What stats are reported to colleges?

The only stat that REALLY matters is GPA and SAT scores.

Beyond those two stats; they will tell you if they want anything else.

We are talking baseball on this website, not academics. For some kids its not all about grades(unfortunately). Maybe where you're from, baseball doesn't matter, but thats for a different website.

I am still waiting on good information pertaining to this baseball post.

Wow- don't think you get it.Get up on the wrong side of the bed today?

And wait until most posters here say high school stats don't matter. And this is from all over the US, not just ILVBB's state.

I think they do matter.. Kids get their name out there by posting big numbers in school. Not all kids go through the showcase way. It matters to the kids who are trying to go. First impression before you meet or be seen is how and why is the kid so dominating. Kid hits 20 homeruns or steal 50 bases is going to get noticed.

After that, talent is evaluated and stats might not matter but it is what gets you there in the 1st place.

baseballdad13,
Is your son a HS senior and you are looking for schools for next Fall?

baseballdad - You're asking a bunch of folks with a lot of experience. Don't shoot the messenger! Everything said so far is true. Grades, SATs...and then the coach(es) need to see the player in person to evaluate.

HS stats are notoriously inaccurate (parents inflate, coaches inflate, poor/unreliable scorekeeping) and HS stats are imbalanced (good league/bad league/area of country...Ft. Worth is a good one though!).

Sure, 20 HRs in HS will draw some attention...but there aren't many of those and the 'word of mouth' circuit will almost always uncover that player before he passes 10 home runs.

But back to your question...if you wanna report them in a letter, I would report the most recent season (or more specifically right now, THIS season).

I'll be honest with you though, I've been through this twice and HS stats is not a question high on any coach's list we've encountered.

If a players stats are very very good someone will want to know whats up. It will generate some interest. But it will always come down to what they see for themselves. We are talking about a 24 or so game season. Half if not even more of those games could be played against pitchers that couldnt get me out. All a kid has to do is light up the bad pitching , catch a few breaks by the "official score keeper" and go Ofer against the quality pitchers and he can hit .450 on the year. I have seen it many times.

I have also seen kids get offers based on one weekend at a showcase event and the college coaches could have cared less what his batting averge was or his era.

As far as recruiting goes and getting actual opportunities at the next level stats will get you noticed if they are WAY above the norm. But outside of getting you noticed and possibly getting someone to see you play they are pointless past that in the process.

When we are preparing for an opponent I watch bp. I want to know what other coaches tell me. I want to know what the players tell me that know the kids. I want to know what the kid did against the quality arms he has faced. I could careless what their batting average is unless it is .200 or .600. If its .200 then he can't hit but will probably get the base knock that beats us. If its .600 there is a reason and he wont get the chance to get that game winning hit tonight.

Most college coaches won't even talk to you if the GPA and SAT/ACT scores aren't high enough to get into the school academically. If you get past that hurdle and a coach is interested in you baseball wise, start sending some updates from your current season. That's all that's important. If you have accolades from past seasons, sure let them know, but they don't need to know how many doubles you hit when you a freshman if you're not producing now.

baseballdad13 - I think you are asking good questions. As far as putting a bio together, put the stats and other information that puts your son in the best light. These are mostly bullet points and no need to try and explain a tail-off or some other anomaly. Awards, state championships, good hitting or pitching stats are all worth putting down.

If I am understanding correctly, what you are really asking is what you put down on paper enough to get somebody recruited. Perhaps. But you probably do not want your son playing for a coach that would recruit him sight-unseen. A program like that probably loses 80% of their games and that would turn your son's college experience into a disaster.

Any reputable program at any level of baseball is going to base their recruiting decision on what they see. It is no more complicated than that. Unless your son can perform before them in some venue (showcase, summer tournament, high school championship game) then he will never be recruited by them no matter how talented. Recruiting is two components - talent plus exposure. Missing either piece and your son's baseball career ends. IMHO, a resume will not satisfy the exposure component. You need to be proactive and get him in front of coaches. The stats they care about for pitchers is velocity and then what they see as far as an ability to pitch. Hitters they look for the five tools.

You have to craft a story that fits your son. Remember you are marketing and trying to create some interest. In the end they will want to see him play and that is all that matters. If he can play they will have some interest and if not well...

