How Do You Get Recruited For College Baseball

How To Get Recruited And Play College Baseball

High school baseball players and their parents dream of being recruited and playing baseball at the college level. In order to make this dream a reality, you need to not only be a great player but also take important steps to get recruited. These steps include creating a recruiting profile and getting strong grades.

Each NCAA division I college baseball program can only allocate 11.7 baseball scholarships per program. Most college baseball coaches award partial or equivalency grants in aid, and it is very rare to be offered a full-ride scholarship. The NCAA has mandated a roster limit of 35 players, and each baseball scholarship player must receive the equivalent of no less than 25% of the value of a full-ride scholarship.

How To Get Recruited For Ivy League Baseball

After reading about these amazing teams, you might have your heart set on joining this conference as a player. But finding a recruitment slot is always going to be a challenge, as thousands of students vie for the same few slots, so it can seem an impossible challenge to get noticed.

But there are certain easy steps that you can take to give yourself the best odds of getting noticed, getting contacted, and making the cut.

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College Baseball Recruit Not On Scholarship

Generally speaking, coaches also have a high level of commitment to their recruited players, even if they are not on scholarship. These are the players that the coach has shown clear interest in, and in some cases persuaded them to play for their program. While recruited players dont always pan out long term, its pretty rare that a recruited player would not make the team their freshman year. Additionally, a pattern of recruited players getting cut could also result in a bad reputation for a program. If the word gets out that recruited players frequently dont have a roster spot, prospective college baseball players might tend to avoid that program. This would make recruiting much more challenging. There are programs that have a bad reputation, so you need to be aware of this throughout your college baseball search.

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Create Your Skills Video

This section focuses on one of the essential tools recruits must use to market themselves and heighten their exposure with college coaches. Coaches cannot be everywhere to scout recruits and an effective skills video serves as that all-important first look. Baseball coaches are more focused on a players skills than they are game footage. What should be included on the video, and what should not be included?

Get filming tips for each position for a baseball recruiting skills video that will make that first impression count. But once athletes have created their video, whats next? How do they get coaches to view it? Where should they post it? What is the most effective strategy to get it in front of the coach?

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Learn The Playing Field

High School Baseball Web. This is an excellent site with general information on the college baseball recruiting process. It also includes a forum where you can get most of your questions answered. Make sure youre a good member, dont ask questions that you could get the answers yourself by doing a simple web search.

College Confidential Athletic Recruits Forum. This forum covers all sports but a lot of information is the same for all sports. And you can still get baseball specific information.

Put Me In, Coach: A Parents Guide to Winning the Game of College Recruiting by Laurie A Richter. Out of all the college athletic recruiting books, I liked this one the best.

Must Read For High School Baseball Players and their Parents. This is about an email that a college coach sends to the father of a high school player. Pay attention and make sure it isnt you.

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What Do College Baseball Scouts Look For In A Middle Infielder

Division 1

• Height: 5862
• Weight: 165190 lbs.
• 60-yard dash: 6.56.8.
• Infield velocity: Division 1 middle infield recruits will throw the ball across the diamond anywhere between 85 MPH 95 MPH
• The prototypical Division I middle infield recruit can hit for high average as well as steal a lot of bases and occasionally hit for power

Division 2

Timing Is Everything: Understanding The Recruiting Timeline

When it comes to recruiting, its all about timing! Recruits are operating on personal timelines, dictated by skill development, physical maturity, patience, planning, interest levels from schools, and much more. Coaches have another timeline, dictated by positional needs, scholarship availability, and the recruiting calendar, among other variables. To make matters more complex, timelines change quickly with new information or opportunities. So how do coaches and recruits ever get timelines to sync up long enough to get a deal done?

The recruiting calendar is helpful in providing several key windows throughout the year where timelines often align and other times its a big game of chicken. College programs will try to leverage their shorter timeline over a recruits longer timeline by giving them an offer deadline. Players will try to buy more time to shop around by telling a coach they are in no rush to make a decision. Sometimes its the school who wants to keep shopping while the player is ready to commit. Bottom line, if one party wants a decision by next week and the other next year, something has to give!

For now, lets forget the needs and timelines of coaches. The rest of this article focuses on you and your recruiting timeline. By understanding exactly what a recruiting timeline is and how you can navigate your own, you will increase your leverage in negotiations with schools and take charge of your recruiting process!

