Summer Teams in recruiting

You don't have to play on a top travel team to get noticed, but you probably will have to do something beyond play on your legion team. Either showcases or camps. Chances are you will have very limited exposure on a summer legion team. Make sure you write to the colleges you are interested in, send a bio sheet and express your interest.

Hutch - Does your High School team get much attention from your area scouts and college coaches? If it does your already on your way and you may not have to worry about more exposure. If not, like Rob said before, contact (in writing) as many colleges as you can. Let them know about you. Be sure to provide your upcoming game schedule. If you have the opportunity, showcases are one of the easiest ways to get your name out. Summer Travel Teams are great but there are other ways to get noticed. Above all else though, keep your grades up and work hard. You never know who might already be watching! Good Luck...

Take a look at it from this angle. Recruiting is a business. Schools are allotted a certain amount of money to ensure that business runs smoothly. A college education is very expensive and they work with a lot of dollars. Scholarships can range in the neighborhood of $120,000 and more over 4 years at a school. A coach is going to want to make a good investment, thus he's going to want to see the product and see it more than once. There are tons of kids across the country who put themselves in position for a coach to see them multiple times. He's going to see plenty of guys that he's interested in. Playing in a small legion program doesn't write you out of those dollars. But there are going to be a lot more players out there that market their skills much better if you don't attend Quality showcases or play for a Quality summer team. Noticed the bold print because that's a very important word in that sentence! Whatever you decide to do understand that your son will have X amount of marketing opportunities to cash in on. What that X amounts to is up to you.

I would encourage you to play in a solid summer program, one that will put you in front a great number of college coaches and scouts, whether D1- JUCO. Unless your HS team is going to compete yearly for a state title, your exposure will most likely be minimal.

Danny that seems a little high. $120,000 over 4 years ? Most players are lucky to get any BB money. 25% of a full ride at a $30,000 college is slightly over $7,000.

We've just finished the recruiting process with my son being signed with a top D-1 program.

I think the answer to your question has more to do with the level program you want to play. You can probably play somewhere . . you wouldn't be looking at this website if you were average. But its like the top of anything . . the higher your sights,the more selective the program/ the more choices they have.

My son's high school team won the State Championship 2 years ago, knocked out in the quarter-finals last year . . none of that put him in front of really any college scout. But playing on a top area summer travel team whose sole goal was exposure to college scouts . . paid handsome dividends.

Best of luck . . follow your dreams!

quote:

Danny that seems a little high. $120,000 over 4 years ? Most players are lucky to get any BB money. 25% of a full ride at a $30,000 college is slightly over $7,000.

well the last school that i was at was $38,000 a year to go to which isn't uncommon. if your son is a corner outfielder or infielder than the 25% is true. pitchers commonly recieve 60-75%. that's where the money goes. so lets split it in half and sya 67.5%. That's $25,650 a year of scholarship. That's $102,600 over 4 seasons. There are 51 schools in the country where you can expect the cost of education to be $38,000 or greater for an IN STATE student. All the way up to a shade over $53,000 a year!

Those are the decisions that these coaches are making when they invest in your son. That's what it is... an investment that they're looking for a great return on. It's not just "oh he might be good lets throw $30K at him!" that's why coaches work so hard. That's why schools hold them accountable for the jobs they do. They deal with large sums of money and are responsible for handing it out. A school that costs $38,000 a year will hand out $444,600 in scholarship money per year. That's $1,778,400 dollars over a four year period.

It's a cut throat business as your constantly being evaluated by not only your boss and coworkers, but you're in the spotlight to all your customers as well. Forums, newspapers, websites.... everyone reporting to the world what kind of performance you're having on a daily basis.....

How productive were you at work today compared to everyone else in the country that has your job???? Glad you're not a coach?!!!!

I agree there are pitchers who get 60-70% but most are lucky to get 25%. Many colleges don't give 11.7 scholarships either. If you look at the equity in education site you can see the wide disparity of BB money given out.

