Should You Use an Athletic Recruiting Service?

Two vintage scales; one shows a clock on its tray, and the other displays stacked coins. Text at the bottom reads, "Should You Use an Athletic Recruiting Service?" This image prompts a thoughtful consideration of time and investment when deciding on an athletic recruiting service.

scales with time and money represent athletic recruiting serviceAs students and parents start to wade into the college athletic recruiting process, they’ll soon see all kinds of advertisements, websites, and offers from athletic recruiting services. All promise to help you with getting an athletic scholarship because, they’ll tell you, they have access to people and information that you don’t. And as the wading starts to feel like drowning as parents begin to realize how much college costs and how many colleges are actually out there, paying for a recruiting service doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.

Is it?

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51 Questions to Ask College Coaches on College Recruiting Visits

coach with scorebook representing questions to ask college coaches

coach in dugout representing questions to ask college coachesThe following is a list of questions to ask college coaches during in an interview whether on a college visit, at a game, or at a camp. These questions won’t be relevant for all sports or all colleges. For example, D3 colleges do not give out athletic scholarships so there’s no point in asking about them. Some questions may be more appropriate for a second visit than a first visit. After all, if a coach is just meeting you for the first time, he probably can’t rank you among recruits for specific positions.

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6 Essential Items Baseball Players Must Have on Their Athletic Profile

baseball player representing what needs to be on athletic profiles

baseball player representing what needs to be on athletic profileThere are a variety of ways to format an athletic profile for baseball. And, yes, you want to have an athletic profile, also called a player or baseball profile, you can print out or email to coaches. Having a baseball profile in PDF form is very handy to attached to an email or text to a coach, especially if the college doesn’t have an online recruiting form. Just be sure to compress it as small as possible before sending.

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College Baseball Teams by State and Division

baseball field on map representing college baseball teams by state

Map of us with baseball field representing college baseball teams by state and divisionDo you know which state, New York or Texas, offers more college baseball teams? You’re wrong if you said Texas. Texas offers more D1 and Junior College programs but New York has more D2 baseball teams and over three times the number of D3 teams. Knowing which states offer which types of college baseball teams can improve your chances of making a college team. (This combined with the DIY College Rankings Baseball Spreadsheet forms the foundation for your college search.)

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26 College Baseball Camps and Prospect Showcases

Baseball player in dugout representing college baseball camps and showcases

Baseball player in dugout representing college baseball camps and showcasesThis post has been updated for 2022. Specific college baseball camps/showcases are listed by date below. If at all possible, you want the coaches from the college you are interested in to see you play. This is a qualified statement since some colleges will recruit players strictly off video. These tend to be smaller colleges or schools without any recruiting budget. Of course, all coaches would prefer to see you play and baseball camps can be a very effective way to get in front of several college coaches in a very short period of time.

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College Athletic Recruiting Strategy: Going Where the Teams Are

Map representing college baseball programs by state

map with pins showing college baseball teams by stateIf you are a high school athlete and already have five coaches from D1 schools showing up when you play and you’re only a junior-congratulations! You need not read any further. For those of you who aren’t nationally ranked athletes but still want to play at the college level-read on.

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D3 Baseball Experience

baseball helmet on bleachers representing D3 baseball experience

Baseball helmet on bleachers representing d3 baseball experienceLast week I watched my son played at his college’s annual Blue and White game. It’s just an intra-squad scrimmage at the end of their Fall practices followed by a family cook-out. It was cold but it was great to spend the weekend with him. He gave us a tour of HIS campus which is definitely a different campus as sophomore than it was as a “prospie.”

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College Baseball Recruiting: Game Attendance, Finances, and D3

A rack holding six baseball bats hangs vertically on a chain-link fence at a college baseball field, where attendance stats are proudly displayed.

Baseball bats in dugoutThere are different approaches players use to get recruited to play college baseball. Some wait to be discovered. Another group sends an email with a link to their video to every baseball coach with an email address. Others will pay a professional recruiting service to get recruited. And then there are those that take responsibility for getting themselves recruited by figuring out which colleges want them.

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College Baseball Recruiting Timeline

Planner representing college baseball recruiting timeline

planner showing college baseball recruiting timelineWhen looking at this recruiting timeline, keep in mind this is geared for baseball players. In many ways, your senior high school baseball season will not count. The majority of coaches (not all) will have already filled their recruit classes for the following year (your college freshman year). Depending on the division and conference (think “power 5”) they may have already filled the slots for the year after that (your college sophomore year) and only have a few left for the following year. Yes, college baseball coaches are taking verbal commitments from high school sophomores. 

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