule.  I also have a 2022. With being off this week for winter break, he'll be spending a good amount of time doing this. He's throwing a pen at a PBR showcase then will reach out to coaches he has had contact with, and send an email intro to a few others.

We're also doing the typical PG route. Is your travel organization doing any college team camps over the summer?

Being in the northeast and depending on the school, it's possible they can come see your son during the HS season.

They have 2 college camps on the schedule along with the PG tournaments. Both are at schools that are not high on his interest list. So, not sure how much that helps?

Eokerholm posted:

Definitely help be a back seat driver. Your son needs to drive, but you can give directions and critique his "driving". I too would caution at giving the reigns to the Travel Coach, are they going to be paying tuition if he doesn't get an offer. This is THE SUMMER of recruiting for the larger/Top D1 programs for the 22 class. Yes there are other spots in smaller D1 or D2-3, JUCO - so you're still way ahead of the game. Helps to stay in front of the tsunami.

Definitely get a good competitive schedule and share it with the coaches/staffs interested in. See what tourneys they'll be attending. Showcases are all the same. Do the Same and charge basically, the same. So no need to worry about traveling all over for those except to get in front of the right coaches/scouts, if during a NCAA Recruiting period when people will actually be there. Also share stats or great plays or results post event and be consistent. Brief, but consistent. 

Some great places like FlatgroundBats (batting) FlatgroundApp (Pitching) and Bookworm Ball Players (GPA above 3.5) and other sites that will retweet on your behalf and really up the impressions. Check their twitter pages for what they're looking for (Name, Age, Height, Weight, GPA, metrics, etc.). Use the national team, if you're on one (Like East Cobb, etc.) and PerfectGame handles in your tweets to maximize exposure and reach. 

Always better to have him or a 3rd party tweet something than Dad, when possible. He will also want to retweet whatever the 3rd parties do....exposure, exposure, exposure.....

Create and share a Baseball Profile with links and videos in PDF form to the various coaches/schools. HS and Travel ball coaches' email/phone, etc. Volunteer Work, etc. Also link to tournament honors/videos (FiveTool or PBR tweets), etc. They appreciate the one stop shop.   Great way to pack a lot of 3rd party validation into your profile. 

Camps are a money maker for the schools. Some are good and some are just horrible. Plenty of reviews of various camps online here. Just search for them.  

Do quality/competitive events this summer and get on a good travel team for WWBA Underclass in Ft. Meyers and WWBA Upperclass Championship in Jupiter this fall if you can play both.

I would also suggest practice, practice, practice. Get him talking to whomever wants to talk to him for practice and get used to talking to coaches and sharing updates. Timely calls, or texts, etc. You'll have plenty of interest this spring/summer. Practice, practice, practice, so he's fluid and comfortable when the right school comes a knocking.

Be polite, be consistent, and be communicative. 

Best of luck, This is going to be  wild ride of a year. 

We just did all this last spring/summer/fall.....

 

 

On the communication front, what would you recommend in terms of keeping the line open and providing updates once he's established an initial dialogue with the recruiting coaches?

Travel Team Tourney & Showcase (if any) schedule, (and any changes) and results from tourneys (if it is worth sharing).

You don't want to put out anything "marginal". If you aren't "showcase" ready or in shape, don't go.

Francis7 posted:

On the communication front, what would you recommend in terms of keeping the line open and providing updates once he's established an initial dialogue with the recruiting coaches?

Mine texted all coaches he was communicating with after every start to provide updates on his performance and his next start. He didn't whitewash things, when he sucked, he told them what sucked and what he planned to work on in the next week. They learned that not only was he a good pitcher (most of the time), but that he was self aware, mature enough to recognize his failings, and smart enough to realize he needed to improve.

He did each one individually, the message might have been the same, but he didn't group text.

I think he did occasionally offer an "opt out" — let me know if you want to continue to receive my updates — ut i'm not sure anyone ever cut him off.

Yep, easier for pitchers with updates. My son was in the same boat. Texts were one way (due to restrictions) until 9/1 but had designated days/times to call the coaches for them to pick up. 

How about for non-pitchers? Maybe a text every two weeks with a progress report?

Francis7 posted:

anotherparent posted:

Have you asked the travel coach where he projects? I agree you can't expect him to do everything, but if it's possible to make it a partnership, that is ideal.  Share your list with the coach, and ask what he thinks.  A good travel coach won't recommend your son to schools unless he feels it's a good fit, otherwise he loses credibility. On our 16U team there were a lot of parents who were mad because they didn't feel that the coach was reaching out to the schools they wanted at tournaments - but, given where the kids were at that time, he was right.

