Window post Showball and Headfirst

1-3 days.  A week at the most.

After August Headfirst, my son was contacted by some coaches on the field, some after 1-3 days, some after the last showcase was done, and some didn't contact until late in August, those were legit offers from good schools too.  They all do things differently.  But this isn't a normal year, so I don't know if the old stuff applies.

Typically a week or two at most, but there were outliers.  Everyone’s recruiting story is different. And this is a strange year, so who knows, but I wouldn’t assume an offer necessarily would come before September or even into October. 

I probably don’t need to say it, but your son should be working now to email every school he has any interest in that will be at HF.  In most cases, my son’s experience was that if he didn’t hear from schools before HF or SB, he didn’t hear from them after. He generally knew going into those events which schools were potentially interested and had some correspondence with their coaches beforehand.

Hi Chico. He has had multiple email exchanges with coaches from teams he is interested and he and the GM of his travel team have emailed a lot of his target schools in the last week and a half.  I’d say about 65% have responded to either my son or his travel GM. But I wouldn’t say any responses made it clear they’d offer him or had super high interest. Two requests for academic info have come in in the last few hours but none from target schools yet. 

We had interest after the first week or so, with a couple coming 2-3 weeks afterward. This was for the August HF. Most want you to attend one of their camps, at which time they might offer you if they like what they see. Who knows what is going to happen this year. I suspect that there will be a lot more guessing on the part of RC's and HC's when it comes to recruitment, as camps will be shut down for the most part, and recruits will be reluctant to travel.

I just went back and checked emails.  My son was at his last day of HF actually on this day, August 8th last year (pitched in front of Brian Cashman that day, fun story).  There was interest in son at Head First, the kind where coaches tracked my son down to have a conversation but importantly the one school he was most interested in watched him and had multiple conversations at the event.  A number of inbounds occurred over the next few days but he got two inbound emails in about 8-9 days later too.  The later emails were almost like form letter interest though, "We saw you play at Headfirst and were impressed...".  I think the coaches take a look at the statistics post the event and send out feelers to kids that hit a profile they would have an interest in.    In the end, I would say my son had 6-7 legit teams interested post HF and we knew who they were within days and the later texts, emails could have certainly turned into interest.   

From HF to commitment was under a month.  He knew what he wanted but the HC still needed to watch him.  He did other two campus visits during this time and had the academic reads done by the other two schools too.  Now in 12 days we send him to campus so he can move into his dorm and get his covid test....

The part that seems most different to me in 2020 is that in a normal year, a lot of coaches want players to come to school camps after HF or SB.  HF and SB lead to serious email and text exchanges (you can tell when you are getting more than form camp invites), but generally coaches wanted my son to come to their camps.  (This is tough if, like my son, you are in a different region of the country than most of the schools you are targeting.  There are only so many plane tickets you can buy, days of HS you can miss, etc.) 

Also, it seemed to me that a significant part of camps was for a recruit to show a school that he was serious about them.  (E.g., one NESCAC school...  My son did a campus visit right after SB in July, met with the coach for over an hour and got a personal tour.  They asked him to come to their camp, which was a few weeks later.  But we already had tickets/plans for a family vacation in another country that weekend.  Son explained this to the coach, but interest just stopped after he missed camp--I assume because they used camp to settle on other choices.)  This year, of course, camps aren't generally going to be an option.  So I don't know how things will play out...

I can't stress enough that you shouldn't assume your son's experience will follow the same pattern as others (especially this year).  The typical, general path is the same, but there are many twists and turns.  Cast a broad net, follow up with any school you might potentially be interested in, and don't take anything for granted until you have an actual firm offer (not just "we really like you and you cleared the pre-read").

@BaseballDad72 posted:

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What is the window for meaningful contact post each showcase? Day after, week after, two weeks after for a kid that's a borderline slot kid for good DIII program? We're getting close to the finish line now for a 2021 RHP, so just curious about others' experiences. I know studs get contact probably on the field after a great showing...thoughts? 

Past experience is not really a great indicator for 2020.   Projected D3 studs that require help with Admissions (slots) will be contacted immediately as the school has to sell themselves to the recruit, and figure out which slotted athletes they are going to get behind with Admissions.   The rest of the recruiting class (based on position need) is about two weeks out from a showcase such as Showball or HeadFirst based on feedback from other posters over the years.  A handful of HA D3s tried to pull my son in immediately for their prospect camp and book an overnight unofficial visit in September as they knew other D1 HAs and D3 HAs schools were in the recruiting mix.    If you've ever been in a college coaches office you'll see a recruiting board or boards with lots of names by position and graduating year.  They have it charted out pretty well who they want and the depth chart.   If he has a great HeadFirst, he may move up in the coaches eyes and their depth chart.

Good luck at HeadFirst! 

BTW...You're not close the finish line date.  The finish line date (historically mid-Oct) for D3 has always been the ED or ED1 application deadline, and there is always a flurry of activity right up to it.   You've got time.

@fenwaysouth posted:

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BTW...You're not close the finish line date.  The finish line date (historically mid-Oct) for D3 has always been the ED or ED1 application deadline, and there is always a flurry of activity right up to it.   You've got time.

This is especially important.  You will hear about some kids committing during July and August, including at schools your son may be interested in.  But schools operate on different timetables, and make offers at different times to different recruits.  If your son is #1 on the HC's list at his first-choice school, then he may nail things down early in the summer.  That's great if it happens.  But a kid who gets an offer in September will be admitted to the same college (which IMO is the primary goal--to get in to a HA school).  Other things being equal, the fact a player is recruited early in the process may indicate he's more likely to make the roster--but a lot of factors are at play there, too.  (E.g., how often has the school been able to see the player? A kid who lives down the road from the school or has attended prior camps may be a known quantity.) 

Be patient and your son needs to keep plugging away on recruiting until he's done--really done, not just almost done.  A "really-close-to-an-offer" can disappear at the last minute.  And an actual offer may emerge from a school you thought had moved on.  Comparing your son's journey to others can cause needless worry.  (It did for me.)  So can thinking through too many hypotheticals or trying to figure out why a particular school hasn't made an offer.  Just encourage your son to keep working until the end (and to keep his grades up during senior year).    

Thanks all. This board is a lifesaver. My son will keep plugging away. He has a full slate this fall. I think he is getting really hurt by not getting seen in a real game. Not a showcase superstar- think it gets in his head and he tries to do too much. Anyway, thanks for the advice. A kid with three pitches topping 85-86 should get some offers, I'd imagine, the question will be if my son wants to go there. It's academics and school fit first, baseball second, as far as this process goes for my son. He's not picking a college just to play ball. Worse case he gets into a school he likes, keeps working until his first semester and tries to walk on, though we all know walk-ons will have it toughest of all in this weird situation. His plan has always been academic-driven and he will stick to that I'm sure.

Thanks again for all the advice. You all are a great resource. Keeping this Dad sane.