What to expect?

We went through this the fall of my son's freshman year. We started getting texts to call X school at certain times and dates. Like you, I was trying to figure out what questions needed to be asked and what to expect. But it was a lot of worry for not. What ended up happening in all those calls, is the recruiting coordinator just making contact with the kid and letting them know they are keeping tabs on the player. They will ask about school, about how the current season is going, really just trying to get to know the player. They will tell him about the program and about the school. One coach even provided a Facetime tour of the baseball facilities. But really it is just to open up communication with the player and they will probably ask for him to check in with them every couple of weeks. He will probably even get some info on camps and opportunities to get in front of the coaches. I would say the conversations lasted no more than 10 minutes.

Our son decided to commit early after being offered by his first choice school.   With that being said, having an idea of what schools he may want to go to based on academics, geographical location, size of previous years recruiting classes (over recruiting), and of course the programs reputation.   As a parent you are correct in the fact you don't want to be over controlling but your son is only a 9th grader and it's ok to help him maneuver through this as a 14 year old.  Offers come at different times for each player.   Right now it's more of establishing a relationship with the coaches recruiting him and getting an idea of who "loves him" and listening to what they envision for him.   The coaches typically do most of the talking but it's good for him to have a few questions to learn more about the schools and their programs.   He will also likely be given a day and time slot to call "weekly" since he's too young for them to "initiate" contact directly with your son.   It will seem overwhelming initially but it's a great experience so enjoy it.   

Thanks for the input!! That eases the mind, for sure. I’ve said all along I would sit back and just enjoy whatever happens…yet, here I am.

4arms-we’ve been told his “dream school” has seen enough and will offer before school starts back up. However, the more I research the more I read people recommending not committing that early in the process. There’s been no offer yet, so we will deal with that when the time comes. Also, I get what you’re saying about him just being 14. Makes sense.

thanks again to both of you.

The "Recruiting"  forum on here has great info from past players and parents of players who have also been through the recruiting process and played beyond college.   It was very helpful during our experience.   

My son ended up committing right before the start of the high school season his freshman year (before covid shut it down). We did also get lets of comments of not to commit that early. The school at the top of his list offered him. But he ended up not going with that school. He chose a school that was really not on his radar to start with but ended up being blown away by the coaching staff. It was one of those gut feelings where it just felt right and like the saying goes "go where you are loved". So even though your son may have some of his top schools in mind, its always good to keep an open mind and soak in all the information each school provides. Your son will start to get a feeling who is serious about recruiting him and who is talking to him to just keep tabs on him because he may be further down their list. We got that vibe from some schools and when my son called it almost felt like it was a "hey thanks for checking in. Talk to you again in a few weeks".

I do see some of his friends now that are caught up in some of the recent coaching vacancies and waiting to see how those situations play out. That is always a fear that comes with committing early.

Man, this sounds like a great problem to have.  This might sound disingenuous because it's coming from the dad of a 2021 who committed last July to a JUCO, so take with a big ol' grain of salt.  There is no shortage of people advising against committing early.  I might be naïve, but I do believe it comes from a good/sincere place and not from disgruntled parents of kids who weren't offered early.  But I will tell you that all the very best things I've come to understand and feel about this whole process, truly got through to me AFTER my son committed.  So over the last 11ish months.

We (my son) really just got lucky that he ended up in exactly the BEST FIT for him.  I promise you that we were poised to ignore all the best advice even though we'd heard it plenty prior.  It positively sucks that its STUPID hard to actually believe and follow the best advice on the front end.  I can't tell you how many times we heard "go where you're loved" before my son committed.  Hell, I was actually audacious enough to pass that advice on to others.  Even though - if tempted by bigger and brighter lights - I would have completely ignored it.  Awful.  Now, I just have this overwhelming feeling of not wanting to see any kid/family needing luck to end up in the best place for them.

@cocdawg  I can't give you specific advice because my son wasn't like yours, but I do hope your son and the family take as much time as is truly best for your son.  It's a tremendous opportunity, but we also all know how tremendously easy it can be to screw it up.  I look at all those poor kids in the transfer portal right now and my stomach hurts for them and their families.  I don't wish that on anyone.  So please work to really absorb advice from the wisest and most experienced sources you can find.

They'll do the Qs - tell your son this isn't their first rodeo and they're used to being the comfortable one on the phone. My son was surprised by the # of non-baseball questions he was asked - school, family, lifestyle, friends, etc. Might be especially true given that your son is so young. They want to get a sense of the kid; they  can evaluate the film for the other stuff

It is a great problem to have.  My two cents....work with your son to "think inward" before you begin to ask questions "outward".   There is a huge college baseball universe out there.   Your son is probably familiar with part of it  as he watches the NCAA regionals, super regionals and CWS this time of year.....there is a lot more out there and the opportunities can be endless depending on his baseball talents, classroom talents and future career choices.

