My son has been dreaming of playing baseball at Emory! He’s only a sophomore, but takes the most difficult classes offered at his school and does well. Based on his currents grades and PSAT, i suspect he will have the grades, rigor and scores for Emory. However, he wants to play baseball. He’s extremely dedicated and is a decent player but not the best. Any idea what it takes to pitch and/or play baseball at Emory?
Current sophomore at Emory. I don’t know much about baseball but I heard that going to the Headfirst Honor Roll Showcase would be a good start since the Emory coach scouts there. If you have any questions about the academics/social scene, feel free to let me know.
Thanks. He does plan to go to the Head First Showcase this summer!
Headfirst is a great showcase for academic kids. Goal this summer is to get noticed and to develop a relationship with coaches at the event. He can’t be shy about talking to the coaches in the dugout or between games. As this is only his sophomore year, the goal is to get on the radar. The coaches will be more focused on juniors going into senior year.
Don’t know about Emory specifically, but S was recruited by a number of D3’s. His fastball was gunned in mid 80’s and he had 2 offspeed pitches. He also played middle infield. He was recruited for both positions. Defensively, the coaches at Headfirst are looking at technique, range and arm strength/accuracy. You will immediately see a big difference between the top prospects and the avg camper in arm strength and zip on the ball. In terms of hitting, it seemed as if the kids that the coaches approached (vs the kids approaching coaches) either hit for power (over the fence in batting eval, or in scrimmages) or solid contact (line drives well into the outfield). What will be instructive for you and your kid is to see how your kid stacks up. You really have to put on your objective glasses to get the most out of this. I was truly amazed at how parent blind and delusional some parents were. Link to some stats that are accurate in our experience. https://www.tpcollegeshowcase.com/evaluation-reference-information.html
The coaches are also generally good on feedback. If they seek out your son between games, that is a great sign. If you approach them, and they don’t have an impression of your kid or just say a couple of generally nice things and move on quickly to the next kid waiting, not so good. If they remember your kid and give constructive positive feed back on what they need to work on, that’s also good. You’re on their radar.
Also, your son needs to take the time to fill out the online recruiting questionnaire for the schools that he is interested in (not just Emory) and email the coaches before the camp to let them know he will be attending. Provide them academic and baseball stat’s and accolades. Send video if you have it. You will need to build a video file if your son is serious about getting recruited. Ideally you should have both skills video (e.g. pitching bullpen, defense, bp hitting) and game video.
Emory historically has been strong in both baseball and softball. In baseball, Emory has made it to the finals of the D3 world series twice since 2007. Combined with its academic programs, I would anticipate a fairly high caliber of player. My guess is that a pitcher would need a FB in the mid-80s, with control. Look through the Emory baseball roster on its website. They don’t have a long bio for each player, but I think the consistent thread is at least all county/league, and a good number of all state athletes.
Headfirst is great because of the camp structure, allowing a lot of interaction between coach and player. It also tends to have the “usual suspects” high academic coaches in attendance. Showing up, however, is no guarantee of being recruited. The athlete needs to be assertive in reaching out to the coaches. At any showcase, including Headfirst, it is easy to be overlooked.
If your son wants to play anywhere, he needs to be on a good quality lifting program and work with a good pitching coach. You don’t say, but I assume that he is getting some exposure on a quality tournament team. Right now, he should work on getting better and making a recruiting plan. Dream big, but more importantly, dream wide. Your son should think about ALL the places he could play and get the education he wants – not just Emory. He might find that Amherst needs exactly what he brings to the table, but Emory has 6 RHPs, and needs only lefties. If he has tunnel vision on Emory, but doesn’t get recruited, it is always possible that he will not be accepted as a non-recruit. This site is full of smart, high achieving students whose hearts are set on one school and end up being disappointed. Better to have a lot of great options at the ready.
Emory is very good for baseball, especially in comparison to a lot of other HA D3 schools. He should be an excellent student and an excellent Baseball player to have a chance to play there. “Decent player, but not the best”- well, you’d have to elaborate on that, and he still has time to improve, but generally, he should be a well above average player for his age group right now in order to have a realistic chance.
I cannot speak with respect to Emory’s baseball recruiting, but can attest to the benefit of showcasing one’s talent in front of multiple coaches. My nephew attended such an event & received multiple scholarship offers. He took Duke’s offer.
P.S. All of his offers were for D1 college baseball. I note this because if targeting D3 schools, then it may be a different “show case”.
He’s right hand pitching in the low-mid 70s as a sophomore and just made varsity. He is right handed, but bats left. Does that help? He has a workout coach and pitching coach and besides HS plays on a fall and summer travel team. He will likely have the academics to get in, but he keeps working on that as well.
He needs to get into the 80’s as a righty to be recruited (low to mid 80’s for good D3 programs and mid to high 80’s/90’s for D1) unless he has some phenomenal off speed stuff that is backed by relevant stat’s. Batting lefty is a plus, but he still has to hit for power or consistency.
What gets attention at showcases and camps are kids lighting up the radar gun and kids hitting for power. For coaches, that indicates to them talent and potential. He still has a year to grow (height and strength) so picking up 5-10 mph is not unrealistic, especially if he has not finished his growth spurt. But like I posted above, to get a realistic assessment, your kid needs to go to a well attended showcase/camp unless his HS or travel teams are at elite levels. It’s one thing to play for a big perennially strong HS program in California, Florida or Texas, and another to play in a private school league of schools with 100 or less students per class.
He’s going to the head first showcase this summer ?. He’ll keep working! Thx.
Good luck and have fun. Let him know that coaches also note hustle and attitude (on the field and in the dugout).
Publisher, which showcase did your nephew attend?
BKSquared, can you send me a PM? I’m not able to yet as I haven’t posted enough messages. How did your son get the interest of Yale-at a particular showcase?
As a RHP, there’s not much point to attending HF as a rising Junior, unless you throw in the 80’s. Exceptions would be if you have a highly unusual and effective delivery (i.e. submariner), or “projectable” size(6’4+) and build. Every year, plenty of pitchers do, though.
^I think you can be mid/high 70’s as a rising junior to get onto radar screens which is the point of attending HF as a rising junior. The vast majority of coaches at HF are academic D3’s. If you have good mechanics and look like you have another 5-10 mph in the tank after a year or 2 of growth, they’ll definitely keep an eye on you for the following year. Here is another link to the site I linked in #3 above https://www.tpcollegeshowcase.com/evaluation-reference-information.html which provides good metrics on velocity, arm strength and bat speed. D3 RHP’s only need to project out at low to mid 80’s. This was exactly my kid, He was sitting at 77 as a rising junior at HF. It was good enough that at Stanford the following week he was asked to pitch an extra 3 innings as a dual pitcher/position player because he had caught enough interest. He was 5’7, baby-faced and young for his grade, but there was no way any could mistake him for a future 6’2" - 6’4" player.