The Recruiting Timeline Defined:

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Most College Athletes Dont Receive Athletic Scholarships

And heres the first point about playing specifically college baseball, if youre spending all that money on teams, traveling, lessons to get a scholarship, it would probably be better spent on SAT prep. The reality is that Division I schools are allowed 11.7 baseball scholarships while Division 2 get 9. One website takes that information and announces that means 5,423 scholarships in the NCAA alone!

But dont sign up for their recruiting service just yet.

Stop and think a little about the 11.7 number. How many players does an average college team carry? Thats not 11.7 scholarships per year but for the entire team. Some teams carry more than 11 pitchers alone.

Coaches arent handing out full scholarships, they are giving 25%, 40%, or maybe if youre really good, 50% scholarships. Unless youre a left-handed pitcher with a 90 mph fastball, baseball isnt going to provide your son with a full ride to college.

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Develop Your Target List

The second step you must take to become a college baseball player is by developing or creating a target list. In step one we talked about assessing yourself, which also involves researching the school you can best fit in. Here you would organize a target list of schools that you best fit in. You can arrange the target list in the following way:

• Firstly, you should beware of safety schools. The safety schools are the colleges or institutions which can enable you balance your academic and athletic standard.
• Secondly, the schools you have in target should offer programs that you can best fit in.
• Thirdly, you should beware of reach schools. The reach schools are imstitutions or colleges tahtbhave serious competition. By creating this target list, you would be able to see the different angles of things.

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How Do You Walk

Send them your film, ask about visits, and get a feel for what the team is like. If you feel walking on is your best option, then ask coaches about that process. Remember, you are able to walk on to a team whether its D1, D2, or D3. If you prove yourself worthy enough, you might even earn a scholarship down the road.

Learn About The Different Division Levels

Once youve determined your level of interest, talent and expectations surrounding college athletics, its important to consider the various division levels available to compete in:

• NCAA Division IThis is the highest level of college athletics and, thus, the most competitive. D1 schools typically have large budgets, expensive facilities, and the student-athletes are expected to train and travel extensively.
• NCAA Division IIWhile still a competitive division, D2 athletes are provided more balance in their lives, as training and competition for Division 2 schools arent as intense. Scholarships are also offered at this level.
• NCAA Division IIINo athletic scholarships are offered for D3 student-athletes, but there are many other forms of financial aid. The competition levels at Division 3 schools are still very high, but practice seasons are shorter, and theres more of an academic focus.
• NAIAA much smaller community than the NCAAwith a little over 250 schoolsthe NAIA is a great option for student-athletes who love their sport but are looking for a smaller or private college, or a specific major.
• NJCAAJunior college is a good option for the student-athlete looking to get a sense of what college athletics are like at a two-year institution before transferring to a four-year college. Many student-athletes compete at the JUCO level because they are working on their NCAA eligibility or are trying to save money before transferring to a four-year college.

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Reason : You Can Fix Or Improve Your Academics At A Junior College

Its not just about baseball as a college student-athlete, academics are extremely important.

For some players with poor grades or test scores in high school, the question of should you go JUCO? is an easy one: YES.

Lots of young athletes arent big fans of school. And if you dont put forth enough effort in high school, a lot of doors can end up closed because of the academic standards 4-year schools require for eligibility.

So if perhaps you didnt put forth a great effort in high school but are now ready to turn it aroundor you just dont have any other optionsplaying college baseball at a two-year school can be a great choice.

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How Fast Do You Have To Throw To Play D2 Baseball

In my experience in DIII ive seen everything from 78/79 mph to 92 mph. I would say that there is a minimum at about 78 or 79 mph. If you throw around 79 though, you will be expected to have two good breaking pitches, curve, slider, change. at a lower speed your expected to be a more complete pitcher.

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Follow Up And Continue The Conversation

Sometimes coaches do not respond to your first email. If you have not heard back from a coach after about a week, you need to send them a follow-up email. Also give them a call. If you have already sent your resume and one or two follow-up emails, pick up the phone and call them to make sure they have received your correspondence.

How Does Division Iii Baseball Recruiting Work

Division III baseball, in my view, is quite different than the upper divisions of college baseball. There are many programs and the talent level required to play varies greatly. I believe that any player who is serious about playing at the next level can achieve their goal and often times, itll be at a DIII school.