I was having this exact discussion with a friend of mine today, who's son is the best pitcher in our league and maybe one of the top 20 Jr's in So Cal...seriously...this kid is something special, a great player with bad stats right now, so who cares? He has a terrible ERA for a bunch of reasons, but he has electric stuff and throws in the 90's...not HSSBW dad-7 stuff, he is the real deal. I told him who cares about his ERA get someone to see at a PG or other National level showcase and that is all it will take. Once some eyeballs who know baseball get on him the rest will take care of itself.

Baseballdad13, you have gotten good advice from ClevelandDad and BOF. Be selective in deciding what stats to share when "marketing" your son.

Many posters are correct in saying that high school stats can be very misleading. Most college coaches don't focus on the numbers; rather, they look at bat speed, stance, swing mechanics, projectability, etc. when deciding who to recruit.

It has been interesting to observe how my son's high school and summer teammates have done in college. Here are a few examples that prove that high school success does not necessarily equate to college success, and vice versa:

* Infielder A - District MVP, led the district with a .525 average, 11 home runs, and 43 RBI. He was named first-team All-State selection in Texas' largest high school classification ....... signed with a mid-major D1, but was not recruited by any of the "big boys" ..... as a college freshman hit .269 in limited action ..... as a college sophomore year has gotten 4 AB and has hit .250 thus far.

* Infielder B - Played for a perennial powerhouse and was named unanimous All-District as a sophomore with about 10 HR's ...... injured jr. year, but signed senior year with a top Texas JUCO ...... as a college freshman is hitting .211 with only 1 double and 1 triple.

* Infielder C - Didn't start until senior year and hit .292 on the season with only 2 HR's ...... signed with a Top 40 D1 ...... as a college freshman got 11 starts and hit .364 ..... is starting as a college sophomore and hitting .333.

As you can see, high school stats can mean very little once you are in college. Your best bet is to place your son in front of as many college coaches as possible through high-profile tourneys, college camps, etc. so they can see him for themselves.

quote:

HS stats are notoriously inaccurate (parents inflate, coaches inflate, poor/unreliable scorekeeping) and HS stats are imbalanced (good league/bad league/area of country...Ft. Worth is a good one though!).

This statement is so important to why stats are generally not a consideration of most coaches.

Today I umpired a HS game (JV) for a very good baseball program. As the home plate umpire; I interfaced with the official scorer which was just to my left behind the backstop. The scorer was a nice young lady probably 15/6 years old; clearly with very little experience. She spent most of the time in "Chat" mode. During the course of the game she scored at least 3 FC as hits; gave a hit to what was clearly an error and scored at least 2 singles where the runner took second on a throw as doubles.

The point is this is not uncommon and college coaches know it. Stats at the high school level are nice, they are fun, but they are generally ignored in favor of facts.

GPA, SAT, 60 time, pop time, velocity, height, weight, etc. All are indicators which can be counted on when they reach the next level.

baseballdad, everything you've been told on here is accurate. Like Coach May and some of the others on here, I've coached many young men who've gone on to play college baseball. In the vast majority of cases, the college coach has never asked a single question about stats. HOWEVER, they almost never fail to ask about GPA and SAT scores. I've had a lot of questions about a players ability in different areas, about his character, off-field behavior and lots of other things, but only very rarely about stats....always about academics!

Coaches have to see a player in order to know if they think he's a potentail fit for their program, he can't make that judgement with statistics.

Remember, there is a reason that the word 'student' comes first in 'student-athlete.'

I think most of us that have travelled the recruiting road were surprised about what was important and what wasn't during the recruiting cycle.
Great advice by those that have been that route.

Give you a story about stats and recruiting.
I happend to be the statistician for my son's HS and the summer team. He was recruited all during the summer and signed during the early signing period. I received a phone call one day from a sportswriter in Alabama. (he didn't know I was the FATHER). He explained that he had been told by the HS coach that I was the statistician and began asking about era's HR's etc of my son. I gave him the info. I also asked why he didn't call the Auburn coach where my son had signed .... The sportswriter explained he had called them but they said they had NO IDEA what my son's stats were and gave him the telephone number of his high school coach which in turn gave the sportswriter my number ---

PS: If you don't have grades you can't go to college!

Fungo

I have to agree, the stats at these HS games are not accurate and as described, most favor the hitter and not the pitcher. Seems to me IMHO that there should be an unbiased assigned scorekeeper to get this right.(Probably a budget issue) Some of these colleges just dont have the budgets to see these kids. I was told by a smaller D-1 coach that they dont even go to PG events becasue of their budgets. Most of the kids are involved in summer ball so its difficult to make alot of the college camps until fall or winter and by then most of the 2011's are committed... I'm not saying that HS stats are the deciding factor but it sure would help colleges narrow the field for who they are looking for..

