The "how to" of college recruitment

We didn't travel very far outside of our state as some others have to, it's not too hard to be missed here in Florida if you show up on some field. We always assumed he would play here. Why not, his dream school was here, great weather, great tournaments, scouts aplenty, etc.

There was never any discussion that he might play anywhere else (in another state) until he attended PG in jupiter (junior fall) and a recruiting coach from another school, from another state saw and liked what he saw. That's just about it. Within less than a year everything changed, no more interest in his dream school, no visiting every school that sent a letter or called after July 1, no more interest in staying in Florida. In fact at one point I thought that he was pushing other opportunities away, but he obviously knew what he wanted and we let him follow his instincts.

When my son was 15 I got a call from a man in NC that ran a very good showcase program the Carolina Cubs. He said he only had one catcher signed up for the coming summer and needed one more. He said the kid he had was very good and would catch the majority of the innings. But he also said that my son could get alot of experience playing with 18u players that had all signed to play D-1 ball. He mentioned they would be playing at WWBA at East Cobb and many showcase events against quality competition. He said he had seen my son play his freshman year in hs and felt he could hold his own. He told me that catching was weak in our area and he did not have another quality guy and the ones that he could possibly get did not want to play behind his starter.

I asked my son about it and told him he might not play alot. He was excited about playing with these guys and wanted to catch the arms they had even if he spent alot of time in the pen. Over the course of the summer he really flouished in this environment. The older players took him under their wings and they gave him so much great advice. He learned what it took to play at this level from them and he got to play against some outstanding competition. By the middle of the summer he was the catcher of choice of many of the pitchers. They requested that he catch them and so his innings began to be a little more than the other guy.

When we went to East Cobb that year it was simply amazing how much attention he got. He was 15 playing in the 18u tourney and every college coach wanted to know who the young catcher was. Coach Kevin O'Sullivan that time was at Clemson and when we got back home he had his first contact letter from Coach O'Sullivan. This experience was probaly one of the best things that happened to him.

The players on that team went on to their respective college programs NC State , UNC , ECU etc etc and we began to get letters from those schools. His former team mates with the Cubs were telling their coaching staffs about my son. The big thing was they were telling them about how hard he worked and how great of a team mate he was. Also they were telling them he could play and was a great kid.

From there he played on a great showcase team the Dirtbags and attended a PG event. PG was big in getting his name out on their database and he got numerous letters and eventually opportunities from outstanding programs outside our state. His soph year was a great season for him. He was named conference player of the year he hit .524 with 12 hrs 44 hits and 44 rbis in 28 games. Going into the summer after his soph year in hs he played with the Dirtbags and played with the older team the 07's. Again he played behind an 07 and had the same kind of role he had as a 15 year old with the Cubs. At East Cobb he played very well when he got the chance but he worked his butt off in the bullpen as well. He had the same role at Jupiter.

After the summer and going into the fall before his Jr year in HS the same thing started to happen. The 07's he had played with were going back to their college programs they were going to and were telling them about my son. At the start of his JR HS season in Feb he began to get offers. Many were based directly on his performance at PG events such as WWBA at East Cobb and Jupiter. One major SEC school offered and said "We saw you play at Jupiter for a few innings. We saw your profile on PG site. We talked to people and they all said the same thing about you."

He recieved some more offers during his Jr year in HS but their was a school that he had not been offered by yet and he wanted to wait and see. Again he had a great JR year in HS. He was named conf player of the year again and broke the schools hr record in a single season. Going into this summer he played finally with guys his age the 08's on the Dirtbag team. He played at WWBA east cobb and Jupiter. The players he had played with in the past continued to recruit for him. The offers were there but there was no need to rush in his mind. This fall he was offered by his dream school where 9 of his former team mates are now at.

He is getting ready for his sr year in hs. His total focus is trying to have a great sr year and help his hs team win games. The bottom line with my sons whole recruiting situation was the players he played with did his recruiting for him. His showcase coach Andy Partin with Impact Baseball was huge. Constantly giving feedback and telling him what was going on and returning and making calls.

