College recruiting and showcases

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Sep 3, 2018
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All 3 of my sons played D1 baseball and with all 3 of them it was their travel coaches/organizations and hitting and fielding coaches that were paramount in them getting their scholarships. Their HS coaches were pretty much worthless in that aspect. The showcases were alright but my oldest got in from going to the schools camps and building a relationship with that schools coaches. My younger sons were in an organization that loved to showcase and they went all over the country chasing showcases and titles.

Great grades (all 3 were over 4.0) and strong teat scores helped as well because schools were able to throw in academic help since baseball only gets about 30% of the athletic scholarships a program needs.
 
Jul 21, 2017
50
8
Parents need to understand that what works for one person may not work for the next one and vice versa and everyone’s journey is different.


Not sure if I quoted that right? But this is perfect! We live in a small town where our travel coach is taking girls- at a big expense to showcase tourneys to be killed. No college coach is watching us. Let’s change our focus a bit.

I know a lot of you are probably on big time teams and doing awesome, this is more for the little guys. Let’s just focus on being awesome right where we are at.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Nov 18, 2013
2,255
113
I’ve seen a couple references to looking over rosters and determining need at your DD’s position. Presumably a team loaded at her position means she needs to keep looking if she wants any meaningful innings as a freshman. We thought the same thing. DD’s school was loaded with pitchers, but she loved the school and her new pitching coach so she accepted she might have to wait for her time to come. Here’s what she’s experienced, and believe it or not it’s closer to the norm than you’d think.

DD is a HS 2015 graduate. She verballed in 2013 knowing ISU would have a senior, junior and sophomore all ahead of her. Then out of the blue ISU verbals another 2015 pitcher and I’m starting to freak out. DD didn’t care, she wanted to go there. After the 2014 season the senior pitcher quit and transferred. The following season the junior pitcher transfers. The very first batter of the 2016 season the sophomore pitcher takes one off the forehead and is essentially out for the season. If you’re looking for innings this would be a case of be careful what you wish for. Starting as a freshman with nobody to watch and learn from or save their butts is not an ideal situation. Particularly in a P5 conference.

It doesn’t end there. After the 2016 season the head coach and the pitching coach DD loved were all fired. After the 2017 season the new HC left so she had new coaches for 2018. Any planning where she might land on a depth chart went out the window before she signed her NLI. Go ahead and scout rosters and speculate all you want. Just don’t put much weight in it because things change VERY quickly in the college softball world.
 
Dec 2, 2013
3,410
113
Texas
MN Dad brings up the Coaching carousel in the College softball world. DD verballed fall of her Junior year and within 6 days that coach calls to let her know that he is sorry but he is moving to Kansas. New Coach comes in for the 2018 season, then gets lets go in the summer. New coach is there now. Before she has signed, she has had to develop a relationship with 3 different coaches through the process. DD has not wavered one bit as she committed to the school, not the coach.

With regards to positions in college, don't count on playing your favorite position unless you are a pitcher. DD former TB teammate always played 2nd base. Now she is playing 3rd base at her D2 school. I am sure most of you have seen that as well. If you hit well, you will play.
 

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