Targeting the right level for college baseball recruitment.

Peach

Great metrics for a 2021. His size and exit velo are impressive and D-1 level. Will want to get the pull downs into the 90’s and speed into the 6.8 range but that should come with work and age. Looks like a nice corner OF D-1 prospect. Have fun and enjoy the experience. 

Peach49 posted:

My (2021 Sophomore) grandson is a starting Outfielder on his HS Varsity team. He wants to play baseball at the highest level his skills allow but doesn’t want to over or under estimate what level of college ball he is best suited for. He is 6’3”, 185 lbs., 60 Yard Dash: 7.0, Pull-Down Throwing Velocity: 88mph, Hitting Exit Velocity: 95+ mph. 

He got a nice write-up by Prep Baseball Report for being very athletic with excellent Bat Speed. Because he is only a Sophomore the recruitment cycle hasn’t really started, but he has been seen by one D1 and three D2 coaches and all have said he would be on their follow list.

On the field he makes plays look easy and can really crush the ball having already hit a 420+ foot home run. As his grandpa I think he’s great, but would like some honest feedback as to which level he should realistically target for college recruitment.

thanks for your feedback.

What state does he live in?

Have your son make a list of "wish schools", "realistic schools", and "back up schools".   Include D1s and D3s on the list if you can.  Have your son look at the current roster lists of these schools to see where the players are from.  (Side note:  son really wanted to go to Texas Christian when he was in like 8th grade.  I looked at the roster and ALL of the players were from Texas.  I told son we were not moving. lol)

Keep in mind in targeting your initial list for not only the baseball level, but academics, the travel distance and tuition $$$ that his family is comfortable with.  Have him contact the coaches  of these schools via email of his interest, his baseball resume, and the write up from Prep Baseball.  Then later in a different email, send those same schools his summer schedule.  He IS on a good summer team that will be at events that players are seen?  Then, each week, follow up those emails with game times and which fields  your son will be playing.  You may not ever hear a reply back, or possibly just camp invites, but keep doing it.  You have nothing to loose and it may seem like overkill, but you gotta do it.   You just don't know the need of the schools for the position(s) your son can play, so keep at it!  You may have to adjust your list of schools as time goes by.  

You won't know what level your son can play until schools come looking and invite him for visits.  You have to invite  schools to come look at your son!  Keewarson started getting unofficial invites during his HS sophomore season and committed before Junior year, so starting the process now is not too early since he is playing varsity.  The "up the middle players" (catchers, pitchers, SS, and CF) are usually recruited first and SSs and CFs can be moved to other positions.

You can keep tabs on which schools are recruiting, who the players are, and what positions they play by going to www.perfectgame.org and doing a search for "college commitments" under "recruiting". That site is a wealth of information of the timing and who is being recruited.

My grandson lives in Northern California in Santa Clara County.

Peach49 posted:

My grandson lives in Northern California in Santa Clara County.

I will send you a PM.

With those numbers look for your grandsons travel team coach's phone to blow up. IMO definitely D1 level, Power 5 level.

If your grandson is playing for a reputable travel program the coach has contacts. The coach can make the evaluation and promote him to college programs. What you don’t need is a service barraging college coaches with cold emails.

A service doesn’t care, nor can they distinguish one 6’3” 185 player running a 7.0 over another. In the big picture your grandson is one of thousands who fit his mold. A service isn’t going to make him stand out as the player to have. It’s on the player and his travel coach. 

RJM posted:

If your son is playing for a reputable travel program the coach has contacts. The coach can make the evaluation and promote him to college programs. What you don’t need is a service barraging college coaches with cold emails.

This is the only advice you need. Get him on a quality travel team that hits the important tournaments and has a proven track record of getting players to the next level. You basically want to get him on a team where he is not the best and the talent is comparable. The better the players on the team the more coaches coming to watch. You shouldn't be wondering where the coaches are, your coach should be asking which schools you want to get in front of. 

The metrics are there. Now he has to use said tools and perform against quality competition on a regular basis. Anybody can hit 78. Can he hit 85+ every time he takes the field? That is what determines who moves on and who was just a good player. 

Your grandson should sit with his travel coach and determine where (what conferences) he could potentially play college ball. Then your grandson should make a list of which colleges at that level are an educational, baseball, financial, social and cultural fit.

By cultural I mean urban/suburban versus rural, big versus smaller, religious versus secular, party school reputation versus not, being a boarder at a mostly commuter school, etc..

The list should be forty, fifty colleges. It will change rapidly. Some your grandson will lose interest as he investigates. At others the coach may not be interested in him. Once the list is made, gain agreement with the travel coach and have him start preselling. Your grandson can email head and assistant in charge of recruiting coaches to expresss interest and find out what tournaments and showcases he can get in front of them. Typically don’t attend camp invites unless they have genuine interest and  it’s a prospect camp.

Utilize (contacts, preselling) the travel coach. But don’t depend on him. The player needs to be in control. Ultimately it’s on the player to attract the right colleges and make the right decision. 

