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.