I'll have to politely disagree with you on the most pitchers receiving 25%. it you're a pitcher and they offef you 25% you might want to look elsewhere because they don't value you very much. pitchers receive the majority of scholarship money. bottom line. if you're offered 25% as a pitcher you can expect that there are 3-4 pitchers who have been offered more than you in your signing class. good clubs invest anywhere from 60-75% of their scholarship money in pitching. that's just how it is.

Danny - Is it just Texas or are all NCAA equivalency sports required to give no less than 25% per student athlete? Also, here is how U of Texas breaks down their 11.7 scholarships based on position and percentage.....

5.5 scholarships to pitchers
1.5 to catchers
2.5 to four infielders
2.2 to outfielders.

GED10Dad

GOD loves catchers!!

It's everywhere. The rule was grandfathered in prior to the start of the season last year.

Thanks sir!! GED10DaD

loves cathchers!

Does the 25% rule apply to D2 schools as well?

Thanks very much,
full_count

The rule applies only to D1 schools, and only to baseball. It applies only to players who enrolled full-time at a 4 year college after August 1, 2008. So there are some college sophomores, juniors, and seniors who may get less than 25%.

The actual rule is simple: "An institution shall provide each counter athletically related and other countable financial aid that is equal to or greater than 25 percent of an equivalency" (15.5.4.1)

This means that if a player gets any athletically related money, he must get at least 25% of tuition, room and board, fees, and books in the form of athletically related money. State programs like Bright Futures, Hope, etc. which grant money to any student who qualifies, or academic money based soley on scholastic achievement (1200 SAT, or 3.5GPA , or top 10% of class) are not countable, and can not be used to make up the 25%.

Danny if U of Texas gives 5.5 rides to the pitchers and there are 12-15 pitchers on the squad, do the math. If a few get 60% plus the math is that some get very little. Prior to the new rules last season their were some I knew got book money. Under the new rules these guys may get nothing. Many teams have 15-17 pitchers. The Longhorns show 14 on their roster.

Bobble,

Not sure where those figures came from, but even if true the 5.5 represents nearly half their total of 11.7. I personally think most DI colleges would spend a higher percentage than that on pitching.

Even at that 5.5, if they averaged giving 60% to their top 8 pitchers, it would still give them enough to give 9-10-11, 25% and a few might not be getting anything. Lots of Texas kids grow up wanting to be Longhorns.

The top guys get the most, up to 100%. I doubt if Garrett Cole turned down first round draft money (millions) from the Yankees to go to UCLA on a partial scholarship.

I don’t know how most colleges use their 11.7, but if it were me in charge, I would spend nearly all of it on about 22 players. With the big majority going to about a half dozen pitchers. In other words… I would rather have the best 17 players I could get rather than spend the same amount of money so I could have the best group of 18 players that are reserves. I would pay for the best 17 and beat everyone else’s top 17. My next 18 might be weaker than the opponents next 18. Then again my top 17 is so good that it will help me get some real good kids that want to have a chance to be a part of this program.

Sounds easier than it is. Most important is that I’m able to recognize who the top 17 guy’s are. OK let’s say I can do that! Problem is, I’m not the only guy who can recognize talent, so then I have to fight the rest of the very competitive recruiting world to get him. Then if I get a legit top guy, and everyone knows him, I’m likely to lose him to the draft. Heck I could give 10 guys 100% knowing they are first round types and lose all 10 if I were right. Or I might actually get one of them and I’ve only used up one scholarship. Actually I would look for a few of the very best small pitchers in the country. This DI recruiting stuff is hard to figure out.

It would be interesting to get other opinions as to how they would go about recruiting at the highest level of college. Who knows, maybe Danny would even change a few things if he did it all again.

quote:

Originally posted by PGStaff:
Not sure where those figures came from, but even if true the 5.5 represents nearly half their total of 11.7.

Dallas Morning News; Sunday July 6, 2008 by Chip Brown, DMN staff writer in an article titled: "Slicing Up The Scholarship Pie. The Scholarship Game: An examination of how Universities divvy up Scholarship money and the impact on Student Athletes."

