One of my goals in life is to play college baseball. The purpose of my Project of Passion was to research what it takes to play baseball at the next level. There are many different paths and processes that can be taken to reach this goal. I decided to look at three distinct areas to help me determine the path I will take to accomplish my goal. The three areas I researched include the following: the individual college recruiting process, the help an athlete can receive from a coach at the high school level, and participation in various travel ball organizations.

I chose to research the college recruiting process for my project because it is something I am very interested in. Baseball is one of my favorite sports because I enjoy being on the field with my friends and teammates. I also enjoy baseball because it is very strategic. Not a lot of people understand everything about baseball. There is way more to it than just the basics of hitting, throwing, catching, fielding, and running.

College baseball seems like a great opportunity for me because of many reasons. I think baseball is one of sports I am best at. Also, one of my goals is to get a good college degree, and most schools cost a lot of money to attend. I hope that baseball will help provide me with a way to pay for some or all of my education.

Having a desire to play college baseball means that an athlete must understand the college recruiting process and what it takes to play at this level. According to Coach Greg Marschand, my high school baseball coach and a former college player, the first thing an athlete should do is create a list of schools they are interested in. The schools they choose should offer a major that will allow them to pursue a career they will enjoy. Coach Marschand stressed the importance of high school academics and stated that colleges want athletes who are good students as well. In an interview with Coach Jamie Sailors, who coaches both high school and travel baseball and was a former player for the St. Louis Cardinals, an athlete must be realistic about their level and capability of play. There are different divisions of play in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and there is also a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). These are both programs that are found at four year colleges. In addition to these types of programs, there are also opportunities to play baseball at two year junior colleges. As mentioned by Coach Sailors,  not every athlete has the ability to play Division I baseball. As an athlete, an individual must know their abilities and understand that not everyone has the ability to play at the level they would like to. They need to take this into consideration while choosing schools to pursue.

It is important to consider factors other than athletic ability as well. According to Coach Marschand, a college coach wants an athlete that they think will be helpful to their program. Not only will they look at an athlete’s ability to play baseball, coaches will also look at the athlete’s grades, social media, personal history, and overall character as a person. Even if someone is a five star athlete, they will be turned down by some of the best schools because of a lack of good grades, poor attitude, or even being irresponsible on social media. These things play a huge role in the recruiting process.

As I mentioned earlier, an athlete’s athletic ability will help them decide on where they may be able to go. Obviously the top athletes will be competing for the Division I level roster spots.  Colleges evaluate player’s athletic ability in many ways.  Coach Austin Clem, a high school and Babe Ruth coach who also played college ball, stated that some of the things college coaches consider in the recruiting process include high school statistics, participation in summer camps, and performance in travel baseball leagues. I will discuss travel league baseball and its importance to the recruiting process in more detail later.

An important step in the recruiting process is for an athlete to make the college aware they are interested in playing baseball for them. They should not just expect the college to contact them. Athletes can utilize a recruiting service that charges a fee, or they can contact the schools they are interested in directly. Most college programs offer their contact information on their websites. Coach Sailors stated that, “Once you have identified colleges you would be interested in attending, it would show good faith to the coaching staff to attend a camp on their campus.” This gives an opportunity to meet recruiting coaches face to face and showcase talent.

Recruiting services can be both a good and bad thing. According to Coach Sailors, there are some websites and services out there that do not provide much help for athletes and are just looking for their money. He says athletes need to be very cautious while signing up for these types of services and websites. Coach Sailors has a lot of experience in dealing with recruiting services. He says the best service or website an athlete can sign up on for baseball is Prep Baseball Report. My high school baseball coach, Greg Marschand, agrees with Coach Sailor’s opinion. Every athlete should be careful when signing up for recruiting services and not expect that by signing up with a recruiting service that they will have an easy path to playing college baseball.

High school coaches can play a big role in helping their players get recruited. According to Coach Marschand, an athlete’s high school coach is the first person the college coach will evaluate the athlete with. Most colleges respect the opinions of high school coaches because the high school coach has not only an understanding of the player’s athletic ability, but he also has an understanding of their academic achievements and their character on and off of the field. High school coaches can also contact college coaches to get their players noticed and give their statistics. Most high school coaches have contacts in the baseball community, and many of those contacts include college coaches. As an athlete, individuals need to make it clear to their high school coach that they would like to play at the next level. According to Coach Marshand, the high school coach will also help the player perform an accurate self-evaluation so they have an indication as to which collegiate level that are suited for.

The third and final area that I want to focus on is travel baseball teams and how they are helpful with proceeding to the next level. According to the individuals interviewed, travel baseball is most definitely a very helpful thing to participate in if an athlete desires to play college ball. According to my former Babe Ruth coach, Austin Clem, travel baseball is great for shaping a player’s game in the off-season. The competition an athlete will face is much more competitive during travel baseball than it is during the regular school season. This is due to all of the players having a desire to continue playing, as well as the ability they have as players. This high level of competition will help players improve their game. In addition, Coach Clem indicated that most college coaches do not see high school baseball games because they are coaching their own teams at this time of the year. Players are more likely to get recognized at travel baseball tournaments because they take place after the high school seasons have ended. Therefore, college coaches are more likely to attend travel ball tournaments to watch potential recruits and their teams. Coach Clem stated, “Depending on the tournament type and the ‘buzz’ you have around yourself, some college coaches go to tournaments to watch certain players or teams, or if they know the tournament is hosting a lot of good teams which will have pretty good talent they go.” Coach Sailors strongly agrees with this point of view. Coach Sailors stated, “College coaches have the best opportunity to see and evaluate a player’s talent and ability during the travel ball summer season. Therefore, in my opinion, playing travel baseball is very helpful for both the student-athlete and college coaches in the recruiting process.”

Participating in travel ball is also helpful because many travel baseball coaches provide their players with information on recruiting camps and skills camps. For example, Coach Sailors stated that for the travel ball team he coaches, he arranges for college coaches to come and talk to potential players on his team about playing college baseball. These coaches often share information about what they are looking for in a student athlete and what it takes to play at their school. This gives potential athletes a starting point and helps them to make initial connections with college coaches.  According to Coach Clem, in addition to the summer travel ball circuit, the summer showcases and camps are very helpful for athletes wanting to be recruited.  From his experience, the Prep Baseball Report (PBR) camps seem to be the best way to get the attention of college coaches in Indiana. Coach Clem personally had a few friends get noticed by going to these camps. They went on to attend very respectable college baseball programs. Other than PBR, Coach Clem was not sure of any showcases/camps in Indiana that match the prestige of PBR.  Coach Sailors also stated, “It is my belief that Prep Baseball Report is the best thing right now.”

In conclusion, after doing the research for this project, I believe that are many things an athlete can do to reach the goal of playing baseball in college. The path to take depends somewhat upon the level at which an athlete desires to play. As I evaluated and researched the three different areas of focus for this paper including the college recruiting process, the importance of the role the high school coach plays, and the value placed on playing travel baseball, I came to the conclusion that all three play an equally important role in helping to achieve this goal. Potential athletes should take the steps needed in the recruiting process to identify colleges that will be a good fit for them, utilize their high school coaches and be sure they are aware of their desire to play, and participate in travel baseball if they wish to increase their chances of playing baseball at the college level. Because this is my passion, I plan to do all of these things.