A lot of people here have been in your shoes, and there is a lot of recruiting & media hype with college baseball.   If your son is like most 15-16 years olds he will gravitate toward the hype...it is hard to resist the hype and peer pressure to commit.  Now is the time to pull him in and discuss what he wants to do after college.   If he wants to be a professional baseball player then by all means gear your questions toward what college can best prepare your son for a career in professional baseball.  If he want to be an orthopedic surgeon then gear your questions toward the colleges that can best prepare him for that.   If he is 100% unsure what he wants to do then there are general study options.  The goal with this exercise is for him to elaborate and share his thoughts with you.   Trust me, you will save yourself a lot of time and resources by listening to him speak about this and hopefully walking through a "straw-man" plan to discuss athletics, academics and finances.   Once you have what your son wants to get out of his college experience then you are ready to ask the "easy" questions.   

JMO.   Good luck!

In respect to committing early; I've been there in the sense that son committed early (not this early) and if I had one piece of advice and you think your son will get better... I'd wait. Unless he is certain that this is his dream school, things can change with the coaching staff, etc...and he "may" get better, more lucrative offers elsewhere OR he may change his goals/dream team. Who knows?

Good luck.

There's a lot of baseball programs out there. Entering 9th grade is when the player now becomes a prospect. Your sons name has been passed onto coaches, they probably haven't seen him play.

Proceed with caution and be careful about committing to a program early because of the coaches. As fenway posted, there is soooooo much to consider.

JMO

It’s soapbox time for me. The heavy interest for my son didn’t start until post soph summer. But I have an older daughter who played softball. Girls physically mature sooner. Recruiting fourteen and fifteen year old female athletes is common. These girls are already playing 18u Gold (equivalent to 17u for boys).

What you have with college recruiting is adult professional recruiters preying on naive, awestruck kids and their parents. Even though I went through recruiting with college baseball it was so long ago I was of no help to my daughter. Fortunately one of her teammates had older sisters who were already in college. I leaned heavily on the father. The baseball recruiting model was created by softball so I was ready for helping my son.

Colleges should not be allowed to talk to prospective recruits until the summer after soph year. If kids don’t commit to colleges academically until senior year it should be good enough for college sports.

How in the world does a fourteen year old know what he needs for a useful major to eventually join the real world? It’s hard enough at sixteen and seventeen. I majored in economics only because math was easy for me. My son chose economics solely on “it worked for dad and look how I grew up.”  

My daughter knew what she wanted to do when she was fourteen. She had no problem committing to a softball program where the college had a top ranked forensic science program. I warned her the field will not be like tv. How many days did she work as a forensic scientist? Zero.

Their professional careers ultimately were a result of college internships. My daughter spent a semester in Washington. It ticked off her college coach. She openly told my daughter she was choosing not to start the following spring by taking the internship. My son was planning on playing down (lower level league) in college summer ball so he could do a summer internship in NYC. His baseball coach was not pleased. Surgery wiping out summer ball solved the problem.

I have a 2024.  He started having calls arranged with several P5 DI recruiting coaches this winter/early spring.  My kid is totally attracted to the shiny objects and continues to "gravitate toward the hype...it is hard to resist the hype" ... especially during the CWS post season.

My wife and I rolled our eyes ...   initial calls went just as ARCEKU21 describes above ... phew.

However, it is now starting to feel much more tangible (anticipating more meaningful calls this summer) as we get ready for ~4 weeks of baseball in GA/AL from mid June through July.   

This winter, we let my son pick his top 10 dream schools on his own ... his mom quickly shot holes in several, then I started "helping" with some research and built an little .xls db of schools ... following much of the advice here on hsbaseballweb.  Just this week, my son is finalizing his more informed "top 25" target list; a cut out of ~75 DI schools that I have added to our DIY db.  I am making him "force rank" the schools 1-25 based on his understanding of both baseball and non-baseball attributes - asking an average 14 yr old to think much more than he's used to.   This experience is requiring him to "grow up" much sooner than I had to when I was his age.

I'll describe the current target list of 25 as being all DI, with 75% of the list in the P5 conferences and 25% non-P5.  My son's performance on the field in GA next month will drive the interest and the next round of calls.  If none of his top 25 come calling "with love" ... its ok, our list already identifies several excellent DII baseball programs and several great DIII HA schools in SE PA (home region for us) that my wife and I would be proud to have our son go to.  These schools, however, are not on the boy's dream list.  I give the kid credit ... dream big while you're young; it is the dream that is driving his hard work to improve.

@RJM I hear you and agree with you 100%. It appears the HC at his “dream school” agrees with us. I listened to an interview with him after the season got shut down last year and he said he was one of the last coaches within the conference to start recruiting kids so young bc his assistants insisted they were losing recruits. Having said that, his dream school contacted his travel coach wanting to know when he’s pitching this weekend. They’re coming to watch him throw Fri evening. Then the pitching coach at “dream school” calls the facility son trains at and says, we know what he can do from a baseball standpoint, we just need to see how he carries himself on and off the field before an offer goes out.

Honestly, I didn’t know what color Gatorade I wanted for a game at that age….much less where I wanted to go to college.

Anyway, we are going to do our best to keep things fun as long as possible. Thanks a ton for all the replies.

