Are you a player or a parent of a player that wants to play baseball in college? Then you have to understand that there are several factors that will determine if you get a chance to play at the next level. Unless you're a can't miss blue chip prospect, there are 3 initial steps that most of you can take to put you in the best position to earn that baseball scholarship. I always used to hear the phrase "if you're good enough, they'll find you" but I think in today's day and age we need to work hard to get noticed. Here are 3 steps on getting the necessary exposure to becoming a college baseball player
1. Tournament Team
Playing on a tournament team (aka showcase team) will allow you to play against great compeition around the country in front of countless professional and college sccouts. These are teams that are usually assembled in your area for the sole purpose of attending a 3-day tournament for which the sole purpose is to perform in front of scouts and recruiters. Perfect Game World Wood Bat tournament is a great example and the gold standard of tournament baseball.
2. Travel Team
You can also try out and hopefully earn a spot on your local travel team or as it's typically called, an AAU (Amatuer Athletic Union) team. If you end up playing for one of the best AAU baseball teams, you'll liekly get more exposure. This is usually more competitive than your high school league and is made up of the best players from your surroudnging area. Many scouts and coaches will often skip watching your traditional high school baseball schedules in favor of travel teams because of the elevated competition level. Playing on an AAU baseball team will also give you a good baramoter to see if you're good enough for college baseball.
3. College Camps and Baseball Showcases
I lumped both of these together because they are quite similar. Many colleges hold camps or showcases where all you have to do is pay to attend. These usually take more of a skills camp format where you work with college coaches on different fundamentals of the game. Most of the time whatever college is hosting, will invite coaches from other local schools to help run the camp. This gives you a great way to get in front of a lot of coaches at once and even have the opportunity to build personal relationships with them.
If you think you have what it takes, we would love for you to tryout for both our Sweet Spot tournament and travel teams. We run teams for two different age groups (16 and under, 18 and under). With our private lesson package we can work on areas you need to improve and focus on putting you in a position to succeed at various college camps. If you're not quite ready for the tryout, start with a free skills evaluation first and we'll give you our recommendation.
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