HS stats are far too inaccurate for college coaches to use. You can't trust them when parents (or worse) students, are keeping them.

If he is a pitcher, all they care about is velocity. My soft throwing son has an unbelievable ERA right now with no losses and no one could care less.

Therefore, the only real stats they care about are those that are controlled and that can indicate that they will not flunk out of school (GPA/SAT).

College coaches want to like what they see in terms of ability, not what the papers gives them in terms of numbers--stats relate to the competition, scorekeeper etc--I have seen stats where a hitter had 50 plus RBI's in 20 games--guess what ? he never played in college

You want to talk about frustration with stats. Go 16-0 in your conference. Outscore your conference opponents 143 - 26. Go to the all conference meeting with the other coaches to vote on all conference teams. You have three guys hitting above .450 in conf play. Every other team in the conference has numerous guys with higher averages. Numerous guys with more rbi's. Pitchers with better era's.

The coaches that make sure the stats are legit laugh at the other programs that do these type of things. And it also ticks you off as well. We have three papers that report box scores in our area. We always call in our games. Sometimes the opponent will call in the same game. It always gets me to see the other team had 8 hits and a kid was 3-3. And we have them with 4 hits and the kid was 1-3. Happens all the time.

HS stats are a joke. Home runs , strike outs , now those are pretty straight forward. But era's , batting averages , those are so skewed its ridiculous.

Story from the recruiting trail...

I was getting ready to watch my son pitch one day at a summer tourney. Before the game, a young guy comes and sits next to me (I had an extra folding chair, there were no bleachers. He introduces himself as the pitching coach at a nearby UC campus. I tell him I am the pitcher's dad.

He then asks what are his GPA and SAT scores (which were very good). He responds with "Great scores - I always ask for those first because if I can't get them into the school, no point in watching them".

Your mileage may vary - but at this moderately high academic school, SAT and GPA were the gatekeeper.

I've heard GPA is calculated differently in HS than it is in college, taking into account AP courses and the like. Is there some formula to use for converting number or letter grades to the High School GPA reported to colleges?

The irony in keeping accurate credible stats is that it is a very simple process. In Australia, they have an official scorer and a scorekeeper from each team sitting together seperate from spectators. Errors, hits etc are reviewed and agreed upon amongst the 3 scorekeepers.

The real issue within creative scorekeeping is that it can be very divisive within the team and certainly amongst spectators. Which in turn takes away from the focus of the game

baseballdad13,

The importance of stats will always be a hot topic. Of course, I agree with most everything mentioned in the other posts. Nothing is more important than actually being seen by decision makers. High school statistics do not carry much weight when it comes to scouting or recruiting. However there are certain stats that could create some interest.

For example… If we hear about someone who is hitting an abnormal number of home runs or a pitcher who is striking out 2 or more an inning, we are going to check him and the situation out. Sometimes it turns out to be a product of the field size or lack of competition, but sometimes we find a good prospect.

The stats don’t often cause scouts and recruiters to come courting, but if there’s a somewhat unknown high school kid hitting a ridiculous number of home runs or a pitcher striking out 2 or more an inning, you can bet that there will be some phone calls made. The most successful scouts and recruiters do not completely ignore these things, that would be stupid.

I’ve mentioned before that it’s the “poor” stats that are sometimes the most important, especially to MLB scouts. This only pertains to those prospects that are already identified and are being followed.

Example… Known prospect who is considered a possible early draft pick… Current HS stats show he is hitting .200 without any power numbers and is striking out half his ABs. Believe me these stats will be a red flag and cause much concern and some doubt within scouting departments. It doesn’t mean that they will take that hitter off their list, but they will definitely double check things and reevaluate their opinion.

If someone thinks that all MLB scouting departments aren’t interested in stats, they would be wrong. There is more than one club that will call us to find out what a certain player’s stats are in our high school league. Of course, they know that the league is very competitive and that we are the scorekeepers. And they already know which players they are interested in. In most cases, high school players who are top draft prospects usually have high school stats that show that. Of course, there have been some exceptions to that, but not many! Players drafted on projection “alone” are seldom picked in the first couple rounds.

So in the end, stats can be more important for those who have been identified by recruiters and scouts, possibly in a negative way explained above. But if you’re a player that the decision makers don’t know and your stats are outstanding… Send them out, you never know who might get interested. In other words there’s not much to lose and it’s possible the stats might create enough interest to cause further investigation. Then it will depend on ability, no matter how good the stats are.

