How To Get Recruited For College Baseball

Show Off Your Skills With Video

When youre at a game or taking practice reps, film yourself or have someone film you. Coaches dont need to see super fancy videos, just a short highlight reel of your best plays. If youre not a computer wizard, dont worry there are tons of free or cheap video editing software and apps on the market that can help you stand out. If you need some guidance, check out how California High Schooler Ethan Wang creates Rapsodo recruiting videos. You dont have to have data overlay in your video, but if you have Rapsodo or other baseball/softball data technology available, its another layer that will help you stand out to coaches.

The Rapsodo app makes this extremely easy by allowing you to take videos on your iPad that will automatically come with data overlaid.

All Levels Can Be Good Or Bad

While most dont like to admit this.. but there are SEVERAL JuCo/D3/D2/NAIA schools that can beat D1s on any given day. There are also several D1 programs who would demolish other levels most days. Each level has a top level of schools that can compete with just about anybody. Each level also has a bottom level who would struggle vs the level below them.

Do not be turned away or sold on the level of baseball you are committing to play at. Yes, certain schools and levels get more benefits than others.

College World Series 2019

Do your research on program history, expected competition and opponent types, and the depth chart.

Key questions I would ask :

• How many commitments at your position do they have?

• How many returners at your position?

• How do they develop players?

• How many players have been drafted or played professionally after?

• What separates them from other schools?

• What academic help do they provide to players?

• What is their graduation rate? Do players transfer out often? Why?

Also, talk to the players. They know the ins/outs of how program truly operates. Do they like it? If so, why? Get a read on what they say and what specifics about the program they like!

Need more time to develop? Junior college is probably your best route. Again, there are different levels of JuCo, but the best JuCos can give you a great opportunity to get to a better school than what you had interest from in HS.

Getting Your Cuts In College Takes More Than Extra Bp

One of the tenets of Boston Red Sox immortal Ted Williams hitting approach was Get a good pitch to hit. And youve likely heard coaches tell you to, Wait for your pitch. Thats great advice at the plate, but when you step up to the plate for your baseball recruiting, you cant wait for your pitch. In fact, if you want to get recruited to play baseball in college, youre the one that essentially needs to do the pitching. Heres how:

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Jaden Rashada Picks Miami Over Ole Miss Others

On Saturday, the Rebels picked up an essential 10-3 victory over the Sooners to take Game 1. Dougherty pitched five quality innings, allowing two runs off three hits while striking out six. Veterans such as Tim Elko and Justin Bench each homered while the Rebels recorded 16 total hits.

Im just so proud of them I dont know what to do, Manning said. I mean this is a great story. Its somethings that been fun for me the last week. Ive been hearing from my old baseball teammates. John Shaw, the second baseman, sent me a picture of when we were there.

“Proud of Mike Bianco. I mean, they were one of the last teams in . And here they are, two wins away from winning the national championship. Oklahomas good though, so its going to be a good series.

As for the Manning family and its future in football, Arch Manning isn’t expected to change his mind on going to a different school. For the Rebels, the hope would be that Marshall Manning, Peyton’s oldest son, could considered following the footsteps of his grandfather.

Marshall Manning is here at camp, Archie Manning said of his 11-year-old grandson. This is about his third for fourth year at the camp. Marshalls a good little athlete. Hes a good athlete. He plays flag football now.

If all else fails, Eli’s son, Charlie Manning, might be indoctrinated into the Ole Miss tradition. Of course, that will take time since the three-year-old still is learning how to read books instead of defensive formations.

Choose The Right Camp Tournament Or Showcase For You

As we mentioned earlier, college coaches primarily use showcase camps and travel team tournaments to evaluate the recruits theyve identified. It is important that student-athletes put themselves in front of coaches in game and showcase situations. It is a great way for them to gain experience, improve their skills and update their stats.

Families are presented with many camp and tournament options, but which event is the best platform to demonstrate their talents and skills? Should student-athletes prioritize attending a national showcase in hopes of gaining exposure or attend the camp of a college program in which they are interested? How much money should families be prepared to spend on camps or showcases? This section breaks down the differences between each platform to help families make an informed decision and give their student-athlete the best opportunity to get evaluated by a college coach.

Find the right baseball recruiting event.

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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.

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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Recruiting Guidelines By Position What College Coaches Look For

Catcher, Pitcher, Short Stop, 2nd Base, Center Field are usually occupied by the teams best athletes. When recruiters and scouts come to a game they usually look up the center of the field unless they come to see a specific player who may be on the corners.

Recruiting is not necessarily about game performance. Many will just watch the pregame warm up where they are guaranteed to see the player make a play. He watches the fluidity, the softness of the hands, the footwork, velocity which the player throws and his accuracy. If a coach want to see a whole game they will be looking for ATTITUDE and HUSTLE that leads by example and be motivated to play at his ability level.

Regardless of position, batting skills will always help after all it is the number of runs that wins the game.

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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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?

See how to create and share a winning skills video.

This Information Is Collected From Many Neutral Sources And Is Very Comprehensive Players Considering College Baseball Should Understand Everything About It Before Pursuing It

College Baseball Recruiting Info & Scholarship Rules/Physical & Academic Requirements

Review all Criteria/Rules at NCAA.org

NCAA.com contains college athletic teams by division.