Travel coach strongly feels that he's a D1 player. That said, the coach has preached to him that he should consider D2 or D3 if it's a better fit in terms of the school and program. The coach would be the first one to tell you that the #5 D3 team would probably be as good experience as playing for the #275 D1 team and that you shouldn't get the mindset that it has to be D1 or bust.

 Unless baseball people are telling your son he’s a pro prospect the program that sets him up for “turning pro in something other than sports” Is more important than level played. That said, there are D1 level programs that fit. But I wouldn’t pass on a quality D3 education and baseball program just to claim I played D1 at Timbuktu State.

RJM posted:

Francis7 posted:

anotherparent posted:

Have you asked the travel coach where he projects? I agree you can't expect him to do everything, but if it's possible to make it a partnership, that is ideal.  Share your list with the coach, and ask what he thinks.  A good travel coach won't recommend your son to schools unless he feels it's a good fit, otherwise he loses credibility. On our 16U team there were a lot of parents who were mad because they didn't feel that the coach was reaching out to the schools they wanted at tournaments - but, given where the kids were at that time, he was right.

Travel coach strongly feels that he's a D1 player. That said, the coach has preached to him that he should consider D2 or D3 if it's a better fit in terms of the school and program. The coach would be the first one to tell you that the #5 D3 team would probably be as good experience as playing for the #275 D1 team and that you shouldn't get the mindset that it has to be D1 or bust.

 Unless baseball people are telling your son he’s a pro prospect the program that sets him up for “turning pro in something other than sports” Is more important than level played. That said, there are I’d level programs that fit. But I wouldn’t pass on a quality D3 education and baseball program just to claim I played D1 at Timbuktu State.

Agreed.  At the end of the day, it's about the education and the experience.  Very few get to play professionally.  And, even fewer of them get to the upper levels.  Even the "can't miss" kids miss.  That said, to your point, unless some scouting director somewhere is telling you that you have a chance to be a prospect, don't count on it happening.

Back to the school part, as long as the education part aligns with where you want to be and where you want to go after you graduate, personally, I look at it as "this is your last four years to play baseball."  How do you want to spend them?  In theory, you have been doing this 11 to 13 years heading into those last four.  You have trained and sacrificed to get to this point.  Don't go somewhere that's going to make you miserable.  Make it a positive and fun experience that you will remember fondly for the rest of your life.  You will never get a chance to do it over.

Francis7 posted:

anotherparent posted:

Have you asked the travel coach where he projects? I agree you can't expect him to do everything, but if it's possible to make it a partnership, that is ideal.  Share your list with the coach, and ask what he thinks.  A good travel coach won't recommend your son to schools unless he feels it's a good fit, otherwise he loses credibility. On our 16U team there were a lot of parents who were mad because they didn't feel that the coach was reaching out to the schools they wanted at tournaments - but, given where the kids were at that time, he was right.

Travel coach strongly feels that he's a D1 player. That said, the coach has preached to him that he should consider D2 or D3 if it's a better fit in terms of the school and program. The coach would be the first one to tell you that the #5 D3 team would probably be as good experience as playing for the #275 D1 team and that you shouldn't get the mindset that it has to be D1 or bust.

What you have to do is ask very specifically, does the travel coach feel that he is someone he feels comfortable recommending to D1 coaches right now (which usually means he has D1 measurables or at least height right now), or does he think he will (i.e. might) become a D1 player?  In the first case, you should coordinate what you're doing with the travel coach, or at least inform him of what you are doing.  If you go to a camp, tell him so he can contact them beforehand.  After all, if a college is interested, they will most likely contact your coach at some point, just like baseballhs said.  If it's projection for the future, then go ahead and do what you do (I agree you can't leave it all up to the travel coach), but be aware that you're going to need the coach's backup confirmation eventually.

Having said that, our travel coach was good with communication with colleges, but not good with communication to player families - or maybe he assumed we knew how it all worked, which we did not (and had not found hsbbw yet).  So we didn't know what questions we should be asking him.

Eokerholm posted:

Bookworm Ball Players (GPA above 3.5) and other sites that will retweet on your behalf and really up the impressions.

Wow, never heard of that before!  This whole thing is kind of out of hand, I'm glad we didn't know about that 18 months ago.

I would say that this upcoming summer is the most important time period for your son's recruiting, based on how you describe him.  He will either get offers that are fits for him, or he will "set the table" with a short list of coaches who will continue to follow him and may offer the following summer after taking additional looks at him.  

