I've now sent e-mails to five schools and I haven't received and word back from any of them. I've called them all as well. Nothing. Am I doing something wrong? HELP!

You may or may not be doing anything wrong, they just may not be interested.

Are you trying to contact too good of a program? Do you really have the skills needed for them?

Have you gone to Sonoma and checked them out? They are D2 but also have a very strong team. SFState may be a possiblity.

Have you contacted Santa Rosa, Marin, or Napa JC's?

Hornets20,
Dont get frustrated. Its part of the process.
Keep contacting them. Mail, email, phone calls.
Have you sent them your Spring schedule?
Most colleges are in full force with their own season right now. Might take them a while to get in touch with you.
Patience is needed,..but so is perseverance.
Keep at it.

One thing to determine is if the schools you are contacting have a need for a player of your type. If you are looking at D1, you might find that many of the bigger name programs have filled the majority of their spots during the early signing period.

Most schools announce their incoming class, by understanding the number of players that might be leaving (graduation, draft) and then looking at the early signs, you should be able to get an idea if there is room for additional players to sign in the spring.

If you player has legitimate college level skills, don't give up! I am sure it’s easy to get wrapped up in hearing about those who signed early and think that the train has left without your player. However it seems to me that the majority of the college baseball spots for seniors are secured after the high school season starts. I read on another website that they had 1,100 early signings listed after the November signing period. While I am sure the are more that have not been reported, when you consider there are typically about 8,000 incoming freshmen that play college baseball you can see there are still thousands of spots still out there.

Good luck!

quote:

Originally posted by jerseydad:

and then looking at the early signs, you should be able to get an idea if there is room for additional players to sign in the spring.

Come to Georgia. I think UGA might have 1 more spot!

j/k

This is a very busy time for them. Schedules start soon. I would keep contacting them but not too often. Fill out their online questionaire and some brief reminders until they say yes or no. 5 is too few. I would contact 25-30 atleast at different levels.

Right now I don't believe the coaches are allowed to return your calls. If you catch them in their office they can talk to you but they can't call you back. I don't know what the story would be on the e-mails, however at the moment all the coaches are very busy getting ready for the season.

quote:

Originally posted by CADad:
I don't know what the story would be on the e-mails

Coaches can initiate and respond to postal and e-mails anytime and as much as they want.

Can't they also make phone calls to Seniors right now?
1 per week?

Want to hear from the "old timers/experienced" ones on this question.......and I am confident there is no one answer.....shortstopmom mentioned patience and perserverence.......

How many times do you think a player should call/email a program before coming to a conclusion that they are just not interested?

1...2....5....10 times???? I understand that right now coaches are getting ready for their season and answering this question now vs. the summer could be different.....but I have an unsigned 08 and we are trying to figure that balance between patience and perserverence.......
THANKS!!

Hornet20

I hate to echo Homerun04, but it may be who you have approached.

I did some quick research on you and your school. The reality is that there are maybe 3-5 kids that will come out of your league that will end up playing D1 ball. It is also likely that some of them will do it via a JC.

We are not to far from you, my son sent out letter to what I will call the west coast 25. He received maybe 6 letters with questionaires and camp invitations. He was never really contacted by any of these programs.

It wasn't until we redefined what he wanted and where he would find an interest from a coach that he made any progress.

You have to be aware that in your part of the country the numbers work against you. There are very few programs that recruit HS kids. Most of the state universities focus on JC transfers. Even counting those that do recruit HS kids there are no more than 25-30 openings each year. So you have to ask are you one of those 25-30 kids?

I am convinced that there is a place that you can go to play baseball. However, it is not likely to be at a school that you are currently familiar with and even less likely to be in your "backyard."

Good luck.

hornets

Where have you beenseen in terms of showcases?

What travel team did you play for in the summer and fall?

What schools have contacted you ?


You may well have to lower your sights---it happens sometimes

I think the thing you are doing wrong is not contacting enough schools.

My son sent about 60 personalized letters, hand addressed, with a profile to college coaches two weeks ago. So far he has received some kind of reply from about 10 to 12 of them - roughly 1/5.

If you only sent 5 e-mails and received no responses this is not surprising. You need to target a larger population of schools. If you really want to play baseball in college you might have to look outside of your area.

Also, the problem could be what you sent to the coaches. Did you send a well thought out articulate e-mail? Did you include a profile with all of your vital information and baseball and academic accomplishments? The coaches need some reason to reply to your e-mail.

Here is the list and the order in which my son and I handled his recruiting.

When we started. he had just had TJ surgery and it didn't look promising. We sent out about 90 letters in 4 states. He received 78 letters/ forms of contact from 11 states and many offers.

If we succeeded at this; you can too. Best of luck and work hard.Recruiting to play in college is a full time job.

BTW- you can do as much or as little of this you like- this is just MO on this subject.


19 Steps to College Recruiting:

1.Compile a database (list)- all the colleges you want to target

2.Build a cover letter, athletic profile and questionnaire.

3.Establish a free e-mail account that will be used for college recruiting only.

4.Create a free photo album so college coaches can see what your athlete looks like playing their sport or sports. Provide links to web pages or player videos.

5.Some schools will want a copy of the ACT scores and or the current HS transcript- have that handy.

6.Some colleges will require the HS coach to fill out part of the questionnaire- your part must be completed, and then passed on to them in a stamped envelope.