And, I doubt all of Garrido's pitchers are on scholarship. I would guess some are "Preferred Walk-Ons" which gets you a roster spot (on paper). Some don't get anything at all other than the opportunity to play for the top Texas D1 program. And...they may never see the field other than throwing BP.

A quote from the article,"Garrido parcels out his 11.7 scholarships based on position. He tries to give 5.5 scholarships to his pitching staff, 1.5 to his catchers, 2.5 to his four infielders with the remaining 2.2 divided up among the outfielders. You can't put together a college baseball team if one player has a full ride," Garrido said. "Your top scholarship is probably 90%." I take that to mean one scholarship is 90%.

I asked two recruiting coordinators from other major Texas and Oklahoma Big XII D1 programs. They give a larger percentage of their scholarship money to their pitching staff too. But that is normally the case when a kid is first recruited. If a position player stays in the program for his entire eligibility, that player may garner more of the pie before his final year in the program, if they are trying to keep him there.

That being said, even for a parent of a top level player, they are probably going to have to participate financially and in a fairly significant way!

Add the reduction of roster spots to the mix and it gets even uglier.

GED10DaD

GOD loves catchers!

quote:

I don’t know how most colleges use their 11.7, but if it were me in charge, I would spend nearly all of it on about 22 players. With the big majority going to about a half dozen pitchers. In other words… I would rather have the best 17 players I could get rather than spend the same amount of money so I could have the best group of 18 players that are reserves. I would pay for the best 17 and beat everyone else’s top 17. My next 18 might be weaker than the opponents next 18. Then again my top 17 is so good that it will help me get some real good kids that want to have a chance to be a part of this program.

This is more of a typical scenario that I see as well, teams carrying 18 or so scholarship players rather than the 27 they will be allowed next year.
Particularly in the case of private schools or those who recruit heavily out of state, low % schollys make it very tough for a family to afford. For example,A 25% deal at USC leaves mom and dad on the hook for almost $40,000 per year.

quote:

This is more of a typical scenario that I see as well, teams carrying 18 or so scholarship players rather than the 27 they will be allowed next year. Particularly in the case of private schools or those who recruit heavily out of state, low % schollys make it very tough for a family to afford. For example,A 25% deal at USC leaves mom and dad on the hook for almost $40,000 per year.

If 18 players are given higher percentage scholarships, does that mean every other player on the roster will be expected to cough up 100% unless they are receiving academic money? That sounds like a hard sell to me.

My son attends a private school with a tuition much higher than state school rates and his school divvies out scholarships more equitably. In the last two years, when schools have had to give out at least 25%, it has had 14 sign NLI's -- 7 in fall of 2007 and 7 in fall of 2008.

quote:

If 18 players are given higher percentage scholarships, does that mean every other player on the roster will be expected to cough up 100% unless they are receiving academic money? That sounds like a hard sell to me.

It certainly is a hard sell, but for the private programs that compete at a high level, its often a necessity. Keep in mind that institutional need based financial aid is often available as well, and may amount to more than a 25% athletic scholly.

JMHO, I think in a top tier D1 program, it is safe to say there are players on the roster that are not there on an athletic scholarship, other than the PWO status.

And...some players are on adademic money, a combo of both or they are funding their own tuition/R&B 100%.

At Oklahoma State, if a player signs a NLI after 08-01-2008, for an athletic scholly at XYZ%, and then garners academic recognition and compensation, then the BB program gets the percentage of academic money compensated back in their program. IOW - the player returns however much a percent in academic money back to the athletic scholly fund to be used on another player. I do not know if other programs do this or not??

And yes it is a hard sell! It usually boils down to realistic expectation about a player's fit in a particular program and how badly a player wants to be associated with a particular program. Also, the future opportunities that may appear the summer of the player's JR year!!

GED10DaD

GOD loves catchers!

If my son is not a top recruit and is not offered a scholarship, then he will try to become a recruited walk-on at a school that fits all his other needs-academics, location, campus, etc. This isn't a tough sell at all if he isn't a blue-chip prospect.

I would think there a lot of kids in his situation that will fill out those remaining unfunded slots.