What Do College Baseball Coaches Look For In Recruits
When watching prospects, college coaches are constantly trying to project how well they are going to do at the college level. The biggest hang up recruits or parents have is that while a recruit might be really good at the high school level, if they arent playing against college level competition, it isnt much help to a coach. At the college level, the game is much, much faster. Recruits need to show the strength, speed and general athleticism to make the jump.
What will often separate recruits in the mind of coaches is how serious a prospect takes their sport. Coaches are watching, before the game, between game action and after the game to see how a prospect carries themselves. They are going to be following up with their coach to see how seriously they take their training. All things being equal, a prospect who has the will to practice hard is going to be recruited over a one who has the ability but not the work ethic.
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How To Get Your Star Baseball Player Noticed
By | Submitted On July 15, 2008
A question that often comes up from coaches and parents of a good high school baseball player is how can I get my son or star player noticed by scouts. This is a very good question when you consider how difficult it can be for great players to get attention from college coaches and scouts. For this reason, I have put together a list of tips that can help you increase the chances that your player will get noticed:
1. Have the kid go to a professional major league try out in your state soon. This provides some exposure and allows him to get tested in a control environment for running, arm speed, hitting, etc.
2. Start to build a videotape of his performance for next couple of years. These tapes can be consolidated and sent to college coaches and/or major league scouts.
3. Send a letter introducing the player to area scouts. The letter should include basic stats like name, address, height, weight, position, age, grade, high school team and summer league team. Some scouts frown on letters being sent to them and others don’t mind it at all. For this reason, it is best to send a letter and take your chances.
4. Have the kid join the best all star and top level travel teams in the area. This is a way to get some additional exposure. Many players have been discovered when scouts were checking out another player.
Becoming An Associate Scout
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College Baseball Recruiting Guidelines
Am I good enough to play college baseball?How good do you have to be? These are two questions that student-athletes ask most. Less than two percent of high school players go on to play Division 1 college baseball, but there are more opportunities at the other division levels. Understanding what college baseball scouts are looking for in position players in terms of height, weight and skill can help student-athletes better focus their school search on programs that offer a level of competition that is the best match for them.
Show Off Your Best Self
Create a recruiting profile to manage your college baseball recruiting process, and build a resume that reflects your achievements and potential as an athlete.
However, avoid tunnel vision. Know that its not just your performance on the field that matters. Just because you have great stats doesnt mean you can neglect schoolwork and extracurriculars. Prove that you are well-rounded.
Know what each school requires at baseline, such as transcripts and test scores. Showcase your athletic ability in your resume by including measurable statistics such as home to first base, second base to home, 60 yard dash times, and squat weights. Include relevant position statistics as well.
Include links to skill and highlight videos to increase your chances of making an impression with your recruiting profile. In fact, recruiting profiles with video links receive more than ten times the amount of traffic as profiles without. A skills video will showcase staged technical abilities relevant to your position, while a highlight video will include footage from games to show you in action. Keep it short and sweet – if a coach wants more footage, they will ask for it.
If applicable, include your camp, travel, and high school schedules so that recruiters can come watch you perform first hand.
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Perform In The Clutch Have Good Character Be A Dirt Bag:
Brian Green, University of Kentucky
Evaluating tools that can positively affect your program, with Speed and Athleticism being the constant trait that we hunt. In terms of the 3 things that position players can do to stand out from an evaluation standpoint:
Again it always starts with talent and the athleticism, the speed power arm strength hit categories..and when they are present or close and the above factors are seemingly in place- you have something there.
Learning About The Job
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Make A Recruiting Video
Given the ratio of college baseball coaches to high school players, its important to have a recruiting video to send to coaches and on your recruiting profile. While your recruiting video shouldnt be a career retrospective dating back to Little League, it should show coaches what you have to offer. Rather than highlights, focus your video on demonstrating your mechanics, speed, athleticism, power, and body language, at the plate, on the mound, and in the field. Remember to keep your video to five minutes or less, start it with your best clips, and aim to pique a coachs interest so theyll want to see more.
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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How Do College Athletes Recruit
Have An Attitude That Stands Out:
Ray Tanner, South Carolina
Perform, hustle, and demonstrate an attitude thats impactable. Just doing all the right things. They have to perform, but it really goes beyond that. Can they handle adversity? Baseball is a game of failure. The guys that can handle themselves well at all times and show true character, those are the guys I want.
How do you react when you strike out in a big spot? How about when you give up a tie breaking home run? Im not saying you shouldnt be upset, but you shouldnt let your body language or actions turn into moping or defeat. The great players understand that failure is a big part of baseball and that they can only control the next swing the next pitch.
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Dont Wait To Get Noticed
Successful people know that it takes more than luck to make things happen. Be proactive and find ways to get yourself in front of coaches and on their radar.
Now more than ever, you cant rely on chance encounters to land you an offer. While camps used to be one of the best ways to show off your skills and meet potential coaches, coronavirus has limited the options available. Be sure to comply with the latest coronavirus guidelines if you decide to travel for a camp, and know how each state is handling both coronavirus and sport restrictions.
If you are able to make it to a camp, make the most of the experience. Take this opportunity to hone in on and showcase your skills so that potential coaches can see you in action first hand. Camps are also a good place to film skill videos for your applications.
