THE REAL TRUTH ABOUT COLLEGE BASEBALL RECRUITING

 

Please check back to this site next month to hear an interview about College Baseball Recuiting with Coach Penders from the University of Connecticut - where he very clearly addresses some of the myths being sold by some baseball programs.

 

Until then please see some of the notes I took from a recent meeting I attended with Coach Penders and two other very prominent Connecticut College Baseball Coaches.

 

According to them, to be recruited a player from a Connecticut Summer (American Legion) Program needs to do the following:

• first he needs to decide whether or not he is willing to make the sacrifices (academic, social, etc...) necessary to play a sport in college.

• second he needs to get a realistic assessment of his level of ability and try to come up with a list of potential colleges that would meet his academic, social and athletic expectations.

• after reducing this list, he should try to attend a camp or clinic run by these college baseball programs - this is often the best way to be seen and evaluated by the schools you are actually interested in.

• he should ask both his high school and summer coaches to contact the coaches at the colleges he is interested in, to talk to the coaches.

• most importantly, he should personally contact these same coaches and ask them to attend one of his games.

They also were clear that they generally believe the opinion of a player's high school or American Legion Baseball Coach over a "Select Team" Coach since they tend to be more impartial. 

 

In addition, they said that players do not need to spend thousands of dollars attending "Perfect Game" type showcases or playing "Travel Ball".  They particularly like watching kids play American Legion Games since each game has meaning.

 

As you can see from the list on the left (still in the process of being data entered), approximately 60 players from just our program in South Windsor have played college and/or professional baseball over the past 20 or so years. 

 

Again, please come back next month to hear directly from Coach Penders as he addresses some often repeated myths of the recruiting process. 

Sincerely,


Craig Zimmerman
State Director

Connecticut American Legion Baseball