7.D-I, D-II, NAIA, or D-III are all excellent. Be aware of the athletes “true” ability and don’t over-shoot their limitations. Like looking to buy a house you cannot afford.

8.I look at hsbaseballweb.com; sections on recruiting. Very informative with a lot of good discussion.

9.Don’t forget to register with the NCAA Clearinghouse. All the info you need is on-line. Print off the recruiting dates and guidelines for your sport.

10.Mail baseball cover letter, prospect sheet, and questionnaire with a current schedule. Hand-write the envelopes; no labels.

11.Updates need to be mailed once each semester. The coaches are very busy and this provides another way to update them and also reminds them of your name. A copy of their current sports schedule can be mailed with this update; it is important to provide info at the bottom of the schedule so the coaches will remember who the student is on the team. (Name, position, high school name, coaches name and phone number- in case game is called to weather, or will the pitcher throw today kind of questions.)

12.Print out the database to use as a check sheet.

13.Keep a list of colleges that have shown interest- in the order they were received.

14.Always reply, respond and call back all colleges and coaches- they talk to each other!

15.The questionnaires and phone calls will start within a week or two after sending out the info. BE PREPARED. It will now become a daily JOB everyday to keep up with the e-mails and paper work. (assuming it is the summer after their junior year)

16.Make documents with the following content: Baseball Letters of Interest (all), Baseball Letters of interest by State/Division (Sorted-easier for info in a glance) List of Coaches that have e-mailed/ called. We also made a column on the database to put in how much annual in-state and out-of-state tuition is (can you afford it?).

17.Used: “Recruit Me” Book, http://www.recruit-me.com/Recruit-Me-Tools.html

18.Subscribed to: “College Coaches On-line” for info about every college program in the nation. www.collegecoachesonline.com

19.Good Luck. I am sure there are many, many other approaches; this is what has worked for us, with excellent results.

You can certainly pick up the phone and call the coaches and make many, many campus visits. Comparison is vital. Attend showcases and be a part of a great summer team.

Since the November early sign period, I have only heard of 1-2 other kids in Virginia getting handshake deals done (to be confirmed by NLI's in the April signing period).

Is it the case that, if you didn't sign in November, a senior year player may have to wait for them to see you on the field for your HS team before you can expect a lot to happen? This seems to be what's going on, but I don't know for a fact if this is a common practice.

It just seems to me that those they were willing to offer without seeing them play in the spring again, got offered by November, and those that they weren't willing to offer without seeing them play in the spring again, may have to wait for that to occur.

I also know that a lot of programs are working "junior days" during this period, and that is more the focus of their recruiting in February.

Adding to that the imperative of them actually turning their attention to preparing for the season, it seems to me that a senior year player should not be panicking too much about not getting lots of attention right now. Whatever opportunities remain out there, are likely to heat up when you start playing games again in March.

MSgrits,
very good advice. This is just about exactly what we have done.Nice way of laying it all out so the young man and his parents can see what needs to be done and how much work it is to market your player esp. if he is not a top recruit as in my sons situation(even though i think they are really missing out). anyway very good post

Hornet 20:

I have answered your question twice now. I think it is time for you to get a reality check.

I looked up your team and performance last year. These assumptions are based upon your screen name, and hometown. You played at a good (not great) HS last year. As you acknowledged you played behind a very good player last year. According to a national stat bureau you went 2-6 with a 2b in 11 games last year. This is good, there is nothing wrong with it.

I also checked the rosters of 3 of the better travel teams in the area and did not see your name. I also checked the list of names at the largest local showcase and did not see your name. I hope that you had an opportunity to work hard last summer and to showcase your skills.

However, for a college coach, espcially one here in NorCal, to get excited and show real interst you had better be a real "player."

The numbers in northern California are tough. There are 16 four-year schools that play baseball. Several of which are top 50 national level teams. The number of recruited players is very small given the population of kids playing. It is only worse when you get to southern California given the number of players in the LA and San Diego area.

However with this said, I can guarantee you (provided you have good grades and test scores) that I can find you 5 schools that would love to have you on their team. However, they will likely be found in places like Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio (and several other locations).

If you really want to make baseball a part of your college plans, you need to open your eyes and heart to opportunities that may lie elsewhere.

All very good suggestions MSgrits, but you are forgetting the absolute most important thing. You have to send video footage of you. Make a video utilizing multiple angles, so that a coach can see what he needs to, every coach has subtle differences in what he looks for and without being thorough with the number of angles you send they may not be able to see what they need to.

If you haven't heard from a school in your database after about 2 weeks try to contact them again. Also, keep up to date with a school's schedule. If they are on the road for a weekend (as the season is starting here) basically consider it a lost week for you, they will not have time to concern themselves with recruiting when there is so much else to do.

You may still have time to make it to a preseason camp offered by a school. If it is a school actively recruiting you (has at least made a phone call) make every effort you can to go to their camp, give them an opportunity to see you again first hand. I can remember times when a player was on our radar, he came to camp and performed a little better than we expected and all of a sudden he was offered a scholarship on the spot.

Lastly, and I know I am reemphasizing many previous posts but it is just so true, contact as many schools as possible. Remember, it only takes one coach to like you to get to the next level, you only increase your chances by getting yourself in front of as many coaches as possible.

Coach Ope-

Thanks-

See #4. I feel still pics say alot; but video is important too.

We used youtube.

Thanks for all the help, everyone. To answer the question, the schools I've been attempting to contact are all D2 schools in California.