NJCAA.org Junior college website

NJCAAregion3.org DIII NY Junior College league/divisions

College Baseball Matrix All these factors have to be considered/understood

There are 1654 Colleges that offer Varsity baseball

Many large 4yr Colleges offer Club level baseball

FIRST: Grades get you into the school not baseball!

You must be accepted before you can even play even if recruited hard.

Only 12% of all High School Varsity baseball players will play college baseball.

When a player feels mature and strong enough, he should make a skills video, post it to YouTube, and forward a link in tailored interest emails to college coaches . Then attend reputible showcase events that have college coaches present and college prospect camps at the colleges you are interested in. Players need to have a narrow list of colleges of interest to focus on dont just attend everything and mass mail and hope for the best. Communicate as best you can to get a coachs attention-and include links to your online skills video and info. Ask them if they will be at certain events and go where they will be. Dont send coaches video cds.

College coaches focus on SIZE, FOOT SPEED, THROWING VELOCITY, BAT SPEED, and BALL EXIT SPEED Skill and trave/HS stats are secondary to these.

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Keep All Social Media Platforms Professional

It is easy for some student-athletes to take social media for granted and not give a thought to what they post. But scholarship offers have been revoked for social media offenses, such as inappropriate photos, offensive language and questionable re-tweets or shared posts. In extreme cases, so have offers to attend a college or university. Recruits shouldnt let a tweet undo all the hard work theyve done. Athletes must always keep in mind that coaches are checking Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts to gauge whether a recruit will be a good representative for their team and the school.

Read more about managing the recruiting process.

Understanding The Different Divisions

Now that you have a list of colleges you are interested in, its time to understand the different college divisions you can play in.

NCAA

The NCAA is composed of most of the well-known colleges you are probably familiar with. It is divided into 3 divisions, each with slightly different commitments, these include:

• Division 1, is the top division and most competitive league to play NCAA baseball in college. This is for athletes who are dedicated, hardworking high school baseball players who are ready to devote their time and energy to playing college baseball. Playing Division 1 baseball you get to compete against some of the best college baseball players.

• Division 2 is the next division to play NCAA baseball in college. This division is still competitive and you have more time off to balance your academics with baseball. If you’re an athlete who wants to compete at a high level and have some extra time for your academics and other hobbies, Division 2 could be right for you.

• Division 3 is the lowest division to play NCAA baseball in college. If you are looking to continue your high school baseball career into college and have time for other opportunities outside of baseball this could be the right fit. By playing Division 3 baseball you get the chance to pursue more of your interests outside of athletics in addition to getting to play college baseball.

NAIA

NJCAA

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Get A Rapsodo Certified Assessment

Just like the ACT/SAT is the standardized test colleges look at to determine a students academic capabilities, RapScore is the standardized measurement baseball and softball coaches use to determine the hitting and pitching skill levels of prospective players. When you purchase a Rapsodo Certified Assessment at a participating baseball or softball tournament, you not only get your RapScore, but a breakdown of your strengths and weaknesses and where you rank at different college levels. Many universities, including those in the Power Five conferences, take RapScores into account when assessing recruits. If you want to know how to get coaches to notice you, getting your RapScore featured on the Rapsodo National Player Database is a great start.

How Do You Get Scouted For College Baseball

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College Baseball Recruiting Rules And Timelines

Players and parents often struggle with the college baseball recruiting process because they are uninformed about the fairly complex components that go into it. Thats why the most logical place to start is to cover the recruiting rules that NCAA institutions are governed by. By understanding these guidelines, players can ensure a smoother college baseball recruiting journey.

An important piece of the rule book is the NCAA recruiting calendar, which establishes recruiting timelines. The calendar essentially determines when the recruiting activities can occur, the parties that can be involved, and the type of activities that can be conducted. The NCAA contains a variety of schools with varying athletic budgets and recruiting resources. To level the playing field from a recruiting standpoint, the NCAA holds baseball programs to these timelines.

Coaches are limited to certain times of the year where they can have in person contact with prospective college baseball players. There are also periods where coaches can meet in person, but only if it occurs on the university campus. Obviously, these timelines impact a players efforts to get recruited. With this information, players and families can better plan their contact with coaches and a schedule for attending camps and other events. To learn more about contact periods, quiet periods, dead periods and when they occur throughout the year, check out our NCAA baseball recruiting calendar post.

What You Need To Know Before You Go To Bat In The Recruiting Process

Thanks to media attention, most everyone is familiar with how the college football or basketball recruiting process works. But if you want to pursue a college baseball scholarship, youll face a completely different process with several different variables at play. So, to help you better manage the recruiting process, be sure to familiarize yourself with these five key things to know about baseball scholarships:

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It Takes More Than Just Talent To Be Recruited To Play College Baseball

Now heres something else to think about and it gets back to the original question of what big scholarship did your son get. Those players in the game who go on to play in college arent necessarily the best players on the field.

The ones who are playing in college fall into two groups. The first group consists of those who were considered top 100 blue chip prospects and have been on the coaches radars since ninth grade. Nice group to be in but most players are in the second group. This group is made up of players who figured out how to get themselves recruited, sometimes without a single coach showing up to watch them at a game.

Its not just about talent.

In fact, its a lot like baseball itself. Everyone knows a few players who get away without having to work hard just because they are so talented . And then there are the players who get playing time because they always hustle even when other players on the team are just going through the motions.

If your son wants to play at the college level, he cant just go through the motions waiting for someone to notice.