Would I be wasting their time?

What if:

It is merely just a fun experience practicing with them and you learn a thing or three?   

or

You meet a hot girl or three, or make a couple of friends, or gain some connections in the Baseball world?

or

You use the experience as just that, experience? Maybe next time you are doing the same thing at a school you really want to go to, you can draw upon the experience.

It sounds like the potential for fun is there.  And who knows maybe you'll fall in love with the place, or at least have an offer in your back pocket as a Plan B or C

Any advice or wisdom?

Yes.  First, listen to what they have to say.  This is how you learn about opportunities and process across many different kinds of schools.  Second, don't mention the specific name of the school on a public website that is read by many thousands of people.  Save the specifics for private messaging or conversations.

Good luck.

Or....maybe they realize you're not really CC material and more a D1 or D2 type guy and these CC Coach's tell their D1 & D2 coaching buddy's about you?

Or you play a season with them and get drafted!

I would go, never let an opportunity to work out for a coach at any level above yours pass you by. Also, many baseball player resumes commonly have three teams on them now. By that I mean, let's say you get fortunate and get an offer from a D1 or D2 program. A lot of guys don't even make it past Nov/Dec cuts. Then what? Time to consider transferring to that community college. If you have a relationship there already, that may be an easier move. After spending 1 or 2 seasons at that JUCO a lot of guys move back over to the D1/D2 schools to finish their careers.

take the visit and workout.

Work out with a new group. Meet the coach and the team. Have some fun. They'll be practicing anyway. Why not? 

GoldenGraham34 posted:

Recently, I've gotten interest from a school very much just out of the blue. It's from a good community college and one of their assistant coaches direct messaged me on twitter, saying that they really liked what they've seen and the head coach wanted to see me play, so they wanted me to come out and practice with them either tomorrow or the next day and give me a tour of the campus and just learn about the program.

 The only problem is, I've always dismissed the idea of community college. And because of that, I don't want to waste the coaches time. But on the other hand, maybe I haven't really given it a shot. Maybe by being there I'll be able to learn more about the community college experience for myself and find that I'll actually like it. I know that one thing I've read a lot here is to keep the options open, but I just don't know. 

  Any advice or wisdom?

  

Let the coaches worry about whether the workout is a waste of their time. 

They're the ones who extended the offer.

And they probably have a better understanding than you do of the probability of it leading to a commitment.

It's enough for you to know the workout isn't a waste of your time. It's probably the best chance you have to develop and show your skills this week. And you very well might learn something.

Accept the offer. Give it your all. Learn what you can from the other players and coaches. Listen to the coach's sales pitch, and decide if the opportunity deserves further consideration.

Best wishes,

DesertDuck posted:

Or....maybe they realize you're not really CC material and more a D1 or D2 type guy and these CC Coach's tell their D1 & D2 coaching buddy's about you?

Play it out, and handle it respectfully.  @DesertDuck is right.  Handle it respectfully and at the end of the day if it's not right, you'll have a coaching staff in your corner who thinks you're a solid young man.  

It never hurts to see all ends of the spectrum.  You need to see what you don't like, just as much as you need to see what you like.  

Go and gain that knowledge. You can then make a more informed decision.  Nothing to lose.

I haven't really seen it mentioned....but be honest.  Tell them you initially hadn't considered a local college but you appreciate the opportunity and it was intriguing.  Thank them for their time and tell them your going to give it a lot of thought but you not sure what direction your heading in.  As someone else mentioned, you never know what contacts THAT coach has.  Once you lose integrity, its all but impossible to get back.  I would also inform the coach once you DID make a decision (and any coach you worked out for) and thank them even if you chose another school.  NEVER know when that little bit of courtesy could help you out somewhere else down the road.

Please re-read Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss.  It's nearly impossible to know what you like until you give it a chance.  You might be surprised at what they have to say. 

In retrospect, my son wishes he went to Junior College his freshman year instead of going to a D2 program.  He ended up at a Juco his second year and it really gave him the opportunity to learn and grow as a player and a person.  Next year he is going to a very good D1 program, I think 7 guys from his team are going D1 next year.  Unless my youngest son is a stud, he will be going to Junior College first.