I can not stress enough that what kind of kid you are and being a great team mate just how important this really is. No one wants you to come to their team in college if your not a great team mate. PG Jerry Ford , Ricky Keith HC Carolina Cubs , Andy Partin Impact Baseball , and all his former team mates are the ones that made alot possible for my son.

Long post. Thanks for reading.

quote:

The "how to" of college recruitment

I'm not sure about the how to part.
But first in foremost a Player needs the support of his Family and Coaches to Help in the Process.
People that believe in him and the talent that he possesses,
Now and Projected talent.
Also the fact that some Players are late bloomer's as far as being noticed at an early age as having talent.
There size just does not get them noticed as much as more mature body type's at age 14 to 16.

Being from the NW originally and event's after 9-11, created opportuinity's in Northern California that as a Family we decided would be a good time to play Ball in a Warm weather state.
We felt he would have more chances of playing ball in college in California then in the NW.
It has worked out beyond are wildest dreams.
I would like to think we had thing's planned.
Not hardly.
Most thing's that happened were because of taking advantage of what presented itself at the time.
Evaulating the benefit and going mostly on Gut feeling.

Something's I'm sure we would love to have a do over.
Other's were very successful.

During this process I learned how to let go of Control.
Which I did not have that much to begin with.LOL

And just allow thing's to happen.
If it's meant to be, it will happen.

Son Grew into a very fine player with some talent.
Talent enough to get noticed, by Scout's and Recruitor's.

I would like to think I had something to do with it.
But it's his talent not mine.
I know what Not to do.
Parent's don't get in the Way of your Players talent.
Be there for support and encouragement.
Help find the Opportuinity's that are available to your player.
Guide them, Not control them.

I can not stress this fact enough, You must Have someone in your player's corner. That believes in his Talent as much as you do.
Someone with Credibility with Scout's and Recruitor's.
Someone that will go the Extra Mile for your Player.
We found that Team and That Coach ( Summer Ball ) his Junior year.
And played 2 seasons in a row for the same team.
That Coach saw the Talent and helped find the Showcases in are area that helped son get noticed.
HS coach was Great for my son, Just wasn't into promoting his Players beyond the local College's.

We had other Chances earlier, Freshman/Sophmore Years.
Thats were the less Mature Late Bloomer gets the raw end of the deal when Coaches only want to promote the More Mature player and neglect's the other 3/4's of the team??

Spilt Milk.

Do not get your Feeling's Hurt in Baseball.
It's all part of the Process.
My advice to all Players never give up playing the game.
If you want it bad enough, and you have some talent.
You will make it.

EH

I hesitate a bit with this topic, although I can now say that we have been there and successfully navigated the process with a highly desirable outcome, although not the outcome we necessarily expected.
My Son’s goal for most of his life has been to play MLB. He has worked hard to that end for at least 10 years. He expected to play College ball some where, some how… It was a good thing that I located this site, it has been critical in learning how to proceed as a Father.
I came on this web site about two years ago looking for an 18U team for my Son to play for. I hooked up with Floridabaseballguy and he invited my Son to play for his team. My guy played in the Renegades program and got the exposure that was required to make it to the next level. He had the opportunity to play in the 17U and 18U WWBA Championships. This really opened the doors to the college recruiting process. The letters and questionnaires started coming in daily, it was a fun time.
I would say that playing in the top tier 18U travel programs was the most important decision that our family made. There was a great expense to our family, both monetary and time wise. We changed teams this past year and our guy was moved from the outfield to the infield. This may have been detrimental to my Son’s recruitment process, many programs viewed him as an outfielder and now he was being seen as an infielder. I believe that if I were to advise someone I would encourage them to be sure that your Son plays his best position, even if that means you don’t get to play for the highest profile team.
One other thing that we did that was very valuable to us and opened doors that previously were not open was we put up a web site through getmynameout.com. This resulted in the offer from a D-2 that was too generous to overlook and where my Son ultimately signed.
Bear in mind that my Son did his part every day. He gets up at 5:30AM just about every day to work out before school. He hits and throws and fields just about every day as well. He is consciously working at gaining muscle and weight. He works harder than anyone I know to achieve his goal.