The Process: The Player's Perspective Part II (High School/ Travel Ball & the numbers)

       Baseball for the perspective college player is much different than when their parents were playing the game. The serious player between the ages of 14-18 in Florida plays 3 major season; Spring, Summer, and Fall and they then participate in college attended camps during the winter. Players are constantly trying to get seen by college coaches in hopes of their favorite school seeing them play and offering them a scholarship. They attend big tournaments, throughout the summer and fall and play for their high school in the spring. They get plugged into different databases and ranked by national organizations like Perfect Game and Prospect Wire. Players are constantly playing games and doing workouts all for one purpose....receive a college scholarship. This goal is very much an achievable goal for many players, but it is not going to happen for everyone. The numbers say it all; there are roughly 475,000 high school baseball players in America, there are only 54,376 college baseball roster spots (that includes NJCAA, & NAIA)

      For the high school player those odds are not in their favor, in the end only 11.2% of high school players play college baseball. Only 1.5% of high school players play division 1 baseball, and just 0.34% of high school baseball players will play major division 1 baseball (power conferences: ACC, SEC, BIG 10, BIG 12, PAC 12). So to say the least the dream that most players have of playing for a big time division 1 school is very, very difficult to reach. College teams have a roster limit of 25 players each year, there may be more players on campus that are "on the team" but they can not dress out for games. Most of those players are red shirted or injured. College baseball is an incredibly amazing experience, but how do you get there?

     Most players first mistake when it comes to the recruiting process is not realizing where they have the best opportunity to play. The average high school player wants to play at a big time division 1 school and tries their best to get in front of those coaches. The average high school baseball player will not receive a scholarship from the University of Miami or a like school. The 25 players on those rosters are some of the best players in the country, so as an average player it has little benefit to attend those camps from the recruiting perspective. They can benefit from learning from those coaches, but as far as receiving a scholarship from them it doesn't make a lot of sense. Having an idea where you as a player fall on the college baseball totem poll can drastically help your recruiting process.

     While many of these travel teams are quality organizations, something that high school players need to understand is that playing for a certain organization does not guarantee you a scholarship. In the end there are only so many roster spots on college teams. Certain organizations do a better job than others putting you in front of the right coaches and are more proactive showing the players the right schools, but even the best program in the world is unlikely going to have everyone sign, every year. An example a couple quality organizations that I am familiar with, because I have worked alongside their coaches to give players the opportunity to play at the next level, are the Florida Burn and Elite Athlete Academy. Elite Athlete Academy is a fairly new organization, but the coaches have years of experience finding places for players to play at the next level. The Florida Burn have come on very strong since starting just a few years ago. They have one of the top teams in the country and do a very good job of  finding the right fit for their players. They not only place players at the big time division 1 schools, but find schools for the players who are not in that 0.34%.

Photo Credit: www.eliteathletebaseballacademy.com

www.floridaburn.com

    All of this being said, if I could go back and be a high school player again knowing what I know now about the recruiting process here is how I would approach it. I would go play for an organization like the Florida Burn or Elite Athlete Academy, while playing for them I would ask the staff to give me an assessment of my play and ask them what kind of schools I should look at. I would do a little more to improve my grades (not that they were bad, but you can always do a little more), and I would attend camps that have small numbers at schools that I can play at. I would explore options outside of Florida and most importantly I would spend more time in the weight room trying to get bigger and stronger. Based on this I believe that I could have received a partial scholarship to a very good division 2 or a small division 1 in the south. I was not a University of Florida type player in high school and it did me no good to attend their camp. Sometimes you need to be told what you need to hear, not necessarily what you want to hear. 

I hope this information helps you in your pursuit of college baseball. Please leave some comments or questions and I will be happy to answer them. Also check out what Robinson Athletics does to help high school baseball players make it to the next level.