Whether or not you manage to place yourself front and center during an in-person encounter, dont hesitate in sending that first email. Curate a contact list for the schools you are interested in and make the first move. Note that although it is never too early to contact a coach, there may be rules for how soon they can interact with you. Familiarize yourself with college baseball recruiting rules.
Key measurables are helpful in these initial interactions, as they allow a coach to quickly get a feel for your skill level and whether you could be a fit. Update your contact with new stats and highlight videos as they come in.
Understanding Scholarship Offers And How To Negotiate
Full-ride baseball scholarships are rare. Because baseball is an equivalency sport, coaches will divide their limited scholarships across their rosters. Families looking to ease the financial burden of college will want to pursue academic scholarships that will put the student in a position to attend a college and try out for the team as an unrecruited walk-on .
How can families negotiate for a better scholarship offer? The best bargaining tool an athlete has is offers from other schools. No coach wants to lose out on a recruit for whom there is strong interest. Visit our College Recruiting Guide to learn negotiating strategies.
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How To Get Noticed By Scouts And Coaches
Perfect Game All American Classic 2016Nick Allen , Photo By David Cohen, BHEphotos
If youve decided to make baseball into a career, the first step is to get yourself noticed by scouts and coaches. College coaches do not have a huge budget for travelling to see games so while its unlikely that you will get spotted at high school, the results from your freshman season will help you to figure out which college level to target. Carry out research into the various programs that are available and decide which ones best suit your skill set. If you played varsity or are on a nationally ranked team, you should have a good idea of whether you are D1 material by the end of your freshman season, but hopefully you will have started thinking about the recruitment process a long time before this. Starting early will avoid any possibility of falling through the cracks because you didnt get yourself noticed in time.
Find out which camps or showcases your preferred coaches intend on attending, sign up and let them know to watch out for you. Camps are a great way for coaches to gauge what level you can play at and what your strongest abilities are. Look at signing up to summer teams to continue your practice when school ends and make sure you understand the NCAA rules about contact with coaches and ACT/SAT test score requirements.
Tips On College Baseball Recruitment From College Coaches
We asked a few of our Nike Baseball Camp Directors, who are a collection of College Coaches and Major League Scouts, what their advice is for athletes who are starting to navigate their way through the recruitment process and how to pick the right college.Here are 5 tips for college baseball recruitment.
Harry Oringer, the Assistant Coach at Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts says, Find the school that is the right overall fit. Academics, facilities, location, population size, sense of community, and food quality must be considered. Not just athletics. There are a lot of factors in choosing the right college for YOU, its important to look at every aspect of the school and find the one that checks a lot, if not all of your boxes.
CJ Perry, Head Coach at Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington says, Know your strengths and weaknesses as a player. Actively research and ask questions of college coaches. Watch many different levels of college baseball to see where your talent fits best. Coach Perry is emphasizing the importance of finding a good fit for your game, do your research, ask questions, watch games, and find the school, conference, and division that you believe you can make an impact on.
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Honestly Assess Your Skills
Part of making your own recruiting pitch is to take an honest assessment of your baseball abilities and physical attributes to determine where youll fit in best. If youre not sure, ask your coach about where you stand now, and where you might be in a year or two. High school phenoms are discovered off the beaten path all the time, but if you want to be recruited by a certain school, youll likely need the ability and the physical attributes that program looks for. Dont be discouraged if you dont fit at a particular school and, instead, focus your efforts on earning a spot on a team where you do fit.
Attend Camps And Clinics
Attending baseball camps and clinics can help you as a baseball recruit in two ways. First, they can help you better develop your skills or improve your technique, as a hitter, pitcher, or fielder. And secondly, baseball camps and clinics are great places to raise your recruiting profile. Coaches can see what you have to offer and you get the time to get to know the coaches and players who run the camp. And, if a camp or clinic is being held by a school thats on your target list, you can also take the opportunity to check out the athletic facilities, tour the campus, and get a feel for the local community.
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Recruiting Tip: How To Get Noticed By College Coaches
By Fred Bastie, Playced.comMay 28, 2018 8:00 am
By Fred Bastie, Playced.com | May 28, 2018 8:00 am ET
The USA TODAY High School Sports Recruiting Tips are provided by our recruiting partner, Playced.com.
At Playced, the No. 1 question weve been asked so far this year is: How can I get noticed by college coaches?
Heres the reality: There are nearly 2,000,000 high school athletes every year looking for an athletic scholarship. For that reason, unless youre a five-star athlete in your sport, you wont stand out in a crowd that large. If you havent been noticed yet, you have to do something about it. College coaches arent going find you from a box score, an online profile, or from a headline in your school paper. College recruiting doesnt work that way for 98 percent of high school athletes. The college intramural fields are full of athletes that could have played in college, but they didnt do anything about it.
An effective recruiting game plan to get noticed needs to be strategic, realistic and organized. First, identify appropriate colleges to target based on your athletic and academic abilities. Then, contact the coaches at those schools via email, Twitter or even a phone call. Finally, get your current coach involved to vouch for your abilities and character.
Thats how you get noticed by college coaches. If you follow that simple three-step game plan, youll not only get noticed, but youre liable to get recruited.