We receive lots of profiles that include stats. We receive some nasty emails from parents who complain about rankings and grades. These almost always include glowing stats that are used to prove their point. Sometimes these glowing stats that are the source of so much pride are actually revealing the reason we didn’t grade the player higher. Or sometimes even reveal some inaccurate scorekeeping. Here is an example.

Son is leading the team in hitting
.500
80 AB
40 H
8 2B
0 3B (or that stat is not included)
0 HR (or that stat is not included)
20 RBI
3 SB

If you don’t know anything else about the player, what do you make of these stats?

He might be very good, but the above stats don’t really show any sure fire tools, but they do indicate a possible lack of power and lack of speed. That is two important tools!

Then there’s the other information that is sent in.

So and So throws mid 80s, has topped out at 92. (Sorry for being skeptical, but that 92 doesn’t make sense)

So and So throws 90. (Sorry for being skeptical, but we would need to see it. Heard too many exaggerations)

So and So throws low 80s but has three plus pitches. (Sorry for being skeptical, but are you thinking the fastball is one of those three plus pitches?)

So and So hasn’t given up an earned run all year. (Great accomplishment for sure, but that doesn’t tell us enough)

So go ahead and send out the stats, especially if they are good stats. Send anything and everything that might possibly create some interest. But don’t expect that the people you send them to, to be as impressed as you are.

Best of luck to your son

quote:

But don’t expect that the people you send them to, to be as impressed as you are.

Good point.

At my son's milb game last night, the Detroit Tigers first round pick from last June's draft was on the mound. At only 18 years old, Jacob Turner was throwing mid-90's through his entire outing. They mentioned his high school stats from his junior and senior year in high school and the only stat they mentioned was that he averaged over two strikeouts per inning. One thing I might suggest, is that if anyone batted against a prospect like that and had some success, that might be useful information to supply on a resume/bio sheet.

I appreciate everyone's honesty and useful information. I know this website is full of knowledge and sarcastic and downgrading remarks can be a part of it.

I have learned alot from these postings and will take much away. I was hoping the kids not worry about their stats too much just as the parents shouldn't.
Some parents really want their kid to succeed by providing as much good info about them when helping them with college and coaches, me included.

I very much know grades are of the utmost importance in a kids future and all decisions will have an effect good or bad. I sincerely hope my son and all others just play the game hard and because they love it and let it play itself out for the future. It can be difficult and a lot of hard work but it will pay off in the end.

Baseballdad,
On my son's JUCO team, there our 2 players that were late round MLB picks. Neither player was recruited by a D1 or D2 school. Their High School G.P.A.'s were were not very high and their S.A.T.'s were low. Both were told to go to a JUCO and work on their grades. 1 has raised his grades to a 3.2 G.P.A. yet hasn't improved beyond his high school playing skills and is not a starter. The other is barely staying eligible and is hoping to be drafted again because he won't get an offer of a scholarship to a 4 year.
Yes, grades and scores are very important to get an offer.

baseballdad13,

I hope you didn't take anything I posted as a downgrading remark. I sure didn't mean anything that way.

I think sometimes when you write something it doesn't always come out as politely as it was meant to be.

I think you and your son should do whatever you think is best. You are the ones who have the most at stake. There are many different paths that successful players have taken. There's no real blue print for this stuff!

PG-Sent you a PM.

STATS - they is what they is.... LOL.

I agree, abnormally good (or bad) stats tend to draw the most attention. But, in most cases (if not all) HS stats serve the interest of the person quoting the stat, not necessarily the truth.

For example, I live in a town where we had a very good little league team make it to Williamsport, ending with a 1-0 win in the consolation game. Five of those players have remained playing locally and they are now freshman in HS. I have seen 95% of their games, including two in head-to-head competition. I know for a fact, they are truthfully playing well below their abnormally inflated stats. It's good press for the HS team, but its not going to benefit the player(s) when real eyes evaluate their talent.

Another example... Last year a district move-in, committed to a BIG 12 D1, plays SS for a very good HS team. As a senior, he had the honor of leading the 5A district in fielding errors (26), the lowest FPCT (-) .850, and the most strikeouts. This year, as a freshman lead-off hitter, he's batting over .300, has only a few errors at 2nd base, has a great FPCT and is one of the top hitters on the team, including 5 HRs.

The real eyes win everytime!

GED10DaD