Myths Uncovered: Securing a Spot on a College Baseball Team
Does your son want to play college ball? Some players will easily find a college team to play for, while others will need to work extremely hard to play ball at the next level. Read the following list and check off each line that applies to your player to determine their desirability to college teams.
- Measures at least 6’2”
- Weighs in at 185 lbs.
- Runs the 60 yard dash in 6.6 seconds or less
- Hits with home run power and average
- Throws 90+ mph on a bad day
- Looks like a ball player
Did your player meet less than half of these qualifications? If that’s the case, he probably isn’t going be picked up by a college team without intentional and purposeful marketing. Unfortunately college coaches generally look for the obvious and miss many players who are capable of competing at and excelling at the collegiate level. TRPD’s College Recruitment Process helps high school players that might not meet some of those exceptional requirements. We’ve provided some tips to understand how to navigate marketing your ball player.
First, showcases are generally a waste of time! Do not plan on these being worth your money. If your player isn’t going to stand out above all the other players, a recruiter generally will not find your player at a showcase. Showcases are mostly used so that coaches can network with one another, and look for the type of players that all others are looking for. This means it will be hard for your son to truly stand out if they don’t meet most of the requirements on the above checklist. Let’s also not forget how much these showcase trips end up costing you. Travel, food, sign-up fees and hotels aren’t going to be covered by your player’s high school. You must spend your time and money wisely in this endeavor
Baseball camps hosted by a college can be enjoyable but you need to walk in with the right mindset. Go to the camps to have fun, pick up a tip or two, learn a bit more about the college, and interact with college players. Don’t think that your player will get picked up just because he went to the camp.
Remember, Division I colleges aren’t the only possibility for having a successful and enjoyable collegiate baseball career. Generally theses schools look for Junior College transfers and competition for those spots is brutal. The Division II and III teams as well as those in the NAIA or JUCO college level can be a better fit for your player and baseball is still played at an incredibly high level.
To learn more about what the TRPD College Scholarship Process can do for your player please contact Trent Reynolds at [email protected]. We would love to help place your player in a college that meets his academic, social, financial, and athletic needs.
