Knowing how to navigate and participate in the college baseball recruiting process has gone beyond the mundane and entered into a fine science. There is a method to the madness and every player and parent needs to know the protocol, the responses and set their expectations at a realistic level. While it has been said that they aren’t on par in their search for high school talent as compared to the competitive arena of college to college, it is darned close.
Those that aren’t in the know need to be aware that baseball recruiting is an expansion into the sales arena for both player and school. There is an entire stage of presentation for the player to ‘sell their talents’ and the internet has a number of platforms designed for just this cause. A player can list stats, pix, videos, testimonials and general information that can be previewed by a prospective college. On the college side, there is a competitive world that involves the best recruiters and reps that work year round to preview the best high school talent, get early sign-ups and increase their position in the college baseball recruiting ranking.
The world of college baseball recruiting is now treated along the same lines as a successful business approach, with rewards for the winners and lower ranking for the rest. The baseball season doesn’t even have to be in play, because colleges have their recruiters scouring the country (and the internet) for today’s and tomorrow’s most hopeful talent. School contacts and partnerships are a part of the golden concept of communication and each college has their own ‘in-person’ for the top lead.
This year, some of the top high school candidates in college baseball recruiting have been accomplished by Hawaii, Mississippi, Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky, UCLA and San Diego. While East Carolina and Florida State have achieved excellence in their recruiting, Vanderbilt remains in the top dog position once again.
As far as the winners go, Vanderbilt and UCLA brought in the most sign ups, it was Florida that actually lost more recruits than they had set their sights on. Arizona and Miami actually achieved the most ‘early signers’ list, as they speedily went after some rather good talent, and got them.
In the world of college baseball recruiting, it is the school’s recruiting ranking that seems count a lot. The list changes and fluctuates, depending upon coaches, funds, interest and support.
Here is the list of the top forty rankings (so far) for 2013:
1. Vanderbilt
2. UCLA
3. Arizona St.
4. LSU
5. Clemson
6. Stanford
7. Florida
8. North Carolina
9. Miami, Fla.
10. South Carolina
11. Kentucky
12. Texas Christian
13. Texas A&M
14. Georgia
15. Texas
16. Alabama
17. Cal. St. Fullerton
18. U.C. Santa Barbara
19. Florida St.
20. Fresno St.
21. Arizona
22. Auburn
23. Oregon
24. Southern California
25. California
26. Arkansas
27. Rice
28. Georgia Tech.
29. Stetson
30. Missouri St.
31. Oklahoma
32. Virginia
33. East Carolina
34. Oregon St.
35. Louisville
36. Houston
37. Mississippi St.
38. Kennesaw St.
39. Mississippi
40. Central Florida
Sources: http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/college/recruiting/
http://www.rolltide.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/092512aab.html