The biggest distinction between Division III institutions is that these schools do not offer athletic scholarships. But that should not discourage a player from looking at a Division III school. And just because these schools dont offer athletic aid, it doesnt mean that there arent some very good players and programs at the DIII level. In 2014, 15 Division III players were selected in the MLB First-Year Player Draft.

If you play college baseball, odds are youll play at the D3 levelThere are roughly 375 institutions that have baseball programs that compete at the DIII level. More players will play DIII baseball than any other division of college baseball.

A majority of the DIII schools are small, private, liberal arts colleges. The schools range from ultra-selective to less selective in terms of admission requirements. With the majority of these schools being private, the first hurdle for parents to clear is the cost of attending these schools. Given the large numbers of private schools that make up DIII, its worth diving into a bit deeper and learning how this works. You might be surprised.

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Baseball Scholarships College Baseball Recruiting

Athletes who are looking for college baseball scholarships need to fully understand the baseball recruiting process if they are to be successful and play college baseball. NCAA baseball recruiting starts earlier in your career than you think. If you want to play college baseball and land that elusive baseball scholarship then you must take baseball recruiting into your own hands dont wait for your high school coaches to help you get recruited.

Show Off Your Skills With Video

The third step you must take to become a college baseball player is by creating a video showing off your skills. When applying to college programs, a personal statement isnt everything. Now that the world has gone completely global, social media is a perfect medium for advertising yourself. You can create a talent full video of yourself, showing off your skills, and send it to the coach email.

Most of the time, the coaches assess your skills from the video. Kindly avoid lengthy videos. The video should not exceed five minutes. In the five minutes, the video should be able to showcase your skills and prove to the coach or scout that you are a good fit for the team. While creating the video, you should be prepared and practice your skills very well before starting.

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Generating A List Of Schools To Pursue

After a player has spent some time learning about college baseball recruiting rules, recruiting timelines, academic eligibility, and scholarship opportunities, its time to shift gears. At this point, players should start to formulate a list of schools that they are interested in. When developing this list, the player should consider the following items:

• Location of the school is the school a drive or a flight away, and how does that impact your familys ability to visit during the semester/season?
• Academic majors does the school offer your major? If you are undecided, are a variety of majors offered that could potentially interest you?
• Level of academics are the schools academic standards and expectations aligned with your academic abilities?
• Type of campus do you have a campus setting preference ? Are you expecting the athletic facilities to be on campus?
• Budget are there certain schools that you wouldnt considered based off the price tag alone?
• Student Enrollment are you looking for a small, medium, or large school experience?
• Student life would you like to attend a school that has a variety of opportunities for involvement, outside of baseball?

There are a several websites that offer a thorough analysis of colleges based off of the items mentioned above. By using these tools prospective college students should be able to to accurately pinpoint a variety of schools to potentially pursue.

A College Coach Weighs In: Who Is The Njcaa / Juco Route Right For

Lets conclude with a quote from Morgan Depew, the recruiting coordinator at St. Johns River State College in Florida.

I asked Coach Depew: What types of players benefit from going the NJCAA route?

One type is players who struggle academically or financially. Academically, its less restricted for initial eligibility. Financially, junior colleges offer scholarships that can cover tuition, housing, and meals on top of the already discounted tuition.

The second type of player is the later developing athlete. A player whose skills after 2 more years more of development and playing will earn him a larger role at a 4 year school.

Coach Depew

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Ncsa: Five Key Questions In The Baseball Recruiting Process

By Nelson Gord, Director NCSA Team EditionNovember 6, 2018 11:28 am

By Nelson Gord, Director NCSA Team Edition | November 6, 2018 11:28 am ET

USA TODAY High School Sports has a weekly column on the college recruiting process. Here, youll find practical tips and real-world advice on becoming a better recruit to maximize your opportunities to play at the college level. Nelson Gord is a former collegiate and professional ballplayer, successful high school head coach, and also the founder of the largest travel baseball club in Illinois. Nelson is just one of many former college and professional players, college coaches, and parents who are part of the Next College Student Athlete team. Their knowledge, experience, and dedication, along with NCSAs history of digital innovation and long-standing relationship with the college coaching community, helped create NCSA Team Edition, the free recruiting platform for club and high school coaches.

NCSA Illustration

ncds

How Hard Is It To Get A D1 Football Scholarship

The chances of receiving a division one football scholarships are very remote. There are only about 125 division one programs, and each has 85 scholarships. That means there are roughly 10,000 scholarship division one football players out there. With roughly 1.5 million high school players, the odds are less than 1%.

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