To get to this point, he should know what schools are a good fit talent-wise and start to focus his attention to these schools - send them summer tournament schedules, updates on measureables, updates on grades/test scores, updated videos from spring HS games.  He needs to get these coaches to show up when he plays.  If they don't plan to go to the events he's scheduled for, ask what events they plan to attend and figure out how to get there.  As others have mentioned, I would not put a lot of stock in school camps unless the coach has already seen him play and you have reason to believe an offer is imminent.

As said by others, do not turn control of this process over to travel coaches.  They are part of your son's "support team" but they have dozens of other kids to worry about, not to mention managing a travel program.  Also, coaches have their "go-to" schools they have relationships with and these are not necessarily the same schools that interest your son.

Given where you live, what his travel coach has said about your son and his geographic targets he should definitely do SelectFest (NJ) and MidAtlantic Top 100 (PA).

https://www.selectfestbaseball.org/

https://allstarbaseballacademy...ps/top-100-showcase/

Smitty28 posted:

 

...

As said by others, do not turn control of this process over to travel coaches.  They are part of your son's "support team" but they have dozens of other kids to worry about, not to mention managing a travel program.  Also, coaches have their "go-to" schools they have relationships with and these are not necessarily the same schools that interest your son.

This...  these are two of the more prominent reasons why Smitty and others are telling you not to rely too heavily on the travel coaches.  There are many more.  Good travel coaches and other support folks (private instructors, HS coaches, connected mentors, etc.) can make for excellent and important support pieces.  But none will know all of the specifics of your son's situation in every aspect of determining best college fit, nor can they be 100% invested and committed to the efforts of just your son.  Son, with parent guidance, should be driving the school search and communication, checking regularly with the support pieces as to whether he is targeting the right level of schools.  Sometimes, it may make sense to ask one of those support pieces to make the initial contact on the player's behalf.  But, still, the player must drive the overall process.

I can't tell you how many times I have had my HS players and others I have advised tell me they were waiting for their travel coaches or other connections to make contact.  Or worse, randomly waiting for a college, any college, to contact the travel coach - hoping that someone saw you play somewhere with the travel team.  The window is short.  If the support piece isn't getting anywhere in a timely manner, initiate alternate routes.  Overlap efforts and drive the process.  Keep communicating with all parties involved but don't stall waiting too long on others.

anotherparent posted:

Have you asked the travel coach where he projects? I agree you can't expect him to do everything, but if it's possible to make it a partnership, that is ideal.  Share your list with the coach, and ask what he thinks.  A good travel coach won't recommend your son to schools unless he feels it's a good fit, otherwise he loses credibility. On our 16U team there were a lot of parents who were mad because they didn't feel that the coach was reaching out to the schools they wanted at tournaments - but, given where the kids were at that time, he was right.

I agree with your statements. We have a very good relationship with Summer coach. My assessment is he feels like son has attributes that his former D1 signees have. The coach knows I’m like most parents and just want to be prepared. He commented last year his conversations were with only D1 coaches about son. He also said if there is a particular school that he is unfamiliar with, he will gladly reach out to the coach. I do feel he has our best interest and would shoot straight with me.  So I’ll circle back and confirm his impression of son’s talent and level of schools he will be talking to on our behalf. Bottom line, he says best opportunity is for son to perform this Summer.

As far as communication went 2019 did not update a single coach in between starts unless there was a velocity jump or there was something notable (Hit 90 this weekend, was 88 in the 6th inning) (2 doubles off SEC commit, etc). They were sent in an effort to get the ball rolling on an offer coming in more than it was to keep the coach updated. There were some schools that asked for updates, but at that point he was more interested in offers than texting coaches his stat line. "Keep me updated" is a nice way of saying we're interested but aren't going to offer until we have to. 

If his travel coaches have good connections and he is playing the right schedule don't worry about recruiting. You can sell yourself all you want to a school but half the battle is getting them to a game where you either have the tools or you don't. There is a lot of talk out there about videos, analytics, and marketing yourself but the truth of the matter is that a coach is going to come see you eventually and you can either square up 85+ and hit the curve or you can't. A 98mph exit velo means you hit the ball hard, it doesn't mean you're a good hitter. So yes email coaches, talk to his coach about getting in front of these schools, and keep getting better. If you want to do some showcases or camps ask around and make an educated decision on which to hit up and why it would or wouldn't be worth it. But right now we don't know what the feedback from colleges is to tell you where to go/what would be worth the money. 

Thank you all for your comments, opinions and insight. It has inspired me to meet with our Summer coach and determine how to best move forward.