This is a wonderful problem, however the shine of a 14 yo dream school may dim by 16/17. My kid is 16 and had flip flopped no less than 20 time on schools and we did visits, have a spread sheet, quitely groaned over the  costs, etc. He went from loving the smaller campus near the city, then the big school that is the hype of the town it's in, to the cramped living fast lane of a city campus. I know you are aware the verbal is a one way street unless it is a service academy that favors the school. So if your kid is really locked in on his school, why not wait?

@fenwaysouth posted:

  Now is the time to pull him in and discuss what he wants to do after college.   If he wants to be a professional baseball player then by all means gear your questions toward what college can best prepare your son for a career in professional baseball.   

I would add that if he wants to be a professional baseball he should also have a backup plan since he will almost certainly need it.

It seems like a staggering percentage of D1 kids have this deluded dream they are going to be professional players...even of the handful that accomplish it 99% of those will need to be looking for a new career in a couple seasons.

I took my kids to spring training when they young, we visited the minor league complex on the outer fields, that changed thought processes for a lifetime.

@cocdawg posted:

@RJM I hear you and agree with you 100%. It appears the HC at his “dream school” agrees with us. I listened to an interview with him after the season got shut down last year and he said he was one of the last coaches within the conference to start recruiting kids so young bc his assistants insisted they were losing recruits. Having said that, his dream school contacted his travel coach wanting to know when he’s pitching this weekend. They’re coming to watch him throw Fri evening. Then the pitching coach at “dream school” calls the facility son trains at and says, we know what he can do from a baseball standpoint, we just need to see how he carries himself on and off the field before an offer goes out.

So you do understand that coaches of many P5 programs recruit players and ask for a commitment early because they dont want the competition to scoop you up.

It basically takes you off the market too early and coaches know it.

We had my son visit colleges of different sizes, just to get a sense of what he liked. It's easy to say you like the sound of a school, then it feels much different when you get there. The plus side of that is the many four or five hour drives with just the two of us was a great time to talk about what he was looking for and for me to suggest things he ought to be thinking about — from majors to ease of getting home and so forth.

I feel like I know my son better because he went through the recruiting process, which made it a double win for us.

@TPM, absolutely…. And one of the reasons I’m opposed to committing this early in the process.
I may be in the minority in our household bc of several things…. (1) Wife’s grandfather played baseball/football at “dream school” and I’ve had three cousins play baseball at this school. (2) We had season tickets for baseball at said school from the time son was born until travel/school ball got in the way a couple of years ago. (3) This school is only 20 min down the road. He’s a home body and momma has already dealt with the oldest going to school 16 hrs from home; therefore, I’m sure she’s going to be all for it.

I’ll be using this forum for my ammo when those conversations come.

My thread kind of went a different direction when I posted about his “dream school” potentially offering. What I was really after was what to expect when coaches call. Having said that, I truly appreciate any and all feedback.

Children of alumni often attend programs of parents and grandparents. I get that. I have no issue with that.

Many programs also have funds available in these circumstances. If it happens use it to your advantage.

PM me if you have any question.

@cocdawg posted:

Son (rising 9th grader) gets a list of names and numbers of several D1 pitching and recruiting coaches texted to him, along with times to call each tomorrow. This is all new to us. We had been told it was coming as teams’ seasons ended, well, now it’s here.

Keep a notebook with a couple blank pages in between each school to write down notes about what was discussed, to keep track dates for follow-up (see if they do what they say) + who is who in the zoo.  Enjoy the process, sounds like things are happening fast for your family.  Good luck ~

Congratulations to your son on this first step of recruiting.  At 13-14 years old, if the player is mature enough to even be contemplating committing, then I believe that the player needs to be in the driver seat for these discussion, but the parent needs to be riding shotgun, not observing from outside the car.  I would strongly suggest to go through the process.  That means talking to everyone that is interested.  Taking the time (and the $) to do the visits to schools and to meet these coaches in person and complete an academic tour, not just a baseball tour.  Lots of good advice above on lists and notes.  My biggest suggestion is to "not be open for offers".  If you indicate to coaches that at this point, you are going through the process, and not seeking an offer, they will respect your decision and process, and you and your son will be able to really get to know the coaches and schools before $ is involved and the pressure to make a decision is on.

@old_school posted:

I would add that if he wants to be a professional baseball he should also have a backup plan since he will almost certainly need it.

It seems like a staggering percentage of D1 kids have this deluded dream they are going to be professional players...even of the handful that accomplish it 99% of those will need to be looking for a new career in a couple seasons.

I took my kids to spring training when they young, we visited the minor league complex on the outer fields, that changed thought processes for a lifetime.

I’m guessing all competitive team D1 freshmen believe they will be drafted. It eventually gets whittled to playing regulars.

I may have given my son a sense of reality when I asked him why he thinks slotted bonuses stop at round ten. Even if you get drafted your odds aren’t great. 84% of American MLBers come from the top ten rounds.

Thanks a bunch guys!! Son was pretty upbeat and says he has much more confidence going forward.  Coach wants him to call back in two to three weeks and have mom and dad on the call. Between advice here and talking today with a kid he trains with, who actually signed with the “calling school”, son said he felt pretty comfortable. It ended up being 20 min of small talk and getting to know each other.