Be Realistic: Everyone wants to play D1 baseball. Unfortunately, not everyone gets to (only 1% of high school players play D1 baseball) so please, when making your list, be realistic and have multiple options.

• Do your homework:
  • Regional, academic, ability match
  • Where do they recruit players from?
  • Who are the coaches there?
• Have 5 Dream Schools, 5-10 Realistic Schools, 5 Fall-Back Schools
• Contact these coaches directly, e-mail is best
• Include a video of yourself
  • Should be 1-3 minutes
  • Show your strengths, mechanics, athleticism
  • Shaky cam through the backstop isn’t the best
  • Slammers does professional video for a reasonable price
• Include your schedule
• Include a quick statement on why they should recruit you
• Be precise, brief: They don’t have a lot of time to read your e-mail, less is more. Stand out.

Coaches won’t waste their time if they don’t think you’ll get into their school.

This is typically one of the first questions a college coach will ask after they have identified you as a prospect. Here’s what they want to know:

• GPA
  • Higher GPA = More opportunities
  • Additional academic scholarship
  • No FULL-RIDES in college baseball.
  • D1 and D3 players need to maintain a 3.5-3.75 or higher.
• ACT/SAT scores
  • Test scores go hand-in-hand with GPA
  • Research school’s minimum requirements for entrance.
  • Most players take these Junior year; prep earlier.
  • Most D1 and D3 have a minimum ACT score of 27 or higher
  • SAT 1300 or higher
• What kind of classes do you take?
  • Remember, there are only 11.7 scholarships per season, they’re not going to waste money on someone they fear won’t be eligible.
  • Can you handle a college curriculum.
  • Do you show strong time-management skills?

• Respond right away after receiving an e-mail, text, or call.
• Be humble, be respectful, show appreciation for their time.
  • EXAMPLE: “Coach (last name) I am flattered to hear from you, thank you very much!! I am obviously interested in learning more about the school, the program, and the coaching staff. I look forward to future communication with you and finding the best possible college that allows me to blossom as a student/athlete.”

This can be expensive, but important. Not everyone gets an official visit. You want to make sure the campus and town are a good fit for you. You may also want to meet with coaches.

If the expense is a concern:

• Be selective: Don’t visit every school that send you an e-mail
• Wait for confirmation that there is mutual interest before visiting
• Do the research of the area and campus before you visit
• Try to coordinate a meeting with coaches

If you are interested in a school and have had contact with the coaches then going to one of their camps is a great way to interact with the coaches but more importantly, it is a great way for the coaches at the school to see the player in a different setting from a tournament game or a showcase.

• Limit camps to your “dream school” or have had direct contact with the coach
• Some camps/showcases used as fundraisers where invites go out on an e-mail list
• Do not expect an offer, rather, for the coach to follow your development from there
• Compare yourself to other campers: they want the same scholarship you do. How do you match up physically? Ability? Performance?

Slammers believes in the use of recruiting sites, we currently use two sites. Field Level and SportsRecruits. While these are incredible tools provided by Slammers, we will not manage your account for you. Parents and players need to be active in keeping your profile up to date and communicating effectively.

SportsRecruits: Adds a whole new level of communication between a player, college coach, and club coach. Players have the ability to communicate directly with any college in the country while then allowing the club coach to check and balance the player’s communication. Our club coaches can also reach out to colleges through this same means of communication.

Field Level: Allows Slammers Baseball to promote players to multiple teams at multiple levels in a quick, responsive manner. Slammers has connections with over 2,000 coaches through field level.

Body language tells a coach everything about you.

• Coaches will make a lot of judgments about you as a person based on how you carry yourself at the ballpark.
• How do look/react:
  • When interacting with your coaches & teammates
  • How do you warm-up
  • How you handle success
  • How you handle failure
    • After a strikeout or an error
    • After not getting a pitch called a strike
    • After giving up a homerun
    • Bad calls by the umpire
  • Do you hustle always?

Bad body language will get you scratched off a list faster than anything else in the process. They want good students as well as good “locker room guys”. If a player strikes out and throws his helmet or bat it looks terrible.

If they pop up and do not run out a ground ball it looks terrible. If they walk a batter or give up base hits and hang their head, or storm around the mound, it looks terrible; these actions can really hurt a player’s chances of getting a scholarship.

They’re always watching.

Thousands of players want the same scholarships you do. Coaches will absolutely investigate your social media. In this age of technology and social media, it is very important for the players to take control of their social media accounts and begin to make smart decisions regarding content, picture, & friends.

• Parents need to monitor these accounts
• Coaches will make judgments on your character
• If you were applying for a job, would you want your boss to see this?
• Putting your accounts on “private” are not enough, there is always a way
• If a coach asks to follow you & you deny them what message does that send?
• Keep your social media accounts clean, you will be judged.