One of the most frequent questions that I get from baseball and softball players is “How do I get noticed by college coaches?”. The truth is they’ve already “noticed” you and like Roz from Monsters, Inc. they’re “always watching”.
As we transition into the summer travel ball season, I want to give players and parents some advice from my many years as a college coach by telling a story of one of my recruiting trips to a large travel ball tournament last summer.
On this particular morning, I went out to watch a player that I had heard great things about. I had gotten there early before even the players and coaches had arrived. As the parents pulled up in their car, I begin my evaluation of this prospective athlete as soon as they began their walk to the field and began to watch them warmup.
The player did not carry themselves well during warmups or in pregame. They didn’t hustle and really didn’t show the work ethic of a player that wanted to move on to the next level. The way they talked to their teammates and coaches and just their overall “feel” set off a lot of red flags. The last straw was the body language the player showed when they looked at the lineup. The player clearly wasn’t in the spot they wanted to be in.
Before the first pitch of the game, I crossed their name of my list, packed up my chair and clipboard and headed to my car without even seeing them play.
Ability and talent are definitely the first thing that college coaches notice. But identifying talent isn’t hard for anyone. Most everyone in the stands can look at a player and say, “That’s a great player.” but what good college coaches are evaluating is the person as a whole. Attitude. Effort. Body Language. Being Coachable. Energy. Passion.
As soon as you get to the ballpark college coaches are looking for those things.
As you head into the weekend or your next tournament I want to challenge you to stand out in the areas of attitude and effort, both on and off the field, because I promise you, THAT is the best way to get noticed by coaches and scouts.
Coach Lisle