Baseball Recruiting: Do you need a recommendation?
During the recruiting process, a player questionnaire may be mailed to you
or can be found online at each school’s athletic website. These forms are
important but do not guarantee that you will be contacted. Keep in mind that
the average Division I university will receive approximately 25 of these per
week!
There will usually be an area for your high school coach’s recommendation
and/or a scout recommendation. Another method some players use is to
have their high school coach write a college coach, recommending a player.
Many college/university coaches do not put much weight into a high school
coach’s recommendation because it is usually vague positive information
about the player that does not say much about the player. However,
receiving a letter from a coach is usually a step up from the player or parent
sending the letter.
If the coaches recommendation does not explicitly suggest that they think
this player is a definite Division I candidate (lets say that’s the level you are
targeting) it is usually a red flag. If the high school coach is not confident
in the player ability to play at that level and sends in a recommendation such
as “hard worker, a lot of heart, gives his all, great student” many
college/university coaches I have been around would say “guess that means
he can’t play!” You see all of those things listed are great traits but without
mention of his athletic/playing ability it appears as if those qualities are all
the player has going for him, at least from the coaches recommendation.
Many high school coaches do not have the ability to accurately evaluate a
player as to his impact at the next level, and it will do more harm than good
to include a “suspicious recommendation.” This is not to say that a great
talent and ability recommendation will hold weight (unless the college coach
knows the high school coach and is familiar with his evaluations), but at
least it won’t raise a red flag.
I once received an evaluation from a high school coach and the coaches
comments were that this player could be a solid contributing Division II
college player. Our program was a DIVISION I University! Not only did I
feel insulted, but I disregarded the player’s information. Coaches are human
too (and have human quirks), but if the coach thought you were Division II
player, why pursue our Division I university? College coaches want to win,
and the reality of the situation is that coaches at the Division I level will
always want Division I caliber players. If the high school coach doubts
these abilities, surely I am not going to look into this player any further.
There are at least 30 more DVD’s or letters from players on the desk that
need review. The objective of the story is, receive an accurate assessment of
your abilities and target those schools.
Jason Alamo is a former college coach as six different college programs. He has written a free 18 page e-book report exposing the truth about college baseball recruiting and scholarships.
Get your free e-book report sent instantly to your email by visiting http://www.CollegeBaseballConfidential.com
Learn what current coaches are not allowed to tell you and increase your chances of earning a baseball scholarship. The free report is at http://www.CollegeBaseballConfidential.com
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