Get Exposed Early

There are many parents out there that are very concerned about the current recruiting situation for high school baseball players. Well, it goes both ways folks. The coaches have as much concern as you do. Many coaches at major colleges are pressuring more and more players to sign early and are telling players that if they don’t sign now that they risk losing their scholarship offer.

Is this right? It doesn’t matter…it’s the state of collegiate sports today. It doesn’t matter if it’s baseball, track, basketball or football, coaches want their roster spots filled early, so that they can concentrate on the upcoming season at hand. They have a well paying job to justify and the sooner they can reel in a top recruit, the better the chance they will be able to build on that for other pitchers, and position players of alike ability.

Some people think that it’s the kids that get hurt. We are not sure that is true. The day you as parents, first signed your sons up with a travel team, showcase, camps etc, you knew what you were getting into. Parents of travel players should be used to this routine. Travel ball pits the best against the best and that’s exactly the situation collegiate coaches want to see your sons in. and…the more they see good players in that competitive situation, the easier it is for them to make a decision of whether or not a player is worth the risk.

Once college recruiters are completely convinced that the talent matches their needs, they will go after that player with a vengeance…That’s why we think it’s so important to get your son exposed early. The earlier you go through the rounds of showcases, camps and the plethora of showcase tournaments….believe us….you will WANT to get it over with and sign early.

Seriously, it is so important for you to get your son ready and exposed as early as after their freshman and no later than after their sophomore year. You DO NOT want to wait until after your son’s junior year to start the recruiting process. You will be very disappointed if you wait that long.

Early exposure makes the inevitable decision your son will make seem like it is wasn’t a quick decision. He also won’t have any feelings of dissonance later on if you start early enough and weigh your choices or at least your desired choices carefully. It’s so important to really do your homework as early as the summer after your freshman year because there is no turning back anymore. The NCAA has put a penalty on transfers. Yes, a player can still transfer, but not without sitting out a full year.

There are certainly other issues and irrational rules that the NCAA has imposed lately. The later start date and new roster limits the most controversial. But, none of us are going to change those rules at least in the upcoming year…so we as parents have to learn how to work around them.

Our advise…just have your sons keep playing a lot of highly competitive ball…get him exposed…make a list of realistic prospective colleges…go visit those colleges…then… have your son work hard…very hard…because parents…the bottom line is that playing college ball is extremely difficult and coaches are only going to want players that have that hard work ethic and the intense desire to play the game.