My son did commit to Maryland on Wednesday. His goal was go to a good school that plays in a good baseball conference, down south. He wanted the total school experience with football and basketball games etc.
We visited Maryland this week and he loved the school, the atmosphere and the new coach. Maryland is making a major investment in its baseball program and Mike has a good chance to play as a freshman. As the coach told us, his scholarship reflects what they think of him and they expect him to be an early contributor to thier turnaround.
After weighing his options (offers) he felt Maryland was the best fit for him - playing in the ACC against NC, Virginia, Clemson, Miami etc. certainly was a big factor.
Baseball God I don't have a clue who Will O is - little testy aren't you! I would agree with you that showcases are not the way to go. He only went to one, last year as a soph, and I agree its a cattle call - I am sure some there are good ones out there but its not the route my son went.
By far, the most exposure my son received was from the Area Code tryout he went to in Trenton, NJ. My best guess is there were 100 scouts, combo of pro and colleges. You have to be invitied by a pro scout to attend these tryoutss. That is where the Maryland coach saw him and then he went to every one of his games at WWB in East Cobb.
The Georgia tournament was loaded with college scouts so if you can get on a team that is going to this event (end of junior year is the best) latch on to them.
Lefty Nasty, my son plays at Portsmouth High School. Coach Scoop, my son received three offical offers after July 1. The first was from Maryland, the second was from Winthrop (Big South Conference) and Northeastern. He also received an offer from a D 2 school to play baseball and football.
This week he received a call from Penn State and UConn to offer him if he was still open - he told them he had committed to Maryland and that was the end of those conversations. Also this week two other D 1 schools emailed for campus meetings (we assume for offers) but he emailed back that he was going to Maryland.
The offer he received from Maryland was very good for a corner position player expecially from an ACC school the other offers were for more money including one full ride (D2 school), one everything except books and one for tuition only which was $37K per year.
He took the Maryland offer because it was the best fit for him.
Baseball god-it is obvious to a majority of us that you are new to this. Just because you don't sign your name doesn't mean you have a right to be a jackass to people. Though I do have similar feelings on the big showcases...
Disclaimer: I am the Varsity baseball coach in Londonderry and I have no affiliation with Portsmouth or their players/parents:
NH Monty- I want to congratulate you on Mike's selection. You should be very proud! I hope to set up a scrimmage next season to watch Mike up close. My lefty Jake Finnegan is being talked to by a couple ACC schools- maybe they will cross paths!
Posts: 83 | Location: Londonderry | Registered: March 08, 2008
Congrats to your son Monty. It is good to hear that he chose a school that best fits him. I know some kids who went to schools for certain sports, not just baseball, because they received more money, but in the end it wasn't the right fit. Most of them transferred, and those who didn't transfer haven't enjoyed their time at school.
Posts: 3 | Location: U.S. | Registered: June 13, 2009
Baseball God - If you have nothing good to add to the forum maybe you should go find some where else to post!!
NHMONTY - That is great news about Mike! any time a NH kid can get a scholarship with a school in a big conference like the ACC it is a plus for NH Baseball! It can only help to open more coaches eyes as to the talent of NH players.
In my opinion Mike's case is a perfect blend of Local baseball with a splash of AAU. I may be wrong but I believe Mike got noticed from his High School play and his Legion team that made Regionals last season. This got him an invite to TOS tournament and the tryout for the Area code games. His playing 17U AAU down in East Cobb at the WWBA allowed the interested coaches a chance to see him play in person and they were able to seal the deal. AAU and local ball can co-exist to some extent. Hopefully I have my facts somewhat right..lol
Ironwill thank you for the nice words. Talk with Hop about the scrimmage, that would be fun.
redsox8191 I think your summary is dead on, his exposure did start at PHS because other colleges came to see Ben Hart, Tim Welch and Mike Fransoso. Being in the championship game two years in a row didn't hurt. I will say, there were not many coaches at our regualar season games.
Portsmouth being in the state and regional Legion championships was huge and did start the flow of college emails and letters.
Playing in TOS, Area Code tryout and East Cobb gave him exposure to a boat load of colleges. He was lucky to get invited to TOS and Area Code. The TOS invitiation came from three college coach recommendations. I don't know how the Yankees saw him leading to the Area Code tryout.
The easiest way for most of our NH players to get exposure is the WWB tournament in East Cobb. I said before, find a travel team that goes there. Here a few of the schools I saw at my kid's team games. Miami, Kentucky, Clemson, Duke, Penn State, LSU, North Carolina, Florida State, Maryland, Notre Dame, Michigan, Coastal Carolina, Virgina, Virgina Tech and every major NE school such as BC, UConn etc. That's just a few of the big guys, there were tons of tier 2 D 1 schools and high profile D 2 schools.
I know the USA Mavericks program out of Portsmouth/Newington have gone but I am not familiar with other programs.
Go to this link http://www.neaau.org/ for New England AAU baseball to look for teams also Google Ne travel baseball teams, not all are AAU teams.
I would also go to Perfect Game website and look up the tournaments that you are interested in (age specific). See the teams that played this year, they list them along with the state they are from.
My son played for Northeast Rays out of MA. This is a new program. He had fun playing for them and the coach was great and he did an excellent job working the college coaches for his players. http://www.ne-baseball.com/
If you sign early for a D1 school do they say anything that would interfere with your senior year sports plans? For example no football,s****r, basketball, wrestling, etc?
Posts: 349 | Location: New England | Registered: July 24, 2008
Easy there, Baseball God. NH Monty & I do NOT know each other. Never met the man, but do understand he is a nice guy. Obviously, he has posted much useful information on this blog to assist players' parents who may potentially be playing aau and college.
AAU is similar to high school & college. Few are great, some are excellent, many are average and some are poor. All depends on a lot of factors.
The key to developing the kids is to PLAY a lot for many years and have good coaching. The kids need to be on a team where they play every day. If you are on the best aau team in New England and sit on the bench, you probably want to move down a level.
The kids need to play and work at it on their own as well.
Showcases are not a waste of money. At a minimum, the players 60 yard dash time & arm strength are certified. These 2 numbers are huge to college recruiters and some aau teams. Many teams start with the players who meet their parameters, then start digging deeper to see if the kid can play (baseball acumen). The pool of players in the country is huge and the best teams use this to whittle it down. Not always fool proof, but it works, esp. considering recruiters time constraints.
The good news is if the kids work hard, play a lot, get good coaching and are athletic, there are plenty of places to play and a lot of scouts out there. Someone will find them. Also, you are correct, it doesn't hurt to call them either.
I'll say this, for the small # of kids in NH, there are a lot of options and good coaches & fields. NH kids are fortunate.
Posts: 41 | Location: NH | Registered: June 01, 2009
In my son's case the Maryland coach told him to play football. The coach knows he loves playing and its his senior year - he has played all three years at PHS and he wants to finish his fourth.
The coach told us he wants to build a "smash you in the mouth" attitude (competitive not literal) for his team at Maryland. He thinks football is great for conditioning and the mental and physical challenges that the game presents. To tell you where he is coming from, in Georgia, he asked my sons Coach, "Would Mike punch someone in the face if they were going after his teammate?" Lucky for my son the coach could tell him about Mike getting kicked out of the Class I quarter finals in basketball for going after an opposing player who gave his teammate a cheap shot at the end of the game - good now but not at the time as he was disqualified for the semi final game at UNH.
He told him if he didn't play football this fall he would regret it the rest of his life. This went a long way with my son.
He did say he might want to consider not playing basketball and start on the Maryland strength and conditioning program which will be sent to him after he signs his National Letter of Intent which is sometime in November.