Don’t be afraid to ask any question on this board. Fear of asking stupid questions can lead to stupid results.

Back when we were in Northern California, NorCal Baseball was the best travel organization. My guess is that they still are the best. A lot of there players go DI and some get drafted. 

Not cheap, but well worth it.

Peach49 posted:

My grandson lives in Northern California in Santa Clara County.

Peach, Here are some of the 2019 State Participation analytics for players from California who are listed as freshman. 

Agree with other posters that the place to start is with his travel coach.  Also agree with other posters that your grandson need to make his own list of schools to pursue based on where he wants to be in life after college.  Then work backwards to make that goal. 

It is possible (my son is living example) that the schools your travel coach initially introduces your grandson to are not the best fit athletically, academically or other  reasons.   Don't get me wrong, my son's travel team was among the best in the country 10 years ago (won PG WWBA in 2008) when he was being recruited but the travel coach had no clue about high academic recruiting or engineering schools.   We had to learn about that on our own.   Travel coach did an awesome job of getting kids into programs at Univ of VA, South Carolina, Virginia Tech, VMI, James Madison,  Univ of Richmond, William & Mary, UNC Wilmington, etc...but those were not great fits for my son.  We had to do all the hard work of finding those fits then bring the travel coach in to help us with the "last mile" which was usually a phone call or letter to the Head Coach which led to offers.   

The fact that he is getting interest right now is a great place to start.   As more schools reach out, you'll get a sense of where he fits athletically.  Follow that path, but be ready, willing and able to pursue or create other paths that your grandson (and his family) may want to pursue.   Then bring that travel coach back into the mix to help close the deal.

As always, JMO.   Good luck.

Picked Off posted:

Back when we were in Northern California, NorCal Baseball was the best travel organization. My guess is that they still are the best. A lot of there players go DI and some get drafted. 

Not cheap, but well worth it.

Peach, +1 on NorCal. 

Besides running very good teams that hit the showcase circuit, and running a high exposure summer league, they hold an event every June called the NorCal World Series, to which they invite many players not in the NorCal fold, as well as their own guys. Your grandson would be eligible if he can get his HS coach to nominate him, and/or your grandson can contact NorCal directly using info at the link below.   I highly recommend this event. It's in your backyard, at Santa Clara University, the competition is first rate, and almost every school, at all levels, on the west coast attends. It's also cheap. Even if you can't get in this late, attending as spectators would allow your family to see what kind of talent plays in this kind of showcase.  Correction: this year it's at Pacific U.  Not as close as Santa Clara but not too bad a drive and a very nice yard.

https://www.norcalworldseries.com/

PABaseball posted:

RJM posted:

If your son is playing for a reputable travel program the coach has contacts. The coach can make the evaluation and promote him to college programs. What you don’t need is a service barraging college coaches with cold emails.

This is the only advice you need. Get him on a quality travel team that hits the important tournaments and has a proven track record of getting players to the next level. You basically want to get him on a team where he is not the best and the talent is comparable. The better the players on the team the more coaches coming to watch. You shouldn't be wondering where the coaches are, your coach should be asking which schools you want to get in front of. 

The metrics are there. Now he has to use said tools and perform against quality competition on a regular basis. Anybody can hit 78. Can he hit 85+ every time he takes the field? That is what determines who moves on and who was just a good player. 

I don't think you can go wrong with the advice above.  Keep playing the best competition your son can play, and the "the right level" will see him play.  They will let you know.  And your son will get better as he plays better kids.

There are some great recommendations above.  If I may add my 2 cents.  I had son make 2 lists, one for schools that he has interest in playing baseball, and the other list for academics and what field of work he MAY be interested in, excluding playing baseball.  He compared the 2 lists and the overlap schools were put at the top half of the list.  He then added the schools that still interested him.  He kept a notebook for any contacts with the schools, a summary of topics, names, dates, etc.  Kids these days rarely answer the phone when it rings, preferring to listen to the message or text.   Before calling whoever back he would read the summary to get familiarized with prior conversations.  Truthfully, I don't know how much this actually helped but on a few occasions the asst. coaches made a comment he was impressed son remembered.  Something like this may subconsciously sway a decision to the positive, or at least it can't hurt.  Regarding the OP, you probably don't know what level until you start to see offers.  There are always exceptions but if majority of offers are D2, that's probably where he fits.  Good luck!

Update:

My 2021 grandson is now entering his Senior Year and has gotten Bigger, Stronger and Faster. He is now: 6’3”/210, Exit Velo: 103, 60yds Dash: 6.9, OutField Throw Velo: 91, GPA: 3.5
Losing his Junior year to the Virus Pandemic has hurt his exposure, but several schools have shown interest via his Travel Ball coach and Hopefully he’ll find a good fit and get some level of scholarship.

thanks for checking back in. Keep us posted. Love success stories, especially with all this COVID crap going on.