OT: High school baseball recruiting
As some of you may remember, I've asked baseball questions before regarding my son. He'll be a senior this year and is looking to possibly play Div 3. He went to two Showcases here in Chicago last month, recommended by his head coach, and they cost a fortune. They didn't yield a whole lot, just some interest from a few tiny schools in Minnesota and Iowa. So he reached out to some schools who weren't at the Showcases, sending emails with a link to his mechanics video and his stats. One responded immediately and told him he should come to one of two camps they're holding in September, and that they were looking for pitchers (his position). So my question is this: they charge $100 to attend. Is this just another cash grab for the school or is this legitimately how schools do their searches? He's looking in New York, and we live in Illinois, so I don't know if the coaches from small New York schools would be checking out schools around here. Do we have to go to them?
Any thoughts or words of wisdom?
Edit: I wrote this late last night, and originally wrote Div 1. Haha. Division 3.
One click at a time.
Could be a cash grab, however coaches do need to see a recruit in person either at camps or summer travel ball tourneys. The recruiting websites out there are a waste of money in my opinion.
My daughter just finished her college softball career and now is a grad asst. coach and is recruiting herself. I've gone to a couple tourneys this summer with her to watch some players and now see the other side.
When she was going thru the process we videotaped games and practices along with drills, burned them to disc and sent them to schools she was interested in, you can find emails on each schools website. I recommend sending a copy and an email to the asst.coach also.
We did this and her travel coach said he got more emails and phone calls about her than all the other girls on the team combined and wanted her to tell the others what she was doing. Her travel team ended up with 8 D1 players and 4 D2
Hope this helped good luck and Go Blue
Thanks for the info. My son is a pretty good pitcher and could play at a small D3 school (see my edit in my post). He just decided he wants to give playing in college a shot after having a great junior season. My fear is that he's a little late to the game. Some of his teammates have been going through the process for at least a year -- finding colleges that they like both academically and athletically, reaching out to coaches, inviting them to showcases, etc...My son has some ground to cover, so when he sent out emails yesterday and got an immediate response with an invitation to this camp, I was happy for him but also wondering if we're going to make a trip to NY for nothing. It's a good school academically but I don't think he'd go there if he wasn't playing baseball there.
If you are going to make a video to send, make sure a radar gun is in the video when he is throwing so they know he is throwing what he claims he's throwing. If he is playing travel chances are you know someone with a pocket radar.
Good luck
He has a mechanics video and he's doing a separate velocity video.
I don't have any knowledge on the topic but it doesn't seem like they could make much off $100 a kid, they probably just do it to pay everyone helping to run the camp. It's probably to keep kids out that aren't good. Best of luck to your son.
Camps are definitely fundraisers for non revenue producing sports like baseball and softball. My daughters school holds 3 or 4 camps a year some are for high school age kids others are for younger kids obviously they are not recruiting but hoping to plant a seed for later.
Coaches at the larger camps are compensated but not always they come to make contact with recruits themselves. Smaller schools camps will be ran by their coaching staff and their own players usually at stations while the coach walks around observing
It is important to go to camps to maybe impress the coaches and it shows interest in the school itself
Most programs use at least a portion of the money made from camps to pay 'volunteer' asst coaches.
This is true if it's not just their staff and players holding it, I know an asst. Who does pretty well working different camps
I had a chance to play baseball at some small schools, but ended up going to umich and focusing on being an adult.
Over 95% college athletes don't play professionally.
I'm sorry to be blunt, but this isn't great advice IMO. An Elite Academic Experience is only crucial if you're trying to go to Harvard Law or land with a huge Wall Street firm or something.
Most of the rest of the world doesn't care a hell of a lot about the name of the school on a diploma. A great deal of the rest of the world would actually find it very interesting that an applicant played college baseball.
I would never tell you personally that you made the wrong decision for yourself, that's not what this is about. But I know for a fact that if I had had the chance to play college baseball (or just about any college sport), I'd have gone almost anywhere necessary to do it. And if I'd had the chance to do so and turned it down, I'm sure I'd have regretted it. And that's the advice I'd give to anyone else - unless you have a really specific, fast-paced career in mind that demands you get into the best of the best, jump at the chance to play college baseball. You have the whole rest of your life to be an adult but only one chance at the baseball thing. You don't get to change your mind later.
You need to get your son to some of the bigger tournaments and play. The Showcase events on the West Coast are the way to go. We will be in Tucson next weekend for the showcase.
Go to Georgia and play in the big ones as well. The most money for baseball is at the DII and DIII Division anyway. At least out on the West Coast they throw money at our kids to go play back east and the Midwest.
If they are serious about recruiting him then kindly explain the cost associated with the trip and ask if they will have any recruiters in the area before then, pick a radius say 100 miles from home to show your just as serious. If they are serious they will spare the time. If it's just a money grab they will have every excuse on why nobody can make it to see you but will continue to try and sell you on thier camp. If he truly has D1 talent just keep sending out videos and letters of interest, the schools will come to you.
Oh jeez. I read your response and thought, what the? And then I looked at my post and realized I wrote Div 1. Ha! I meant Div 3. He's good, but he's not that good. So far, Luther College in Decora, Iowa loves him!