Golden;

Lower Columbia is a very good program. Years ago we conducted our Mariners

Area Code team tryouts at Lower Columbia.

The Assistant Coach maybe a Associate Pro Scout.

Be prepared. Be positive and keep an open mind.

Bob

Never forget the coaching carousel that occurs every season.  Today's CC head coach or assistant may land  coaching gig at as an assistant, etc., at a big conference school.  You may make an impression on him now that he could carry to his next school.

Not CC examples but the HC at Clemson came from College of Charleston and the Pitching coach at Arkansas (and one year prior, Mississippi State) came from Dallas Baptist (both C of C and DBU are great programs and schools in their own right, but not ACC/SEC).  So think about any kid who would have considered visiting either of those schools a waste of their time who missed getting in front of coaches now at Clemson and Arkansas.

Dave Serrano announced his resignation from Tennessee at the end of the season.  The carousel has already begun for this year.

Never sell networking short.

couple other random thoughts

what are your grades? what are your finances?

What do you want to major in?

Are you a pro prospect? you probably are already aware of it if you are.

Are a D1 kid?

What are you thinking you will accomplish by going CC?

Every kid I know who is going CC either has poor grades or didn't get the offer they wanted from a D1...I can't think of any other reason. My son has 2 good friends going CC one is just not a smart kid and the other is lazy...he has couple guys in his league going CC they are either undersized or underachieving.

how important is the baseball? how much do you want a 4 yr college experience or do you want to bounce around to 2 or more places before you graduate?

It isn't a right or wrong just things to think about.

If you're hearing from a community college -- you mean a JuCo program? -- may I assume you're currently a HS senior?

My two cents:  If you're a senior and you're still on the market, you have to be candid with yourself about how hot a prospect you are.  To me, the top thing I hate to see is when someone drops a few rungs down the ladder academically just to play baseball for a few more years.  If the choice is between going to a higher academic school without baseball vs. dropping down a few academic levels just to play, I would say don't.

But if the community college is right for you academically, by all means go for it.

Or, if there is a financial angle that the CC helps you deal with, again, go for it.

The one thing you should expect is that once you're there on their campus, you may receive an offer.  So I would suggest you and your parents sort out your priorities before you go.  Ask yourself if you would accept an offer if given.  Or would that depend on how good the offer was?  Look, it may not come up, but then again it may, so ... be prepared to discuss such things.

Go!  Why would you ever dismiss something without even so much as learning more about it?  Nothing wrong with JUCO.  It was the route I went to save some money.  Wasn't much difference between the JUCO and the supposedly high academic I got my degree from.  And nothing wrong with playing more baseball for the love of the game!  Look at Cabbage's post.  Four schools...  whatever it took to use up those four years of eligibility.  Tough road for sure but if you love the game why not?  Unless you can go to harvard or MIT or something similar a degree is a degree is a degree.  Nobody cares what the name is on it - with again few exceptions.  

"Nobody cares what the name is on it - with again few exceptions."

This has not been my experience at all.

I don't want to get too far into it GG, as your question was about recruiting, not really about the value of attending a Juco, but please don't believe the suggestion above that Jucos are only for dummies and lazy people.  There are literally millions of people who have attended Jucos and gone on to graduate from great 4 year schools.  My wife is a UCLA grad, and I don't think anyone has ever cared or even asked about the fact that she transferred in from a Juco. 

As for baseball, there are many, many players who go from Juco to find success at D1 and/or pro ball.

JCG posted:

I don't want to get too far into it GG, as your question was about recruiting, not really about the value of attending a Juco, but please don't believe the suggestion above that Jucos are only for dummies and lazy people.  There are literally millions of people who have attended Jucos and gone on to graduate from great 4 year schools.  My wife is a UCLA grad, and I don't think anyone has ever cared or even asked about the fact that she transferred in from a Juco. 

