Back on board looking for a little advice. My son is on a JC team in Arizona. His coach advises he is trying to place him on a summer team but we still haven't heard anything. After not seeing any action my son emailed all of the summer leagues and/or teams where he could find email or application information. At this point we are a bit frustrated because we're not sure of the process and how things may go from here. Is it possible he could still get a position this year or does it get to be pretty tough at this point?

My son talked with his teammates recently and only two have summer placements, neither of which were arranged through the coach. A little disappointing but maybe there's a plan behind it all somehow...

Any information, ideas or suggestions would be much appreciated.

Unfortunately some coaches work harder than others in summer placements. Patience is necessary in this situation, as all rosters are currently full. Get on the list of as many teams as possible. When grades come out, on average each team will lose at least one player (probably more now with the change in D I fall eligibility requirements) and need to replace them in the next month.

I don't know which leagues you are looking at, but expand your focus. I realize everyone wants to play in the Cape, Northwoods or Alaska. Make sure you are in contact with teams in the Great Lakes, NYCBL, Southern Collegiate, Jayhawk, NECBL and the league in the upper northwest (forgive me for forgetting the name). Any scout's recommendation's that you could have would help gain some credibility with organizations who may not know you as a player, especially if you coach is not very active in helping you out.

As the popularity of"summer league baseball" increases, so does the opportunity to play summer ball. There are litteraly more than 25 leagues in operation now. Some are well oiled machines (Cape, Northwoods), some are new, and some are struggling (Texas Collegiate League...lol).

Since your son is in school in Arizona, you may want to look into the many different independent, semi-pro teams in California, Nevada and Arizona.

Also, don't forget that many players will end up not reporting, so he may be able to find a temp spot on a team.

The Alaskan League is not as tough as it used to be-The Northwoods has some good crowds in some places. I would look into the Jayhawk because they take a lot of Arizona players!

Thanks all for the quick feedback. My boys desire is simply to get the chance to play this summer so I don't think he's too concerned about where - of course I'm sure he's not thinking of the potential cost so the where may have some impact on my thinking and level of support lol.

I think what he has found thus far is that as "Coach Ope" said, all the teams are full. Is there a way to be more proactive about this than just sending out the emails? My experience in job hunting is that persistance with phone calls and regular contact pays off. I just don't know if that transfers over to this issue or not.

316sports: I've checked out your blog - nice work, as far as independent semi-pro teams go do we run into issues with the NCAA with those? Is there a list of those teams out there somewhere?

Thanks again for the information and feedback.

Another approach is to use a friendly scout for help at this point. My son needed a team at the last minute and a scout made a few calls on his behalf and found him a team to play on.

As far as NCAA rules and independent teams, I am not sure how it works. When I played, my coach set all this up for us.

I don't have a "master list" of all the independent teams, but go to this teams site http://www.saclegends.com/, then click on the links area. They have a pretty good list of the teams in your neck of the woods

Very similar to a job search, persistence could well pay off here. I would recommend utilizing e-mail, as coaches are currently busy with their school seasons and will likely be irritated by constant phone calls. However, sending an e-mail just reiterating that he is serious about wanting to play if a roster spot becomes available could push him to the top of the list when a roster spot opens up.

As for an independent team, if you are referring to a professional, independent team then no, a college player would not be able to play in one of those leagues and maintain his amateur status.