Newsletter- October 2005

When Do I start the College Process?
To start with, your development as a player started yesterday, so make sure you are putting in the time, and training hard and smart towards your goals. Start fact finding in your 9th or 10th grade year, even if you are not sure college baseball or softball is for you, this is one way to figure that out. Your thought process should include thinking about:

 - What type of school experience might I like?
 - How far from home will it make sense to go?
 - Do I have any early front runners in terms of major or field of study?
 - What colleges offer those areas of study?
 - How much can my family afford, and how much debt will I be comfortable paying off after college?
 - What athletic commitment do I want?
 - Is a scholarship something I covet and have a chance at getting based on my ability and the type of schools I am thinking about?

So many factors!  The reality is that most college students at a given school are fairly local. The most selective schools draw students from a world wide basis - but even Harvard will have more Mass. kids than Princeton will, but less Jersey students than the Tigers. 

A friend of who runs an academy in Texas told me that a lot of Texas kids are locked in on one of the big local programs (Horns, Aggies, Rice, Baylor, etc) when they might be an attractive student athlete out of state and get a great playing opportunity. Part of what drives students decision is what their friends and family have done. If all you know is in-state, your guidance counselors stress in-state, etc - why would you think about going north, east or west?  Of all the good players in Texas, how many are ever going to play for the big programs - very few!  But, how many Texas players know that just being from a good HS program in Texas would get them some attention from a college coach out of the area?    The key, and this goes for a player from any state, is doing some research in areas outside your home. 
  Search for every baseball program in the country using College Coaches Online  (discount savings code with AA123)

Re-grouping from the summer and fall season.
With a few exceptions, fall ball is wrapping up for the season.  Now we have some down time before high school practice starts again. A few recommendations for our players to better utilize your time.

1) Train More and Train Smarter - this is a time to get a lot stronger, re-work your swing, build arm strength and learn a new pitch.  For seniors, you might still be looking to impress a college coach who is still recruiting into the summer. Juniors, you are at the start of your most important year in terms of exposure to college and pro scouts. 

Take stock of your strength's and weaknesses. Do you need a 3rd pitch to be a Division I player? If you do, what is your plan to make that happen.

2) Go online and visit college baseball and softball web sites.  November is the month when early signing happen and you can read about incoming classes on the site. What positions are coming in, what caliber are these players, where are they from

Is the school advertising a fall or winter showcase. Coaches are getting into the business of running their own fall clinics which are really just Showcases for a few key players and the rest is a moneymaker for the 25 who think they actually have a chance at being recruited. If you are going for exposure, either go when you are a sophomore or junior, or as a senior go because you are legitimately interest in the school and have made an educated decision that you can play at this level.  Realizing that if you have never had contact with this coach or program, it is pretty late for them to drop another recruit and offer you their money.

Do your visits, emails and letters make a difference in admission to college? 
 
According to National Association of College Admissions Counseling there is a trend in some large public universities and selective Northeast schools to factor in "demonstrated interest" into the admissions equation by keeping tabs of the number of times a student visits the campus or makes contact through e-mail or letters.
 
Of course not all schools have this policy as they do not wish to penalize a student who does not have the means to visit campus 5 times in a semester. Even so, your interest in a school without such policy would most likely be noted in the admissions review, but it does not support a candidate for admission more than a strong academic record would.

NCAA Baseball Rules Committee: Changes for the 2006 season.
The committee altered the pitching rules relating to the wind-up.  Now, any portion of the non-pivot foot must be behind the back edge of the pitching rubber and a line extended in the wind-up position.  The committee has noticed pitchers gaining an advantage with different angles and also deceiving runners by disguising the wind-up as a set position.

"This will be a pretty big change for a handful of pitchers,” committee chairman Chris McKnight said.  “The majority of pitchers start with their feet together in the wind-up, as we traditionally think of this position.  But, we’ve started to see pitchers using the non-pivot foot in front of the rubber. That isn’t the intent of the original rule.”

Complete Report of 2005 NCAA Baseball Rules Committee Meeting

Your Chances to Play College Ball? 
Some sobering numbers on-line.  If these don't motivate you to a) study hard and b) train to be a better player who swings with more bat speed, throws with more velocity and fields at a higher level, then don't be upset when your college dreams take a pounding.

NCAA Clearinghouse Update
 - Junior parents read this and make sure you go ahead and register as your junior year comes to an end.
- Senior parents and players 1) Go register ASAP if you have a hope of D-I or D-II and 2) Make sure you finish the job at the end of your senior year.

As you can see from this release on the NCAA News, waiting to the last minute is causing hold-ups in the process.


Coaches move and change jobs like anyone else and it usually creates a ripple effect at other schools if they do not promote from within.  Players, when you sign with a school, you do just that - sign with a school. The coach leaving does not mean you can change your commitment (signed letter of intent), but if you are only a verbal recruit you can pull  back when a coach changes.  There is more to this and we will discuss it next month in Who Owes Who - commitments, coaching changes and guarantees.

Too many high school age pitchers with college dreams are stuck at the 74-77 MPH mark and the same goes for infielders. Unless you have a top level breaking ball and perfect command of your location, this will not get you far at any college level.  Break 80 PMH or better yet 85 MPH, especially you right handers, and people will start to take a closer look.  With a better delivery, strength and sonditioning, a good throwing program that includes overload / underload training (including turbo long toss) you will put miles on your MPH!  Contact your Frozen Ropes coaches and inquire about our Speed Thrills Program, END Game pitching or the Overload / Underload principles of training.

Too many players focus on college baseball without mapping out a road to actually being a college level player.  Do this now! Especially your juniors who are heading into the most important year of your baseball and softball recruiting life.

Oh, and one last thing - Collegiate Baseball profiled the National HS Championship program Russell County Alabama this month. Six players in their program throw 90 MPH!  What did the coach attribute this amount of fast and healthy arms to? 1) Year round strength and conditioning and 2) Super long toss done on a football field every week of the year! 

We know this works - but it is good to point out success when it happens as more evidence of why doing things the same old way will get you the same old results (75 MPH)!

When we meet again next month, how much work will you have put into 1) your academics, 2) your game and, 3) college research?

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