College Baseball Recruiting Checklist - 7 Boxes to Check

What's up, team? Alex Swinson here, former Division 1 college coach and recruiter with 11 years of experience. And I'm here to help you or your son reach the next level and just become a better student athlete on and off the field. Today we're going to be talking about your fall recruiting checklist. Seven items that is going to be important to get the most out of your fall because we are in the thick of recruiting right now in the fall and we're going to get into that. But hey, if you get anything from this video, please select that thumbs up, that like button and subscribe to my channel. I put out a weekly video on recruiting and just how to get better on and off the field. Alright, hey, let's get into it. The reason why we're in the thick of recruiting right now in the fall is because we're in the contact period, which is from September 10th to October 10th. And as of this recording, which is the 20th of today, and you might be watching this whenever. All right, we're 10 days into the contact period and all that means is college coaches, college students, scouts are out recruiting. They can go out and recruit. And on October 11, they have to go into the quiet period, which means they cannot go out and recruit and leave their campus, but they can recruit on their campus. And I've done videos about the quiet period. Go back and watch those if you have any questions about those. They're still recruiting, they're still bringing players on their campus, giving tours, etc. From there. But just go back and watch that. You can log that into the YouTube search. And I will, I will pop up. But hey, let's start off with step number one. Let's get into it. Number one, creating or updating our school list. And why is this so important? It's because we want to make sure that we are targeting the right schools. The schools that are recruiting our position and that are recruiting our class. And to make sure that it is a good fit for you and the school, it needs to be a good fit for the school as well, that you fit their player profile. That's very, very important. And we want to have targets, right? We need some, something to aim for and shoot at. And now this school list will evolve and change as we go. And that is perfectly okay. Some of the schools on our list will not be recruiting our position, some of them will. So we'll take off the ones that are not. So we don't waste time, money or energy on them and focus on the ones that are still recruiting your position in your class and that best fits you, but also it's a good fit on their end. Okay. And again, this list will change and evolve as we go and it will give you the best shot of having a good target in realistic options as we go. You don't want to just guess or just wing this as far as the schools and just hope somebody finds you. That is not the way to go about it. That's how you get left behind and not recruited as we go. Number two, creating or updating your recruiting video, very, very important from an exposure standpoint because we can get exposed to really as many schools as you want by sending our recruiting video. Now, you need to make sure that your recruiting video is showing your best self. You have all the right angles depending on your position and everything that the schools are looking for. So for an example, if you're a middle infielder, you're obviously going to need to show your footwork, your glove, work, your ground balls. You running is very important. You're going to need to show your 60 and obviously you're going to need to show you're hitting some side view, some also behind the view so you can see the flight trajectory and you want to have it three minutes or less. And number three on the checklist item is sending this information out in an email of a short, condensed email that all the coaches want from you. Your athletic metrics, your academic metrics, and then your schedule where you're going to be at. And then of course your recruiting video. Number four, train and develop, develop, develop, develop. Because if you are not training and developing, you are falling behind. This is the number one thing to fall behind in the recruiting process. If you are not fitting the skill set or the needs of the school. And you know this, but I am here to remind you we need to be reminded. Sometimes it's kind of like my wife reminded me of things that I know I need to be doing, but I needed to kind of get a little kick and be like, hey, reminded, get me back in line. So I am here to remind you is be training and developing, especially during the fall and winter. Get in the weight room, get stronger, get well conditioned, work on your skillset for your position, work on your arm strength, your exit velocity, your 60, your command of your pitches, okay? Dial in that. That is something that you could be doing every day. And also your mindset, right? You can dial in your mindset. You don't have to take breaks on your mindset where sometimes your body needs breaks to recover. You can always be aware of what's going on in your head. Okay. Number five is showcases, tournaments, and camps. Now, with showcases and tournaments, you want to make sure you go into those during the contact period. Okay. From September 10th to October 10th. And the reason why is usually showcases and tournaments are off site at, you know, whether it's at Lake Point Perfect Game or a PBR event or just a showcase in general, where usually a lot of schools are at or they advertise a lot of schools will be there. Well, they're only going to be there during the contact period. So outside of the contact period, you do not want to be going to those because those college coaches can't come. They cannot leave their campus. But during the quiet period, you can go to their specific camps. I always recommend going to camps that are on your top three or top five list. So your top five priority schools go to that camp. Okay, that's super important now because you're not going to be able to go to all the camps. You might not be able to. You're physically just not going to be able to go everywhere. And it might also be financially not. Might not be able to afford going to all those camps. So that's totally fine. Be selective of which ones you're going to and be realistic to which ones you're going to as far as fit and that they're still recruiting and recruiting your position as we go. Number six is college visits. Take unofficial visits to these schools and to see if it's a good fit from a field perspective. One of the main decisions that I chose, Jacksonville University when I went on a visit is I just. I felt. It felt like home to me. I felt like I should be there. It had the right feeling in all different ways from the baseball, but also just socially and walking around campus, you want to have that feeling. This is a big decision. I say it's one of the top two decisions, decisions of your life other than the person you decide to spend the rest of your life with. Right? This is a big decision. So go visit, walk around campus, walk into buildings. Right? You can do that. Walk into some buildings, maybe poke your head into a classroom, and of course, go see the baseball facility as you go. So if you're a senior, definitely go and do this now. And if you're a junior, think about scheduling some. Some especially around locally in your state in the fall and the winter and even into spring. Another thing is colleges are playing games in the fall. They're allowed to play games. This is a new, newer rule where colleges can play other schools and they're gonna have games on their campus and you can go watch them play. That's super, super beneficial for you to see. Alright, what is the skill set? What are these coaches looking for? And look at the players that are at your position as you go. And then number seven, of course, stay up with your academics, making sure that you are locking in and you're not falling behind academically, looking to SAT and act, taking those tests as we go. So those are your seven checklists right there. I hope that was helpful. Let me know if you have any questions and I will see you in the next video. Take care.