Baseball and the Ivys

<p>Has anyone recently attempted to get on a baseball team in an Ivy League School? Any experience with Stanford Camp or others?</p>

<p>My S did the Stanford camp and Headfirst’s camp both as a rising junior and senior. At that time 3-4 years ago, all the Ivies were represented at either/both camps. (Since that time several schools tried developing their own camps [called GPA]. i do not know if those schools still attend. But, Headfirst lists the schools attendng and Stanford is a lot of fun.) </p>

<p>Those were the only showcases/camps he did; he also played Scout ball and HS (a very small non-competitive program).</p>

<p>He was recruited by 7 of the 8 Ivy league schools and is playing at one currently.</p>

<p>Thanks Stemit. Was your S recruited when he was a junior, and if so, During the school year or the summer?</p>

<p>S was a late bloomer. He used the rising junior summer more as an opportunity to meet the coaches and become familiar with the format. The coaches were really focused on the rising seniors. But he was forced to introduce himself to coaches (I don’t think I even talked to a coach at either camp) and learned how to interact with no potential adverse consequences (expectations aren’t very high for rising juniors).</p>

<p>That having been said, coaches have the ability to project a players developmental time line and will remember younger players who stand out from younger players. While D1 power programs actively seek rising juniors, the Ivies don’t do that as much - but do take note of players academics (the first thing asked after small talk is academics).</p>

<p>Most every coach he spoke to - as well as the coaches of his teams - remembered him the following summer. That summer he was very comfortable with the camps - and the more relaxed a player, the easier to perform.</p>

<p>But to directly answer the question, ivy recruiting began once he achieved a certain velo (he pitches) during the rising senior summer. He had some interest from non-ivy mid power D1s in junior year beginning with the Scout ball season (September). The best and most personal email came from Yale. Still have that one somewhere. It was like a dream come true!</p>

<p>Thanks again for your input.</p>

<p>Riley2010,</p>

<p>A couple things to add. Ivy recruiting is a west coast and east coast thing for baseball. I know my son’s Ivy team sends half their coaches to West coast and Stanford camps, and the other half to HeadFirst and other East Coast showcases during the summer. Ask the coaches where they will be this summer as you plan your exposure plan. The Ivys that recruited my son saw him at HeadFirst and PG World Wood Bat in East Cobb (Harvard only) about 4 years ago. </p>

<p>I agree with stemit that interest was generated by velocity at first (son is also a pitcher) but the other things quickly followed. They look at thousands of kids, so their initial contact list is long. The list gets much shorter when SAT results become available junior year. </p>

<p>My son was also recruited his junior year, but Ivy recruiting has changed in the last 4 years. I’ve helped a number of folks in the last couple years with Ivy and academic baseball recruiting and it is happening earlier. Anything you can do to separate yourself earlier on the baseball field, in the classroom, or SAT/ACT can be very helpful. I know a few kids that have been recruited after their sophomore years who are now high school seniors committed to Ivys to play baseball. Ivys are having to compete even more with D1 schools for the academic baseball player. The talent coming into Ivy baseball is getting better year after year IMHO.</p>

<p>fenwaysouth - thank you for your comments. You appear to very knowledgeable on this subject. I tried to PM you but as a newer member, I am not allowed to do so. Is it possible for you to PM me. Thanks, Riley2010</p>

<p>Riley2010,</p>

<p>I sent you a Private Message.</p>

<p>Hi FenwaySouth, was wondering if you could call me so I can more easily ask you a few pressing questions. Thanks!!</p>

<p>Riley2010,</p>

<p>PLease remove your post or edit your phone number out of the post. Putting your phone number in a public message board is a big no-no.</p>

<p>PLease reply to my private message.</p>

<p>fenwaysouth and stemit are giving quite accurate advice based on our experience too. My son is finishing his freshman year at an Ivy and was heavily recruited by 7 of them to play baseball. It has been a priviledge to experience this with him. We traveled a lot to showcases in high school during breaks and summers, caught the eye of several high level college coaches in December of sophomore year, and from then on it was a whirlwind. My son is a very focused high level student with aspirations for graduate school, not professional baseball, and his situation is that he had no interest in a large D1 program, but we have many friends who of course are full scholarship at those types of school and are happy as well. I would strongly encourage both Stanford camp and the Headfirst camps, as all the coaches of all the schools we looked at attended those. We had offers on July 1 and were committed by August 1 of the summer before senior year. It was very important that we showed up at the Stanford camp with ACT scores and unofficial transcripts from our high school, as they were requested by most of the academic coaches in that week.</p>