Obviously if he attends a school like Michigan and doesn't play ball he has the diploma that will take him places but if he attends a smaller school and plays he will develop friendships and memories that will last him a lifetime and will still be employable.
Just 5 minutes ago my daughter informed me that two of her teammates will be coming in from out of state to stay with us for the weekend next week. It's only been a year since her college career ended but these will be lifetime friends.
As far as the 100.00 camps go that is steep unless it's a multi day camp at a D1 school but hopefully the money you spend now will come back to you in tuition savings. My daughter saved me 200,000 between academic money and athletic money and now getting her masters paid for and being paid 700.00 a month to be the grad asst coach which pays her rent in the house she shares with 4 past teammates. I would say it all worked out pretty well
I also had a kid play baseball for me that was offered a scholarship to play baseball at Harvard he had a 34 on his ACT but choose Michigan without baseball, he received a degree in business and now is in NY City doing well for himself. I recommend you let your son make the decision which path he wants neither is wrong but let him make it
It's totally up to him whether or not he plays. He's looking at a few schools with club teams and I think that's a great way to go, too. He's not going to sacrifice an education to play ball, or go to a school he doesn't like to play ball. He picked four D3 schools that have strong programs in what he wants to study and sent emails to those coaches, hoping that one might be interested.
That's the other thing I was going to say. I know kids who went to schools that didn't offer what they wanted to study, just to play ball. That's not what you want to do. Playing in college does require commit mentions especially baseball softball your season starts in February some early March and you're on the road for the first half of the season unless you play for a southern school, which means missing a lot of class and homework on the road.
Athletes do get perks that your average student doesn't but they also don't get the free time that other students get that being said my daughter cried her eyes out after her last game knowing she would never play at that level again. She would not change a thing the travel the injuries. So I say get him somewhere he can play because it will be a lifetime of memories
Decorah, Iowa, is home of Toppling Goliath. I strongly recommend him looking at Luther!
make sure your Son is prepared to introduce himself the coaching staff, and be prepared to explain why he wants to attend their school. Not a humble brag, but for context ... our Son went through the same thing you are a few years ago (he was also a pitcher). He had a handful of smaller school offers from D2, D3 and JUCO's, but his dream was to play D1 baseball. On his own, he reached out to a few "mid-major" D1 schools he had interest in and they invited him to their camps. We had the same thought; that is was likely a money grab, but we paid the fee and hoped for the best. Fortunately, he performed well at the camp and was fortunate enough to receive an offer to a D1 school. In talking to his coaches during his 4 years there, we learned that one of the reasons that they offered after that camp was that he was one of the few recruits that took the time to talk to the coaches rather than just competing on the field during the camp and hoping the coaches would appraoch them. He just graduated, and was able to contribute to a couple conference championships, earned a berth to the NCAA Tourney and experienced all of the things he was hoping to by playing D1. He loved every minute of it. Go chase the dream!
I coached travel ball for a number of years and have talked to college coaches about the best way to get my kids recruited. Because of resources and appeal, division 1 coaches will recruit differently than division 3 coaches. From the sounds of it your son is a division 3 prospect. Foa a division 3 prospect here is my advice:
Division 3 coaches don't typically look at kids until they're juniors or seniors. So you're still OK from this regard.
There are a few baseball camps that are worth while, but many of them are money grabs and it's hard to get noticed.
Best bang for the buck is a PBR (Prep Baseball Report). Go to a few of these (first time through your son may be nervous and not do his best. Go again. Second time through he should be more relaxed and hopefully do better.) They will get his height, weight, times and stats documented. They will also video tape him and have it on file for college coaches to look at.
Research the schools that interest him - don't wait for the coaches to come to him because they probably won't. He needs to contact the coaches. Find the schools that most interest him, then contact the coaches at those schools. Let the coaches know that he wants to play for them and that his video and stats are on PBR.
Division 3 coaches don't have the time or the resources to scour the country for the best recruits. They will attend a few camps and follow up on a few tips they receive, but they will spend a lot of there time in their office looking at sites like PBR.
If your kid wants to play division 3 ball he needs to contact the coaches and let them know he wants to play for them. If they hold a camp, he needs to go to those camps - and he needs to let them know who he is when he's at those camps. He needs to sell himself to these coaches!
Best of luck.
I also agree that PBR is the best way to establish a record/following if you're willing to spend the money to attend. They are fairly affordable.
I remember your last thread. Glad to hear that your son had a good season and is still interested in playing at the next level.
I coach high school baseball, and honestly, I don't see a need to pay to show off his skills at this point. If someone wants to play D-3 baseball, a school will give them a look when they show up in the fall. I would recommend filling out a player interest sheet for any school that he is considering. You should be able to find one on each school's baseball website. This alone should garner at least an email response from a coach.
Once that happens, I would ask to take a campus visit. That should give your son a chance to see what the school has to offer academically, and they should be able to arrange a meeting with a coach. At that point he can share any film with them, or at least talk about his experience/desire to play at the next level.
While they may encourage him to attend a camp, it is a money grab for them. You could always respond with an interest, but let them know that money is an issue (even if it's not). Maybe they'll invite him anyway. Regardless, he will get an opportunity to compete once he gets on campus. D-3 schools are always looking for talent.
Good luck! I'm sure it can be stressful, but enjoy the ride!