As for baseball, there are many, many players who go from Juco to find success at D1 and/or pro ball.

Agree!

This is straight off a scholarship website:

There are approximately 512 junior college baseball programs with each team being allowed to offer up to (24) scholarships.  However, many programs are not fully funded by their athletic department and are only allowed to offer a reduced portion of the allotted 24 scholarships or no athletic scholarships at all.  The purpose of junior college baseball is to give players two years (occasionally one year) of athletic and academic development with the ultimate goal being to find a good fit with a four-year program after leaving the junior college.  There are some programs with very high-level talent that have a reputation of placing their players at very solid NCAA Division I and II programs.

Perhaps one of the BIG questions you should ask is what history they have of placing kids after their time is done there, and if they are especially friendly with any particular 4 year colleges.

Lest we forget you can't get your degree from a JUCO anyway.  So as wisely pointed out by others the degree can come from just about anywhere after two years or one year of JUCO.  As for the 'reputation'...  when was the last time you heard of a school that considered themselves kind of mediocre?  Everybody thinks they are a great institution.  There are no shortage of places to go.  

Midlo Dad posted:

If you're hearing from a community college -- you mean a JuCo program? -- may I assume you're currently a HS senior?

My two cents:  If you're a senior and you're still on the market, you have to be candid with yourself about how hot a prospect you are.  To me, the top thing I hate to see is when someone drops a few rungs down the ladder academically just to play baseball for a few more years.  If the choice is between going to a higher academic school without baseball vs. dropping down a few academic levels just to play, I would say don't.

But if the community college is right for you academically, by all means go for it.

Or, if there is a financial angle that the CC helps you deal with, again, go for it.

The one thing you should expect is that once you're there on their campus, you may receive an offer.  So I would suggest you and your parents sort out your priorities before you go.  Ask yourself if you would accept an offer if given.  Or would that depend on how good the offer was?  Look, it may not come up, but then again it may, so ... be prepared to discuss such things.

I agree with most of what you are saying, but the Academic Part can be overcome.  My son is definitely not a JC Academic kind of kid, and honestly, we would have preferred that he didn't have to go that rout.  In the end it ended up sending him to Purdue, which is a great Academic School.  One other teammate signed Purdue, and another signed with Pepperdine.  So don't rule out a JC just based on the Academics.  In the end, you could still end up at a great school and earn a good degree.

FWP posted:

Go!  Why would you ever dismiss something without even so much as learning more about it?  Nothing wrong with JUCO.  It was the route I went to save some money.  Wasn't much difference between the JUCO and the supposedly high academic I got my degree from.  And nothing wrong with playing more baseball for the love of the game!  Look at Cabbage's post.  Four schools...  whatever it took to use up those four years of eligibility.  Tough road for sure but if you love the game why not?  Unless you can go to harvard or MIT or something similar a degree is a degree is a degree.  Nobody cares what the name is on it - with again few exceptions.  

I wouldn't quite go this far either, only because I think there is some real value to particular schools alumni networks...

I wanted to add a brief statement about Lower Columbia. My son's high school battery mate, is a stud, and he goes to LC.  He unfortunately had to have TJ surgery, so he missed his fresh year, but I think he is hitting .400 this year. Hopefully, he has recovered from the TJ, because my son has said he is the best catcher he has ever had. 

rynoattack posted:

FWP posted:

Go!  Why would you ever dismiss something without even so much as learning more about it?  Nothing wrong with JUCO.  It was the route I went to save some money.  Wasn't much difference between the JUCO and the supposedly high academic I got my degree from.  And nothing wrong with playing more baseball for the love of the game!  Look at Cabbage's post.  Four schools...  whatever it took to use up those four years of eligibility.  Tough road for sure but if you love the game why not?  Unless you can go to harvard or MIT or something similar a degree is a degree is a degree.  Nobody cares what the name is on it - with again few exceptions.  

I wouldn't quite go this far either, only because I think there is some real value to particular schools alumni networks...

Colleges are like high school baseball players...you have your top 10%...then there is everyone else.