By Neal Heaton
One of the things people always ask me is–“how did you get noticed by the University of Miami?”
Well, things are very, very different than they were in 1978.
First off, the school only recruited from the list of the top 25 or so players in the country and I was fortunate enough to have had a good enough junior year that I was on their list and they found me.
For the average Long Island baseball player, though, that may not be an option.
On the bright side, there’s so many more resources available to you in 2017 than I had coming out of Sachem HS in the ’70s. So here is my advice given my years of experience involved in this baseball community on how you can pick which college you want to attend based on your baseball ability and your academic prowess without wasting your time.
- Don’t overrate yourself: It’s very easy to get caught up in the glamour of the best baseball programs in the country. Some pitchers that I’ve taught have been recruited by schools like Duke, Coastal Carolina, Notre Dame, Louisville, etc. It’s important to know that those schools only recruit from the very top-tier pitchers. Unless you are a righty throwing 88 MPH consistently or a lefty throwing 85 MPH consistently, those upper-echelon Div-I programs will not be interested in you. There’s nothing wrong with playing at a Div-II or Div-III school and there’s plenty of good ones.
2. Make a list of your ideal schools: Now that you’ve established what caliber of player you are, make a list of about 5 schools that you wish you attend.
3. Pick the top showcases that they will be at: There are some great showcases and events you can go to now, but if one of your five choices aren’t going to be attending, you can sit those ones out. There are some tournaments that are great experiences, though. I took my team to Georgia to play in the Perfect Game tournament and they loved it. It’s great competition and they loved the experience. Maybe only a couple of the kids were going to get looks from playing in it, but they still all enjoyed it.
4. Attend the college camps: Every college has their own camp which they recruit from. Sometimes they invite players on their own but if they haven’t reached out to you, don’t be afraid to email the coach to express your interest. If they don’t answer right away–try again. It shows maturity when you know where you want to go and coaches will not be bothered if you reach out to them.
5. Watch your body language– There are so many good pitchers right now. Coaches and scouts are looking for the perfect player. They are literally looking for anything that you do wrong that will give them a reason not to sign you. I teach my kids to act like robots on the mound. Bad call, bad pitch, fielder commits an error behind you–doesn’t matter. Get the ball, show no emotion and focus on the next pitch.
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6. Do not expect immediate results: If you are going to the camp of an elite school, it’s going to be really hard to stand out. There will be a ton of very good players there. If you don’t hear anything right away, you can always reach out to the coach again to gauge his level of interest in you.
7. Don’t commit earlier than you have to: I know how big of a deal it is for player’s to tell their friends and family that they committed as a freshman or sophomore, but here’s the thing: Once you announce your verbal commitment, all the other schools interested in you will stop pursuing you. Now, if you have a bad season the school you committed to might not be interested in you anymore and what do you do then? Now you have to start all over again. A verbal commitment is not a mutual commitment. They can decide to go in another direction if they’re not happy with your progress.
8. Focus on academics: Once you have now decided which school you want to go to, it doesn’t mean you’re free to goof off. I’ve seen cases where kids have gotten a bad case of ‘senioritis’ and they decided to take their foot off the gas pedal. Whether it be because of a girlfriend, prom, work, friends, etc, kids sometimes forget about grades. Schools with high academic qualifications mandate student’s maintain a certain GPA. If you have a bad year, you may now not be able to qualify for that academic scholarship or even get into the school at all. Now you have to go to a Ju-Co to get your grades up for a semester before the coach lets you step foot on campus.
Now that you know what to do, all that’s left is the fun part–play baseball. That’s what we’re all here for. Go out and do your best and have fun on that field.
